Chapter 24 #2
When I was eight, I interrupted Baba during a call.
He promised to buy me an American Girl doll just to make me go away.
As the years went by, he threw more expensive gifts at the problem—my presence and existence in general.
Stefan had also sent me a steady stream of presents as a consolation for not spending time with me.
I automatically equated lavish gifts with people leaving me.
I didn’t want Kai to buy me an expensive dress because that would give him a pass to ditch me.
He had already admitted to prioritizing work over his personal life.
I had dreamt of returning to my homeland and always assumed I’d visit it with Stefan.
Now that Kai had started carving out a space for himself in my heart, I wanted to show him my country.
I quickly pushed the dress back to him. “No, thank you. Not my style.”
He looked at the dress, then at me. “Try it on anyway. Humor me.”
I shook my head, feeling paranoid about him buying me something extravagant so he could pull out his laptop and work. Besides, arguing with Kai was basically my cardio. “It’s giving grandma vibes,” I told him, even though the dress was quite chic.
He frowned. “I think it’s nice.”
“That’s because you’re a million years old.”
“I’m thirty, you brat,” he said, without heat.
“Whatever, grandpa. Biblically speaking, that’s middle age.”
His voice was thick with amusement. “Middle age?”
“Yup. You’re an antique. Stop collecting dust.” I swiped a line of imaginary dust off his shirt. The fabric was softer than I expected, warm from his skin beneath it.
His eyes dropped to the spot I had touched, and I withdrew my hand a beat too late. My breathing had gone shallow even though he wasn’t looking at me.
His eyes cut to mine. I kept my expression innocent. “With age comes infinite wisdom.” He thrust the dress back at me with quiet certainty. “Listen to your elder and try on the dress.”
Clearly, he wasn’t going to let it go. I reluctantly moved toward the single fitting room and set the dress over the stall. The same sinking feeling returned when I noticed the tag again. I had counted one less zero the first time I saw the price. “Will they at least give you a senior discount?”
He glanced at me right before I shut the door. The real look, not the guarded one, but the one that surfaced occasionally.
“Does our age difference bother you?” His voice was quieter than usual, stripped of its usual certainty.
I couldn’t see his expression since I had closed the door to shed my clothes.
There was something about hearing him when I couldn’t see him that made me go still for a moment.
I stood in the half dark of the fitting room and held the orange dress against my chest.
My fingers curled around the fabric. “No?”
“That sounded like a question,” he commented.
“No.” I cleared my throat. “It doesn’t bother me.” Uncertainty derailed me for a moment. Kai was used to sophisticated women. Older women. Was the woman he was in love with older than me? I wasn’t even old enough to rent a car. “Does my age bother you?”
His answer was immediate. “No.”
I zipped up the dress with extreme reluctance. The color made my skin look warmer. The cut landed exactly right. I stared at myself in the fitting room mirror for longer than I intended.
I came back out and said nothing, which Kai correctly read as a concession. He didn’t gloat. He simply handed the saleslady his credit card, which was somehow worse than gloating because he acted as though his being right had never been in question.
I rolled my eyes. “It was a lucky pick.”
“Mm.” He made me turn around so the saleslady could cut the tag. I suppose he wanted me to wear this for our night out in town.
He stopped at a rack near the window and pulled out a headscarf in a beautiful shade of champagne. Not a color I would have ever reached for, but one that I immediately understood would look extraordinary. He held it up without a word. “This one, too.”
I let the saleslady ring it up. This time, I didn’t look at the price tag only because Kai seemed pleased that I had let him pick out my outfit.
By the time we left the boutique, we had numerous shopping bags—all Kai’s selections—and the driver was waiting for us outside. I kept expecting him to leave now that he had bought me a few nice things. At the very least, I thought he’d take phone calls and ignore me.
Kai merely handed our shopping bags to the driver and suggested we get drinks at a rooftop bar. Still feeling a bit distrustful, I climbed into the car reluctantly.
The driver drove us to an upscale hotel. I got out and stood on the pavement. Kai walked beside me and guided me to the hotel. The lobby was all pale marble with low amber lighting, the kind of place that made you feel underdressed and overstimulated at once.
