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CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
By the time I had been through dinner, retrieving Kit each time a course arrived, I hoped that the rest of the patrons and people around us, Sarai included, would leave us be and let us talk, but in the gap between the main course and dessert, yet again, we were bombarded with people.
This time, they came up to Daniel and me—three women and a man I vaguely recognized with them.
“Lukas, tell me you remember us from the Christmas party on the Alexis project,” the first woman, a tall blonde, said. She had enormous heels on and was holding onto the arm of the woman next to her almost as if she couldn’t walk without aid.
“I remember,” I replied, not entirely sure I wanted to. The Alexis project had been fun, but these had been hangers-on in the client’s life, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to give them the opportunity to become the same in mine.
“Wasn’t that the project where you won a bunch of awards?” Daniel asked, getting up to acknowledge them. It forced Kit and me to do the same, and I pulled her chair out for her, hoping it would send a clear message to any of the women getting any ideas. I had to admit that having Kit around, even if shewas long-term after something similar, helped to keep the other sharks at bay.
If any of them thought she would be mine, none of them acted as if she was even there, although the third woman smiled up at Daniel, nearer to him than anyone else.
“I did win a few if I remember correctly,” I replied, everyone looking to me for an answer.
“You’re far too modest.” Daniel grinned at me, almost as if he was enjoying making me uncomfortable.
“Are you working on anything new and exciting?” The nearest woman came even closer, and for a moment, I feared that she would take my arm instead of her friend’s.
“He is,” Daniel continued to answer for me. “And it’s an amazing project. I’ve been promised a tour of it as soon as it’s done, but this lovely lady here, Kit, is the interior designer. She’s been telling me all about it. They’ve been doing the?—”
“The interior designer?” the middle woman interjected, staring at Kit as if she couldn’t believe Kit was able to fulfill that role. The tension in the air grew rapidly.
“Yes,” Kit replied, but the hesitation was clear in her voice. “I was asked to come on board by Sarai after she saw my UK work.”
There was a brief silence after she spoke where I hoped we would move on. I opened my mouth to ask what the women were up to and take the focus back off Kit. I knew Daniel had been trying to be kind, but Kit was shy, and these women were not the nicest.
“I’m surprised she took you on...” the woman spoke before I could, then very obviously looked Kit up and down. “You either have strange tastes in the UK, or you’re not exactly the sort of designer that understands our circles.”
It was so obviously catty and unkind that even the other two women didn’t know what to say.
“I assure you that Sarai is very happy with my work, and it speaks for itself,” Kit replied, lifting her chin, but the hurt was clear in her eyes, already welling up at the insult.
It only made the woman smile even more. Anger filled me, but again, I wasn’t the first to act.
“Excuse me. I think I’ve had enough of the company in here.” Kit walked off, almost pushing between Daniel and the third of the trio. It was easy to see her go, the majority of the rest of the customers finding their seats while she walked toward the door.
“Bernice, that was a little harsh, don’t you think?” the woman by Daniel said. “She might be new to our circles and not know the standards we have yet. You normally love a project.”
“That wasn’t a project. That was a train wreck.” She rolled her eyes, and I grew even angrier. As the woman beside me let go of Bernice and went to reach for my arm instead, I pulled out of the way and put my drink down.
“I think I need to be excused as well. If Kit is leaving this dinner, there is nothing keeping me here either.” I also stalked off, patting Daniel’s shoulder on the way past to let him know that I wasn’t angry at him at all. I strode through the center of the restaurant, drawing even more looks than Kit had, but I didn’t care.
I thought I heard my name being called a few times, but I ignored both and made my way outside, the doorman looking baffled as yet another person left early. I smiled and nodded at them, also not wanting the establishment to think they had done anything wrong. The cattiness of women was something I would never understand, but I had experienced it often enough to know that in these sorts of circles, it could spiral out of control.
Kit was just outside the door, her cell phone in her shaking hands as she tried to either call or message someone. Her head was down, and it was clear from her shoulders and the goosebumps across her skin that she was cold and crying.
Although I felt the nip in the air as well, I swept my jacket off in a hurry and slipped it around her shoulders from behind. She jumped at first, not having noticed me join her, but she soon turned her teary face away and tried to wipe the evidence of her upset away.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to hide your emotions from me,” I said. “I would have been hurt by that sort of comment, too. Sadly, I live a much more privileged life simply because of my gender and wealth, and no one would dare say that to me.”
Kit paused, still looking away from me but no longer trying to wipe the tears away so hurriedly.
I encouraged her to wrap my jacket around her a little better, noticing she was still shivering.
“Thank you,” she said. “Do you have a number for a taxi service? I’d like to leave, but my phone isn’t working out here, and I don’t have a car.”
“Do you definitely want to go home?” I asked as I gently encouraged her to lean into me for warmth as well.
