Mick folded his arms over his chest. “I keep hoping that I’ll meet someone organically through the book club. Another twentysomething who likes to read and watch films and make art.”
“I’ve thought a lot about what you want in a partner,” Lily said, reaching for her list of future dates. “I don’t think we should give up.” She wanted to add,You haven’t given it a proper chance yet.
But Mick raised both hands and offered a magnanimous smile. “I appreciate that you don’t want to give up on me. And I’m not giving up on myself. Not by a long shot. I’m just trying a different tactic.”
He let his hands spread out on the kitchen table. Lily gazed at his nail beds, which shone in the morning sunshine.
“You know, lately I’ve been thinking about the limitations of my methodology,” Lily said softly, surprising herself. Had she been thinking about her matchmaking limits? Had she been doubting her abilities?
Mick gave her a curious smile, one that urged her to go on.
“I mean, I’m trying to pair people with as much knowledge as I have,” she explained. “I was good at it. Or Iamgood at it. Or I thought I was good at it.”
“I might be a fluke.” Mick shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time I realized that about myself.”
“You’re not a fluke,” she assured him. “Maybe my methodology doesn’t work for everyone. But perhaps people shouldn’t be paired up with a methodology at all. Maybe love is more about timing. Perhaps it’s about honesty. Maybe it’s about opening yourself up to a future together.”
What was she saying? Was she talking Mick out of hiring her again? Was she talking herself out of being a matchmaker?But if I’m not a matchmaker, what am I? A marketer? Afailing fiancée? What?Her heart thrummed with a feeling of displacement.
Mick reached across the table and touched her elbow. “I don’t think you should doubt yourself just because of me.” He smiled. “But I hope we can be friends?”
“Even though you’re firing me?” Lily joked.
“Yeah. You’re fired. Have another scone.” Mick smiled.
It took ages for Lily to drag herself out of Mick’s kitchen. There was a lightness in that space, a feeling of belonging she hadn’t felt a single day out in Los Angeles. Of course, she didn’t say this to Mick. She didn’t speak about California at all, in fact. They talked about artistic things like books they’d read, songs they’d loved, and philosophical talks they’d watched on the internet. It occurred to her that Mick had unlimited hours to devote to his passions, and he did it with a zest for life that she couldn’t match. She wondered if her biggest distraction was her love for Liam.
Mick walked her to her car and hugged her goodbye, a friendly hug that wouldn’t have looked like anything more than two new friends, affirming how much they meant to one another. But something in Lily’s chest thumped. There was a break in her voice as she said, “See you soon, Mick.” When she drove away from his house, there were tears in her eyes.I love Liam,she told herself because it was true. But did he love her the way Mick could?
Chapter Fourteen
That night for dinner, Lily appeared on Yoko Reynolds’s front stoop with an expensive bottle of wine and fear like a rock in her stomach. Yoko opened the door almost immediately after she rang the bell, which made Lily think that Yoko had been waiting for her in the foyer, watching for her car out the window of this expansive, overwhelming mansion. Compared to the house and the furnishings and the mighty windows, Yoko looked so small, her feet tiny in her house slippers, her long hair like ink down her back. She bowed hello to Lily, and Lily bowed back, eager to uphold Yoko’s customs. She wished she knew more Japanese than “hello” and “thank you.”
“Welcome,” Yoko said.
Lily thanked her. But there wasn’t really anything else to say after that.
Yoko led Lily to the glowing kitchen, where she’d set a tiny table with natural wine and light Japanese snacks of rice crackers, wasabi peanuts, and edamame. As she hadn’t eaten anything since the scone that morning, Lily was starving. She reminded herself not to eat too much and not to crunch her snacks either. She could always eat leftover pizza back at her mom’s place.
“Thank you for having me over,” Lily said again, feeling foolish as she sat across from Yoko and raised her glass of wine. “I’ve wanted to get to know you for a long time now.” Long time probably sounded foolish to Yoko, especially when Lily and Liam had only dated for a little more than a year.
Yoko smiled nervously at her. Lily wondered if the older woman was forcing herself to strengthen her bonds with her future daughter-in-law. That, or she’d read the gossip magazine and learned that Liam had a sort of fixation in the form of Bex out in Los Angeles. Maybe she wanted to see how Lily felt about it? Perhaps she wanted to rub salt into Lily’s wounds?
“How was California?” Yoko asked.
“It was a dream,” Lily said. It was only partly a lie.
“I wanted to go out to visit him, but time got away from me,” Yoko said. “Kendall was in and out, always in Miami or coming back again. I never knew when to expect him. I was worried I’d miss him.”
“More business trips?”
“Always, there are business trips,” Yoko said, her eyes downturned.
Lily’s heart went out to the woman, whose face seemed to echo Mick’s estrangement and loneliness. She cursed herself for not visiting Yoko more often when she’d been on the island. The winter would be long, so she’d spend as much time as she could here. Liam would like his mother and fiancée to bond. Maybe they could have game nights or watch movies.
Lily reminded herself to stay in the conversation and remain present. “Have you given any more thought to going to Miami with Kendall?”
Yoko used her chopsticks to put a piece of raw fish on her tongue. Lily did the same, noticing how inexpertly she handled the sticks compared to Yoko. When Liam ate with chopsticks,it was always apparent that he’d learned to eat with sticks first, forks second.
