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“Yes to the age part, and unsure about the divorced part, but I honestly don’t think it would matter to her.” I reached over and gave his leg a reassuring pat, absolutely not noticing how firm his thigh felt under my hand. “Don’t stress. You can date someone without marrying them, and Max is a serial dater. If you want to worry about anyone, worry about Richard.”
“Greer had a lot to say about Max. It sounds like your friend won over everyone at the table last night except your sister. Greer’s already making plans with her to go skiing this winter.”
“That’s Max for you; she’s never met a stranger,” I responded tightly, trying to soothe the flames of irrational jealousy that had been ignited at hearing Greer’s name. Just then, my phone dinged with a text telling me my order was ready to be picked up. I held my phone up. “My order’s ready. I’ll be right back.”
I unbuckled my seat belt and swung open the door, stepping out into the humid night air. Hurrying the short distance from the car to the door, I opened it to a blast of cool air and so many good smells.
“Sutton!” Mrs. Huang greeted me with a wide smile, coming around the counter to give me a hug. “William! Sutton is here!”
The door to the kitchen burst open and Mr. Huang hustled through, arms flung wide. “How is our girl?” He pulled me into his arms for a quick hug. “You look tired.”
I laughed, slightly concerned that this was the second person who’d pointed that out. I must have looked haggard.
“I am very tired. There was a big problem at work, and I’m just now heading home.” They both frowned, then proceeded to chastise me for eating so late. Their lecture would have made any Southern mama proud. They would have kept going if I hadn’t escaped by telling them I had someone waiting for me in the car outside.
As soon as I was back in the car, I rifled through the bag until I found the egg rolls. I held one out to Holden, who was looking at me curiously.
“Here, you have to eat an egg roll. They’re a spiritual experience.” He took it from my hand as I pulled a napkin from the bag and handed that over, too. I watched intently as he took a bite.
“Holy shit,” Holden exclaimed, mouth still half-full. “What is in this?”
“Crack,” I joked, laughing when he stopped chewing. “I’m kidding! They use a lot of organic, locally grown produce that I swear makes everything taste better. Not bad for a health-code violation in a strip mall, huh?”
“This might be one of the best things I’ve ever eaten,” he confessed, taking another bite.
“Wow, high praise from someone who grew up with a personal chef.”
His look could have killed a lesser individual, but I wasn’t intimidated at all.
“The chef only came on Wednesdays,” he muttered.
I laughed when I caught the muscle in his cheek twitching, thrilled by this small display of humor over egg rolls in a strip mall parking lot.
Holden finished the last bite of his egg roll and shifted the car into drive. The trip to my apartment took less than five minutes. He pulled the car around the lot, coming to a stop at the curb by the entrance, and I was surprised to find that I was disappointed at the thought of him dropping me off.
“Did you want to come up for a bit?” I asked, horrified that my brain-to-mouth filter had crapped out on me.
Holden shook his head, half his face hidden by shadows. “As much as I hate to miss out on seeing the guinea pigs, you need to sleep.”
My disappointment vanished, only to be replaced by something that closely resembled joy.
“Thank you again for everything. I feel like I’m always thanking you.” I shot him a weak smile, feeling genuine guilt about all he had done for me over the past few days.
“You don’t need to thank me for taking care of you, Sutton.”
One day, I vowed to myself, I would be brave enough to ask him why he wanted to take care of me, especially when I hadn’t exactly been nice when we’d met. Or met again. But tonight, I was too physically and mentally exhausted to work up that kind of courage, so I told him goodnight and got out of the car. I felt him watching me until I stepped into the elevator and the doors closed.
When I finally crawled into bed in the early hours of the morning and closed my eyes, I saw lines of code scrolling across my eyelids. The last thought I had before sleep tugged me under was that I wish Holden was here with me.
26
The next three weeks were a blur, punctuated with bright moments from the most unexpected of places. I had easily been working twelve-hour days, trying to split my time between working at the office and home. My insomnia had returned in full force, and I was almost thankful for the extra hours to work. I was actually proud that I made myself take the time to shower every day, although the amount of hair I lost with each shower was concerning. A couple more weeks of this and I would be bald. I hadn’t even realized how worn down I looked — everyone at the OmegaVs office looked as bad as I did, which it made it hard to gauge my own appearance — until Holden showed up on a random afternoon with a caramel macchiato and a bear claw.
He hadn’t been able to keep the surprise and concern off his face, and my efforts to reassure him that I was fine had not worked. To be fair, I had put on two different shoes that morning, and my sweater had multiple coffee stains on it. But what had really sealed my fate was when he’d asked what time I had last eaten, and I had to ask him what day it was before taking a solid three minutes to answer. Since that morning, Holden had been appearing so often that Harold didn’t even call to ask if it was okay to send him up anymore. Even worse, I caught myself checking the clock regularly to see if it was time for his delivery yet — not because I wanted food and coffee, but because I wanted to see Holden.
It wasn’t just the daily coffee deliveries either. He brought me meals or had them delivered, always including extra for Max and Jin. By the second week, they might have been more than a little in love with Holden. My own heart was also losing the battle to not love him. As if it wasn’t amazing enough that he so generously looked after me, he put so much thought into it. He made the effort to remember my likes and dislikes, and found ways to surprise me with new things he thought I would like.
The final straw for my poor heart had come on Thursday of the second week. I needed to go to the store to get food for the squeak squad, but I was so tired and stressed that just the idea of taking the extra time to go to the grocery store literally brought me to tears. Holden had called mid-sniffle, and demanded to know what had happened. Less than an hour later, he was at my desk asking for the key to my apartment. I was too tired to argue with him, especially because I would have bet my life he wasn’t about to steal my TV or my underpants.
