Page 80 of Love Is an Art
Especially because she seems totally unaffected.
The flight staff announces that it’s time for boarding.
Tessa packs up her laptop and stands. “I’ll see you in Mexico City.”
“We’re seated next to each other.”
She stills.
Not so unaffected, then.
“My assistant booked us together. We can work, if need be.” Because work is what’s important here.
We get in the boarding line.
“It’s too confidential to discuss on the plane,” she says. “We can find a romantic comedy to watch together since you’re not completely averse to watching them.”
I’m definitely not watching a romantic comedy with Tessa.
“As the client, don’t I get to pick?”
“There’s no such thing as client privilege, only attorney-client privilege. But okay. But I can’t watch anything scary. And I’ll cry if we watch something sad, so we basically have to watch a comedy because I don’t want to arrive at the clients looking like I’ve cried.”
“That would not be a good look.” I show the boarding pass on my phone to the gate agent, and we stroll down the jetway and enter the plane. As we walk through the aisle to find our seats, I ask, “Have you been to Mexico City before?”
“No. Did you see any of it the last time you were here?”
“Not really,” I say. “I worked the whole time. But the office is in a cool location. I saw that one neighborhood a little bit—Roma.” I put our bags up in the overhead storage bin. “Do you mind if I take a nap? The 3 a.m. wakeup for this flight was brutal.”
“I’m all for that.”
I wake up to find her head on her shoulder, my head leaning against hers. I stare down at her sleeping face. She looks so unguarded—and beautiful, although I miss her eyes laughing up at me. I want to brush that tendril of hair that lies against her cheek.
The plane lights switch on, and she is up, lifting her head. Her eyes blink into mine as she wakes up. Her eyes swallow up her face. They’re so vividly blue and make me want to swim in them forever.
That’s how I got into trouble in the first place.
“Well, at least we both napped,” she says.
She doesn’t appear embarrassed or flummoxed.
“I’m going to run to the bathroom before the seatbelts sign comes on.” She grabs a small makeup bag and makes her way down the aisle. I follow her. Roberto, the CEO, is picking us up from the airport to mitigate any kidnapping risk—although I can’t help thinking, doesn’t that worsen the kidnapping risk? They’ll probably want the CEO more than us.
“Wow. These offices are great.” Tessa stops to take in the reception area of Comidas en Canasta. “I love the full-height windows and the restored, wood floors and all the art.” The reception area has one red wall and one white wall with a red couch against it. A towering, green plant is next to the couch. A bamboo screen separates the reception from the back canteen area. Several pieces of modern art decorate the deep-red wall, whereas the white wall has a very colorful piece of art made out of what looks like dyed, straw fibers.
“We had a lot of fun. My wife helped too. We wanted to go with the straw theme, so we found some Popotillo art and ordered those rattan screens. My wife knows a lot of emerging artists, so we bought some of their pieces to give it a more modern flair,” Roberto says. Roberto is in his early forties, fit, with a dynamic presence. “And the location is perfect for our business. There are so many up-and-coming bistros and restaurants in Roma. As soon as I discussed founding this company with Cameron, I knew exactly where I wanted our offices to be.”
“Oh. Did you know it was this office building, or did you have a few choices?” Tessa asks.
“I knew it was this building. If the price worked. And it did,” Roberto says. “This was pretty much the only easy thing about setting up the business. I suggested this building, and Cameron agreed.”
Tessa doesn’t look at me. Point One for Tessa. She is good at subterfuge. But I already know that. And that’s why we’ll never get back together.Never.
“I love the décor,” Tessa says.
“It turned out well. My wife and I pulled it together with our Head of Human Resources, Pamela. You will meet her later,” Roberto says. “We’re working pretty hard, so we’re not taking long lunches right now, but we made a reservation for dinner. We’ve set you up in our main conference room down the hall, and later, Ana, our all-around executive assistant, will come by, and you can choose to order lunch via our app. She keeps our office running.”
“That sounds great,” I say.
