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The onions were soft and translucent. Sophie dumped a cup and a half of the arborio rice in the pan and stirred to coat. The directions said to add the wine a minute later. She did that and gave it a good stir.
“As the liquid is absorbed, you just add another half cup or so and give it a stir. Keep an eye on it though and turn the heat down or up if it’s getting absorbed too fast and sticking on the bottom of the pan,” Max said.
Sophie smiled. “You sound much better. Are you sure you don’t want a glass of wine? This chardonnay is really good.”
Max looked horrified at the thought. “I couldn’t be more sure. No wine for me tonight.”
She laughed, not surprised by his answer. “So, tell me about last night. Where did you guys go and why did you drink so much?” Max didn’t usually overdo it from what Sophie knew of him.
He sighed. “It started out as a fun night. A bunch of us met up at a bar in Brooklyn, had a few drinks and then got some food. As we were finishing up, a few of the guys were going to head home, two others wanted to head to another bar. I didn’t have any reason to rush home, so I went with them.” He paused for a moment and took a swig of his Gatorade.
“As we walked to the bar I got a text message from Millie saying she missed me and wanted to know if she could come over and if we could talk. It killed me to say no, but I did. And then spent the rest of the night obsessing over it with the guys and wondering if I’d made a huge mistake. That led to doing shots and staying out much too late.”
Sophie watched him closely. “Do you regret it? Not agreeing to see her and talk about it?” He still seemed pretty torn up about it.
But Max shook his head. “No. I woke up and felt calm about the whole thing, but last night I had doubts. The only reason to have her over and talk would be if I was open to getting back together. And I’m not. So, it didn’t feel like the right thing to do—for either of us. I didn’t want to lead her on or agree to something that I really don’t want.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“Yeah. She understands it even though she doesn’t like it. When we talked initially about this, I asked her if she planned to cut back on her travel. That was one of my main issues. I just didn’t see her enough and didn’t see that changing. And she said no. It won’t change. Not anytime soon. So, that settled it.”
“I’m sorry, Max. Breakups are hard.”
“Yeah, they are. But it’s all good.” He smiled. “Or it will be soon. You might want to add some broth to that.”
Sophie glanced at the risotto. It was looking a little dry on top with lots of holes that used to be bubbles. She scooped up some of the warm broth and added it. When she stirred the rice, her spoon stuck on the bottom, and she scraped it up and lowered the heat a little.
“So how was your day today, before you went grocery shopping?” Max asked.
“Oh, it was really good. I started training for a volunteer role at the Met and it was fun.”
“Your aunt used to love volunteering there. She would definitely approve.”
“Yeah, I think she would. I used to love going to the Met with her. I could stare at the paintings for hours.”
“Well, that sounds like the perfect volunteer job, then. The Met is a cool place. It’s been a few years since I’ve been. I should go again. I know they change up the exhibits all the time.”
“You really should. I’ll go with you anytime,” Sophie said. “Oh, and I got my first listing this week. I’m doing an open house for it tomorrow.”
“Cool, tell me all about it.”
She did and when she finished describing the co-op, he agreed that it sounded like a great listing.
“Tessa had a rough week.” She told him about her sale falling apart and the co-op board rejecting her buyer.
“That stinks. Co-op boards can be brutal like that. Really petty if they just don’t like someone. Those deals always take longer to close too as the co-op approval process can drag on. My mother was on the board here and she told me some stories over the years,” Max said.
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the co-op board on my listing is nicer!” Sophie laughed as she added more broth to the risotto and gave it a stir.
“I hope you have beginner’s luck and sell it super fast. Maybe the perfect buyer will come to your open house tomorrow,” Max said.
“Thanks. That would be awesome. I’m not counting on it. Did you know something like only three percent of sales come from open houses? But it is a great way to find buyers for other houses. If I get a buyer at all tomorrow, I’ll be thrilled.”
“Maybe I’ll stop by and check it out. I have nothing going on tomorrow.”
“If you could, that would be great. The more people that come, the better and I’d love your opinion once you see it.”
“Will do. You might want to add your mushrooms now, give them a little time to cook down,” Max suggested.
