Kate almost overslept that Monday morning after her weekend with Brian.  She was definitely more relaxed.  She headed over to the clinic and went through her usual morning routine before Donnie sent her a text message to let her know he was at the center. Kate grabbed a bottle of water & sent an email letting her assistant know that she’d be going out for at least an hour, maybe an hour and a half.

Kate found Donnie playing basketball outside with some of the kids.  He was on the ‘skins’ team obviously. She waved to let him know she was there and sat down at one of the picnic tables to wait for him.  She had taken out her notepad to take notes on his next event. He played for another ten minutes or so before he made his way over and sat down next to her straddling the bench seat so he could face her.

“You look good,” he said. “Nice weekend?”

She blushed a little.  “I got some exercise and relaxed a bit.  It was great, thanks.”  She tucked her hair behind her right ear. It was pretty much her only nervous habit, playing with her hair.  Donnie sitting so close to her without a shirt on was a little bit much for her.  The only man she was comfortable being around without a shirt was Brian.  Donnie definitely wasn’t Brian.  There was no scar for one thing.  Brian had muscles and was toned, but Donnie…well it was just different.

“It’s always good to exercise to help get rid of stress.”

She looked up at him slightly shocked for a moment. Then she realized that he couldn’t possibly know anything.  “Yes it is. I’ve been working so much lately that my exercise had been pretty much cut off.”

“Do you go to a gym?”

“No, I pretty much just run.” She smiled. “It’s about the only time I don’t have my cell phone with me.”

“Cardio is great for stress.  Cell phones are good for increasing stress.”

She laughed.  “Okay, I only have about an hour of time left Donnie.  I know you didn’t want to talk to me about exercise.  What kind of event are we doing this time?”

He cleared his throat.  “I turn 40 in August.  I was wondering if you could plan a big party for me and some of the fans over at Mohegan Sun?”

She was writing down what he was saying when she suddenly stopped and looked up at him. “How many fans is ‘some fans’ in your mind?”

He laughed at her.  “Not sure yet.  We’ve sold tickets to this kind of thing in the past.”

“So we have to  put the tickets out there and see how they sell and base food and things on that,” she was saying.  Donnie could tell she wasn’t really talking to him so much as she was thinking out loud.  He just sat there and watched, listened, and smiled.  “I have a friend near there that makes the best cakes ever.  She probably knows someone, wait Mohegan Sun probably has someone that does their drinks and alcohol.  They have seating regardless of how many people show up.  I know Missi knows someone who could do any kind of food you’d want. Real food or just snacks.”  Donnie was enjoying just seeing how her though process worked.  After a few minutes of thinking out loud and jotting down her best thoughts, she finally noticed him staring at her.

“What? Like everyone doesn’t talk to themself?”

“Well, yeah they do, but you just had an entire conversation with yourself,” he teased.

She laughed.  “True.  But I remember things I hear better than what I see or think, so saying things out loud is my way to remember it.” She leaned a little closer to him and whispered,  “A lot of times when you see me wearing a earpiece with a microphone on it, I’m not really on a call or listening to anything. It’s just a cover so that people don’t realize I’m talking to myself.”

He leaned toward her as well and joined her in whispering. “You’re secret is safe with me.  I wouldn’t want them to take you away to a padded room.” They both started laughing.

She made a few more notes and told him she’d be getting in touch with him in a few days after she had something more concrete to present him.  “Oh, one more thing that might be a big deal since this is a personal event.  Will you be bringing a date? Because if you are, I don’t want her feeling left out of things. I can make arrangements…”  Donnie reached and touched her arm.

“I have no idea if I’ll have a date that night.  Since the divorce, I’ve been a little nervous about trying to date again. It’s been a long time.  What if they do things different on dates now?”

“I know what you mean.  I haven’t been on a date since…well let’s not admit that, but it’s been a long time for me too.  I stay so busy with work that dating isn’t really an option.”

“What would be your perfect date Ms. Parker?”

She started to answer and then stopped.  “I have no idea.” She looked at him. “How sad is that?”

“I have an idea.  There is a woman that I’ve been wanting to ask out for a while now, but I’ve been too chickenshit to do it. How about you come up with a perfect first date for me and her?”

She thought about it for a minute.  “What if my idea of a perfect date is something she hates? Or what if you hate it?”

“Calm down.  I know this woman.  I can’t imagine she’d hate anything.  Tell me you’ll do this for me.  Please?”  He gave her puppy dog eyes and she caved.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.  But no charge for the date night.  We’ll call it your birthday present from me. Deal?”

He smirked at her.  “Deal.”  She held out her hand and they shook hands on this deal. Her cell phone rang and she realized she was due to be in a meeting in fifteen minutes.  She covered the phone and told Donnie she’d be in touch and headed back down the street.

Kate emailed Brian later that day and let him know she was going to have another event in August.  He emailed her back and let her know that there were some problems with him and Leighanne.  He didn’t want to elaborate, but wanted her to know that he thought Leighanne might be suspicious of him.  Kate had never met Leighanne but she knew that Brian loved her.  She promised to keep her distance and wait for him to call.

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