Chapter 30 - Day 12 You Like Them #4
The man swiped Adrian's black card.
I froze.
"Traitor."
The machine beeped.
Approved.
I stared at the screen.
Then at the man.
Then very slowly-
at Adrian.
He took his card.
"Thank you."
I was speechless.
Actually speechless.
Adrian picked up the paperwork.
"Ready?"
"No."
He looked at me.
"No?"
"No. I'm not ready. I'm standing here trying to process the fact that you just financially mugged me."
"I paid a bill."
"Against my will."
"That's not mugging."
"It felt like mugging."
"You still have all your money."
"Exactly! Against my will!"
The man behind the counter finally lost the battle and laughed.
I looked at him.
"Don't encourage him."
"Sorry."
He was not sorry.
Adrian handed me my keys.
I took them.
Then pointed at him with them.
"I am paying you back."
"No."
"I have Zelle."
"No."
"Venmo."
"No."
"Cash."
"No."
"Check."
"No."
"I will put money in your mailbox."
"I don't have a mailbox."
"Of course you don't. You live in the fucking atmosphere."
That got him.
The corner of his mouth moved.
I pointed harder.
"Don't smile. I'm angry."
"I'm not smiling."
"You almost did."
"I didn't."
"I saw it."
He started toward the door.
I followed him.
"I will find a way to give you this money."
"No."
"I know where you work."
He opened the door for me.
"So do I."
I walked through it.
"I know where you live."
"I took you there."
"I know your children."
That made him look at me.
I stopped.
Then smiled slowly.
"I'll give it to Elena."
"No."
"Luke?"
"No."
"They seem more reasonable than you."
"Leave my children out of your reimbursement scheme."
"Then take my money."
"No."
"Then you've forced my hand."
He stared at me.
I stared back.
"Candy and I will remember this."
His eyes closed briefly.
"Come on."
And we walked toward the cars.
I walked toward Candy.
Then stopped.
Because-
This was it.
There was no reason for me to get back into the Corvette.
Adrian had his car.
I had mine.
For the first time since Thursday night, I didn't need him to drive me anywhere.
The thought landed strangely.
I turned.
He was standing beside the Corvette.
Looking at me.
For a few seconds, neither of us said anything.
Then I lifted my keys slightly.
"Well."
"Well."
"Thank you."
"For what?"
I stared at him.
"The tow. Driving me home Thursday. Picking me up Friday. Taking me to work. Bringing me home. Yesterday. Today."
His expression stayed controlled.
"You don't have to thank me."
"I know."
A pause.
"But thank you."
His eyes stayed on mine.
"You're welcome."
I looked down at my keys.
Then back at him.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
Something shifted in his face.
Small.
Almost nothing.
"Tomorrow."
I smiled a little.
"Eight o'clock."
"You'll be there at seven-thirty."
I stared at him.
"How do you know that?"
"You're always there at seven-thirty."
Of course he knew.
I shook my head.
"You know entirely too much."
"I pay attention."
The words landed between us.
Simple.
Matter-of-fact.
And somehow-
not simple at all.
I looked at him.
He looked back at me.
Then I opened Candy's door.
"See you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow."
I got in.
Started the engine.
Perfect.
I smiled.
"There you go, baby."
Through the windshield, Adrian was still standing beside the Corvette.
I lifted one hand.
He did the same.
Then I backed out.
He went one direction.
I went the other.
And for the first time in days-
I drove home alone.
I drove home.
Alone.
Candy started perfectly when I stopped for gas.
Then perfectly again when I started her afterward.
I praised her both times.
Because unlike certain men in my life, Candy responded well to positive reinforcement.
By the time I got home, the sunflowers and red roses were still exactly where I'd left them.
Bright against my kitchen.
I dropped my keys on the counter.
Then looked at them.
You like them.
Four words.
That was all.
Four stupid words that had somehow followed me home.
I changed my clothes, washed my face, made tea, and tried very hard not to spend the rest of my Sunday thinking about Adrian Vale.
