Kate
The restaurant Raul picked for dinner was Roths House, a ridiculously posh restaurant in Four Points. In the half-hour since we arrived, I've seen two film stars, a Red Sox player, and three politicians.
"How's Nico?" I say, setting down my spoon. The French onion soup I'm enjoying can only be described as divine. It takes an effort to not moan with every spoonful.
Oddly enough, the mention of Nico makes Raul set his jaw. "Fine," he says. "He just wanted to talk about an investment he's considering."
"He and Yandra are dating, aren't they?"
"If they aren't, they could be soon." He clears his throat before adding, "I hope you don't mind if we don't have lunch at Tia Sylvia's tomorrow. I have to finish up some things at the office before Monday."
"That's fine. Although I will miss those pastelitos."
"I'll ask Tio Basil to save some for you." He looks thoughtful. "Got any plans for tomorrow afternoon?"
"I have a video call with my parents. My Mom is trying to convince me to let my Auntie Julie sing at the wedding."
"Can she sing?"
"Yeah." I sigh. "The problem is making her stop."
He nearly chokes on his soup.
"Are you okay?" I gasp in alarm.
Laughing, he waves off my concern. "I'm fine. Look, if you want your aunt to sing at the wedding, I'm okay with it."
"Really?" I smile. "I'll be sure my sister is on hand to move her off the stage when she's done."
"I'm sure Maricar is up to the task." He glances behind me briefly, and when he looks back at me, his expression is unreadable. "I didn't tell you earlier we were coming here, did I?"
I shake my head. He's always been better than me at picking restaurants. Everything I know about Boston's food culture and places I learned when I was working for him. Yesterday, he said he wanted to take me to a place that just opened up, but he never said which restaurant it was. "Is something wrong?"
"Everything is fine. How's your soup?"
"It's so good. I've never loved an onion so much."
He raises an eyebrow. "Should I be jealous?"
"Maybe."
I feel a prickling at the back of my neck. Before I could turn around, Raul gets to his feet. "Marcus," he says, extending a hand.
I turn to see Marcus with a tall, beautiful blonde beside him. My jaw drops when I recognize her.
He shakes Raul's hand, slapping him on the shoulder affectionately. "What a surprise," Marcus says. Turning to me, he says, "Hello, Kate."
Despite the shock, I can't help smiling at seeing him. "Hi, Marcus," I say. "Hello, Ms. ..." I stumble over my words. "Uh, Ms. Ramirez."
"You must call me Gigi, of course," she says, smiling. Raul's ex-fiancée looks even more dazzling than I remember. "Congratulations on your wedding. I must say, eloping like that... so romantic."
"Would you like to join us?" The words were out of my mouth before I could think better of them. Wincing inwardly, I add, "I'm sorry, you probably prefer to be alone."
"We would love to, but I don't think your husband would appreciate the intrusion." She hooks an arm around Marcus's. The gesture looks almost ... possessive. Are they dating?
"It's nice to see you, Gigi," Raul says. "You look well."
"So do you. I always thought married life would suit you. I guess I was right."
"I guess you were."
After Marcus and Gigi leave for their table, Raul settles back into his chair. He takes one look at my expression and grins. "You want to ask me something," he says, reaching for his glass of wine.
I press my lips together for a moment, thinking of how to phrase the question. "Uh, did you and Gigi," I say hesitantly. "Was it an amicable breakup?"
His eyebrows furrow as he takes a sip of wine. "You don't know?"
I shrug. "It was none of my business." Holding up a hand, I add, "It's probably not my business now, but I'd appreciate knowing if there's any lingering resentment between you two. Especially if we're going to keep running into her. You know, now that she and Marcus are... dating."
He sets his glass down. "They're not dating."
"Are you sure?" I resist the urge to sneak a glance at the couple. "Because they looked pretty cozy."
"I'm sure. Marcus knows better."
