“I like the big picture,” he explained. “What makes the whole. Some people are very good at micromanaging, studying the nitty-gritty, or being so good at one thing that they become the go-to experts in their fields. Me… I’m the one you call when you need the macro. I’ll delegate and leave you alone as long as you turn in good work on time. Or if you take me to the market, I’llperuse the whole store so quickly that I’m out in five minutes with everything I need. Same with people. You’ve got health, mental stuff, histories and languages…”
“Wow,” Eden said when he paused. “So, you don’t stress the small stuff.”
“No. I stress the big stuff.”
She briefly laughed, letting him see her smile between two naturally pink lips.How can she still be so beautiful?While Benson had been beside himself that this woman was inhistown, he had morbidly thought that, perhaps, his passion for her would be dead here in the real world. The cracks in her perfection would show, be it through poor conduct or a personality that displayed what she wasreallylike here in the city. Because Benson was under no illusion. Butterflies were actresses. They had personas. Their jobs were to be seductive, flirty, and sexually available, which must have been a full-time job mentally as well as physically. There was no way that Eden was like that all the time.
Indeed, she wasn’t. But the “real” side of her that Benson had seen so far was more than acceptable. If anything, she just projected a certain vulnerability that endeared her more to him.
He was about to ask her something about herself when she said, “I always wondered what going to an Ivy League would be like. I grew up in California. About as removed from the Ivy League as you could get.”
She’s a California girl?Somehow, Benson hadn’t guessed it, and he usually had an eye for what region someone was from. “I wish I could say I appreciated it enough, but I didn’t. Hopefully, my daughter appreciates it more.” He then grumbled, “Even though I just found out she’s going to major in Italian…”
Eden had caught that. “Really? You can major in Italian at Brown? Huh. I had no idea that was a thing.”
“Me neither, until last night.”
“Let me guess…” A mischievous glint tickled her eyes. “You’re paying for it, Mr. Finance.”
He scoffed, but not at her – at how astute she was. “Of course I am. To be fair, though, her mother is paying for the living expenses, and that is somehow almost as expensive as books and tuition these days.”
More questions burned in Eden’s cheeks, but she kept them to herself as Benson leaned across the table, his chin hovering above the tealight candle still burning between them.
“So, what do you do?”
She was a puppy awkwardly backed into the corner of a cage. Or so he surmised when he realized how intently he must have been looking at her with shadows licking his face. And from the way she fiddled with her hair, glancing away and fussing with her coat until it was bundled beside her. Benson took the hint. He casually sat a little farther back, finger on his upper lip as his elbow found a perch on the table.
“Well…” she began, those perfectly pink lips pursed. “I’m sort of between things right now. I hesitate to say career because…” She shook her head, eyes focused on something between her nails in her lap. “I’ve never had one.” She blew something out of her face. It took Benson a moment to realize it was a suffering sigh. “The whole reason I took that resort job is because I knew the money would last me a long while if I used it right. Figure out what to do. Maybe go back to school or some kind of training course. To be honest, it’s insanely difficult to figure out what to do in this current economy. Feels like as soon as I set my focus on something, it’s oversaturated, and now it’s my fault for being stupid enough to choose it.”
Those last few words flew from her mouth in a flurry of frustration that Benson could only relate to all too well. While he was quite comfortable in his career, he fretted for Drew’s.Who am I to tell her not to major in Italian?Nothing was guaranteed.Even if she followed in her father’s footsteps, the economic and political landscape might have changed so much in so little time that financial advisors like him were doomed.
I wouldn’t have said that five years ago.
“I shouldn’t have brought that up, huh…”
The image of his daughter dissipated from Benson’s mind. “Hm? Sorry. I was just thinking of something my daughter said.”
“Oh… I mean the resort. I shouldn’t bring it up.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s awkward.”
“I don’t think it’s awkward.”
“Well, I do.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. Besides, “Fair enough.”
That admittance changed the tone of their date, however. For the next few minutes, they sat in near-silence, only occasionally making small talk over the lighting fixtures and the large paintings of Thai legends on the walls. Benson didn’t know much about them; neither did Eden. They were stuck trying not to look at their phones while waiting for their food.I don’t want to look at my phone.Benson wanted to look at Eden. But it wasn’t much fun if she was avoiding him because she was uncomfortable.
“I really want to say something,” he muttered, already regretting it, “but I’m afraid it’s going to come out wrong. One of those situations where it sounds great in my head, but you might take it the wrong way, and I’m over herekillingmyself over it.”
Eden slowly nodded as if she understood. “It’s about the whole situation of this, right?”
“Yes.”
“About how we didn’t exactly meet in the most organic of ways.”