AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, he may spend most of his time in the kitchen, but Li was definitely involved in the interior design side of things,” I reply, smiling.
The restaurant is a rooftop gemstone, with six different rooms and a sprawling terrace overlooking the city’s glimmering lights. There are potted bamboo plants everywhere, and traditionally handcrafted paper lanterns hanging from the white ceiling. There are elegant screen doors separating the different rooms, each of these spaces designed to hold different functions—from romantic dinners for two to entire family gatherings and business meetings. Naturally, the table service and menus are also somewhat different.
“It’s busy,” Becky says as we’re guided out onto the terrace. It’s perfect at this hour because we’ve got a full view of a clear skyline. Most of the tables are occupied, yes, the music is a little loud, and some of the patrons laugh a lot, but I like it. “How’d you get reservations? My sisters tried to come here a couple of times but they could never get a table. Oh, right.” She pauses and grins coolly. “You know a guy.”
“I knowtheguy,” I reply.
We’re seated at a table closer to the terrace edge, guarded by tall bamboo stalks that grow wide enough apart to give us a good view. We’re also far enough from the outdoor speakers that the music doesn’t bother me like it did when we first came in.
Once the first course is brought over and we get to savor a gorgeous variety of steamed and fried dumplings, our conversation wades into slightly spicier territory, mostly because I can’t help myself any longer. She awakens these feelings inside me that I never thought possible, and I’m equal parts curious and worried as to where it might lead.
“Becky, tell me something. Ever since you had Elliot… have you met other guys? You know, like… on dates?”
She pauses, gingerly setting her chopsticks aside to carefully analyze my expression. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I would genuinely like to get to know you better,” I say.
“Why, though? We’re just working together.”
“Are we? Just working together?” I reply, my tone sterner than intended.
Her shoulders drop slowly. “I… I’m not sure anymore.”
“So, tell me.”
“I’ve been on dates, but that’s about it. I haven’t found anyone that might… you know, entice me the way a man should. It’s probably because I’ve given Elliot so much of my love and my energy, I’ve scarcely had anything left for anybody else. Not for lack of trying, mind you, but it’s just the way it’s been…”
I nod slowly. “I see. It makes sense.”
“And frankly, I haven’t felt that attractive, either. Not with a kid in tow. I mean, who’s gonna want what I’m offering, huh?” She chuckles nervously, and I’m stunned by how she sees things. It damn near breaks my heart.
“Anyone who doesn’t see what an amazing woman you are is an idiot and certainly doesn’t deserve you, Becky,” I reply. “Most men would cut off their right arm for the chance to be with you, kid or no kid. If anything, I think Elliot is a brilliant filter for keeping the trash out of your life.”
“I guess good men are harder to find,” she says, giving me a timid look.
I lean closer. “I should tell you a secret.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t think I’m a good man.”
It makes her laugh. “That’s not true. I mean,Ithink you’re a good man…”
“These past few weeks have shown me how skewed my morals have become,” I tell her. “A good man doesn’t hire a woman and her child to support a lie in order to get the most out of a business sale without ruining his reputation. Because really… that’s what this is all about, Becky.”
“I know.” She sighs deeply. “At least to you, that’s what this is all about. Yet to everyone else working in the company that you built from the ground up, it’s a huge step in a different direction. I’m not doing this just for the money. I’m doing it to make sure I’m left to work in a company that I will enjoy working in, and your attachment to John Douglas-Mackie makes me think he’s the kind of guy you want leading HeartMatch in the future, otherwise you wouldn’t have gone to this much trouble. Therefore, whatever your motivation is, Todd, it’s only yours. Mine is mine, yet both work very well together.”
I can’t stop myself from smiling as I gaze upon her beautiful face. She has a way of leaving me speechless sometimes. Thoughts come out of her, thoughts that so perfectly match mine—not in a sense of similarity but rather completion. More often than not, we like or hate the same thing but for different reasons, and so we work together better than either of us had figured would be possible. This is one such moment where her presence in this entire mission with John Douglas-Mackie catches a whole new meaning.
“I did meet someone through the beta version of the app,” I say, deciding to tell her something I’ve kept mostly to myself in recent years. She deserves to know this, to understand that I didn’t pull the lie entirely out of my mind. There was always a tiny seed of truth to it. “A woman I liked a lot. A woman I actually fell for.”
“Oh…”
“Yeah. It didn’t last all that long, but it was beautiful and intense. I ended up breaking my own heart and damn near dismantling the entire app as a result.”
The words come out with such grief and pain, I had almost forgotten how badly the whole affair actually hurt. That’s the one thing I can’t help but love about Becky; she has a way of pushing all the bad stuff to the side, of soothing my heart and my nerves, of making my whole world better just by being here. These are new facets of my feelings that I’m seeing, and I don’t yet know how to manage the constant changes in our dynamic… I just know that she deserves to know everything about me.
Maybe she will understand.
