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“What about you?” I ask.
He takes a hand out of his tailored black slacks and scrubs it across his jaw as if he’s contemplating answering my question.
“Not much to tell. I knew I was going to take over the company well before I knew what college I would attend. It all happened as planned for me, just on a more accelerated path than expected.”
“Because your father passed,” I hesitantly offer.
“Yeah. Had he not have, I would only be in a vice president role right now, not the president and CEO.”
I get the sense that there’s more to say, but I’m not sure this is a safe topic. But I’m a slightly impatient person and eager to learn more about him.
“Do you enjoy your job, Theo?”
He doesn’t skip a beat. “I do. It’s my life.”
I look away from him and understand the meaning of his words. If it wasn’t obvious before that he’s a workaholic, it is now. I see the HEA building up ahead. Our conversation has nearly come to an end. We walk in silence for a few more moments as we come up to the corner of the street and wait for the crosswalk light to signal it’s safe to cross.
“Well, this is me up here.” I point across the street to the massive brick building.
He lets out a low whistle. “That’s prime real estate.”
Chuckling, I agree with him. “Ruth, Layla’s grandmother, she matched the man who owned the building back in the eighties. It was way out of our budget, but we wanted to look at it anyway. Ruth called him up and talked to him about it and he offered to rent it to us for a few years and then he sold it to us below market price two years ago.”
“That’s… odd,” he replies as we cross the street.
“I don’t disagree with you, but Ruth matched this guy to the love of his life. They just celebrated forty years last month.”
“Well, I guess it boils down to who you know,” he mutters.
“Or maybe it’s what you’ll do for love,” I counter and he shakes his head in disagreement. I laugh at his response.
“There’s the café I told you about.” I point to the big storefront window etched in white that says Sweet Wave in a decorative font. “Best one around. Beats Starbucks any day.”
“Nice.”
“The manager, Hazel, she’s wonderful. We get a building discount, which is nice because I think everyone in our office visits the café at least once a day.
“We have a café in our building. Though I doubt it’s as…” he trails off as he opens the door for me, taking in the space before us.
“Cozy?” I offer.
“Yeah, that,” he mumbles.
We walk up to the counter and place an order. A peach ice tea for me and a boring, black coffee for him.
“Do you like lemon?” I ask him and he nods, so I add a lemon bar to go.
Before he can pull out his wallet, I tap my card on the reader and smirk up at him.
“How… where… I didn’t even see you get it out of your purse,” he stammers.
“I’ve got the ninja skills, my friend.” I slowly open my phone case and slide my card inside the velvet holder. His brow narrows, but he nods.
Our drinks are done quickly and I take a second to say hey to Hazel as she places fresh sweets in the display. She bags up a lemon bar but adds a decadent fudge brownie to the bag and winks at me when I tell her it’s not for me.
“Well, here you go.” I hand him the small bag.
“You bought me sweets?” he says suspiciously as he carefully takes the bag from me.
