Despite my tone, Will’s smile grows. “Josephine, I am on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what youthinkwould have turned me off.”
I raise a challenging eyebrow, crossing my arms. “I was going to be very patronizing every time I saw you eating meat.”
A divot on his forehead. “You didn’t mind last night. I would have known you were playacting. And besides, you’re not even a purist, you said so yourself.”
“Well, for your information, I’m an aspiring vegetarian.”
“How does that work?” he asks.
“I’m always aspiring. Never vegetarian,” I answer.
He laughs. It sounds like music. “What else?” he asks, prepared for further absurdity.
“Garlic. Lots of garlic on my plate.”
“From what I understand about this event,” Will says, “that’s not specific toyou.”
“I was going to talk about myself endlessly.”
“A counterintuitive tactic, considering I’ve been desperate to get inside your head.”
“And now we’re right back to the beginning!” I cry. “Because if you stopped finding me attractive, maybe you’d stop wanting to get inside my head!”
“If that were true, it would make me an asshole,” Will points out.
“Well, youwerea finance bro!”
I’m losing it, and Will Grant can tell. His dimples have entered the room. But at least the sexual tension between us has mostly dissipated, replaced by a comedic warmth I’m not sure is any less dangerous.
“The entire crux of this issue,” Will says, rolling the words, “is your rigid belief that we should not be involved in any way, shape, or form. When it comes to the professional aspect of our coworking relationship, I won’t argue that point. It’s naughty.”
Goodfuck,the way he saysnaughtyis—
“But if this is about Zoe—”
“It’s not. I believed you when you said she wouldn’t care.”
He cocks his head. “Then what?”
I inhale deeply and subsequently word vomit: “I can’t let anything become more important to me than Revenant. I can’t give room to anything else in my life, can’t give space to anything else in my head. And if you and I… if we were to…” I hug myself and Will frowns. “I think you would become very important to me,” I whisper, looking at his shoes.
“Which can’t happen,” Will concludes. “Because I would be distracting you from what’smostimportant.”
I flinch but don’t deny it.
Revenant is just a business, sure. But maybe my entire self-worth is wrapped up in it, and maybe I don’t know how to backpedal, seven years later.
When I look back up, Will is nodding to himself, like he’s internalizing this, accepting it. He bites his lower lip. “I want to make a deal with you. Are you game?”
“What kind of deal?”
Will drums his fingers on his biceps. “Tonight, we’ll be friends. We’ll talk. Hang out. I know this party means a lot to you and Camila. I want you to always have fond memories of it. You shouldn’t feel tortured by my presence here. You should enjoy yourself.”
I offer him a small smile, touched. His thoughtfulness is unbounded.
Will rolls out his neck. “But at the end of the night, I’m going to tell you the five worst things about me.”
It’s like a gear clicks into place, and I suddenly understand.
