Page 33 of In Love and War
“I wanted to know how you were settling in after, you know, abandoning us.” David winked at me.
“And? What’s the verdict?” I asked shortly after thanking our waiter, who had just dropped off our drinks.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to hear the answer. I had spent a lot of time cultivating my work relationship with David, and the last thing I wanted was Zac tainting it with his skewed and biased opinion of me.
“Your new boss doesn’t seem to like giving straight answers, does he?” David asked before he took a sip of his cocktail, chuckling light-heartedly. Though I noticed his knuckles turning white as he gripped onto his glass a little too tightly.
Glad to know I wasn’t the only one who had a hard time reading Zac.
“I thought it would be better for you to answer that one yourself,” Zac clarified, throwing me a knowing look.
My stomach automatically tightened as soon as his blue eyes landed on me. I’d completely lost control of the way my body reacted to him, and it was making me slowly lose my mind too.
“So, Mills? You happy?” David asked.
Well that’s a little… straightforward.
They were both looking at me now, waiting for an answer. Was there some tension at the table, or was this just a part of me losing my mind?
“It’s… different, kind of hard to compare.” I was careful with my words as I tried to figure out what exactly was going on.
“Different how?” This time it was Zac who spoke.
I gave him a questioning look that said,What’s with the third degree?But his expression remained relentlessly blank.
“Well, for one, at Yuval I was more established. I got to work on bigger and more diverse projects regularly. At Bloom, I’m still trying to build my foundation. So, like I said, it’s different.” I took a large sip of my whiskey.
I hadn’t planned on drinking tonight after making a fool out of myself on Friday, but I also hadn’t been expecting this tension either.
“Are you ready to order?”
The interruption by our waiter was welcomed. After he left, I quickly steered the conversation toward the Emerson presentation for tomorrow. And it worked—we spent the remainder of the dinner talking about the account.
“Excuse me for a minute.” David took out his buzzing phone after our table had been cleared. “I need to take this.”
I stood up and let him out of the booth.
Once he was gone, it occurred to me that this was the first time Zac and I had been alone together since Friday night. And, right on cue, the memory started to replay in my head.
“… like it belongs in your mouth.”
I decided taking another rather large gulp of my second manhattan was what I needed in the moment. But, hey, at least this time I had food in my system.
“You and David seem to get along well,” Zac noted.
“Yeah, we do,” I agreed. “He was a pretty great boss. Really nice guy. And supersmart, too.”
He was watching me again as he slowly swirled the bourbon and ice in his glass, but there was an edge of intensity in his eyes that was new.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to leave, that’s for sure.” I knew that I was maybe oversharing, but I was desperate to fill the silence under the scrutiny of his gaze.
“Do you regret it?”
Did I?
I contemplated for a few seconds before speaking. I knew for sure my life would be very different had I decided to stay in New York, but…
“No, I don’t think so,” I answered. “Why? Do you want me to regret it so I’ll quit and go back to Yuval?” I teased, laughing a little. I really wasn’t sure why he was asking.
