“Okay,” she said between bites. “Edmondsson plans to agree to everything you demand.”
“Even if I demand that you get to go with the team?”
“Would you?” May’s imagination exploded. She’d never dare think of such an adventure. Going to Antarctica, seeing animals where they could act real, she almost couldn’t imagine it.
“Would you like to go?”
“More than anything. It’s cold, yeah, but that’s what jackets are for. And I’ve spent three years writing about penguins, and drawing them. I so want to see them in the real, not just the zoo.”
“So, I demand that you go, as social media leader.”
“Say I’m whatever, it won’t matter.”
“Did you say you got two of these bowls for me?” She handed him the second. “Why won’t it matter?”
“Because he’s not going to do any of it.”
“He’s not going?”
“He’s going. But he plans to out you at the dinner, tell everyone you’re behind it. And then describe it just as he wants. Once it’s public, if you raise a stink, it’s because you’re an asshole, not because he lied to you. And he knows that once you promise a thing, you do it.”
He chewed on that, as well as the second helping of beef with teriyaki sauce, for a few minutes.
“He thinks I won’t go back on my word?”
“He knows it. Remember when you said you’d get the app out on May 1, and the power went out a week before? And you shipped in all generators in Sweden and had everybody’s family come in for the weekend so you would get the app out?”
“That’s why we don’t set dates anymore.”
“But that shows that once you’ve committed, you follow through.”
“So Edmondsson plans to commit me to something only he wants.”
“The only way to avoid it is not to go to the party, not even to be in DC. You should go home early.” But if he left now, all bets were off. She’d never see him again. May’s breath hitched.
He noticed, and the anger on his brow turned to concern. “Run away. And leave you?”
“Then you can say you didn’t agree to it. And you won’t have to stand there while he simpers and pretend you agree.”
“I don’t like the idea of running away.”
“You ran away this afternoon.”
“I didn’t run—I rescued you. Well, I thought I was rescuing you, before you told me to mind my own business. Give me one of those beers.”
He twisted the cap off and took a deep draft. “American beer tastes like piss. So, you’re done with me?”
What? “Me?”
“You’re sending me home?”
“No. I’d like you to stay. Remember when I asked you to stay longer, what, five minutes ago?”
“But you’d advise me to go.” He looked at the bottle, and then looked at her. Why did she feel like she was melting? “Come with me.”
“To Finland?”
“It’s beautiful. Better music, better beer. Far better broadband.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Why not? Here, try this.” He handed her the bottle, and she drank. “Am I right? Horse piss.”
“I see what you mean. Wait, I don’t. We’ve known each other—what?—two days?”
“Three.”
“And three days ago, you were about to propose to another woman.”
“And you were all sad girl in your little woman-cave. So?”
“So, you don’t think this is a little fast? That we’re just rebounding?”
“Did it feel like rebounding this morning?”
She had to admit it hadn’t. It had felt perfect, just right. “The thought that it wouldn’t happen again makes me feel blue.”
“Exactly. If not black. We need to follow this through, see where it leads us.”
“Or not.”
He took the bottle back and finished it off. “Come here.” He pulled her back onto his lap, forward this time. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, piss-beer tongue and all.
He pushed her chair away, as if she was going anywhere, and scooped her rear, pressing her closer to him.
She wriggled even closer, smiling into his lips as she felt the rest of him respond.
His hands slipped under the hem of her skirt. She felt open and exposed and wonderful.
But he wasn’t going to be able to reach her, as tight in as they were. May hooked her foot around his and kicked. He lunged forward, and she used her weight to pull them toward the carpet. He caught them just in time, settling them gently. He lifted his head, a question in his eyes.