Chapter 51
Venice is bumper-to-bumper on the Friday night of Marcella’s new restaurant opening.
I’ve got the Park women in my car, all grumbling about the traffic.
As if it’s a surprise. But they never leave their little corner of Hancock Park anymore, becoming true fixtures with the Korean ladies who lunch at Larchmont.
Especially now that two of them have been retired for weeks.
“I can’t believe Marcella actually opened a restaurant all the way out here.” Sunny says it like we’re in Antarctica. “Her commute must be a nightmare.”
I steer us down Abbot Kinney Boulevard, past various boutiques selling very cute but expensive goods. “Well, she’s only going to have to do it for a couple months. Hopefully, it’ll manage to run itself after that.”
We pull up to the valet stand and pour out of the car. Halmoni looks up at the black-and-white-striped awning and the cheery lights draped across it. She gives a curt nod of approval. “Nice spot.”
“Great spot,” I say as we walk into the restaurant, the door left open to let people stream in and out.
It’s bustling in the beautiful space. There’s a U-shaped oyster bar set in the middle of the restaurant with little tables and cozy booths placed around it. The lighting is dim and the walls are painted a pale blue. It’s warm and welcoming and feels like Marcella.
“Auntie Cassie!” Ozzie finds me across the room and runs to me. I swoop her into my arms.
“Hi, bud. Where’s your mom?” I ask her. She points to the bar and I see Mar squeezed into a group of people. We make eye contact and I make a kissy-face and she returns it, her face glowing. I’m so proud of my friend I could burst.
Logan and Mica find us and I grab drinks for everyone before we get seated. It’s a friends and family soft opening, so we’ll be eating everything off the menu and I seriously can’t wait. I didn’t eat all day in anticipation of this.
I’m carrying a French 75 and a glass of wine to our table when I stop in my tracks.
Seated next to Halmoni is Ellis. He looks heartbreakingly good in a soft-cream polo sweater and black jeans, no socks, and black moccasins.
His head is bent toward Halmoni’s as he listens to her with a smile on his face, his hair falling forward in front of his eyes a little bit.
I try to keep my composure as I walk over.
He looks up and only his eyes register that he sees me. From the flicker I see there, I’m very glad I decided on the clingy dress with the flattering neckline. I place the drinks down. “Hey there.”
“Hi.” He straightens. “Your grandmother and aunts invited me.” There’s a nervous note in there, the quickness in its delivery.
“Oh, did they?” I bore holes into the heads of the Park women, who are suddenly quite busy looking at the menus. And the only seat open is next to Ellis. So, I take my drink and sit next to him. “I’m so sorry that they pressured you. I know you needed time,” I say in a low voice.
“They didn’t,” he shakes his head. “And I did, but—”
We’re interrupted by a glass being clinked loudly.
I tell my stupid nerves to stop jangling and that annoying flash of hope to die a quick death, focusing my attention on my best friend, whose night this is.
Marcella’s standing on the bar, absolutely gorgeous in emerald green trousers, her curly hair piled on her head, her lips a fire-engine red.
She grins and says, “Before we all start gorging ourselves, I wanted to say thank you to each and every one of you. You’ve all helped me and this restaurant in one way or another.
Please eat, drink, and be merry. This is for you. ”
The first dish is ferried out by smart servers wearing crisp black-and-white gingham aprons. It’s a fish ceviche, filled with slivers of onions and a tart lemony marinade. A plate is placed between Ellis and me, and we both politely insist the other start first.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Sunny says before reaching over and scooping a spoonful each onto our small plates.
I bite back laughter and look up to see Ellis doing the same. Soon the food keeps us all occupied, unable to talk about anything but how good everything is, even as I remain hyperaware of Ellis’s every minute movement.
“I didn’t know kimchi could be used this way,” Emoni says with wonder as she holds up a clam boiled in a kimchi and chorizo stew.
“You can thank our family’s influence for that one,” I say with a wink.
At one point, Ellis gets up and gets a round of drinks for us. When he returns with a tray full of champagne, he says, “As a thank you for being my first client.”
Again, the women in my family are suddenly very busy eating. “What?” I ask.
Ellis looks at me, then at my family. “Ah…” He gives my grandmother, specifically, a look.
Halmoni takes a genteel sip of her champagne. “Ellis and his new firm designed our garden.”
I think of the Feathery Cassia. Of the Betty statue and Mom’s plaque. My throat tightens with emotion. Of course he designed it.
