Page 40 of Let's Talk About Love

“No, because then she’ll be mad at both of us.”

“All right. Bring it in.” Ryan opened his arms for a good-bye hug. She stepped into it, frowning.

“I don’t really want to hug you because you’re a jerk, but I love you anyway.” She looked up at him. “Thank you for today.”

“The feeling is mutual.” He kissed her cheek. “All of them.”

She turned to go inside, but stopped short, a hand flying to her chest in surprise.

“Hey, Alice,” Takumi said, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, not a three-piece suit trimmed in gold. His hair was messy, not slicked back, and he didn’t look nearly as manipulative as he had in her dream.

She didn’t have to think about which Takumi she preferred.

“Takumi. Hey.”

“Are you on break?” His eyes darted to Ryan and back to her. He carried a bright blue bag with him.

“No, I just got here. I had to go to this school thing, so I’m only working a half day today. This is Ryan, one of my best friends.”

They shook hands. “I’ll see you tonight,” Ryan said, touching her shoulder.

“Uh, we live together,” she said to Takumi. “We’re roommates. Us and Feenie, my other best friend. He’s giving me a ride.”

“Okay.” Takumi gave her a look and she realized that he hadn’t asked any of that. He hadn’t asked anything. She overshared because she assumed he would care. Again.

(Why, oh why, did she care if he cared?)

She rubbed her forehead. “I’m going in now,” she said, leaving themstanding there. In the break room, she plopped the precooked and flash-frozen generic breakfast bowl with semiplastic eggs, overcooked sausage, squishy potatoes, and delicious cheese down on the table before sitting.

“Wait!” Takumi called. He sat in the chair next to hers. “Don’t start eating yet.”

“Why?” she asked, definitely not thinking about the dream or ball gowns or velvet pillows… Oh, who was she kidding? Somehow, he’d know about the dream. He’d sense it and she would die of embarrassment. “What are you doing here anyway? You don’t start for another half hour.”

(No, she didn’t have his schedule memorized.)

(Okay, yeah, she did.)

(Tuesday and Thursday: 5 p.m.–9 p.m. Saturday: 9:30 a.m.–6 p.m. Sunday: 1 p.m.–5 p.m.)

“I have a present for you. Do you want it?”

“Is it a cute present?” Alice joked, facing forward. Looking at him dead-on in close proximity continued to prove to be difficult. Her mouth tended to dry out, thoughts still went blank.

“Not exactly.” Takumi pouted like he had gotten something wrong. “You’ll like this present, though.” Reaching into the blue bag, he pulled out two square glass dishes with lids. He pushed her breakfast bowl away.

“Japanese mabo tofu.”

“Did you make this?” she asked as he pried off the lid. One dish had plain rice. The other contained slightly orange-and-white-colored cubes of something (probably the tofu?) with green onions sprinkled on top and a thick reddish-brown sauce underneath it. She sniffed the air—pork, garlic, and… ginger? Her stomach began to rumble. “For me? Why?”

“Well,” he began, smiling, “I was talking to Essie and she mentioned you liked trying new foods. I thought cooking for you would be a good way to give your bad days a little pick-me-up and make your good days that much better. Don’t worry—I cleared our dinners with Essie for the foreseeable future.”

He held a spoon out for her.

“Thank you,” she said, taking it.

“You’re welcome.” He scooped out half the rice onto a plate for her.

She took a bite. “Holy crap, this is good.” It had the perfect amount of savory spice. “You seriously made this?”