Jenny laughs, something flickering across her face before she drowns it in a sip of sake.
“What?” I ask.
She turns bright red. “You’re adorable, but do you remember when I first started seeing Ben and you told me you thought he dressed badly?”
“Oh, come on. That was stupid,” I protest.
“No. You said it because you wondered what it meant.”
“I did not.”
“Ash.” Her voice is annoyingly confident. “You thought it was a red flag.”
I plead the Fifth with my face.
“And it kind of was,” she says. “Ben is boththe manand someone who struggles with low self-esteem. It’s part of what I signed up for. We work on it. He works on it. He sees past things about me too, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
Jenny’s told me the story of how her making more money fed into it, how it started long before they met. They worked through it and still do, just like she said.
None of that explains why she’s bringing it up now.
“I don’t get it,” I say.
“Exactly.” She smiles. “You’re falling for Kael, and it’s adorable.”
My cheeks cool as I put it together. She’s not saying Kael is perfect. She’s saying my “too good to be true” line is the same as her not wanting to see Ben’s issues.
“Alright. Free pass,” I say. “Tell me all the red flags you think I’m missing. Bring me back down to Earth.”
Jenny shakes her head, laughing. “Uh, that’s a trap.”
I know what she’s thinking. “Kael’s whole situation with Alistair is unexpected and bizarre,” I say. “Can’t believe he knows one of the wealthiest men on the planet and that man is a creep.”
“What’s unexpected about that?” She snorts.
“Not that, I guess. Maybe it’s good the gays get a rich asshole. Equality.” I swirl my sake. “I just don’t see how Kael got into that situation, and I can admit it’s a red flag. He’s basically made himself available to Alistair’s beck and call to keep the lights on. It can’t possibly be worth it.”
Jenny slurps up one long noodle, chews, and just watches me over the rim of her bowl, eyes going glassy.
“You sound like a real asshole,” she says.
“What?”
“We just finished talking about trading time for money.I’mweeks from early retirement.You’reworth millions of dollars but still working.”
“We’re lucky,” I say. “We worked hard, but we’re lucky. I get it.”
She points her chopsticks at me. “We’re doing the same thing. At least Kael’s doing what he loves.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Excuse me,” the waitress interrupts, leaning around the half wall by our table. “Do you need anything?”
“I think we’re fine,” I say.
“Sake. More sake,” Jenny says, then straightens back into her lawyer persona to present her case. “Come on. Kael might havethe boss from hell, but tell me what’s different. Tell me why it’s so much more noble for you to suffer at Query or for me to fly across the country every week doing mind-numbing work, but Kael can’t do what he loves for money?”
“He doesn’t want to,” I say. “It’s not just money. Alistair makes him feel trapped. He tried to use the wildfire to manipulate him.”
