“The partner I’m bringing or the highest bidder?” he asks his question, and I don’t know why I assumed he wasn’t with anyone.
“The highest bidder,” I tell him. “After that, the two of you will have three dates to choose from, and then you go on your date and it’s over…” I trail off. “Unless you want a second date. That is up to you, but not mandatory.”
“Good to know,” he replies and I don’t know if he’s making a joke or not.
“All bachelors are expected to be wearing a tux. I’m assuming you have one. If you don’t, we can recommend a tailor who is working with a couple of the other bachelors.”
“I’m covered.” That’s all he says. “Is that all?”
“Pretty much. There is the dance schedule that should have been emailed to you,” I tell him, getting up. “Did Cheryl take down your email?”
“I don’t think she did, but if you don’t want to be bothered, I can text it to her.”
“Kirby,” I say his name. “I—” I stop talking when the doorbell rings.
“If that is all you need to tell me, Lexi,” he says tightly, “I think we are done with this conversation.”
“Yes, have a good night, Kirby,” I state and he just hangs up on me.
“Well, you deserved that,” I tell myself as I walk to the front door, seeing Henry there with my roses wrapped in brown paper and the vase of lilies in the other hand.
“This is pretty heavy,” he mentions of the lilies. “How about I come in and set it down for you?”
“Of course.” I move out of the way. “If you can just set them on the counter in the kitchen, I’ll take care of the rest.” He does what I tell him and quickly exits with a smile.
I take the vase from the front and cut the stems of the old roses, putting them in another vase since they are still thriving, and place them on the coffee table in the living room.
I finish placing the flowers and decide to put the pink lilies in the middle of the island and smile at them with their pop of color before I start to make dinner.
I’m walking in from outside with the grilled salmon on the plate when the side door opens and Trent walks into the room. I smile at him. “Hey,” I say as he looks over at me, giving me a glance up and down my body. Back in the day, this would make my stomach flutter, but now it just makes my stomach clench.
“What are you wearing?” he asks me, putting down his bag by the door. I look down at my cream-colored pants that are rolled at the bottom to over my ankles and the white high-neck sleeveless T-shirt I’m wearing. “I’ve been gone three days, and you couldn’t dress up for me a bit?” He comes over and gives me a chaste kiss on my cheek before moving away from me.
“I’m sorry, I got home and got busy with the fundraiser.” I put the salmon down. “I’ll go change quickly.”
“Don’t bother.” He sighs as he pulls open the fridge and grabs a bottle of his sparkling water. The sound of the bottle opening fills the quiet room. He takes a sip, his eyes going to the flowers. “What the fuck is that?” he asks, motioning to the vase of lilies with his chin.
“I got them today.” I smile. “Thought they would brighten up the room.”
“Take them to your office,” he commands. “They don’t go with anything in this room.”
“I will. Dinner’s ready to eat if you are.”
“Good, I’m starved.” He walks over to the table I set up while the salmon was grilling.
He pulls out his chair, sitting down in his spot, as I walk over with both our plates, placing his grilled salmon with roasted asparagus and peppers in front of him while my baked cod is placed in the middle of my dish with three stalks of asparagus. I fill up my glass with water and sit down before looking at him.
“It’s good to have you home.” I smile and he nods, picking up his fork and taking a bite of his salmon.
“It’s good to be home,” he replies.
“How was New York?” I ask him as my phone rings from beside me, his eyes flying to it.
“Why do you have your phone at the table?” he asks me, and I look down to see it’s my mother calling. I press the side button to silence the ringing.
“I was setting the table,” I explain softly, taking a bite of my own meal, “and I had the phone next to me in case you called me.” I shrug. “I must have forgotten it was here.”
“Dinners are our time,” he reminds me and I look up at him. “It’s time for us to connect again. Talk about our day.”