Wait. I look at Ellis sharply. “What do you mean, new firm?”
“I started a new firm with a couple other designers,” he says, not quite meeting my eyes.
Oh. Guilt twists me from the inside out. “Ah, congratulations.” Sorry. Congratulations and sorry.
“Hey,” he says, reaching and touching my arm briefly. It’s electric. Some things never change. “It’s not what you think. I’d been thinking of striking out on my own for a while. I have Daniel’s full blessing. He’s been a huge help, actually. Once a mentor always a mentor.”
The sweetness of that assuages some of the guilt. Daniel, what a guy. Just not my guy. “Well, that’s huge. Really, congratulations.” I hold up my glass.
He touches his with mine. It feels so intimate. “Thank you. And thanks to you all,” he says, looking at my family. “It was our first project and it helped get the company off the ground,” he says. Then he pauses. “I overcharged quite a bit.”
The Park women laugh as if he’s the funniest person on the planet and I am suddenly aware of how symbiotic and right this all feels. And when I look at Halmoni, she gives me that little nod. I know it’s her way of approving. Of letting go of Daniel.
For the rest of dinner, I watch him charm the pants off my family and fall for him more and more with each passing second.
It feels like torture. I have no idea what any of this means.
The way he keeps an eye on everyone’s drink levels, the way he listens to Halmoni talk as if she’s the only person in the world, the way he makes Sunny laugh so hard she snorts, the way he makes Emoni beam so hard I think she might cry.
The way I can feel him completely tuned in to me during all of it.
Like I’m the center of his universe, but it’s not a big deal.
It’s the most natural thing in the world.
Has he had the time away that he needed?
I want to be patient, but my heart feels like it’s about to Alien-burst out of my sternum.
At one point, we brush by each other—me on the way to the restroom, him coming back from the bar. “Hi,” he says.
“Hi,” I say back, and it reminds me of our first night together. “Are you having fun?”
“Oh, yeah,” he says. “This food! And I’m so happy for Mar. This place is just…wow. What a badass.”
The warm fuzzies threaten to spill out of my eyeballs. I clear my throat. “Hey, thank you so much again for creating that beautiful garden. I…it’s a special place for me.”
Something in his eyes sparks, but he keeps his face composed. “I’m glad. And you shouldn’t thank me, your grandmother and aunts took a chance on us.”
“Not really, they knew what they were doing,” I say before I can help it. The drinks I’ve had, the coziness of the space, the dim lighting and the din of the bar—it’s all conspiring to make me loose-lipped.
He seems to sense this and leans in close. “Want to get out of here?”
—
Ellis is quiet on the drive, and my heart pounds. With his nearness, with anticipation, with the anxiety of not knowing what’s happening. I play it cool. It’s only when I notice where we are that I ask, “Are we going to my office?”
“Yup. Hope you don’t mind.”
“I’ll only mind if you make me open up my spreadsheets.” The innuendo lands with a thud in the car and I flush and look out the window. My phone buzzes with a text from Marcella, which I glance at. It’s in response to mine telling her I ducked out with Ellis.
Good fucking luck!
We pull up to the One & Only offices and he cuts the engine. “Look at that beautiful lighting,” I say, gesturing at the lit-up gravel path winding between the feather-soft grasses. “Like someone very talented designed it.”
Ellis laughs then lifts a brow at me. “Ready for an official tour?”
It’s silent for a beat as he looks at me in that way he looks at me. I look back. “Yes.”
We walk along the gravel path, our arms nearly brushing but not quite.
It’s so hard for me not to reach out and hold his hand.
The nearness of him has grown unbearable throughout the evening.
“So, tell me about this,” I say, waving my arm at the landscaping done in the small yard in front of the office.
“Well, even though we were working with limited space here, we wanted the office to feel like an oasis set back from the formality of Beverly Hills. So, we added this path, forcing people to meander through before getting to the front door.” Our feet crunch on the gravel, and I move gingerly because of my heels.
He slows to match my pace immediately, making my heart grow two sizes.
He tells me about the plants and why they were chosen, everything so considered and smart. Just like the man himself. And even though I had felt it before, I fully see Ellis as someone whose compassion and intelligence are the true measures of what kind of man he is. Not the years he’s lived.
“I actually need to thank you,” he says when we enter the garden in the back of the office.
“Me? Why?”