My mouth quirks. "Bros before... uh, ex-girlfriends?"
He chuckles. "Marcus doesn't like drama. At least not in his personal life. Anyone he dates will be suitable and acceptable to his parents, his job, and his close friends."
That means his boss's ex-fiancée is out of the question. It makes sense.
Then it hits me. Is that why Marcus never asked me out until he thought Raul and I were leaving the company?
The thought makes me sit up straight in alarm. Did he think I was... suitable? The idea is ridiculous. I was his best friend's assistant. I've met his family and they're the kind of people who think of assistants as the help.
"Mi corazon, want to tell me what you're thinking?"
Raul's words jolt me out of my thoughts. "Sorry," I mutter. "Uh, so why do you think they're having dinner together?"
Just then the server arrives with our entrées. They clear the soup bowls before setting down his steak and my salmon. Raul waits until the server leaves before replying.
"If I know Gigi," he says, "she probably wants to find out why we got married." He picks up his knife and fork. "I'm not going to tell her anything, so she's trying to wheedle it out of Marcus."
I wrinkle my nose. "So this is all about you."
His laughter causes the couple at the table behind him to stare at us in alarm. The middle-aged blonde is clutching her emerald pendant, a worried look in her eyes. I smile apologetically at them. "Shhhh, you're scaring the other diners," I whisper, leaning over the table.
"Stop being funny then."
"I'm being honest. And you still haven't told me if you and Gigi are on good terms."
Sighing, he put down his fork. "Let's just say, she broke off the engagement fully expecting me to apologize, promise to change, and beg her to come back to me."
"And you didn't."
"No. I was, in fact, a terrible fiancé. I didn't give her the time and attention she deserved. I'm almost sure I'd be the same as a husband. But that's not why I didn't beg her to come back to me."
He pauses, staring at his wine. I know he's being careful so as not to give me the wrong impression of Gigi. He's only ever had nice things to say about the women he dates — whether or not he was just being a gentleman, I never knew. Like I told him, it was none of my business.
"I'm a bit sensitive about getting rejected," he says. "Some may call it pride. Whatever. Once a woman breaks it off with me, I move on."
I nod. "Do you think she resents you for it? Not asking her to come back, I mean."
"She may have. Gigi has a lot of pride. And she tends to... lash out at anyone who says no to her. I guess you can say neither of us takes rejection well."
"Oh. Well, she seems friendly now."
"Yes, well, I still can't help being suspicious of her getting chummy with Marcus."
"I'm sure he can take care of himself."
"He's a man, Kate. Gigi eats men for breakfast."
I raise my eyebrows. "You seem to have survived unscathed."
"I lived to marry another day." He stares at me, a curious expression on his face. "You're not regretting this marriage yet, are you?"
"Uh, no." I feel my cheeks warm. Casting my gaze down to my plate, I push a carrot around with my fork. "What about you?"
"No man would ever regret marrying you, Kate."
I look up. His expression is serious, yet I can't figure out what he's thinking. What did he mean by that? For a moment I don't know what to say. I settled for a blithe, "I bet you say that to all your wives."
He laughs. "That's technically true. But the truth is, I expected you to be ready to run away within a week."
"Why would I?"
"Because all the problems Gigi had with me when we were engaged... I'm still that same man. Why do you think I've been avoiding commitment for so long?"
"It's not a real marriage." I feel my throat get a little tight and I hurriedly take a sip of water. "I have no expectations from you, apart from what's in that legally questionable contract we both signed."
Then what are you getting out of this?
That is the unspoken question in the air. For a long breathless moment, I wait for him to say it out loud.
________________________________________
Don't forget to vote for this chapter! My Patreon supporters have early access to chapters (1 to 24 available now) and a Patreon-exclusive bonus chapter— plus voting rights on what happens next in the story. Join the fun at
https://patreon.com/ansela
I'll post Chapter 21 ("Overtime") here on Monday, December 19.