24
O lani was getting dressed as she waited for Elion.
They’d returned from their trip the previous week, and this was the first time they would see one another since.
She’d had work to catch up on when she’d returned, and she was sure he did as well.
He’d texted her earlier that day, asking if he could take her out.
She’d instead volunteered to cook dinner for them.
Unlike all of their past dates, he hadn’t made it through the site, and she was acutely aware that it was because their twelve weeks were over. They both knew it, and she felt it was why he’d wanted to take her out. After twelve weeks, a decision was expected to be made about their relationship.
She couldn’t know for sure that was why, but she figured it was a conversation they should have in private, which was what led to her volunteering to make dinner.
She’d made salmon with rice pilaf, asparagus, and a side salad and picked up a cheesecake for dessert.
Everything aside from the salad and cheesecake was placed in the oven to keep warm while she showered and got dressed.
Olani re-pinned her natural hair and touched up the light makeup she’d worn to work before slipping her feet into her slippers. She entered her living room and turned on her sound bar, playing soft jazz throughout the area.
She entered the kitchen, taking the food out of the oven she’d set to warm and turning it off. She’d just taken down plates when there was a knock at her door.
When she opened it, she found Elion on the other side, a bouquet of roses in one hand, a bottle of wine in the other. She stepped aside to let him in, and he dropped a kiss onto her lips as he entered.
“Something smells good,” he stated, handing her the flowers.
She brought them to her nose briefly before responding. “Thank you. I’ll put these in water and get some glasses.”
Olani led him to the kitchen, where she pulled a vase from under the sink. She filled it with water and placed the roses inside before pulling down two wine glasses. While Elion filled those, she made their plates and put them on the table.
“It looks as good as it smells,” he complimented, and she smiled at him.
“Thank you.” She paused for a second. “Did you have a lot you needed to catch up on when we returned?”
“I had several emails from my team. My agent isn’t used to me taking time off, so she flooded my inbox with things that could have waited until I returned. I’m sure you had more to catch up on than I did.”
“My team is good at running things in my absence. There were two companies interested in getting temp employees from us. I made appointments to meet them both and figure out how we could help them.”
They lapsed into silence for a few minutes as they ate, and it felt charged to Olani.
She knew it was because she was thinking of the conversation they needed to have.
Or did they need to? She knew the site’s goal, but she enjoyed dating Elion, being in a relationship with him.
She wouldn’t mind them continuing their relationship without discussing what was supposed to happen, the decision they needed to make.
“This is delicious, Sweetheart,” Elion stated, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Thank you, baby. It’s one of my favorite recipes to make. Usually, it’s just for myself or when my mother visits. Xola isn’t a salmon fan, so we avoid it when we have dinner together. The smell of it even bothers her.”
“Well, whenever you want some company when having it, I’m more than willing to volunteer.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
They finished their dinner, conversing about what they’d missed at work on their week away, and Olani asked him how the artist he’d chosen to share his exhibit with was progressing in their paintings.
When they finished dinner and shared a slice of cheesecake, Elion volunteered to help her with the dishes, but Olani waved him off, stating she’d do it later. So, he poured them both another glass of wine, and they retreated to the living room.
“I wanted to talk to you about something,” he stated, placing his glass on a coaster on the coffee table.
“Okay,” Olani responded. She knew the topic he wanted to discuss.
“I know that last week marked our twelve weeks together, and those three months went by faster than I thought they would. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you and being in this relationship with you.
This is the one time I can say that Clara minding my business worked out for me.
” He paused for a second. “I don’t know how I lucked out, how of all the women on that site I was matched with you, but—”
“I was the only one you could have been matched with,” Olani cut in.
She wasn’t sure where his speech was going.
If it was leading to the results that caused her to make the site.
If it was, she wanted to come clean with him, needed to come clean with him.
Even if that wasn’t where it was heading, she still wanted to tell him it was no accident they’d ended up together.
In the beginning, she’d been able to push the guilt she felt aside, but the closer they got to the end of their twelve weeks, the guiltier she felt.
It was always there under the surface when they spent time together, but she never allowed it to overshadow the fun she had with him, the intimacy she shared with him.
“What?” Elion questioned.
“On the site, it wasn’t luck that matched us together. It was because I was the only one you could have matched with. Because I chose to match with you. It was because I…I own the site.”
E lion stared at Olani momentarily, letting her words sink in and then replaying them when he wasn’t sure what to make of them.
