“You brought company! You’ve never come here with anyone before. She must be something special.”
“That she is. Isabella, this is Humphrey. Humphrey, this is Isabella.”
We exchanged pleasantries, and after one more glance around, I leaned in and whispered, “Do you mind if I show my girl my place?”
The manager slipped me a key and I slipped him two hundred dollars. It was a fair trade in my book.
Cost of my favorite spot in the world: two hundred dollars a night.
“I haven’t needed to say this before, but no hanky-panky!”
I laughed.
“I promise to keep it PG.”
Hurrying away, I led Isabella down a long hallway until we reached our destination.
“Where are we going?”
“My favorite place.”
Isabella smiled then, and I slipped the key into the door. It was pitch black inside so I told her to wait as I headed toward the light switch. A minute later the whole room was lit with twinkle lights. Joy hit her face instantly as she looked around.
“Welcome to the atrium.”
Trees and plants were everywhere. There were a few benches set up and little alcoves to hide in. When things got overwhelming, I would always come here to think. It was closed to guests at night, hence the bribe.
“This is beautiful.”
I took her hand and we walked around for a few minutes. I thought about putting on some music and dancing with her, but I decided not to. She deserved a special song, and I wanted to find a perfect one for our first dance.
We had just reached my favorite bench when she whispered, “So, that girl Faith, is she the same Faith from your first kiss?”
I nodded.
She frowned.
“And the girl you first loved?”
I slid a glance at her and debated lying to her for the first time since we had met. The truth won out, though.
“Yes.”
Tonight, I didn’t want it to be about me and Faith. Tonight, I was after more vital information than that. It was going to suck, what I had to do, but as the world kept reminding me, everything had a cost.
I stopped walking and turned to face her.
“Can we get really personal for a little while?”
Her eyes widened, but she nodded.
“When you were younger, did you always love Marco? Like, was it that thing where you loved him and then one day, he just realized how perfect you were?”
Isabella sank into the bench. I thought I had pushed her too far and she wouldn’t answer. Sinking down next to her, I reached out and took her hand.
After a deep breath, she whispered, “No. I mean, I don’t think so. If I loved him when I was younger, I was unaware of it. To be honest, I really don’t know what happened. One day we were just sitting on the swings in the park talking, and the next minute, he was kissing me.”
I nodded. That was not helpful at all. There had to be something. If they were friends first and then a couple, I needed to find out what caused the change. Then maybe I could use it to fix whatever seemed to be broken with our spark.