With the push of a button, Kai summoned the elevator to the rooftop.
The elevator doors closed and gave me back our reflection—Kai calm and unreadable, one hand loose at his side, the other settled at my waist as if it belonged there.
I studied our reflection for a moment. Seeing us together was disorienting.
The way we fit together in a mirrored panel appeared totally natural from where I was standing.
The elevator doors opened to the open air.
The city was spread out below us in every direction, though it was too dark to make out anything concrete.
The hostess led us to a corner table set apart from the others, half shielded by tall hedges pruned into perfect geometry.
It was a table you didn’t request. The kind that was simply waiting for someone like Kai.
We sat across from one another. A candle between us threw uneven light across the white tablecloth, catching the angles of Kai’s face in a way that was genuinely convenient. Did he know how distracting his face was?
Someone poured water without being asked.
The bread arrived with the drinks, and my wine was refilled before I noticed it was empty.
We were on our third round of cocktails, my head pleasantly fuzzy, when Kai’s phone buzzed in a way that was clearly not a suggestion. He had been ignoring it all day.
I glanced at him and watched the familiar focused expression settle over his face, the one that meant his full attention was required. I didn’t mind. He had put off his work long enough and given me a day I would cherish for years to come.
“Take it,” I told him.
“I can call them back.”
“Kai.” I set down my drink. “Go do your zillionaire phone call. I’m perfectly capable of enjoying one drink by myself in my favorite city.”
He seemed hesitant, but my face must’ve urged him. “Okay. I’ll be downstairs.”
“Not a problem.” And I truly meant it.
“Text me when you’re done with your drink. I’ll have the driver pull up the car for us.” He dropped some cash for the check, simultaneously answering the call with a curt, “Cavendish.”
Just as he rose from the table, he paused.
He was speaking on the phone but looking at me.
I frowned, unable to gauge what he was thinking.
To my shock, he bent over and kissed me on the temple, like we were some old married couple, which I supposed we were.
The pressure of it lasted only a second.
I stared after him as he left the bar, aware, distantly, of the exact spot where his lips had been.
When I broke out of my haze, I smiled, turning my attention to my phone.
I scrolled through our pictures from the day.
Today had been perfect, almost like a dream.
There was only one thing I still couldn’t get out of my head—Stefan.
He was in Istanbul, four hours away. It felt wrong to be so close to him and not see him.
We had talked about visiting Lebanon together one day.
Kai had beaten him to it. I didn’t want to rub that in his face, but I was also sad about not sharing this experience with him.
God, I had no idea what to do.
I looked through my contacts, my thumb hovering over Stefan’s name. I had asked if we could speak later, but he never called me or suggested a time to catch up. I would have told him I was in Beirut and asked about meeting up in Istanbul if only he had called me.
He was probably too busy with Ruby.
I hadn’t called Stefan, either, because it would’ve offended Kai. After our picture-perfect day, I didn’t want to risk it.
I turned the glass in my hand, lost in thought. Polygamous relationships were an enigma to me. Juggling multiple partners seemed impossible. I always considered myself a strictly monogamous person, but now that Kai had weaseled himself into my heart, where did that leave Stefan?
I let my eyes roam the rooftop. We had been tucked away in the corner for privacy, but this space was truly unique. The stone terrace. The string lights. The city below us. The sea at the far edge of everything, dark and present even when you couldn’t quite see it.
The bar had died down. Tables scattered across the stone, low voices, the gentle percussion of glassware. Because there were fewer people now, it was easier to people watch. I turned around and took in my surroundings.
And then I stopped.
There was a table near the far railing on the opposite side. Two people. The man had his back mostly to me, and I had only his shoulders to go on. I didn’t need to see his face because I’d recognize him from any angle. His shoulders moved when someone made him laugh.
The woman beside him was leaning across the table, angled toward him in the easy, unguarded way of someone who had stopped monitoring the distance between them. She was showing him something on her phone. Her other hand was flat against his chest. His head was bent toward hers.
Neither of them had seen me.
I stood from my seat, shocked. Because the man Ruby Sarafina was pressing her body against was none other than Stefan.