Empty Nests by Ada Maria Soto Read Free Book Online

embarrassment, that these days he used his Japanese more than his Spanish.
    He’d also made sure to put the handwritten number into his phone before even getting out of the car. The program pamphlet from the Freight ended up on his pristine modern fridge, although he did have to hunt around for a magnet.
    Tamyra put a bottle of sweetened iced tea on his desk. “I’m told that’s all they have down in the cafeteria.” Gabe was half-tempted to send it back, but he wasn’t that much of a diva even on his worst days. “And since when do you drink iced tea?”
    “Had a craving last night.”
    “Speaking of last night?”
    “It was an enjoyable evening. Lots of good music.”
    “Any coffee?”
    “Yes, the kind you get in a cup, which is fine because it wasn’t a date.” Gabe kept the disappointment out of his voice, having no desire to give Tamyra the satisfaction.
    “Sure, it wasn’t. You planning on another ‘it’s not a date’?”
    “Maybe, but right now I have a bunch of sales figures from last month I need to look over.”
    “No, you don’t.”
    “I don’t?”
    “No. You have a date with a camera.”
    Gabe looked at his schedule and suddenly remembered SMPS meant Sales/Marketing Photoshoot. “No. No. God no!”
    “Hope you brushed your teeth.”
     
     
    F LASHBULBS WENT off. Gabe did his best not to squint or blink. It seemed like Sales and Marketing wanted photos with him, Frank, and Nate every other month, somehow believing if they tried enough times, they’d change the three of them into models. It was a Sisyphean task.
    Gabe knew he was reasonably okay looking. An early article had described him as tall, dark, and handsome, but that had been several years ago. Gabe figured he now fell under the category of tall, dark, and “not bad looking for his age.” He spent enough time in the gym to be healthy and always brushed his teeth. But then there were Frank and Nate. As much as he truly loved his business partners and cofounders of TechPrim, their photos would slip in nicely alongside the word ‘nerd’ in any dictionary. Frank was six foot six and in the right light looked like a redheaded praying mantis. Nate was five foot six with thinning dishwater-blond hair, and in spite of the best personal trainers money could buy, had an extra twenty pounds that refused to go away.
    Gabe’s face was starting to ache from smiling.
    “You were wearing your first-date shirt yesterday,” Frank mumbled from behind his forced smile.
    “Gabe had a date?” Nate asked.
    “It wasn’t a date,” Gabe mumbled back. Even if it was, he wasn’t about to tell Nate and Frank. They had way too much interest in his love life for a couple of straight guys, and he had no desire to encourage them. Especially Frank.
    “Then what was it?” Frank asked.
    “It was a world music open-mic night with a guy I met in Berkeley.”
    The bulbs stopped flashing, and a woman rushed up to dab bits of powder on their faces.
    Nate rolled his eyes. “Oh God, tell me it wasn’t with some guy who wears Birkenstocks and smells like sandalwood?”
    “That’s rich, coming from a guy who regularly forgets deodorant and has to be horse-whipped into shoes.”
    “He’s having a moment,” Frank told the makeup girl in an exaggerated lisp. Gabe turned around and flicked Frank’s ear, hard.
    “Hey! What was that for?”
    “Being an ass and having way too much interest in my love life.” Gabe suddenly had a powder brush applied to his nose. He shooed it away. “Okay, you know what? We’re done. No amount of lights, filters, gels, or makeup are going to make us look like anything other than what we are. And if the pictures are that bad, you can Photoshop them.” From behind him, Frank cleared his throat. “Oh, I’m sorry, Techpix them.” He swung around to his business partners, who had outvoted him on the idea of going up against the Adobe Creative Suite. “And really, of all the bits of software we could go head-to-head on,