Page 34 of Between Love & Ruin

“But I told you I would pick you up. Why is that an issue now?” he asks, as if everything I just said went right over his pretty little head.

“Picking someone up doesn’t mean you park yourself here for an entire hour as if people wouldn’t notice Dominic Wolfe’s big, fancy car sitting outside a small bookstore. You do realize you get photographed even when you’re taking a shit, don’t you?”

He rolls his eyes, and I can’t believe that this big grown man has a pout like a child on his face.

“Now that is a big exaggeration,” he says as if he weren’t aware of the truth. He could be walking in a park, and he would still make the headlines of some magazine or tabloid. “But I get your point even though I don’t know why it should be a problem.”

“Dominic,” I say, seriously. “You are used to being photographed with people—women. But I don’t like my name linked to someone else. I have stayed away from the limelight even though my family is famous. So, yes, it is a problem to me.”

He looks at me, and I don’t know what realization settles over him, but he sighs, and I finally relax in my seat.

I don’t know what has me so worked up, but after a while, I noticed that the readers entering and leaving the store were starting to look suspiciously at his car. And I don’t even blame them. If I were in their place, I’d be suspicious too.

People love to gossip, and I am in no way above them.

I am already facing so many issues because of this whole arrangement with Mark, and even though I don’t care about his thoughts, the constant arguing and tension unsettles me.

The fact that he will be landing here tomorrow already has my stomach hollowing. I am dreading his arrival.

“Anyways, where to now?

He side-eyes me before tapping his driver—Roy’s—shoulder. “To the one on the left street, you know it.”

Roy only nods in return, and what fills the car is awkward silence I wish his annoying remarks could fill and it only makes me question myself further.

Why do I suddenly miss his stupid remarks?

* * *

“So what do you have planned today?” I ask, sweetness dripping from my voice as if I didn’t just yell at him a few minutes ago as we take a seat in a secluded corner at this small cafe.

I was confused when he stopped the car here because if you were walking by the buildings, you wouldn’t really notice it tucked inside the alleyway. But the ambiance inside is so different than what you would expect.

It is cozy and warm, and not many people are here, which is why I think he would have chosen this place. He took the farthest booth in the cafe, and I was so glad because I always like taking seats where people can’t notice me.

With Mark, we barely used to go out together, and when we did, he would take the first empty seat he could find, which was rarely what I would like.

Dominic narrows his eyes at me as if he can see right through my fake, honeyed tone, and I drop my smile.

Maybe I should do the one thing I truly hate doing: apologize to a man.

“Okay, I probably shouldn’t have yelled at you first thing in the afternoon. I could have worded my part properly without using that tone,” I say, waving my hand in the air as if that would let the tension out.

“Probably?” he asks, quirking an eyebrow, and I slightly feel the urge to roll my eyes.

I am not that great at apologizing, especially to a man.

“Don’t rub it in now. I said sorry,” I reason.

“No, you didn’t.” He shakes his head, pointing a finger at me. “But I’ll spare you the misery of admitting that wasn’t the best way to talk to me. Or anyone. I get that I could have put more thought into showing up so early to your workplace, but you yelling at me just turned my mistake into a you mistake.”

I nod. I am not the best at confronting people. I usually don’t get so worked up about things, but when I do, I just forget all the kindness and empathy in me.

“Now that we have established that you were wrong too,” I say, and he smiles, and I hate to acknowledge that he looks really good when he does that. “Can we go ahead with what we were here to do?”

“Before we dive deep into everything, I want to discuss with you what parts you want to keep from your manuscript in the movie and what parts you want to cut. We have to keep it to fit a two-hour timeline, and I would like to know from you what’s best before it gets converted into a screenplay.”

“You want my opinion? The honest one?”