Page 30 of Stay With Me

“And that’s it? You’ve never had a girlfriend? How is that possible?”

“Ahhh,” he said ponderously. “I tried to have girlfriends in college, but it wasn’t exactly conducive to my plans.”

“What plans were those?” she asked before shoveling a pile of vinaigrette coated leaves into her mouth.

“Maintaining a four point oh. Interning at a start-up. Working on the weekends,” he answered matter-of-factly. “Laying the groundwork for success beyond my wildest dreams. That hasn’t exactly happened, but I can’t complain.”

“So you’re, like, a workaholic?”

“Kind of. The last two years have basically been cruise control, but there are still times when stuff gets totally crazy.”

She peered at him, weighing whether or not to continue interrogating him about why he was still single, but ultimately decided that would border on being rude so she switched topics.

She put on a pleasant face and wiped her hands with her napkin. “You know my sister got her MBA too,” she went on casually.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. She ended up only working a year or two before she met her husband and decided to become a full-time wife and mom.”

“Was that her at dinner with you on Friday?”

“Yup. Jenna, her husband, Andrew, their kids, Ava, Justice, and Elizabeth—who spilled the drink—we call her Lizzy. And my parents, Kelly and Jacob.”

“You’ve got a pretty big family.”

“Not really,” she said. “Seems about average I think. Maybe even smallish. Do you have any siblings?”

“Nope. Just me and my folks.”

“Does that ever make you feel, like, pressured?”

“Pressured?”

“Like, to, you know, settle down,” she clarified cautiously. She didn’t want it to seem like she was desperate to know whether he wanted marriage and kids and the whole nine yards—even though she was.

Or, more specifically, whether he wanted those things with her.Because, you know, that’s something you decide by date numbertwo.

“Eh.” He gave a small lift of his palm, as he appeared to ponder. “Sort of. My parents are really happy. I mean, like, ridiculously happy. And I guess they want me to have that too so they don’t understand why I am … the uh, the way that I am.”

“You mean because you’re totally focused on your career?”

He glanced to the right and then back to her face. “Exactly.”

After pausing for a moment, he jumped out of his chair, holding out a hand toward her. “Shall we? I’ll walk you back to your car.”

* * *

Nick was pretty quiet on the short walk back to the other parking lot. Once they arrived, he leaned with his back against the side of her car and appeared to stare off into space. He had a look on his face that made it seem as if something was bothering him so, naturally, Samantha thought it was because of her battery of intrusive questions.

At the risk of upsetting him further, she decided to ask another one.

“Nick, are you okay?”

He didn’t say anything yet and leaned his head back as his gaze lifted toward the sky. He inhaled deeply and then blew out a small puff of air as he exhaled, which caused Samantha to become a bit nervous.

“Samantha,” he began, still staring at the sky. “I feel like I, uh…”

And then he stopped talking so she became extremely nervous.