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can’t make dinner either,” I said bluntly. “Sorry about that.”
    “Oh. Okay. What did you have in mind then?”
    “I thought we might go to the zoo.” This was a bit of a test. If she rejected me outright, I needed to move on. If she didn’t want to go to the zoo, I didn’t want to be with her anyway. She was a drag.
    “The zoo?” she asked like she didn’t understand me. “Is that a club?”
    “No, love. A zoo with animals. Singapore has a night zoo.”
    There was silence on the other end, but finally, a chuckle came over the line. “Okay. That sounds fun. When do you want to go?”
    “My dinner ends early. What about yours?”
    “Mine will too. My body clock is out of whack from the time change.”
    “Eight o’clock then. We’ll take a taxi. Where should I pick you up?” I asked.
    “I’m at the Four Seasons.”
    “Brilliant. I’ll see you in the lobby at eight. Cheers.”

    Later that night, I walked into the Four Seasons and looked for Allison. She sat on one of the sumptuous chairs of the posh lobby, staring at her phone. As I made my way over to her, she glanced up and a smile spread across her face. My smile grew as well when she stood and I saw the cute little sundress she was wearing. Thank God for being so close the equator. You simply couldn’t wear very many clothes.
    “Hello, love. You’re a beautiful sight after a long day at work.”
    “Thanks. It’s good to see you too.”
    She patted her hair, which was up again. Why was she so self-conscious? Guilt? Embarrassment? Regardless, I gestured toward the door. “Shall we?”
    In the taxi, we chatted about our workdays, though she wouldn’t go into any details about her meetings. When she demurred twice from elaborating on some of her meetings, I had to say, “I think human resources is the perfect job for you.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “You are amazingly discreet. I can’t imagine that all of your meetings were boring trainings. There has to be some juicy office drama.”
    “In this office? Not so much. In our European offices, it can be so hard to keep people in line.” She then turned her whole body to me and asked directly, “Tell me. Why do men chase women in the office? It’s such a stupid move.”
    “Why are you asking me?” I pointed to myself.
    She laughed. “I thought you might know something of it.”
    “No more than you. I rarely date women I work with and certainly never anyone in my department. It’s not good for business.” She’d opened the door to the topic. It seemed like as good a time as any to bring it up. “Why don’t you ask Trey?”
    “Trey?” She seemed baffled. “Why him?”
    “Well, I’m guessing he chased you, love.”
    “No, not really. We met through mutual friends. We’re in very different spheres of the company.” She glanced out the window and then back at me. “And Trey would never be with anyone in his department let alone his chain of command. He’s told me that several times.”
    “That’s smart.” What else was I going to say? I didn’t believe old Trey for a second. Back when he started out, he could’ve banged every secretary on his floor, including his own, and no one would’ve cared at all.
    When we arrived at the zoo, we started off on the tram tour, but that soon got boring, and I didn’t like being with all the tourists. It was much more fun when we began to leisurely stroll through the exhibits. She was amazed. “This is fascinating. I’ve never been to a zoo with the animals so active. Have you been here before?”
    “I have. I came here with Natalie once.”
    “Natalie the flight attendant.”
    “Yup.”
    “Huh.”
    You could see the wheels working in her brain trying to figure out what was going on with Natalie and me. I thought it over, and there was really nothing wrong about her knowing.
    “Natalie and I have been friends for a while. She’s getting married now. Harold or something. He’s a pilot.”
    “Oh,” she said, her lips