“I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter Nineteen
Lennox
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At first, I’d thought I had weathered the Brady storm pretty well.
Okay, the man had rolled over me like a hurricane and swamped me with emotions I hadn’t been aware I was capable of feeling. I’d always been the one to end things. So to have him call it quits on our relationship and accuse me of distracting him from doing his job because I was too . . . wild?
I’d never experienced anger on that level.
Or hurt.
I let anger rule me the first few days. That’s what I needed because Kiley had been so upset about disappointing her kids again. And since she has an outer shell of armor and a soft, squishy inner core, she used money from her personal account to take the kids to the Walker Art Center. She bought the deluxe art lover’s package for the entire group, which included a personalized tour of every section of the gallery, lunch and a private art class where all the kids got to paint a small canvas.
So I’d made it twenty-four hours without crying. But I broke down completely when all twelve of Kiley’s kids had handed over their paintings to her as a thank you. They knew what it had cost her not to disappoint them again.
That’s when I lost it. Three hundred bucks was a drop in the bucket of Brady Lund’s financial world. But that money would put a huge dent in Kiley’s monthly budget.
In a fit of anger I’d texted her Brady’s number so she could send him the bill. Of course she wouldn’t do that. Then she let me cry on her shoulder, allowing me to pretend I was upset only on her behalf, not because the superfine CFO had proven himself to be exactly what I’d feared: a man who pays lip service to changing, but when it came right down to it, he wouldn’t. I didn’t have the ego to believe the few steps he’d taken toward cutting loose had scared him because he’d liked it so much. No, I could accept I wasn’t like the women he usually dated. He’d gotten a taste and it’d been satisfying enough he didn’t need to go back for seconds.
“What are you having?” Kiley prompted me.
It was our usual Friday night at Sake Palace. Kiley had tried to back out, but I told her it was my treat since I didn’t want to dwell on the misery I’d felt last week by sitting home alone on Friday night. “Is it boring if I say I’m having the usual?”
“A little. But you know what you like and there’s no reason to change that if you’re happy with it.”
I peered over the menu. “You seem very Zen tonight, K. What gives?”
She laughed. “I’m just happy things work out the way they’re supposed to sometimes. It gives me hope.”
I splurged and ordered the rainbow roll for each of us, and my usual spider rolls, spicy tuna rolls and tempura rolls.
The food came fast and we ate in silence. I could hear the restaurant filling up behind us and the activity at the chef’s station increased as the flurry of Japanese between the waitstaff got louder and faster.
Once our plates were cleared, we ordered green tea and let our meal settle.
My roommate seemed preoccupied. “You all right?”
“Fine. Just thinking.”
“So tomorrow. You’ve got a solid plan for the group since it’s supposed to be snowy and cold?”
Kiley stirred sugar into her hot tea. “Yes.”
That’s all she said. I leaned across the table. “You gonna share those plans with your number one volunteer?”
A smile curled her lips. “Nope. It’s a surprise.”
“I hate surprises.”
She mumbled something like, “You’re really gonna hate this,” but I could’ve misunderstood since she’d spoken under her breath.
Kiley snagged her purse. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
I waited for her to say something smart like, “Don’t worry; I’ll come back,” since the last time we’d eaten there Brady’s date had ditched him. But she’d avoided any mention of his name all week. She patted me on the shoulder as she passed by.
I set my elbows on the table and rested my head in my hands, closing my eyes.
A few minutes later, clothing rustled as Kiley brushed past me and slid into her seat.
I said, “Took you long enough,” and lifted my head to look at her.
But it wasn’t Kiley sitting across from me. It was Brady.
“It did take me seven very long days to figure out a way to apologize.”
He looked . . . sort of crappy, which made me feel marginally better. “Where’s Kiley?”
“She agreed to take off after dinner so you and I could talk.” His hungry gaze encompassed my face. “You look beautiful as ever, Lennox.”