“But,” she grinned at him, “you’ll spend and spend.”
He grinned back, “Guilty as charged.” He looked around. Gunnar had wandered away, disinterested in money talk. He turned back to Arya. “I’d like to talk. Dinner tonight?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Lunch at twelve-thirty,” she counteroffered.
He sighed, “Okay.”
She said, “I’ll meet you at Bistro Valentin.” She gave him a sharp look, “Don’t be late.”
Kaem opened his mouth to ask why they couldn’t go together, then realized unhappily that she didn’t want anyone seeing them leave together. He nodded to her, wondering what was going on.
~~~
Kaem looked up and realized Arya’d left. He quickly finished his conversation with Lee about the space tower and got up. He had his phone call an Uber on his way to the door.
At the Bistro, he couldn’t see Arya until she waved at him from a corner. The waiter showed up as soon as he was seated, so they didn’t get to greet one another for a few more minutes.
Finally, the waiter left and she turned back to him, a serious look on her face. “So. What couldn’t we talk about at work?”
He smiled, “Just wanting to make sure I’m in the clear.” He glanced at his watch, “It’s just now twelve-thirty-one. I did get here a little early, right?”
She nodded.
He took a deep breath, then spoke from his heart, “I… think of you as my best friend, but I get the impression you’re pushing me away. Are you angry at me?”
“No…” she said. The silence dragged on as she sat looking at him. He had the impression she was searching for the right words to say. She quirked a small smile, “Irked, maybe, when your big plans push us toward financial… difficulties.”
“I’m not talking about when you’re arguing with me for the good of the company. I’m talking about when I ask you to dinner and you say lunch. When I ask if you can walk you home and you tell me that’d break Lee’s heart, then disappear.”
Arya leaned across the table and spoke intensely, “Lee cares about you! A lot! You need to be more sensitive to her feelings.”
Kaem leaned back away from the quiet ferociousness of Arya’s response. After a moment, he said softly, “I like Lee… but I like you more.”
Her eyes widened a little. “You can’t go out with her a couple of times then suddenly decide to go out with someone else!”
“I can’t? Am I supposed to never go out with anyone more than once unless I’m planning to marry them? Surely you can’t decide on a partner for life after one date?”
She crossed her arms and looked sullen, “This is why companies have rules against dating co-workers.”
“I’ve had the impression those rules get broken all the time. And that people don’t like them.”
“But when the majority owner of a company starts going out with one of his worker bees—”
Kaem’s eyes had widened by the time he interrupted. “She doesn’t know that!”
“It’s still a fact!”
“She can’t feel compelled to… um, whatever, if she doesn’t know I’m the majority owner!”
“Well, I do know. So, you shouldn’t be dating me either.”
He stared, “You wouldn’t feel—”
“Quiet!” she hissed, looking around and making him realize he’d been getting louder about something she’d prefer be kept quiet. “No, I wouldn’t, because I’m not interested in you that way.”
Kaem was still staring at her, but she was getting blurry. For a moment he thought he could control his emotions, but then found himself swiping at his eyes with his napkin. I thought it was the girls that got all emotional during break-ups, he thought, though that’s probably a sexist thing to be thinking. Then, Hell, we’re not even breaking up! We’ve never been together except in my imagination.
She reached out and put her hand on his wrist, “Sorry. I do like you, Kaem. It’s just that…”
“Yeah, not ‘that way.’ I’ve got it.” He stared at the table a minute then looked up at her. “You know, I don’t know anything about… romance. I’m a complete neophyte. Other than my mom, you’re the first girl that ever hugged me. And the first girl that ever kissed me.” Seeing the frown on her face, he said, “Yeah, you only kissed me on the cheek, but,” his hand unconsciously rose to the cheek she’d kissed, “it was a big deal to me.” He waited a moment, hoping she’d say something. “And Lee told me she thought you had romantic feelings about me.” He snorted, “That made my day. Like grade school kids telling each other who likes who.”
They sat, looking at one another for a moment that drew out uncomfortably long. Finally, Arya said, “I do like you, Kaem. I like you a lot. But… our cultures are so different. I’m not sure we should try to fit our families together like—”
Kaem narrowed his eyes. “Are you trying to hide behind your mother again? Because I thought she and I got along pretty well.”
Arya leaned closer again and said, “If you’re trying to sweep me off my feet by arguing with me and making accusations that I’m hiding behind my mother; that is not the right way to go about it. Lee told me about your dad’s saying. The one that goes, ‘If you want respect, you have to be respectable.’ Well, if you want love, you’ve got to be lovable. If you want more than my friendship, you need to charm me the way you charmed my mother.”
Kaem rocked back in his chair, struck by the formidable truth of her assertion. “Sorry. You’re absolutely right of course.” He gave her a shy grin, “Does that mean there’s some chance