It lasted approximately six minutes.
Because this weekend had been-
A lot.
Yesterday, I had been inside his home.
Not his office.
Not his car.
Not a restaurant.
His home.
I had seen Elena's spectacularly pink bedroom.
Luke's blue Superman territory.
The enormous white penthouse that somehow managed to look completely different wherever those two children had touched it.
I had watched Adrian grill while they interrupted him every thirty seconds.
Watched him answer questions.
Fix things.
Move things back into place.
Let them destroy the order he apparently needed everywhere else without ever making them feel like they were doing anything wrong.
I had watched Luke and Elena climb all over his life like they owned it.
Because they did.
They were his whole world.
That much was obvious.
And Adrian had watched me with them.
A lot.
I'd noticed it yesterday.
Every time Elena grabbed my hand.
Every time Luke said something ridiculous and I laughed.
When they ate my cookies.
When they started planning the chocolate cake I apparently owed them.
When they asked if I was Daddy's friend.
When Elena asked why I couldn't live with them.
Adrian had watched me.
Sometimes quietly.
Sometimes with an expression I couldn't read.
But he'd watched.
I took a sip of tea.
Then stopped.
Wait.
I lowered the cup.
Was it because of the kids?
The thought came so suddenly that I just sat there.
Adrian didn't trust people.
That much I knew.
He kept everyone at a distance.
His employees.
His personal life.
Even the existence of his children had been something almost nobody at the office knew about.
The two people he loved more than anything.
The two people he protected so fiercely that almost nobody at the office had even known they existed.
I stared at the flowers.
Was that it?
Was that why he could do all of this-
and still not say it?
Why he could remember my coffee.
Know what time I arrived at work.
Know when I hadn't eaten.
Buy flowers because I'd liked them once.
Drive across Miami for me.
Pay for things I explicitly told him not to pay for.
Touch my hand and not move away.
Look at me the way he did-
and still refuse to tell me what any of it meant?
Maybe it wasn't only about him.
Maybe letting someone into his life didn't mean letting them near just Adrian.
It meant letting them near Luke.
Elena.
His home.
His family.
His whole fucking world.
I sat very still.
Oh.
I didn't know if I was right.
Maybe I wasn't.
Maybe I was trying to find an explanation because the alternative hurt too much.
But yesterday-
he had let me in.
Literally.
Into his home.
Around his children.
And when they asked me to come back-
he hadn't looked uncomfortable.
He hadn't tried to stop it.
He'd said-
If Angelica wants to.
And when Elena invited me in the first place, when I'd worried I would be intruding-
You wouldn't.
My chest tightened.
Maybe that meant something.
Maybe it didn't.
Adrian Vale had turned maybe into a full-time occupation.
I leaned back against the couch.
And thought about today.
Just the two of us.
No Luke.
No Elena.
No Maya.
No Ben.
No Ethan.
No Vale Architecture.
No Solara.
Nothing requiring us to spend a Sunday together.
Just groceries.
A ridiculous argument about Death Note.
Thirty-four grams of added sugar.
His pathological grocery-cart organization.
My hand around his wrist.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Flowers.
You like them.
Him paying for my groceries.
Then paying for Candy while I practically attempted to physically barricade the card reader.
I smiled despite myself.
Asshole.
And then-
the repair shop.
Two cars.
Two separate ways home.
For the first time in days, I hadn't needed him anymore.
And somehow that had felt like losing something.
I looked toward the kitchen again.
At his flowers.
Tomorrow was Monday.
Work.
Vale Architecture.
Adrian's perfectly organized office.
His perfectly positioned pens.
I smiled.
I was already thinking about how I was going to annoy him tomorrow.
Move his pens.
Put something on his desk three inches away from where it belonged.
Watch his eye twitch and pretend I had no idea what I'd done.
I was already thinking about tomorrow.
That was the problem.
Because both of us were running out of tomorrows.