He knew he’d heard her correctly, knew she’d said what he thought she had, but the implication behind the words was hard for him to swallow.
He needed her to elaborate on what she meant and tell him that the way he’d taken those words was wrong; the conclusion he’d drawn was wrong.
“Say that again,” he requested.
“I own the site,” she responded softly.
Okay, so she owned a dating site. That wasn’t a bad thing. He wasn’t sure why she hadn’t told him until now, but he could deal with that, but…
“What did you mean by you’re the only one I could have matched with?”
“I made the site because I was tired of bad dates or casual relationships that didn’t lead anywhere. I was the only one you could match with because I was the only woman on the site.”
Elion was momentarily silent as he let her words sink in. The weight of what she’d said, what she’d confessed, hung heavy in the air.
“You took the time to create and publish a website to find a husband for yourself. You misled who knows how many men who signed up genuinely looking for the same thing, and I’m assuming most of them never received a response because you didn’t like them.
So, they wasted their time; you wasted their time. ”
Olani wrang her wrist. “When you put it like that, you make it sound—”
“Exactly how it should,” he cut her off.
“I get wanting to find someone, but did you ever stop to think about how selfish you were choosing to do it? How misleading it was? Everyone who signed up for that site thought they would be paired with someone or at least have options given to them, but they didn’t. ”
“I didn’t do it with ill intent.”
Some part of him knew that, believed that hadn’t been the case, but if the roles were reversed, if he’d been the one to do what she’d done, then his agenda and motives would be called into question regardless of how he spun it.
“You may not have, but you cultivated a pool of men for you alone to choose from, to judge and deem them worthy of your time, or to throw them aside because you didn’t like the answers they gave to your questionnaire.
You made a site that catered to your needs alone, without a thought for those you were trying to attract. A site that’s still up.”
“It’s only still up because we scheduled dates through it,” Olani tried.
“Dates that didn’t need to be. I understand being nervous or uncomfortable the first couple of times, but you listened to me plan dates and then reminded me to put them in through the site as if some third party needed to know when it was just you. You could have told me this sooner, Olani.”
“I know, but I wasn’t sure if…I didn’t know how…” she trailed off.
“You spent the last three months lying to me, hiding the true nature of how we met.” He paused to give her a chance to respond, but when she didn’t, he continued.
“If the roles were reversed, you’d be pissed.
Not only because I’d lied to you, but because I fucked you several times in the process of doing so. ”
Elion watched her wince, and he was sure it was from his word choice and the hardness of his voice when he’d said it.
Sure, he’d had his fair share of random one-night stands when he was younger, but he let them know that was the intention behind it.
They were sleeping together for mutual gratification.
He would have appreciated the woman he was sleeping with being honest with him.
“I wanted to tell you, but the more time we spent together, the more time that passed; I was afraid you’d be mad, that you’d have this reaction. That you wouldn’t want to see each other anymore.”
He shook his head. “I’m not mad. I’m hurt that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me in the beginning or when we went away for the weekend, after we’d slept together, or when I took care of you while you were sick.
Every time we’ve gone out, I’ve asked you to tell me something I didn’t know about you.
You don’t think any of those times would have been perfect for you to come clean. ”
“I…I know, but you don’t know that you wouldn’t have reacted the same way,” Olani countered.
“You’re right, but you didn’t give me that chance. You waited until I’d fall…” he trailed off, taking a deep breath before standing. “I need to go. I need to think.”
He didn’t wait for a response and wasn’t sure he’d get one.
Closing the front door behind him, he slid into his vehicle and pulled out of the driveway.
He couldn’t decipher the warring emotions within him or separate them long enough to focus on one.
All he knew was that he needed to be alone.
He needed to think because she’d lied to him, and maybe to anyone else; the lie she told wouldn’t seem like a big deal, but it was to him.
Elion hadn’t lied to her; he had been entirely transparent, even when he told her he wasn’t the one who filled out the survey.
She could have confessed this to him then.
To him, it would have made sense for her to do so.
The honesty of the situation would have been there from the jump, and they wouldn’t have found themselves where they did tonight.
Her owning the site wasn’t an issue. What hurt him more than her not telling him was that it was still up.
She said it was because they scheduled dates through it, but how could he know she hadn’t been constantly sifting through replies to find another person.
Someone who wasn’t him? Because she wouldn’t do that.
With another sigh, he tried to push it from his mind. He didn’t want to think about it. At least not right then. For the time being, he wanted to sit in silence as he drove through the night.