#19 How to Enjoy a Chance Encounter (LASL)

“Fancy meeting you here,” I exclaimed.

“Lizzie?” he looked genuinely pleased to see me. “Wow! You look great!” he whistled. “What are you doing here?”

“Thanks, I came up on the train to check out the coffee house,” I smiled, deciding to leave out that I had originally ended up in Newcrest on a date… or at least I thought it was a date. “What about you?”

“My ex lives here… temporarily… until we can figure out the custody situation with Carrie,” he replied tensely. “It’s still over an hour away so it’s not ideal, but… she insists on being here.”

Two exes in one night. Just my luck. Plum! 

“Ah! What did I do!? Stupid piece of plum,” Rob threw his hands up in the air.

“What?”

“I was trying to send my resume to a couple different agencies and suddenly I get this… blue screen of DEATH!”

“Oh, let me see,” I flounced about the counter and stepped around an Old Simtannican sheepdog.

Leaning forward over Rob, I clicked a few keys and pressed the monitor power button. The computer rebooted. I couldn’t help but inhale his Old Spice cologne. With a few more clicks, I recovered his supposedly lost documents.

“It’s a miracle!” Rob clapped his hands. “Thank you, Lizzie.”

“You’re welcome. I know my way around computers. I’ve had to hunt down missing files before as a writer.”

“That’s right. How’s the novel writing coming?”

“A little here and there. Yours?” I bent down and balanced on my toes as I reached for the dog. “Is he friendly?”

“Yes…and yes… this is…” Rob sighed, and leaned back, rubbing his own neck. “Marshall.”

“Marshall…” I smiled, letting the dog sniff my hand and was surprised with a lick. “Aww… you’re precious,” I maneuvered around so I could balance better on my heels, fully aware that I was giving Rob a bit of a show for the second time with my scoop-neck dress.

Might as well use what assets I have.  

“Why Marshall?” I stood back up reluctantly. “I mean… I don’t know many dogs named Marshall.”

“Named for the musician Marshall Simmerson.”

“What? No way! I love his music!” I exclaimed. “Have you ever seen him live?”

“In Simcago? No, but I’d love to.”

“What he’s done for Simcago house music… he’s got sweet beats…”

“That he does,” Rob checked the time on his computer. “Say I’ve got about an hour before the ex’s time is up with Carrie. You wanna get outta here? I gotta walk Marshall.”

I glanced down at my phone briefly, frowning as I saw Joseph’s name flash across the screen. He texted that he felt bad, acted like a jerk, and wanted to make it up to me. He also felt horrible for leaving me behind. He offered to drive back into the city to get me if I was still there. I slid my phone back into my purse, smiled broadly, walked over, and pulled Rob up from his seat and linked arms.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

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Author Notes: Thanks for reading. This chapter featured InfraGreen’s/Trip’s Rob Buckley and Marshall (and a side glimpse of MINEZ‘ Siri Beaumont. FYI, I have no idea why Trip chose Marshall, but I decided since I have free reign with the characters to include a tie-in to a music artist since Rob is musically talented. Marshall Simmerson is my Simworld version of Marshall Jefferson, an American house music artist. I was thinking of this song while writing this chapter. Simcago is my Simworld version of Chicago. Joseph did text Lizzie and asked her out on a second date while she was conversing with Rob, ironically, but she chose to ignore it.