Page 57 of Thank you, Next
He wasn’t even upset about seeing her with Gilles, but he wished she’d sought him out first. She wasn’t sure of him yet. If she needed him, all she would have to do was call. And he knew that she could crook her finger and he’d come running. But she didn’t know that yet.
He had to be sure that she was all in this with him. He would do absolutely anything it took to love her. But he had to take care of himself. If she couldn’t just stay put with him for a minute, if she couldn’t listen to him instead of jumping to conclusions, if she couldn’t keep her heart open to him, what was the point?
He was done waiting.
The host found them and let them know that Lexi’s table was ready. Will looked right at Alex and said, “We’ll talk later.”
TWENTY-FIVE
Alex was sorely tempted to wait after the restaurant closed and force Will to talk to her. The vibe had been so totally weird when Will had come out of the kitchen. She didn’t know if he was jealous or mad. But she didn’t like leaving things unresolved with him. That’s when she knew that what she had with Will was truly different from what she’d had with any previous boyfriend. She was only grateful that Lexi had been talking to a fan and missed the whole thing.
Will disappeared back into the kitchen after they were seated, and Alex put on a good face, making agreeable noises as Lexi exclaimed over the décor and the drinks and the appetizers.
When Jane and Lana arrived, they were seated with them. And they noticed that Alex was off, if their increasingly concerned glances were anything to go by. Alex pleaded with them with her gaze not to say anything, and she could only hope they understood. If she told Lexi things were weird with Will, her grandmother would march them both into a room and demand they work things out.
The problem was, both of them were so stubborn that Alex wasn’t sure they could work things out. What was there to work out when they would get in the same kind of stupid fight/standoff next week and want to kill each other until they could rip each other’s clothes off? It would be an endless cycle.
The food was excellent, and there was plenty of it—of course Will would take care of Lexi—but it all tasted like cardboard to Alex. There was a burrata and peach salad that all melted together in her mouth. And the osso buco that he served her was just as perfect as it had been the other night. But Alex couldn’t taste any of it, not even the panna cotta.
When they’d finished the meal, and Lexi had licked the last bit of custard off her spoon and everyone else had wiped out their espressos, Alex got up to leave with her grandmother and friends.
But Lexi put a hand on her arm. “You should stay and help Will celebrate a successful night,” she said with a wink.
Alex tried to come up with a reason why she couldn’t stay that wouldn’t reveal that she and Will weren’t getting along but only came up with, “I’m sure he wants to celebrate with his team.”
It was Jane who sealed her fate. “Lana and I will drop Lexi at home. You should spend some time with Will.”
Alex gave her a dirty look, but she knew that she’d lost. She was going to have to stay and face the music. Even if the music involved working through things instead of getting angry or running.
She waited at the bar for the last table to leave, but she didn’t have any more cocktails. She sipped on seltzer and ripped up a napkin until it disintegrated. The bartender recognized her from the times she had visited before they opened, so he closed out his till and left as the last patrons cleared out.
The dining room was dim except for some lights above the bar when Will came out and found her there. “I thought you would have left to take Lexi home.”
Alex looked up at him but couldn’t tell from the look on his face how he felt about her being there. He looked tired, but that was to be expected given that he was probably coming down from a huge adrenaline high at the moment.
“Jane and Lana got her home.” Alex looked down at the pile of dust that had previously been a napkin. “I thought that you and I had some shit to talk about.”
Will gave her an affirmative grunt before asking, “Did you enjoy the meal?”
She wasn’t going to tell him the truth, that she’d barely tasted it, but she didn’t want to lie to him, either. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lexi enjoy a meal so much in her life. She’s so proud of you.”
“Good.” That made Will smile slightly.
“You know. Even if we don’t work this out, she’ll still love you. She’ll still be yours.”
Will nodded and then turned to peruse the liquor bottles. The only sounds for those few moments were the last few people clanging around in the kitchen, working cleanup duty. When Will turned back around, he had a bottle of brown liquor and two glasses, so she guessed they were going talk.
Alex lifted up two fingers and he gave her a hefty pour, himself a lighter one. Although he could probably use more than she had. She switched their glasses and his lips twitched. Alex sighed. She wasn’t sure what to say, so she started out with, “I’m sorry.”
“For what, exactly?” Will raised his eyebrows. He had a point. She had a lot to apologize for.
“I’m sorry I was weird about April coming over.” She supposed that had started this round of Alex’s signature fuckups.
“You know that I’d never do a reality show with her where I have to pretend to be romantic with her. She and I are really over.”
Alex believed him. “I know that, but I was just upset that you didn’t tell me. It caught me by surprise.”
“I didn’t think it was important.” Will leaned his elbows on the bar, and she caught the musky hardworking scent of him. They should be working off all his excess adrenaline in a dark corner somewhere, not having a heavy conversation. “But I should have known that you would want to know.”