Page 76 of My Favorite Boss

“No. For being you.” I lifted my hands, indicating the restaurant. “For this.”

“I don’t follow.”

I took a sip of latte and offered her the last mouthful of tiramisu. After I fed it to her, I licked the spoon and set it aside. I sighed as I gathered my thoughts.

“The last woman I dated was one of my mother’s ‘suggestions.’ This woman was supposedly ‘perfect for me.’ She was, in fact, the exact opposite.”

“How?” Magnolia asked, cupping her face, with her elbow on the table and looking genuinely curious. “I thought I’d be your exact opposite.”

“You are—which makes you perfect.”

“Explain.”

“This woman was a socialite. She wanted the lifestyle that comes with it. She had a job in her father’s company. An office she’d been given that she went into on occasion to say she worked, when the truth was, she spent all her time on social media, posting about her hair and clothing. The first dinner I took her to, she suggested the restaurant. The food was passable at best to me, what little of it there was on the plate. But she could be seen, and she made sure she was. That we were seen. The bill came and it was over five hundred bucks, and I was still starving.”

“Ah.”

“All she talked about was herself. What she liked. Wanted. Thought. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt. I thought she was nervous.” I shook my head as I laughed. “I was so wrong.”

“What happened?”

“I saw her three times over two weeks. Each restaurant was progressively more expensive. More ‘visible.’ Acceptable by her standards. By the third date, she was basically telling people we were getting engaged. I was planning on telling her I was breaking it off. All she wanted was my money and my name. Not me. I could have been anyone. In fact, I was quite certain, if she had to, she couldn’t pick me out of a lineup.”

Magnolia rolled her eyes. “That’s a stretch. You are far too good-looking for anyone not to notice, Alex.”

“She didn’t,” I insisted. “She was too busy on her phone, not eating the specks of food they put on the plate, visiting other tables, dropping my name, to bother trying to get to know me.”

Magnolia frowned. “What did she do when you broke it off?”

“She told me it was a big mistake. That we could help each other. I could give her the lifestyle she wanted, and she would make sure, despite my lack of charm, that I would be one of the A-listers. We could be a power couple.” I drained my latte. “She wasn’t happy when I told her I preferred to be on my own and unplugged from power.”

“Oh dear,” Magnolia murmured.

“You’re so easy, Magnolia,” I murmured. “You talk to me. Listen to me. You want to eat pizza and relax. You don’t fill my head with mundane details about other people’s lives and how I should be emulating them. You let me be me.” I tilted my head, studying her. “And I like the Alex I am when I’m with you.”

“That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

I leaned close and kissed her. “I’ll try harder.”

I kissed her again. “Ready to go home?”

“Yes.”

We strolled toward the condo, Magnolia tucked tight to my side. I carried the pizza box in my other hand. It was dark, the air cool, and she shivered.

“Cold?” I asked. “Do you want my jacket?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“We’ll be home in five minutes, if those little legs of yours can pick up the pace.”

She laughed, and we moved a little faster. But she faltered, and I stopped. “What?”

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

A strange noise was coming from the shadows. It sounded plaintive and sad.