Page 22 of Taking Adalisa

She can’t know. There was no way Margery knows that Matthias was at my house this morning, that he woke me up to the best sex I’ve ever had. She can’t possibly know that. She doesn’t go out and eat very often, so she wouldn’t have seen me and Matthias together.

“Are you lying to me?”

I hate it when she asks me that. I’ve only lied to her a handful of times, but she always seems to know when I am. How? I don’t know, and it infuriates me. Maybe she has some type of superpower.

“No, I’m not,” I reply, keeping my voice calm and collected like it was before the delivery. “He wasn’t at my house last night.”

I’m not lying about that part. But the part about us having sex this morning and him not letting me eat breakfast—that was all a lie.

“Are you going to eat it?” she asks. “Or are you going to let it go to waste?”

“You have a lot of questions.” I look at her, exasperated.

Margery always has a lot of questions when it comes to anything with me. I love her, but sometimes she can get a bit overwhelming. Especially when it’s at work.

“Sorry, I’m just curious. You never go out and meet people, yet you want to find that right person for you. I know you just went to the speed dating fiasco, but has anything else happened after it? No,” Margery points out. “I’m just worried about you. I want you to be happy, and sometimes I do have a lot of questions, but they come from the goodness of my heart,” she mutters at the end.

I sigh. “I know you do, and that’s why we are great friends. You don’t need to worry about my love life.”

Her eyebrows rise. “I don’t? Are you and this guy serious?”

“No!” I raise my voice. “Oh no. We are not. We are just friends. I wouldn’t even really consider us friends.”

I shiver at the thought of Matthias and I being serious. I don’t know whether it’s from pleasure thinking about it or genuine worry that it might happen, with or without my consent. But Matthias already thinks we are forever.

Margery’s shoulders slump. “Oh. I was really looking forward to meeting him. I was getting excited for you. Sorry, that sounds bad, but I want you to be happy. I want you to thrive and live your life. I don’t want you to always come into work and then go home. That is no way to live.”

I raise one eyebrow at her and wait for her to realize what she is saying, but she just looks at me. “Margery.”

“What… Oh,” she whispers.

“Yeah, oh. You want me to be happy and not only work and go home, but you literally described your life,” I tell her. “I’m not trying to be rude, but—girl—you are literally talking about yourself as well. Do you not want what’s best for you as well?”

She lifts her hands in frustration. “That’s why I’ve been going on a couple of dates. I’mtryingto get back out there.”

“And I am super proud of you,” I praise her honestly. “When you told me you were, I jumped up and down in my apartment.”

Silence rings out around us, and I look back at my food. It smells so delicious.

“Why don’t you go into the back room and eat it? I’ll watch over the shop.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Go and eat breakfast from the man you aren’t seeing,” she giggles.

“Brat,” I mutter as I stand, grabbing the food and making my way to the break room.

One thing Matthias and his mother saved me from this morning was eating in front of people. While I can do it, I don’t reallylikedoing it. The stress of people seeing you take a bite… yeah, no, I can’t do it. That’s one of the reasons why I don’t eat out.

Too many eyes watching.

Once I flop onto the couch in the break room, I take the note out.

Matthias

Eat breakfast. My mother made it especially for you and felt bad that you didn’t have anything to eat this morning. Enjoy, and we’ll talk later.

CHAPTER 8

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