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Heath stands, and it seems this interview is over now. He holds a hand out, and his game face smile is back on. “Anna, Phil, thank you so much for your time.”
I get the feeling he’s highly annoyed with me. I don’t like how that sits in my chest. Like it’s too tight, and I want to go back to when he was feeding me mini tarts on the fire escape the night before.
He packs up and before I know it I’m walking down the street, the ocean to one side. We’re making our way back to the train. He’s walking ahead of me, his long legs eating the distance.
I can’t keep up with him without jogging, and I’m not going to do that. I can find my own way back if he’s butthurt and won’t talk about it.
I’m butthurt, too.
I find a bench and sit while he gets farther from me.
We’re not friends. We barely know each other. Sure he kissed me, but we’re on proper footing now and this feels better, honestly. For a couple of hours there I thought he was beyond human annoyance. I’m really good at annoying people. It’s how I get things done, but it also means I don’t have a ton of men rushing to spend time with me.
I wonder how much the tacos cost around here. It’s lunchtime, and I don’t do well when I’m hangry.
“Ivy?”
I look up and he’s staring down at me. He moves so he’s blocking the sun and I can see him. Yep. There it is. Pure annoyance. This feels familiar, and I know how to deal with it. “I’m fine. You can head back to the city. I’ll take the next train.”
He frowns down at me. “What is going on with you?”
With me? Yes, this feels far more familiar to me than his nice-guy routine. “You’re the one who was practically running away. I don’t jog, Heath. And I don’t have long legs, so if you want me to keep up with you, you need to slow down. Isn’t that compromise?”
“I thought you didn’t do that,” he counters.
“I don’t often, hence me finding this nice bench and letting you continue on your way,” I reply. “We should meet again tomorrow. I’ll have some résumés for you to look over. I want to hire the coders by the end of the week.”
He’s quiet for a moment, and then he shifts that big body of his, sitting on the bench beside me. “All right. I’m sorry. I was upset, and I didn’t think about you.”
“Oh, I think you were definitely thinking about me.”
“Maybe.” He settles his bag beside him and turns my way. “I hoped that showing you my methods would warm you up to the idea of matchmaking. Instead you accused me of setting up a domestic violence victim ring.”
That’s taking it a bit far. “I pointed out what I thought might be a flaw in the system. I thought that was what I’m here for. If you want to work in a bubble, don’t take on a partner.”
“You said it in front of friends of my grandmother,” he points out. “And I’ve already got a solution. Like Anna said, an AI is probably going to be better at picking up red flags then letting a human vet an applicant. That’s all anyone can do.”
He’s right about that. But it’s one more layer of additional cost that makes my case for selling it as a restaurant app. He’s not ready to hear that yet. “I’m sorry. I will hold my comments for private from now on.”
He’s not done with me. “You were very cold, and I don’t get the feeling you got anything out of Anna and Phil’s story except you think they’re some old couple who don’t have any meaning in the world today.”
“That’s not true.” I don’t mean to be cold. “They seem lovely, but I guess I don’t understand them. They talk about compromise, but I think that just means everyone loses.” Never compromise is one of CeCe’s highest laws of business. She doesn’t mean minor things. Of course there will always be negotiations, but on the big things there’s no room for anything beyond one’s personal vision. That’s where I screwed up with Nick. I let him wear me down to the point I was willing to do anything not to fight anymore.
“It’s not about winning. Not in a relationship. Where would you get that?” Heath seems genuinely confused, and I wonder if he’d spent his childhood in some Disney film.
“From life. I don’t know. I guess I didn’t grow up around a bunch of happy families. My dad died before I could start processing what their marriage was like. Anika’s parents divorced when we were in junior high, and let me tell you they fought before the divorce, but it was all-out war after. She got shipped back and forth like a prize of battle. You know about Harper’s family.”
