but maybe Aaron wanted to be around for official things like signatures.
“Yeah, sure,” I said. I extended a pen to Miles. “It’s marked where you need to sign.”
“I’ll do it,” Aaron said. “I’m the authorized signatory since this is running through Miles’s S-corp.”
“Right,” I said, handing the pen to him instead.
He pulled up a chair and scrawled his signature on the designated lines. “We good?” he asked, tossing the pen on the table.
“We’re good,” I said. I picked up the pen and added my own signatures, trying to figure out why I felt deflated.
“All right, good to see you, Elle.” He said it like he might say it to his mail carrier or grocery store cashier. Without sincerity, like he barely registered my existence. “I’m meeting Tami and her friends for drinks. You coming?” he asked Miles.
I had never heard of Tami or her friends before this, but I knew I hated them.
“No, thanks,” Miles said. “I’m going to stay in, maybe spend some time in the studio.”
Actually, Tami was probably a perfectly lovely person.
“Catch you later.” Aaron walked out without a backward glance.
I cleared my throat and gathered up the papers, tapping their sides to get them into a neat pile. “That’s it. We’re no longer agent and client but landlord and tenant.”
“Do I call you now when something is broken and that’s it?” He sounded kind of sad.
“No calls until your check clears,” I joked. “But yeah, that’s about it.”
He nodded and looked around the room, still fully Miss Mary’s with her art and pictures on the wall. “Doesn’t seem right not to have your input. You’re like a guardian angel for this building or something. Can I still get your opinion now and then, or am I crossing the line?”
I should say no. I should say not to call me. To leave me out of it entirely. I was on the verge of getting all the distance I needed from him.
And I didn’t want it.
Which...
“I’m crossing the line,” he said, the tips of his ears turning red. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have put you on the spot like that. I’m sure most of your clients don’t do that to you. Chalk it up to celebrity entitlement.”
“It’s fine. You can call.” Judging from his expression, I’d surprised us both by saying it.
“Yeah?” His voice was soft.
“Yeah.” It was the fact that he didn’t sound entitled at all, more nervous about taking over. I’d probably feel better knowing I had some say in the renovations happening beneath me anyway.
“Okay, thanks.”
It wouldn’t be a big deal. I could handle a phone call now and then asking questions about interiors, or maybe a text with a flooring choice.
And that was how it went at first. He’d text a picture of flooring samples, and I picked the warm, dark wood because it reminded me of the floor in the Ruby Slipper Café where my family did brunch on the first Sunday of every month. The following week, it was pictures of table and chair options. And somehow, before I knew how it had happened, within a month, he was picking me up to take me on appointments at the high-end antiques stores on Royal Street while he looked for bar and bathroom fixtures, or out to tile warehouses on Jefferson Highway so he could get my opinion on stuff.
One night, I came home around eight to an amused look from Chloe.
“What?” I asked as she folded her arms and grinned at me when I walked in.
“Where were you?” she asked.
“River Oaks.” It was a newer brew pub and Miles had asked me to go with him to see if their chef was any good.
“With Miles?”
“Yeah.”
She grinned. “You’re dating.”
I drew my head back like I’d smelled something bad. “We’re not dating.”
“He takes you places and buys you meals and you spend two to three days a week together. You’re dating.”
“You’re high,” I said. “He’s getting my professional opinion on stuff.”
“So you guys only talk about business, nothing else?”
“Yes.” Except...no. Our conversations ranged all over the place. About his neighborhood growing up, his siblings, his family. About what it had been like in Hollywood. He’d asked me questions about college and work and growing up in the Bywater. But that was normal small talk.
“I don’t believe you.”
I couldn’t argue because she was right about having non-business conversations. But it wasn’t what she thought. “I think I’d know if I was dating someone.”
“Yeah? What would be different with Miles that is not happening right now?”