Chapter 25
He’d ordered her the halloumi and mushroom burger as well as a few other dishes. Salt and pepper edamame and crispy vegetables in tempura.
When she was halfway through the burger and Xavier still hadn’t come back, she went looking for him. He was at his desk, working.
“You look harassed,” she commented. And he did, compared to the flirtatious guy she had come to be wary of.
“I wouldn’t say I’m harassed.” He let out a sigh, short, and sharp, as if annoyed. “But I hate paperwork.” He seemed a little out of his depth, as if he didn’t belong in his office, in his lounge pants and hoodie, taking some papers off his desk, then shuffling them into order. His table was still a god awful mess. He’d cautioned her against tidying it up, and she’d left it, even though she was sorely tempted to make everything neat and tidy on it.
“I have stuff to get done, an important meeting to get ready for. Why don’t you go and eat?”
“I was waiting for you.”
“I don’t want anything. I ordered it for you.”
“Just for me?” She felt guilty, and happy, at the same time. “That’s a lot of food for one person. Just come and have something.”
“It’s too healthy for me.”
“Maybe you should give it a try,” she suggested.
“Yeah.” He seemed distracted, as he scanned a few more sheets in, and she sensed she was being a burden.
“Okay. More for me.”
“Yeah.” He didn’t even look up.
She walked back to the kitchen. Why waste good food? It had been thoughtful of him—ordering take out from that burger place they’d gone to with Jacob’s grandparents.
Sitting alone at the table, she filled her plate up and ate alone. A short while later, when she had nearly finished, Xavier joined her, taking a seat opposite.
“What?” he asked, when he caught her looking at him.
“I’m not used to seeing you looking hassled.”
“Believe it or not, I work, and I have pressures like everybody else.”
“I’m beginning to see that. You’re always such a party animal and Tobias seems so serious. It’s hard to think that you’re both brothers.”
“My brother’s always been the moody, broody type. Miserable, is what I’d call it, but women seem to think he’s intense and all that shit.”
She shifted on the stool, noting that he seemed a little tense.
“I don’t mean to say that you’re not serious about your work. I’m sure you are.”
“Thanks.”
He wasn’t smiling when he said it, and the air seemed to chill and turn sour. She wasn’t prepared for him not to be able to take a joke especially when their relationship seemed to be built on ribbing one another.
“Are you feeling sorry for yourself today, Stone?” she asked, hoping to resurrect the type of conversation they usually had. She managed a no-hard-feelings smile because she didn’t want to leave him in a miserable mood—not after he had been thoughtful enough to order her a takeout that he himself hadn’t touched.
“You’ve caught me on a bad day, otherwise I’d match you, sarcastic word for word.” He dipped his hand into the takeout box and pulled out a sweet potato chip.
“Anything I can do to help?” If she could get a few more hours of paid work from him, especially now that she was here, it would be a good thing. Besides, she’d only be returning home to an empty apartment.
“I’m putting together a report for an investor. I have all the data, and I need to resize all my charts, and shit. He needs it a few days after Thanksgiving, before he goes away for business.”
“But if you’re looking for funding, why don’t you ask Tobias?”
“Why would I?” The tone, and the way he looked at her, told her she had crossed a line. There was something defensive in his words, subtle, but definitely there, and she pushed it to the back of her mind, to examine later when she would be home alone. “Just because he’s my brother and he’s loaded, doesn’t mean I have to go running to him each time I need help.”
“Sorry.”
“I can help, if you want. I’ve analyzed so many case studies, and written up reports afterwards, it would be a piece of cake for me.”
“Everything’s a piece of cake for you,” he replied, chewing. He seemed to be considering her offer. “You must be smart, being at that college. Is it a shock to the system, coming out of high school and going somewhere like that?”
“I didn’t come straight from high-school. I waited a couple of years, to work and save up. Its astronomical, the fees and everything else.”
“I bet.” He cleared his throat. “So that makes you, what? 21?”
“22. I’m in my second year.” Why did he seem so fixated with how old she was?
She leaned forward, taking out a sweet potato wedge and dipping it into the sauce tub. “I can analyze figures and do you some pretty charts and things. I can do those things with my eyes shut.”
“I’d rather you had them open.”
“It would be better. Sure.”
It was the first time he had smiled properly since she’d arrived.
“Have you been to any more of those women's marches?” he asked.
“There hasn't been another one, yet. Why? Are you thinking of coming along?” As if he would.
He coughed, gave her a suitably serious looking face. “Sure. Why not?”
“Why would you go?”
“Huh?”
“Why would you go?”
“To ... show my support.”
“For what?”
“To ...to show that things have been kind of fucked up, lately.”
“Lately?”
“Well, you know, now that it's all starting to come out.”
“What is?” she asked, wondering if he actually knew, or was fumbling around, pretending to be one of the good guys.
“The—uh, the stuff that's been going on in Hollywood. The casting couch, and all that.”
“That's been around for years, allegedly.”
“And I find it shocking that this shit still happens.”
“It's a shocking world we live in.”
He nodded his head. She sensed he was being reticent, as if he was feeling his way around the conversation, mindful of what to say. She wasn't even sure if he had an opinion, or had been aware of much of what had been going on. It remained to be seen whether he was genuinely sympathetic, or merely paying lip service.
After they were done eating, he showed her what he needed doing, and she could tell already that it would be simpler than most of her homework assignments. Helping him made her feel good, as if she had a one up over him. And she liked the idea of that.
She told him she’d have his document done the day after Thanksgiving. It would give him some time to go over what she had done, and he could let her know if it needed further changes before his meeting.
He copied everything onto a memory stick and gave it to her.