“Also, if we are going to be dating while I’m here, wouldn’t it be better for me to work with someone else, so we leave the personal stuff outside of Morgan?”
“Here we go.” The waiter placed the cocktails on the table and told us to take our time looking over the menu.
“I guess you could be right about it being good for you to be working with someone else. What do you mean ‘while you’re here?’” He sipped his cocktail and waited for me to reply.
A full minute later, I broke. “My sublet ends next week. I’ve emailed for a two-week extension, but she’ll be returning from Australia. She’s going to want her place back.”
“So, we need to find you a place. I have a few ideas–”
“I need to find a place that I can afford. Until then, I’ll return to Michigan. Alan suggested that I start looking next August, and I can work from there until we get closer to the opening date.”
“August? Michigan?” His unhappy face morphed into full-on disbelief. “First, that won’t work. This is why I should probably be on this project, at the very least. Second, why would you wait a year to move to the city when–”
I tilted my head when he stopped so abruptly. When he didn’t continue, I did. “Alan said I’m not going to be needed until September.”
“Alan is a fucking idiot. Does Graham know you are thinking about waiting until next year to move here?”
“I don’t know if he and Alan have discussed it, but–”
He hit the table, “I can guarantee he has no idea that you are even thinking about returning to Michigan. This is not how I saw this date going.” He mumbled to himself.
“How did you see the date going?”
“For starters, I was going to tell you that I was all-in.”
I shrugged, “So, we’re playing poker now?”
“All-in. You and me. I want to see where this is going, and to do that, I want to go all-in.”
“You were going to tell me that this morning?”
Any of his lingering anger drained from his face as he broke out in laughter. “Yes. That was the point of the text message.”
“The ‘please delete me from your life’ text?” I crossed my arms.
“That text was meant for all the other females in my contact list except you. Yes, I wanted to ask you if you’d be interested in dating me.”
“So, what’s changed?”
“The definite glee as you discussed returning to Michigan for a year. It doesn’t sound like you want to be here. I know you didn’t think Graham was going to be interested in your chain of coffee shops–”
“It was–”
“One. I know. We all know. Get over that.” I mouthed ‘one,’ and he continued, “You still aren’t speaking in terms of living in the City. Yet, you’ve signed the contract, so I guess what has changed is the fact you are leaving in–”
“Two weeks.”
“You’re leaving in two weeks?”
The waiter approached the table with a smile, only to be greeted with Anderson growling at him to give us more time. I mouthed ‘sorry,’ but he just nodded and returned to the back.
“Be nice.”
“You too.” He snapped and swallowed the rest of his drink.
“Anderson, this may come as a surprise, but I can’t afford to live in the city without a job. Also, I have to give notice to my job and settle my house.”
He raised his empty glass, then slowly placed it back on the table. “Money isn’t an issue.”
“Well, unfortunately, money is almost always the issue. So, yes, I will leave in two weeks. I would very much enjoy spending time with you while I’m here. If you’re still interested.”
I reached for his hand. My fingers attempted to wrap around his before he snatched them away. He looked around as he sat back in his chair.
“I’m so sorry.” The humiliation took over as I placed both of my hands in my lap.
“No problem.” His tone turned cold. I watched him flip the menu open. “Do you know what you want to eat?”
30
Jurnee
“Anderson is waiting for you by the hotdog vendor.” Markus pointed as the car came to a stop.
I opened the door and jumped out before Markus had a chance to get out of the car to open my door. “Thank you, Markus.”
I heard him grumbling something as I closed the car door. Soraya told me I was supposed to wait for the door to be opened for me. There was no point if he was double-parked outside Central