The Day I Kissed An Older Man

It would be remiss to claim that Vince did not love Rita, but there were numerous considerations clouding his feelings. There was his desire to have a family that at least looked complete and could be admired by all.

Sherman could not help but feel a pang of sorrow for Rita's predicament and wished she would not have to go through that at all.

The names Karen Parr and Esmond Parr popped up in his mind, and he sat up abruptly as soon as he thought of that. For some reason, he had numerous recent encounters with individuals whose surname was Parr.

"Tch, I shouldn't be overthinking things. Parr is a common surname. It's absurd to assume that they're all connected," he chided himself before settling back down.

Half an hour later, he still found it difficult to sleep. It was one of those times he wished that Lucy would have just handed him several stacks of documents to review. Rather than toss aimlessly in bed, he could better use the time to review some contracts. Unfortunately, he did not bring any home, so he resigned himself to another two hours of tossing before finally drifting off.

The next morning, Rita awoke feeling disoriented until she noticed Sherman's message. [Let me know when you're up. I'll fetch you.]

his message. Memories of the previous

and let me forget about all that," she mumbled silently. Despite her reluctance to face reality, she picked herself up and got ready, opting for a casual dress. When she finished freshening up, she looked at

she would do the same thing she did the day before and choose vulnerability in front of Sherman

other people. He would never judge her for what happened, and

smiled and muttered to her

hastily tidying up, Rita rushed downstairs to find Sherman already waiting Seeing him lean on his car door while scrolling on his cell phone made Rita's heart

for keeping you waiting!" Rita

her voice. "No worries, I just got here. You don't look like a

you mean by that? Are you saying I don't look nice most of the

my first time seeing you dressed like a college student," Sherman replied. He reminisced about their encounter at the Russells' banquet, where ske donned an evening dress and put on a delicate