He smiled. I could see it in his eyes. He did like her. It was so nice seeing him happy. But I still felt compelled to ask.
“So, you do really like her?”
“Yeah. She’s so easy to hang out with. When she’s not mad at me that is. We became really good friends after you moved here. Our relationship progressed so naturally. And she’s beautiful. And so smart. And she’s incredibly passionate.” He immediately looked down at his food. His face looked a little red. “Yeah, it’s still weird talking about this with you.”
“A little.” I laughed. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear about my two best friends’ passionate lovemaking.
“Okay, let’s just agree to be friends that talk about everything except for our sex lives.” He put his hand out for me to shake.
“Deal.”
“Um, so, I was thinking I’d surprise her after work. With some flowers or something. And ask her officially. Hopefully she won’t want to move out either. I’ve gotten used to waking up next to her.” He looked a little embarrassed again.
“I think she’ll love that.”
“Yeah?”
I nodded. I knew this would mean my relationship with Tyler would change. It would be different with Melissa too. But if it meant they were both happy, then I was happy too. I could adjust. The past few weeks I had handled so much change. I could handle one more thing.
“Well, she gets off in about half an hour. I should probably get going. If you’re okay?”
“I’m good.”
“You sure?”
“Go ask my best friend to be your girlfriend.”
He stood up and pulled out his wallet.
“It’s my turn.” I shooed him.
He smiled. “See you later, Penny.”
“Bye, Tyler.” I watched him leave the restaurant. It was probably the last time I’d hang out with him one on one. He probably knew it too.
I sighed and looked down at my half eaten sandwich. Maybe I should go try to confront Isabella. I didn’t want her to think she could intimidate me. Even if she had. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. She was just messing with me.
Ian probably knew where she lived. It was just a question of whether or not he would take me there. I grabbed my phone and texted Ian to pick me up at the diner.
In a few minutes I saw the car pull up outside. I quickly paid the bill and walked out of the restaurant. Ian opened up the car door for me. Before he could ask me where I wanted to go, I climbed into the car. I couldn’t make eye contact with him when he asked.
When he got into the car, he lowered the partition. “Where to, Penny?”
I looked out the window. “Can you take me to Isabella’s?” I kept my eyes glued on the window, despite the awkward silence that greeted my ears.
“Sorry. What’s her last name?”
“Hunter.” I turned toward the front of the car. Luckily I only had to look at him through the rearview mirror because I was starting to feel sweaty.
“I don’t…” He cleared his throat. “I don’t think I’m supposed to take you there.”
He wasn’t supposed to take me there? God, James. Had he seriously told Ian where he could and could not take me? I didn’t want to lie to Ian, and I certainly didn’t want to get him in trouble. But I needed him to take me to Isabella’s. “I have lunch plans with her. I don’t want to be late.”
Ian glanced out the window at the diner that I had just come out of.
Crap. Why am I such a terrible liar? I was even worse when I was angry. I tended to speak before I thought it out.
“Penny, I’m going to take you home.”
“Ian, please. I need to talk to her.”
“James doesn’t want you to be in contact with her.”
Why? Because he doesn’t want me to catch them making out? I swallowed hard. That wasn’t fair. It was just a picture. There was so much behind a captured image. I looked down at my hands. “What, did he give you a list of places where I’m not allowed to go or something?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss that with you.”
I spent a lot of time with Ian. Whenever I was in the car with him, I usually lowered the partition and chatted with him. I considered him to be a friend. But he wasn’t. He was polite and courteous to me because James paid him to be. Ian wasn’t my friend. He wasn’t even my employee, he was James’.
“Okay,” I said and looked back out the window. I felt like a petulant child. James had a way of making me feel like that. But he was right. I shouldn’t be going to see Isabella. There would never be a reason for me to go see her. Ever.
***
I got out of the car without saying anything and walked toward the front of the apartment building.
“Penny, I’m sorry.”
I turned around and looked at Ian.
I shrugged. “If you’re not allowed to take me there, then you’re not allowed to take me. It’s fine.”
“Look, I’ll take you if you really want to go. James doesn’t have to know.” He stared at me, wanting to know if I’d keep the secret. He was putting his neck out for me. Maybe he thought of me as more of a friend than I realized.
“No, that’s okay. James knows best, right?” I gave him a small smile.
“You really don’t want to see her anyway. Trust me. She’s not… nice.”
He knows her? I hadn’t even thought about it before. “Did you work for James when they were still married?”
Ian nodded. “Yeah, he even kept me on the payroll when he went to teach at the University of New Castle for a year. So that I wouldn’t have to keep my job with Isabella. We didn’t get along very well. He probably did it because he knew Isabella would fire me.” He laughed.
“He knew he was only staying there for a year?” I asked as nonchalantly as possible.
“Well, I mean, he came back before a year so I had to start back up again a few months early. With you.” He smiled. “But, yeah, he said he’d be back in a year when he left.”
James had told me he was taking a break by teaching. He had never put a date on it though. He had never told me that his plan was always to come back to New York. I thought we had decided to make our fresh start here together. I had that same eerie feeling that I had when we had just met. That he was the hunter and I was the prey. I folded my arms across my chest, suddenly cold. Why did it feel like I still didn’t know him?