The Boyfriend Bylaws by Susan Hatler

stress level went up and I could actually feel the clock ticking. Why couldn’t Patti have given me pre-permission like I’d asked? I felt dumb for not answering, but how could I explain that I had to call my roomie for permission to go to lunch with him?
    Then something occurred to me. Patti managed my love life, not my work life. Maybe Nick was asking me out for business reasons. I smiled, proud of myself. “I accept. A working lunch sounds great.”
    “Noon?” He smirked and the adorable dimple on the left side of his mouth popped out.
    “A nooner’s perfect.” My eyes widened at my unfortunate choice of words and my face flamed. “Um, I mean, sure, noon works.”
    “Noon then.” He nodded, then held his arm out to let me pass through the doorway first.
    Total gentleman. Wow.
    I hauled booty to the aerobics room, unzipping my pink hooded sweatshirt as I ran.
    I couldn’t help thinking of Matt and how I’d screwed up our friendship.
    But, maybe this lunch would turn my life in a different direction.
    ****
    It wasn’t an evening at The Boat House. I would’ve rather met Nick somewhere nicer—somewhere the ketchup didn’t come out of a group container with a plastic pump—but at least the little burger joint Nick took me to was in walking distance from the gym. If needed, it would take less convincing for Patti to think this lunch was solely business-related.
    Nick carried our tray to a metal table in the corner. At first, it felt awkward, just as first dates often are. Thankfully, I knew how to steer conversations with men. Career guys enjoy talking about their accomplishments. It seemed calculated, but I figured it might help break the ice.
    “So, owning your own business—wow.” Compliments didn’t hurt either. “Do you own any other gyms besides Totally Fit?”
    Nick smiled, obviously happy with the topic I’d chosen. “I just moved up here from L.A. and have a couple restaurants there.”
    “Impressive,” I said, wondering if by “restaurants” he meant burger joints similar to this one.
    He cupped his chin, smiled again, but didn’t say anything.
    Getting a conversation going with him was proving to be a challenge.
    “Seems like you’ve been working so hard.” More praise. Not a lie though. He’d apparently beat all of us to the gym today. Rudy rarely showed up before noon. “Have you had a chance to see much of Sacramento yet?”
    “Not really.” He reached for a handful of fries and managed to stuff them all in his mouth without any falling out. “Work’s keeping me pretty busy.”
    I stared at him in amazement. Had he actually swallowed all those fries without chewing?
    “Which is what I wanted to talk to you about.”
    “Work?” I asked. “Really? Is that why you asked me to lunch?” Funny, I didn’t sound that disappointed. I didn’t feel that disappointed either.
    “Mostly.” He reached down to the floor, snapped open his briefcase and pulled out a pad of paper, which he set on the table. “You’ve been an aerobics instructor at Totally Fit for a couple years now. How do you think it’s going?”
    Great, until two days ago. Now it felt like an inquisition. “Fine, I guess.”
    “And you teach.…”
    It was all I could do not to sigh. Didn’t Rudy have this written down somewhere? “Hip-hop, step, kick-boxing.”
    “Do you think there’s a pattern to how many people show up for a class?”
    “Pretty much,” I said, feeling like I should be on the payroll right now. Seriously, this was the most boring semi-date of my life. I couldn’t even think of a compliment to throw at him. Having lost my appetite, I checked my watch. “Friday nights are pretty dead.” I looked at him meaningfully. “With it being date night and all.”
    He held my gaze a moment, then turned back to his paper and began writing. “Are Saturdays dead, too?”
    “Yes.” I sighed, bored to death of the work talk. “Why don’t you tell me something about yourself?”
    He looked up at