“Sure thing. I’ll be right back with those. Any appetizers?”

“Want to do the loaded nachos?” I ask Cash.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

She leaves us to go get our drinks as his gaze falls back on me. “So, how was your day, Dean Philips?” There’s a slight smirk crossing his face, and it reminds me of how he used to call me “teach” when he used to flirt with me.

“Not bad. Filled with meetings.”

“Do you have a lot of those?”

“Yeah, I do. At least one a day, sometimes more. Mondays are my busy meeting days, though. I have four different ones, back-to-back.”

The server comes with our drinks, letting us know the nachos should be out shortly. We both take a long sip of our Jack and Cokes before he continues with the questions.

“Have you had this job the entire time you’ve been here? Assuming this is where you went when you left Washington.”

“Yeah, I came here when I left Washington. Uh, I didn’t get the dean position until about six months after I arrived, though.”

He wants to ask more, dig deeper into why I left, I can feel it. His questions are radiating off of him in waves, and I don’t know why he’s holding back. I’m thankful he is, because in the middle of a bar isn’t where I want to have this conversation with him for the first time. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m going to have to tell him at some point, but here isn’t where I want to do it.

I’m still curious as to why he’s tiptoeing around it. It’s so unlike him. Cash has always come out and asked whatever it is he’s curious about. Never been scared to call me on my shit.

“Do you like it? More than being a professor?”

“I miss teaching sometimes, but I do really enjoy what I do now too.”

“Did you teach when you first arrived? Before getting the job you have now?”

“No. Uh, I took some time off when I first got here. Had some stuff I needed to deal with. When I accepted the dean role, it was my first job in Texas.”

We hold each other’s stare for several long moments. Neither of us saying anything. There’s so much he wants to ask. So much I want to say. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see Cash DeMarco again. I thought for sure he was meant to remain in my past. I don’t know how to properly deal with having him back in my life.