Page 10 of Mixed Motives

“Yes, please.”

“Meet me in the living room,” I say. “I’ll be back in a second.”

After I take care of his laundry, I return to the living room, and my heart does another leap. Henry is cozied up on the couch like he lives here. He’s got the gray blanket over his lap, and he’s sipping his tea. I assume he washed his hands again while he was in the bathroom.

I take a seat on the morris chair next to him and smile.

“Thanks for all this,” he says, holding up the tea and indicating the dry T-shirt he’s wearing.

I really wish I could’ve watched him change—but that would’ve been way too creepy.

“I thought about it on the drive here,” he continues, “and I’m glad the app matched us up. In a funny way, it legitimizes what I’d already been feeling. Like we have a connection.”

“I can’t deny that,” I admit. “I agree. Being assigned a date by some algorithm makes it seem like maybe we could make sense together.”

The more I look at him, the more my defenses are being eroded.

I see the way his clever eyes light up with amusement. The way he’s so sincere with his thanks. The sexy way he studies me—like he wants to eat me up.

I’m done denying my attraction to him. I know it’s wrong, but I’m doing it anyway. He’s a consenting adult. He has a car and the ability to leave.

And this is what he wanted in the first place.

But I have a question first. “I need to know, though, whether you want me for me or for revenge.”

“I like you because you’re you,” Henry says. “The revenge was an excuse.” He pauses. “Well, I was really hurt, and I did want to hurt Kerrigan. But if I didn’t like you to begin with, I wouldn’t have tried it.” Another pause, this one longer. “That’s kind of fucked-up, isn’t it?”

I shrug. “A little. I probably shouldn’t be okay with it, but I am.”

“When I got together with your son…” I wince, and Henry soldiers on. “When that happened, I didn’t know you. I’d never met you, and frankly, I likely would’ve thought you were way out of my league. Ignoring our age gap—which I don’t care about, by the way—I was afraid of asking for what I really wanted.”

“You came here looking for revenge. Which is asking for what you want—or at least what you wanted in that moment.”

“True. But it’s also true that I’ve had a big-time crush on you ever since I first got to know you. And that I want you.”

Well. “You know I’m attracted to you, too. But that’s not all. I want more with you.”

“You don’t want to feel like I’m using you?”

“That’s part of it. I’m also at the age where I’m not willing to just mess around. And that might not be fair to you.”

“Keane,” Henry says, “if you haven’t figured out that I want something serious, too, then I haven’t been clear. If you were some rando, I wouldn’t have come to you. It’s because it’s you. I like how”—he gestures at me—“elegant you are. I like how you know so much about wine and entertaining. I like that your house is put together and you seem to like art. You and I can always talk about ideas, too. Those things matter to me. I could talk about them in school, and maybe I’ll go back and finish up my degree once I get the bed-and-breakfast running or, I don’t know, finish it online. But I’m not looking for something superficial. I’m looking for something real.” He bites his full lower lip. “When I’m around you, I don’t feel lonely. So yeah, it wouldn’t be just messing around to me.”

I stare at Henry. What right does he have to be this sweet? To be this open?

When I can finally speak, I say, “Gotta be honest: I’m super pissed at my son right now. He treated you really poorly.”

Henry shrugs. “I mean, that’s the way a lot of people treat me. I can be a bit of a doormat.”

“I wish you wouldn’t see yourself that way. When I look at you, I see someone who is damned good at asking for what he wants.”

He blushes. “When I propositioned you, all I was thinking was how pissed I was and how selfish Kerrigan was. I knew it was a long shot that you’d say yes—but a shot nonetheless.”

I grin despite myself. “If only I could have said yes. I really wanted to.” Want to, now. “I’m disappointed in how Kerrigan acted, but sadly, I’m not surprised.”

Henry gives me a funny look. “It’s a little weird for me to be talking about him with his dad.”

“You know that thing about kids blaming their parents for their issues? What they don’t know is that parents sometimes blame themselves for the kid’s issues as well.”

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