Page 49 of Things We Tell Ourselves

Fifteen

Camille hesitates, unsure by his enthusiasm, before ultimately taking Wade’s hand. She glances at Adam, who is watching them with equal trepidation.

“Where are we going?” she asks. Wade releases her hand once she’s out of her chair.

He heads for the hidden door to the wine room, glancing over his shoulder at her. “You’ll see.”

The tables near the wine room are empty. A few people glance in their direction, watching Wade lead Camille out of the wine room. Instead of crossing the restaurant, he heads down a small corridor. They pass two doors marked ‘employees-only,’ but Wade brings them to the door at the end of the corridor, a lit ‘EXIT’ sign hanging over it.

The door brings them out to a bright stairwell. “Once we heard about the issues renovating the building,” Wade starts, taking the stairs that lead up, “we had our property management team come out to see if it was worth restoring or if we should sell.”

Camille stares at the steps, groaning internally. Walking up a flight of stairs is the last thing she wants to do on a full stomach, but the way Wade’s eyes are bright with enthusiasm, there’s no way she can do anything other than trudge along beside him as he continues talking.

“I happened to be in town when I got the call that they were checking out the property, so I drove out the meet them. The damage from the bees was impressive, but when I got up to the roof, I knew exactly what we were going to do with it.”

They get to the door at the top of the stairs. He opens it to a dark rooftop. A single light hanging over the door gives them a few feet of visibility outside. She walks out and stops while Wade props open the door behind them. The light over them is just dark enough that it’s hard to see the rest of the rooftop. Wade flicks on strings of lights behind her, bathing the rooftop in a warm, romantic glow.

The roof’s exterior ledge is lit by hidden lights tucked under the lip, disappearing toward the far end of the roof, where a line of tall, flowery bushes overlook the run-down part of town. At the center of the roof is a garden. The string lights crisscross overhead. Lines of plants of various sizes fill the garden bed. Flowers line the entire outside of it in a ring of pinks, purples, whites, and blues. Small cutouts between the varying plants give someone enough room to step into the garden without hurting the flowers.

“The beekeeper lives nearby, so I figured I would help him with the bees by planting a few things that would keep them coming back to their old home.”

“Just a few things?” she ogles, looking over the garden.

“Phillipe and the other chefs did the rest. They like growing their own herbs and vegetables. They say you can tell the difference when it’s locally grown.”

“This is really nice.” She pins her arms at her sides as a gush of wind passes over the roof.

“This is what I wanted you to see,” he murmurs, disappearing behind her. “Don’t be scared. I’m going to turn off the lights.”

The light over the door turns off, followed by the string lights overhead. The only thing left are the tiny lights outlining the roof. She shivers, wrapping her arms over her chest in the darkness, wishing she’d grabbed her blazer from her chair. What is he doing?

Wade reappears beside her, his warm arm sliding over her shoulders. He pulls her into him.

“Look up.”

His throat is in her face. His chin tilts back, looking up at the sky. Camille inhales, breathing him in before she follows his gaze up.

“The stars,” she whispers. It could be easy to forget that she was in the city by how the stars shine down at them. If she wasn’t worried that moving would cause Wade to lower his arm from her shoulders, then she would turn to look out from around him.

“It’ll be better once we have the whole roof lined with plants to block out more of the light pollution.”

When Wade looks down at her, she’s staring at him in awe. This, this right here, is better than all the rest of it: the food, the art, the house, the twinkling lights of L.A.

Being right here under the stars with him is everything she never knew she wanted.

Her mind makes sense of the thought as he leans in. Their kiss is warm and soft. She raises up on her toes, pressing her lips harder into his as the kiss grows. The heat between them turns hot and urgent. She leans into his chest. A loud buzz zips past their ears, causing them to pull back.

“I didn’t know bees flew at night,” Wade mutters after a second of them searching for the source of the buzz.

It takes a moment for Camille to respond, her thoughts still lost in their kiss. “Guess your plants worked.”

Another breeze rushes over them as he smiles at her.

“I guess so.” He rubs his hand down the back of her arm. “Guess I should bring you back downstairs before Phillipe sends Adam up here after us.” His touch warms her. “I didn’t know it would be cold up here.”

She wants to tell him that she’s fine. She wants to grab a fistful of his polo and pull his lips back down to hers, but instead, he lets her go, and she turns for the door. She watches him in the dark, lit only by the surrounding city lights. She takes one last look at the dark rooftop as Wade joins her inside. He kicks the doorstop out of the way, allowing the door to shut behind them.

“Are we going to be in trouble?” Camille asks, waiting for him before taking the first step downstairs.

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