The server was still polite despite neither of us really coming there for the food. I knew I came for one thing alone. I was sure it was obvious that my distraction was how beautiful Karina looked sitting across from me.
“These are for you.”
I handed Karina the flowers I’d grabbed off a flower stand on the way over, and she took them. They were calla lilies, elegant just as she was. She smiled again, which told me I might have been pushing the needle a bit too far.
“Thank you.”
“You can thank me by loosening up a bit. I know how important your job is to you.”
“Do you? Because this article is a big deal for me.”
“Karina, I promise I’m not trying to jeopardize any of that, but I can’t pretend I don’t want to be around you. I’d be lying to everyone else and myself.”
“Why do you want to be around me suddenly? I mean, before Thanksgiving, we hadn’t seen each other in years.”
“And I can’t help but think that’s the way you wanted it, Karina… since prom night.”
“Let’s not go there.”
She stood to leave, and I placed my hand on her arm to stop her. If prom night were a sensitive subject, we could avoid that topic. I just wanted her to stay.
“Look, I’m sorry I brought it up, but stay. Please.”
Chapter
Five
Karina
Isat back down at the table across from Kareem. I’d found a brunch spot not too far from his office to grab a bite to eat, but I wasn’t expecting him to show up. Kareem had always been the type to do whatever he wanted, and I guess the years that had passed between us hadn’t changed that.
“Thank you,” he softly stated.
“Kareem, what is this? Why did you come to my grandparents’ house? I need to at least know that if we are going to make it through this assignment.”
“Honestly, I didn’t plan to. I bumped into your grandmother at the grocery store, and at first, we were just catching up, talking mostly about you. Then the next thing I knew, she was inviting me to dinner, and I was agreeing.”
“But why would you agree to something like that? You know her intentions were to set us up, right?”
“And what’s so wrong with that, Karina?”
“You mean besides the fact that I’ve seen you with hundreds of women over the years. Every year, it was a new girl until recently.”
“Nice to know you’ve been keeping tabs on me. Meanwhile, you are virtually impossible to find online.”
“You looked for me online?”
“Not as hard as I should have apparently.”
Hearing that Kareem tried to find me online made the corner of my mouth turn upward against my will. I wasn’t some lovesick girl still caught up on her first love — well, only love. I was a professional, and this was a professional outing. I sat up straight in the booth, trying to refocus myself on what I was truly here to do, but no amount of refocusing stopped the question that spilled out of me.
“Why did you stop? Found someone more special?”
“Never. I just got the message.”
“And what message was that?”
“Karina, you made it clear you weren’t messing with me like that. I tried to change your mind, but it gets to a point where a man has to bow out with his dignity intact.”
