Page 38 of Her Billion Dollar Groom

When she said,Come out to the zoo with me for a few hours, I thought,Okay, it’ll be what, two or three at the most. I’ll go to keep her happy and get her out of my hair, and then I’ll get back and finish all the auditing paperwork I have to get done by the end of the week.

I should have known better than that.

It’s well into dinnertime when we finally get home, and when she wraps her arm around mine and blinks up into my eyes and says, “Let’s watch a movie after dinner,” I melt again.

How am I supposed to resist those eyes? They’re dazzling. She has the most amazing ability to see good and light in everything in the world. Everything she puts her mind to, she does with a joy that’s infectious.

I must have been around corporate people for too long, because she’s making me remember how good it is to be alive.

When we settle on the sofa, Eliza is the one who chooses the movie. I grit my teeth, preparing for some rom-com that’s just a little bit too sweet for my tastes. I won’t complain about it too much, but in my head, I’m low-key, planning to just doze off so I don’t have to cope with sickly soft people gushing about love.

But as we flick through the streaming catalog, she scrolls right past romance. I almost say something to point out that she’s missed the category she was looking for, but then I realize that I’m making assumptions about her that I shouldn’t be making. She can like anything she wants to.

She chooses science fiction, something with aliens and explosions and spaceships. Then she settles in, grabs the bowl of popcorn we prepared, and snuggles against my shoulder.

Without thinking, without asking, I put my arm around her.

I freeze and almost snatch it away, but she sinks deeper into me, wiggling to get herself comfortable, and sighs happily. Ever so slightly, I allow myself to relax.

This is the kind of evening she’s been pestering me about for ages, one where we sit quietly and hang out together.It’ll be fun, she always tells me.Isn’t the point of living with someone that you get an inbuilt person to hang out with?

I’ve never had a real response to that because the only people I’ve ever lived with are college roommates, and they were not what I would call good friends. They weren’t even what I would call bad friends. They were slobbish and loud and annoying, and they didn’t have much time for me either. I was the epitome of boring to them.

They asked me a bunch of times if I wanted to go out with them when we first moved in together, and after a while of saying no, they stopped asking altogether. In fact, they stopped speaking to me completely in the end. I was way too uncool for their style.

I didn’t mind it, then. I had my own friends, and more importantly, I had my work to focus on, my degree to earn. I had better things to worry about, and these days I’m much the same. I have more to worry about than having a social life.

The parties they used to throw were so, so annoying though.

Now, the older I get, the more I realize how much time I wasted then. Not in terms of work or getting things done. I almost got too much done. And especially these last few months with Eliza, I’m starting to realize that maybe there is value in having friends too. Maybe all this time that I’ve been focused on my business, I’ve been missing out on some of the things that make life worth living.

Maybe having a friend doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice all you ever worked for.

Hesitantly, I lift my hand a little and start stroking her hair. She hums in quiet contentment and moves into my touch. My heart trembles in my chest as she wraps a lazy arm around me and holds on.

Not only have I never had a girlfriend like her, I’ve never had a friend like her. All my friends are from my job, and all my girlfriends have always been business types, really smart women who I admire and who have my same drive for success and work ethic, where late hours matter more than social engagements.

But Eliza… yes, she works hard. She wouldn’t be this successful if she didn’t. She has a real passion for her job too. But she also knows how to let her hair down. She sees life as something for living, not for winning. And to her, sitting here with me watching some dumb film has exactly as much value as writing an award-winning album.

It’s a way of looking at the world that’s blowing my mind.

I never realized there could be space in life for both things.

We’re about forty minutes into the movie when her breathing changes and her head feels heavier against my chest. I glance down at her and see her eyes shut, her mouth slightly open, and I smile, brushing her hair out of her face.

It’s a small moment, a quiet one, but it’s still one that’s changing me on the inside. All of a sudden, it’s like Eliza has shown me a new way of existing.

I want to take advantage of it.

I want more of this, the quiet nights together, the silly days at the zoo.

I want more of her.

Though the movie keeps running, I spend more of my time watching her than the screen. I could barely tell you what the movie was even about by the end. But I could tell you about every freckle, every crease on Eliza’s face, though she wouldn’t like me to tell anyone about these things. I’m sure to her having the hint of a wrinkle is the worst thing that could happen, but I like them.

I like her.

I like her more than I want to admit to myself.

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