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The look he gives me almost makes me burst out laughing, but then I remember what time it is. “I’m so sorry, Teddy. Time just got away from me. I hope dinner isn’t ruined.”
“You don’t have to explain anything to me, Miss Luna.”
He quickly makes himself scarce, and I drop my bag on the foyer table and make my way into the dining room.
Kingsley is sitting at the table, which is set for two, arms folded as he stares straight ahead. Not holding his phone, not reading the paper… just staring.
I sit and pull the napkin into my lap without a word.
I’m not going to be the first one to break the silence. He wants to be quiet? Then so can I. I just spent five hours with my friends, and I’m all talked out.
We can both play this game.
Theodore brings the food out and we eat in silence, but whatever magic was in the cassoulet that first night is gone. The food just tastes like cardboard in my mouth.
Kingsley finishes his meal and empties his water glass. After his ritual mouth wiping, he gets up from the table. “Excuse me, I have some work to do. I’ll be going into the office tomorrow.Since it’s Saturday, I suggest you take the day off. It seems like you might need it.”
“Fine.”
He pauses before leaving. “Also, please apologize to Theodore for being late to dinner. He works hard to stay on a schedule, and the least you can do is apologize.”
I stand up fast. “I did apologize to him. And unlike you, Theodore seems to understand that accidents happen.”
“I do understand.”
“Doesn’t seem like it.”
“You’re assuming you know how I feel?”
He’s so infuriating. “You’ve made it pretty known.”
“How?”
“By not saying a fucking word since I got home,” I hiss.
“That’s normal, Luna.”
“No, Kingsley, it’s not. It’s not normal to have an entire meal and not say a word the whole time. But maybe you just don’t know what normal is. Like it’s not normal to be fucking tw—”
I stop.
His eyes wash over me, stone cold. “What? What is it not normal to do? Please enlighten me, since you obviously have an opinion on such things.”
“Just go do your work, Kingsley, so I can enjoy the rest of my chicken in silence.”
“It’s duck. We have duck on Fridays—”
“That!” I yell so loudly my throat burns. But it could be for another reason. “That is not normal, Kingsley! Being so regimented. Don’t you get sick of being so… in control all the time? I would tell you to loosen up a bit, but I guess that’s not really your problem, is it? Maybe this is all actually just an act for how loose you can actually get.”
I can almost see him counting down from five in his head before he says, as calmly as he can, “If you wanna say something,Luna, then spit it out. I told you, I don’t do sulking and I don’t do cryptic.”
“Fine! I’m talking about you being such an efficient businessman and fitting in not one but two visits to women in your lunch hour. But my real question is, you couldn’t give them two different gifts? What’s the good of being a billionaire if you can’t give your girlfriends gifts that didn’t come right off a‘least original gifts ever’Buzzfeed list.” I look at him, not being able to hold back the disgust. “Come on, Kingsley, I think you’re a lot of things, but unoriginal isn’t one of them.”
His chest heaves one, two, three big breaths, and his eyes flash hot and then freeze ice cold. And when he speaks, his words condense on my skin, layering like icicles all over every inch of my body. “I’m going to give you ten seconds to apologize to me, and then we’re never ever going to talk about this again.”
I meet his iceberg gaze with one of my own. “I told you, I’ve already apologized to the one person I need to apologize to, Kingsley. What in the world do you think I need to apologize to you about?”
“For accusing me of what you think I did.”
