Chapter 20
chapter twenty
tom
“How bad did you piss him off?”
I looked down at Priya, who was sitting like the Madonna with her new baby in her arms, before turning to roll my eyes at Sanjay.
“How did you already tell her about last night? I told you three minutes ago.”
I’d come over to Sanjay and Priya’s for lunch after Camilo went over to his mom’s house. Henock was there too and wanted to know how things had gone with Camilo’s mom. I’d only been here for ten minutes, and in that time Sanjay had somehow ratted me out to Priya.
He held his hands up in defeat. “She asked how the show went, when I brought her the tea.”
“So you told her how I fucked up with Camilo instead? You were up here for like thirty seconds!”
Priya just looked on quietly, seemingly having a hell of a time watching us argue. When she finally spoke, I could tell she was barely containing a laugh.
“He didn’t need to say anything. He told me with his eyes.” Henock and Sanjay bit back grins while I rolled my eyes at this bald-faced lie, then spilled my guts anyway because she had the same effect on all three of us.
“For your information, we resolved the issue last night. He was upset because I bought tickets for him and his mom, so they could sit with me. And I get they already had tickets and it was a bit presumptuous of me to just get other ones.” I felt like I wanted to hang my head for the next part but resisted.
I hadn’t built a billion-dollar company from nothing by cowering under pressure.
“Then at dinner I pre-ordered the chef’s table and he didn’t like that either.
Which now that I think about it, may have been a little heavy-handed, but I really didn’t expect him to be that pissed. ”
All three of them gave me varying versions of exasperated sighs.
Henock was the first one to speak. “I don’t think you’re actually this clueless. You must know it can be a bit much when you do that.”
Do what?
They must have seen the confusion on my face. Heni opened his mouth then closed it again like he wasn’t sure where to start. When he did speak, he was holding up both hands in a “don’t shoot the messenger” gesture.
“It’s just sometimes you forget to ask for people’s opinions when you decide on a course of action. It’s been useful when we needed to push hard in business, but in relationships it can be problematic.” He averted his eyes as he finished that last part.
“How is this only coming up now?” I asked, flustered.
Since when was taking care of the people I loved an issue?
Heni pressed the palm of his hand on his forehead like he was trying to figure out why he even brought it up.
“Because so far, in business it was fine, and with Maxwell—”
Three throats cleared at once, and now I was sure I was going to hear something that would make me feel like an ass.
“What?” I hissed as they all avoided eye contact. “What happened with Maxwell?”
I was feeling self-conscious and that usually led to me overthinking and overdoing. Heni and Sanjay were looking a little panicked, probably afraid I was going to get into my feelings again and they would have to deal with it. Priya, on the other hand, looked ready to read me for filth.
“Tom, I expect this level of emotional mediocrity from these two.” She flipped her hand towards Heni and Sanjay without even looking at them.
They both balked, but she ignored them and kept talking.
“But you’re not this hopeless. You know you can be overbearing, especially when you get all protective. ”
“Well thanks for pointing out this major character flaw,” I said in an aggrieved tone. “We’ve known each other for fifteen years, it could have come up sooner.”
Priya rolled her eyes at my dramatic response.
“Honestly for the most part, it’s not an issue.
You’re such a level-headed and utterly decent human, it rarely comes up.
” She smiled at me and then at Sanjay. “You’re a protector.
You take care of the people you love, and sometimes you can go a bit overboard.
With Maxwell, it wasn’t a problem. He loved being taken care of.
” She smiled again and this time there was a hint of pity in there, and it made me squirm.
“You guys worked longer than you should have, because you like to be the savior and Maxwell loved to be saved.” She said this as if stating a well-known fact.
The other two just nodded, so I guess this was common knowledge.
“It sounds like with Camilo, you’ve met your match. ”
Despite the many levels of discomfort this conversation was bringing on, I had to smile at the impressed way she said that.
“You need to give him space and not come on so strong. He wants to want you, not need you.” Okay that one landed. It was basically what Camilo told me. That he wanted me for me, not what I could do for him. And was that part of it? That I just threw money at shit hoping it would go my way?
“Fuck,” I breathed out, running my hands over my face.
Both Sanjay and Henock came over to pat me on the shoulder, but Henock spoke first.
“Just make sure you don’t steamroll Camilo, even if your intentions are good.”
