“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, alook.
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 andrightthis 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 Ithink 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 toAlien-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.” Theinnuendo 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.”
