Page 91 of The One I Hate
I turn to Simon, who is coming in from the front door as I watch a literal moving truck drive away. “What is all this?”
“This, my Bug, is your new restaurant. Surprise!”
I’m suddenly lightheaded and go take a seat at the counter, but for the first time in a while, I don’t think it’s because of the baby.
“What do you think?”
“It’s perfect…” I continue to look around in awe. I couldn’t have imagined this looking any better than it does. “How? When? How did you know exactly what I wanted?”
Simon smiles and takes my hands in his. “Mellie was a big help with that, though we still guessed in a few areas. Getting guys to paint was easy. Even finding a decorator was easy.”
“You’re telling me you know a decorator?”
“I do.” His smile is a little nervous, and I don’t know if he’s nervous to tell me something or worried how I’ll react. “You remember my sister Maeve?”
It was the latter.
“The sister I thought fucked you?”
“That’s the one. She’s an interior designer. She can’t wait to meet you, by the way.”
How many times in a day can one be embarrassed?
“Anyway,” he continues. “The painting and the decorating were easy. But the booths and the tables, those were a bit harder. I looked into fixing and patching what was at O.G. Mona’s—that’s what I’ve decided to call old Mona’s—but when Mellie described what you had always pictured, and the colors you wanted weren’t what O.G. Mona’s had, I figured it was just easier to get you new stuff. So I made a few calls.”
“Simon! This had to cost a fortune.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“I absolutely will,” I say looking around trying to do mental math of how much he had to have spent to get this done in two days. “It’s one thing to hire painters. I could come to terms with that. But Simon, these are really nice! I can’t afford these.”
“But I can.” He pulls me in, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Plus, I’ve never got to say I overnighted an entire restaurant from New York. I feel like I can add that to my resume. And now I have a table and booth guy. This was just as much for me as for you, Bug.”
I want to laugh, but I’m also very confused.
“You have a résumé? Wait. What do you even do? Oh my God, I’m having a baby with a man who has a shit-ton of money, and for all I know he’s in the mob. Is that how you knew guys in New York? And why do you always have guys for things? That’s what mob guys say.”
He laughs, and instead of immediately answering me, he kisses my nose for longer than I think is necessary. “I’m in real estate.”
“Oh. Well, that makes sense, how you would know painters and people who could help.”
“Exactly. Anyway, I wanted to surprise you.”
“Wait! Is this why you stalled today and refused to call in the takeout order?”
“Guilty as charged.”
I slap his chest, though he makes sure to catch and hold my hand to his heart. “Bug, this is your dream. Which means that it’s now my dream. And this is where our child is going to grow up. She?—”
“Or he.”
“Fine. Baby Bug is going to grow up in these booths. Have a permanent high chair. Pictures of our kid are going to go up onthese walls. Depending on the time of day and who is here, they will probably watch it for a few minutes because the people in this town have no boundaries. This is where it could maybe take its first steps. If you don’t think I’m going to do everything in my power and means to make this place absolutely perfect for you and my baby? Well then, Bug, you don’t know me at all.”
I can’t let him speak anymore. If he does, I’ll cry. And I’m tired of crying. So I pull him in for a kiss that I hope says everything I want to say when I can’t form the words.
He answers my kiss, cupping my face as I pull him in by his shirt.
This man…how did he do it? And not just the restaurant. For the second time in our lives, he makes me change everything I think about him for the better. One second I hate him. The next I only kind of do. Then I was pretty sure he hated me. Snap to now, and we’re having a baby together and he’s actively making my dreams come true.
