Page 62 of Becoming His Muse
“Your breakup, separation. Whatever you want to call it.” Elion raised a brow at him. “You called asking if you could use the vineyard again for a private date and then called and canceled it. You don’t cancel things. You reschedule, but you don’t cancel. So?”
He took another drink to think for a moment. Did he want to tell Shaw? What could it really hurt? Maybe having a second opinion would help, especially since a small part of him thought he might have overreacted. He took a deep breath before telling Shaw what happened.
“I can see why you’d be upset, but you ignored the obvious,” Shaw stated after Elion finished telling him how he met Olani, to begin with, and giving him the details of their conversation.
“Which was?”
“She chose you. There were probably dozens of other men she could have dated, and she chose you. It isn’t unlike a normal dating app. Hell, you could say she swiped right on you.”
Elion supposed he could have taken that into account, but he’d been so focused on the lie that built their relationship, that he hadn’t even thought about it. Now that Shaw brought it up, he realized he should have looked at it that way, but he hadn’t stopped to do so with his judgment clouded.
“She created something that would help in what she was looking for. You can’t be too upset with her about that, and I get that you're hurt, especially if you’d fallen in—”
“Don’t say it,” Elion cut him off, and Shaw raised his hand in surrender.
Silence lapsed between them for a few moments, and Elion drank down the rest of the brown liquid in his glass.
“It’s brilliant if you think about it. Creating a site to find a spouse. If I were looking for one at the moment, that would be something I joined instead of going through a drawn-out dating experience that probably wouldn’t lead anywhere.”
He raised a brow at him. “You’d join a site where marriage was the end goal? You? The perpetual bachelor?”
Shaw rolled his eyes. “I said if I was looking, and I date. It’s just always casual.”
“Sure,” he responded in disbelief. Elion was sure he dated more than Shaw, and that was saying something.
“I would ask you what you’re going to do, but I think we both already know. If I had to bet, I’d say you knew what you were going to do when you came over here.”
Maybe his friend was right. Maybe he had, or maybe he hadn’t decided at all. Maybe it was best to let the situation lay as it was, or maybe he was just lying to himself.
“Shaw, can I—”
“Saturday night at eight. It’s all yours,” Shaw interjected, and Elion made a mental note to do something nice for his friend.
26
Elion drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he contemplated for the fourth time if he should be there. He glanced at the flowers in his passenger seat and decided he’d stalled long enough. He could have called, but he wanted to see Olani in person, which had him pulling up to her place of business. Showing up at her house uninvited hadn’t seemed the best idea, and he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. He grabbed the flowers and exited his vehicle.
“Hello, can I help you?” the receptionist asked when he walked in.
“I’m here to see Olani.”
“Give me a moment.”
She picked up the phone and called into Olani’s office. When she hung up, she gave him the okay to see her. He thanked her and headed to the office. Her office door was closed, andhe knocked. He only had to wait a few seconds before the door opened.
“Elion,” she stated in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you. Can I come in?” She stepped aside, gesturing for him to enter, and closed the door behind him. “I brought these for you,” he stated, holding out two dozen roses.
She hesitated momentarily before taking them from him with a soft, “Thank you.”
“I’d like to talk if you’re up for it.”
Olani walked around the desk, placing the flowers on top. “I tried to do that over the past week. You didn’t seem receptive to it if my ignored calls and texts are anything to go by.”
Okay, he deserved that. He could have responded to one of her texts to let her know he needed time, but he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have said something else and started the conversation all over again.
“I needed time to think.”
