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“Write about that. Write what you love and everyone will love what you write,” I said.
“Wow, that’s one heck of an Irish proverb you got there, but I like it. Thank you for the pep talk.”
“Pep talk? That was just me telling you how I feel or what I think you should do. Take the advice or don’t, it’s up to you. Whatever you do, I’m rooting for you.”
“Thanks,” she said.
Chapter 14
Hope
Mac and I talked late into the night at McCarthy’s, and it was only because Mac had to work the next day that we even left at my urging. We were having such a wonderful time that we didn’t want it to end. The whole evening had been incredible, but the best part had been sitting next to him at the bar and talking. I knew some things about him, it was impossible to live in New York and not know at least something about the Bennett children. But it was different hearing him tell me stories of his childhood, of his brothers and sister. I thought I knew the type of man that he was but sitting there having a drink or three with him, I realized I had no clue.
He opened up to me in a way that I had never seen. Then again, I had never been on a date with him. All my previous encounters had been when he was my mentor or at a charity function. I could see now that he put on a certain face, gave a certain look about himself to the rest of the world, one he wanted everyone else to see and think was him but wasn’t who he was, not by a long shot.
I had known he was kind, sweet, and friendly, but I hadn’t counted on him being so funny, so easy to laugh at himself, or to be such a good storyteller. I could have sat with him for hours listening to him. Yet, he didn’t dominate the conversation, it was more like he did everything he could to make sure I talked more than he did. He turned the conversation back to me as often as he could.
He had done it a few times when we had met at The East, but I thought he was just being nice. I soon saw it was just one of those things he did. I wasn’t sure if it was a defense mechanism or that he just liked hearing other people’s stories over his own, or what. It was refreshing to have a man who wanted to hear about me and didn’t try to dominate the conversation, but it was also a bit frustrating as I wanted to know more about him.
It wasn’t as frustrating as the man walking me to my door, telling me he had a wonderful evening, and giving me a nod before walking away from me. I had been so dumbfounded, because I thought for sure he would kiss me, that it took me a few moments to recover. By the time I had, he was gone.
I was still thinking about it when Faith called me the next morning to see how things had gone.
“He didn’t kiss me,” I said instead of saying hello.
“Well, good morning to you too. I take it the evening went well, or not? I'm not sure how to take that comment,” Faith said.
“The evening was great. Incredible. He’s incredible. It was probably the best date I’ve ever been on. But-”
“He didn’t kiss you at the end of the night and you wanted him to,” she finished for me.
“Yes.”
“Why don’t you start from the beginning.”
I sat down on my couch and told her about the whole night, from going to the play, the paparazzi being there and him kissing my hand, to going to McCarthy’s and how the evening went from there. I ended with Mac leaving me at my front door.
“He’s a gentleman and a businessman. Part of this was a business transaction. Before you get all upset, hear me out. The man asked you out, and you agreed to go out with him to take the pressure off his brother. To help deflect another scandal in the family. To him, on some level, he had to think of it as he was doing something for his family, for his brother, and had to stay a little detached.”
“It didn’t feel that way when we were together,” I admitted,
“Which is a good thing. I always thought the man had a bit of a crush on you and the fact that he didn’t kiss you at the end of the night only goes to show that he does.”
“I’m not following.”
“The man cares about you enough to not kiss you. He wants to make sure that there’s nothing between you but the two of you when he does. I think he wants to and he will, soon, or as soon as everything with his brother settles down”
“You think so?”
Faith’s words were making me feel better. I thought for sure the man hadn’t kissed me because he didn’t want to. Maybe Faith was right.
“Yes, and by the pictures that are all over social media of you two this morning, I think you’ve more than accomplished your goal. No one is talking about, much less thinking about, JD and Lizbeth. You and Mac are the new Bennett It couple.”
“Great. Mission accomplished. Now, he won’t have any reason to see me,” I said with a sigh.
“He won’t have to see you because of his brother. He will now want to see you without anything hanging over his head.”
“Or he’ll just say thank you very much for all your help and we’ll go our separate ways,” I said.