I tried to laugh it off, but I still felt like an ass. “Okay, I’ll try and refrain from acting like too much of an overbearing asshole.”
“We didn’t say you were an asshole.” Sanjay thought he was a fucking riot.
I leveled a finger in his direction. “You’re not funny. But thanks for the advice. It is true I get carried away. I will try to dial it down when it comes to Camilo.”
Priya stood up then, put the sleeping bundle in the bassinet by her bed, and came over and patted my head, like I was wayward toddler. “You’re fine.”
“Am I though?” I asked, genuinely worried that so far I’d completely misjudged what Camilo wanted from me.
“I mean, this is my problem. This is how my marriage ended. I don’t pay attention.
” I was slumped over on one of the armchairs in the room and Priya sat next to me.
Sanjay and Henock sat on the small loveseat across from us.
“I’m doing it again. Seems like being selfish had less to do with Nuntius and more to do with me being a clueless pendejo. ”
“Thomas, stop,” Sanjay said angling his head, his gaze trained on me. I knew that expression and it was the one I usually saw at work when he was done letting Heni and I set the trap and he came in for the kill. “You’re not listening. You’re letting your fragility—”
This got him a whispered “See how he listens to me?” from Priya, and I had to bite my lip not to smile, when he turned around to look at her then said, “Like I’d still be in one piece if I didn’t.
” We all laughed at that which diffused some of the tightness in my chest. Sanjay still had more sage advice for me though.
“Tom. We are telling you we love you, and that we want to see you happy, for the long run. That means you may need to approach things a little differently. Will you get it right every time?”
Priya answered that question with a scoff. “None of you will.”
Sanjay dipped his head, because that man knew how to keep himself in check when it counted.
I threw my arms up in defeat and leaned against the chair. “Okay. I will try to keep the entitled asshole side of me in check.”
“If you don’t, I’m sure Priya will get you back in working order,” Heni quipped in a completely serious voice.
But Priya just laughed him off. “Oh no. I am pretty certain that Camilo has this situation handled.”
I shook my head at her knowing grin and when I spoke, it was the honest truth. “I’d protest, but from where I’m sitting, that sounds about right.”
Camilo
“Well I’m certainly glad I dressed up for this,” Ayako whispered as we walked up the street to Tom’s house for his No-Turkey Thanksgiving dinner. Ayako was more than dressed up in a gorgeous green coat, underneath which she was wearing a purple sweater dress that hugged every one of her curves.
“You look great and you know it, stop shamelessly fishing for compliments.”
She preened as we got to Tom’s stoop, then hip checked me. “You don’t look too bad yourself. Those pants are fire.”
I ran a hand over my coat as we made our way up the steps. I did dress up a bit with my very tight burnt orange sweater, some slim trousers, and ankle boots. “Tom pays extra attention the tighter my pants are, so I didn’t want to disappoint the host.”
Ayako just cackled at my shamelessness as we ascended the steps.
It’d been a couple of weeks since the day of the concert and things were going really well between us. Tom had been on his best behavior and going out of his way to show me he’d learned his lesson after that night, but it wasn’t like I’d tried to stay mad at him or anything.
Now I was here to celebrate Thanksgiving with him and his friends, and I felt nervous, worried they wouldn’t like me. Ayako bumped my hip again, yanking me out of my thoughts.
“Chicken’s gonna get cold, babe.” She pointed at the doorbell.
“I also want to see this place on the inside,” she said eagerly.
“You so fancy with your millionaire. Give me the food, so he doesn’t think I’m a total scrub.
” She gestured for me to hand over the Jerk Chicken we’d brought as a contribution.
Store bought because we were tacky and bad planners.
I turned away so she couldn’t reach the pan, clicking my tongue. “Stop, you don’t need to show up with chicken, you’re an invited guest.”
She ignored my protest and leaned to hear what was going on inside the house. “How many people are at this thing? It sounds like a party!” We could hear music and a lot of people talking on the other side of the door.
“Tom said it would be like thirty or so. Most of the guests are his friends from grad school, so expect geeky snobs from MIT.”
Ayako just rolled her eyes at my insult. “Right, like the snob you’ve been thirsting after for the last month and a half. You’ve lost all credibility with me when it comes to salty judgmental bullshit.”