“Oh, I’m not. Are you here with your mom and dad?” I look up, expecting to see Mason and Olivia, but instead find Max, scowling.
“No, silly, I’m on a date with Uncle Max,” she tells me.
“Well, that’s sweet. I’m here on a date too,” I tell her, not looking away from her uncle.
I’ve known Max for a decade, and not once have I ever seen him look as annoyed as he currently does. I bite my tongue, stopping myself from asking if everything’s okay.
I’m off the clock. I don’t need to make sure he’s perfectly fine every moment of the day anymore, even if we are best friends. I need to start that separation of us if I have any chance of finding happiness.
Still, sometimes it’s hard to kill old habits.
“You have a boyfriend?” Ari asks.
I hum as I tilt my head from side to side. “Pete is a friend I’m having dinner with.”
Pete clears his throat, making me look his way.
“Oh, sorry. Let me introduce you. Pete, this is Ari, my friend’s daughter, and her Uncle Max, who’s a dear friend and my boss.”
I don’t miss the way Max’s eye twitches at the word “boss,” but like always, he stays composed. He shakes Pete’s hand when Pete reaches for him.
“Nice to meet you,” Pete says.
“You too.”
“Have you and Iris worked together very long?” Pete asks, trying to get to know him.
“You could say that. Ari, let’s leave Iris to get back to her date.” Max sounds bitter, but I don’t know why.
Internally I flinch at the word “date,” feeling like I’ve done something wrong.
I’m a single woman, I’m allowed to go out with men.I remind myself.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Max says as Ari pulls out of my hold.
“See you then.” I smile at them.
As Pete sits back down. I watch as Max and Ari walk across the room, hand in hand, and can’t help but wish I was going with them.
“Are you okay?” Pete asks, pulling me back to him.
“Of course.”
“Your friend, he’s a chatty one, isn’t he?” Pete jokes.
“If only you knew. Now enough about them, where were we?” I ask, trying to get this date back on track.
Without thinking about it, my eyes move back to Max and find him already looking at me from across the room, and I can’t help but wonder, what is he thinking about? And why is he looking at me like that?
MAX
As I step off the elevator, the floor is quiet. I make my way to my office here at The Williamson Hotel and pause when I see that Iris’s is still shut. I look at my wrist to check the time.
I beat her in.
That never happens.
Is she okay?
