Chapter 44: Chapter 44
Drew was a fucking genius. This plan of hers was not only working out, it was happening a lot faster than Hector had expected. He’d gotten the text from Drew Saturday night. She told him to plant the seed as soon as possible. Get it in Walter’s head that Natalie was interested in him.
In hindsight, Hector felt a little stupid now that he hadn’t noticed what Drew said was so pathetically obvious, and she couldn’t believe he’d never noticed how lovesick Natalie was. Drew even gave him specifics he could point out that even Hector couldn’t believe he’d missed. Like how when Natalie made Walter a sandwich, she was very meticulous about making it just the way he liked it right down to the extra pepperoncinis and choice of bread—seven grain.
Hector had noticed but didn’t think anything of it, even when Walter mentioned she always got it right. Drew pointed out that Walter hadn’t asked for his sandwich made in any particular way but apparently Natalie had made note of his preferences. She also mentioned how Natalie would laugh at all of Walter’s jokes, no matter how lame they were. But most notably, Drew said there was no hiding how impressed Natalie seemed with Walter’s level of intelligence. That she’d said was the clincher. Drew said she wasn’t being mean, but Walter had little else to impress this girl with, so it was huge that Natalie was already so taken by his intellect.
It amazed Hector that Drew had picked up on all this in one visit while he’d been there several times and never made anything out of any it. To his credit, he did think it odd that a young girl like Natalie would choose to work at an old folk’s home instead of a hospital or clinic with young staff like her. All the other nurses there were old and crabby-looking. They looked like they belonged there, but not Natalie; although, Hector never would’ve attributed it to having anything to do with wanting to be around Walter. He just thought it had something to do with the amount of money she might be getting paid being someone’s exclusive nurse.
Of course, Walter had been just as clueless as Hector when he told him. Sunday morning, when Walter had come in for his workout, Hector got right to it. The workout that morning was pretty much a wash because Walter had stopped so often to listen to Hector tell him everything he’d picked up on from Natalie in the past few weeks. Hector could kick himself now for not thinking of setting Walter up with anyone else sooner. The poor sap had been instantly excited about the prospect that someone was actually interested in him. Right there laid the real reason why Hector hadn’t thought of setting Walter up with anyone else. If he had to be honest, the idea that anyone would be interested in Walter had never crossed his mind. But Walter was making progress with his weight loss now. And the haircut and brow trimming had been huge improvements. The best thing about this was that none of that mattered with Natalie. Her attraction to him was obviously for what was on the inside, not the outside.
By Monday evening, Walter was already talking about going to the movies in a few days with Natalie. It didn’t surprise Hector that Walter said it had been her idea after Walter brought up wanting to see a new movie coming out that week. But it didn’t matter. The most important thing was he’d talked about Natalie the whole time and only once brought up Charlee. That was only to mention that she seemed a bit down at chess lab that day, prompting Hector to make an early visit to the lab that week.
He knew it was way too soon for it, but he hadn’t been able to restrain himself from kissing her, especially after seeing that shithead smiling and waiting for her. Already, he was marking what was his, and they weren’t even there yet. But after a week of Walter talking non-stop about his new love interest and the successful date to the movies with her, Hector was ready to go for it. He could hardly stand to be around Charlee anymore and hold back.
Drew worried it was too soon and thought he should wait at least until Walter kissed Natalie. She said as awkwardly shy of a guy as Walter was this would likely be his first kiss so that would certainly seal the deal. After getting his first taste of that and especially if things went any further between him and Natalie, Walter would be saying, “Charlee who?”
Only a week after springing the plan into action, Hector got a call from Drew. This whole time she’d done nothing but text him, so he had a feeling this was bad. Normally he didn’t answer his calls while he was in the middle of training someone, not even Walter. Abel said it was in bad form. You were supposed to give your trainees your undivided attention at all times. But Walter wasn’t exactly a paying customer. Hector had agreed to train him for his own reasons. So he told Walter he had to take the call and rushed out.
“Hello?”
“We need to move this along a little faster.” The urgency in Drew voice only worried him further.
“Why? What happened?”
“She’s talking about going back home again. She says she needs to get away. I’m doing my best to talk her out of it, but she’s saying things like maybe she can finish up the semester via the internet. Because of her status on the chess team, she thinks they might give her special privileges if she lies and says someone is sick at home.”
Hector brought his hand to his head, his stomach dropping instantly. “You mean leave for good?”
“Yes! Either you take your chances that Walter will still be upset with you and just tell her how you feel or you get that boy to first base with Natalie already!”
“How long do you think you can hold her off?”
“I don’t know. She’s in her room now, looking into the online school stuff. I’m not sure if it’s even possible, but if it is, it’ll probably take at least a few weeks for her to get it all together.”
“A few weeks? I think I can pull something off in that amount of time.” He thought he heard Drew groan. “What?”
“Nothing,” she said sounding frustrated. “You just need to think of something fast.”
Hector’s mind raced. Walter had just finished telling him he and Natalie would be going to the aquarium later that day. Maybe he could give him some more tips on how to make the first move. Ever since Drew mentioned that once Walter got that first kiss down Hector should be golden, he’d been laying it on thick that Walter should just go for it. From what Walter had told Hector, he was certain Natalie would be more than willing.
“Okay, in the meantime, I’m setting her up with a friend of mine.”
“What?” he didn’t even realize he’s been pacing until he stopped cold.
“It’s just a double-date thing. This guy I went out with a few times has a friend who thinks Charlee is cute. So I figured—”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Hector gripped his phone tightly, already regretting that he’d cussed at Charlee’s best friend but feeling like his choice of words just may get worse. “You’re gonna have her go out with someone else? Someone who’s already interested in her?”
“It’s just one date, and—”
“I don’t care if it’s just coffee!” Fuck Walter. “Did you already set this up?”
“I’m waiting for him to return my call, but I’m sure if they don’t have plans tonight, they’ll be up for it.”
“Tonight?” He started pacing again. “You’re gonna do this tonight?”
“I was desperate, Hector.” She lowered her voice. “I needed to distract her so she could stop talking about going back home.”
“Call the guy back.” Hector said almost through his teeth. “Tell him to forget about tonight then text me Charlee’s number. I’ll distract her.” He stalked back toward the front door of the gym. He couldn’t believe this shit. All week long, Drew had been spot on with all her ideas and now she comes up with this? “And do me a favor, will you? The next time there’s an emergency like this, call me before you go setting her up with anyone else. I can guarantee you I’ll come up with something better.”