“Oh. Yes.” I hastily glance at the menu and pick the first thing I see, then shut it just as fast as I opened it. I set it aside and make sure I’m sitting as far to the edge of the booth as I can.
Raiden isn’t exactly a small guy, and he basically takes up the whole thing.
“So, you’re going to stay on with the company?”
I nearly turn and frown at Raiden since I’m sure he put his mom up to this, but Gwen is so sincere that the question doesn’t sound forced at all.
“I’m still deciding,” I say, since I know I’m a terrible liar.
“Oh, that’s too bad.”
“Yeah, well, I was contemplating a career change for a while.”
“Into something different?”
“I was thinking about going back to school, actually. I have three cats. They’re all rescues, and I was thinking about becoming a vet tech. It’s only for two years. And I wasn’t half bad at science, so that helps.”
“Yes, you were,” Raiden snorts.
Gwen gives him a look of death, and he actually sinks down a few inches in the booth. He grabs his menu, and now, he’s the one hiding behind it.
“That’s amazing,” Gwen says softly. “It’s a very noble calling.”
“Are you really considering that?” Raiden asks from behind the menu. “You never mentioned it.”
“There are a lot of things I didn’t mention. And we only just met again less than two weeks ago.”
Out of nowhere, a blonde teenage girl suddenly appears at the table. She pulls out a notepad, and it’s obvious that it’s time to order. I feel a little embarrassed getting waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, but Gwen orders the same thing. Raiden looks at us like we’re from another planet and asks for a chicken sandwich.
Of course he does.
He does surprise me by getting fries and a soda, though. Gwen, on the other hand, orders a strawberry milkshake, but I just settle for coffee.
I have no idea how she stays so fit. Maybe this is her cheat day or splurge day. Or whatever. But probably not, though. Gwen is just really pretty and super awesome, kind of like her son. Except Raiden didn’t inherit the awesome. He must have gotten an asshole gene from his dad or something.
“It’s good to see you again. Truly,” Gwen says again. She smiles at me so warmly that it makes my heart swell a little in my chest. “I hope that even if you do pursue a different career path, you and Raiden can stay friends. He needs some good friends in his life. Money does a lot of things for a person, but not all of them are good. Genuine people are hard to come by.”
“Mom!”
“Well, it’s true.”
“I still have good friends,” Raiden mock pouts. “Don’t listen to her.”
“But there are a lot of people who just want to use him for his money.”
“Mom!”
“I know all about that,” I blurt out. I want to die as soon as I say it because no, it wasn’t a happy statement, and it totally reeked of bitterness and resentment.
Great. Now I’m staring down two identically puzzled expressions. I’m not a smooth talker at the best of times, but I know there isn’t any way I’m getting myself out of this one.
CHAPTER 15
Raiden
“You do?” Mom and I both ask at the same time. We laugh sheepishly when we recognize our faux-pas.
Zoe stuffs her hands into her lap and studies them. She looks like she wishes she never agreed to this lunch in the first place. Then she wouldn’t be here, trapping herself into awkward confessions and unwanted conversation.
“Yeah,” Zoe mutters. “I mean, kind of. I’ve had a few people in the past whom I thought were friends, but it turned out they somehow knew Raiden and I used to know each other, and they just wanted to get close enough to me to see if I could get them a decent job or hook them up. Not the guys for the hooking up part, I mean. It’s not just the friends I’ve had, but boyfriends too. Sometimes complete strangers come up to me and ask if I know Raiden Vanstone. Obviously, they know I do because then they ask if I can get them a job or a meeting to pitch their idea or whatever.”
“But you weren’t even in contact with him until a few weeks ago,” Mom protests. She’s shocked. She doesn’t mean to sound like she doesn’t believe Zoe, but I think Zoe gets that.
“I know,” she clarifies. “I guess they did some digging, and they thought past connections meant something. They couldn’t be sure, I guess, about how we didn’t keep in touch.”
“That’s terrible!” Mom exclaims. “Boyfriends? Guys dated you to try and get something out of you that way?”
“Yeah.” Zoe shifts uncomfortably in her seat.
I half expect her to excuse herself to go to the bathroom or something just so she can get away from us for a minute and break the tension, but Zoe’s always had lady balls the size of watermelons, so of course, she doesn’t take the easy way out. Instead, she raises her head and looks Mom right in the eye.
“It happened a few times, actually. It was bad. It did hurt me, and it made me angry, but I guess the good thing is that they weeded themselves out eventually. No one wants fake friends or fake boyfriends. Most of the time, they only made it a few weeks. And now, I’m much more careful.”
“That’s still horrible.”
“I’d like to find them and offer them a job, alright,” I hiss under my breath. “I’d create a super special position just
