"I'll have the waiter bring you the bottle." He looks back and forth at us. "Something's different about you two. You've got more color in your cheeks. Did you go out for a walk?"
"Yes," I quickly answer. "It was a brisk walk and it was colder out than we thought."
"It's chilly tonight, but it's supposed to warm up tomorrow. I'll go get your wine."
When he leaves, I can't help but laugh.
"If all walks were like that," Aiden says. "I'd be taking a lot more walks."
"Welcome back!" Gus appears with the bottle of wine. "You two are becoming regulars," he says as he pours the wine.
"That's the plan," Aidens says, smiling at me. "We might be coming here for months."
Months? Is he saying we'll still be hiding our relationship months from now?
Gus takes our order, then walks back to the kitchen.
"Aiden," I say, not sure I want to risk ruining our perfect night by asking this, but wanting to know the answer.
"Yes?" He's smiling as he reaches across the table for my hand.
"What did you mean when you said we might still be coming here months from now?"
"We love this place. Why would we stop coming? I'm sure it's just as beautiful up here in the winter."
"That's it? That's the only reason we'd come back?"
"That, and because of the inn. If Tom agrees to the offer, I'll need to come here and check on the renovations." He pauses, noticing the concern on my face. "Sophie, what is it? What's wrong?"
I pause. "I thought you meant we'd be coming here to hide out, since we can't be together in New York. But that's not an issue anymore, right?"
His eyes drop to the table and his hold on my hand loosens. My gut clenches, an uneasiness coming over me.
"The client dinner is over," I rush to say. "And your commitments with Celine are done, so there's no reason to hide anymore. Right?"
He sighs and lets go of my hand as he leans back in his chair. "I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? That was the agreement. You said when the dinner's over we could be together. We wouldn't have to hide it anymore."
"Sophie, let's just have a nice dinner. We'll talk about this later."
I lean toward him, lowering my voice as Gus comes over to clean off the table next to ours. "I don't want to talk about it later. Tell me what's going on. Why can't we tell people we're dating?"
"We agreed it'd be best to wait. You just got the promotion you wanted. You really want to risk losing it?"
"I'm not going to lose it. Celine hasn't lined up any more events with us and it sounds like she won't for a few months. The client dinner is over so there's nothing she can do to get me fired." I sit back, eyeing him from across the table. "What's going on here, Aiden? Why are you insisting we keep hiding our relationship?"
He rubs his jaw, glancing at Gus who's still cleaning off the table. He waits for Gus to finish, then looks back at me. "If we let people know we're a couple, Roger will take the inn deal from me and give it to someone else."
"That was only if you didn't go with Celine to those events. But you did, so why would he still take it from you?"
"Because it's easier than dealing with his daughter. If she finds out I'm dating you this soon after ending things with her, she'll assume this was going on before I broke up with her. She'll want to punish me for it by running to her father and demanding he fire me, which he won't, but he'll take the inn from me, knowing how much I want it."
"Aiden, this is ridiculous. We can't let your ex-girlfriend control us like this."
"If it wasn't for the inn, I'd tell her we're together and suffer the consequences. But I can't do that, knowing the inn deal might be reassigned if Celine finds out about us."
"You've already written up the offer. You're presenting it tomorrow. It won't even have a chance to go to someone else."
He shakes his head. "It's been delayed. Roger had to go out of town so we couldn't meet. That's why I was able to come here tonight instead of tomorrow. I emailed Roger a copy of the offer and he said it's not ready to present to Tom. He wants to meet about it next week."
"So you're not meeting with Tom tomorrow?"
"We're meeting, but I'm not going to present him the offer." He reaches over and takes my hand. "Sophie, I know this isn't what either of us wanted but keeping our relationship hidden for just a little longer will be better in the long run. Tom will get the deal he wants, and Celine will be less of a problem for us when she finds out we're together."
"But you won't keep going out with her, right?"
"No. Of course not. She and I have the same friends so it's possible I'll see her at a party or when I'm meeting people for drinks, but we won't be there as a couple."
"Is Celine finally telling people you two broke up?"
"I don't know. I can't control what she does. I can only control what I do, and as far as I'm concerned, she and I are done."
"Aiden, I don't like this." I pull my hand from his and sit back. "You'll be seeing your ex more than me."
"I won't be seeing her. If we happen to be at the same place for a party, then yes, she'll be there, but I won't be going up and talking to her."
"How long is this going to go on? When will the deal be finished?"
"It could take months if Roger gets his hands on it. He's been busy with other clients but he promised he'd give this deal some attention this week. So who knows? Maybe it'll be done sooner rather
