“So?”
she asked.
“So what?”
“Do I receive pizza or not?”
He hesitated.
“This isn’t a work dinner.”
“I assumed.”
“And you’re not my direct manager.”
“No.”
“And HR has already been informed that we…”
He stopped.
“That we what?”
The CEO asked.
He rubbed his forehead.
“That there might eventually be something to disclose.”
Her voice softened.
“You told HR?”
“I asked about policy.”
Silence.
She smiled.
“That may be the least romantic sentence anyone has ever said to me.”
“I’m trying not to get fired.”
“You are doing terribly.”
She came anyway.
His house was modest.
Two bedrooms.
Small kitchen.
A couch with one arm slightly lower because his son repeatedly jumped on it.
The boy opened the door.
He stared at the CEO.
“You look different.”
She glanced down.
Dark jeans.
Cream sweater.
Flat shoes.
“How?”
“You look normal.”
The Single Dad covered his face.
The CEO smiled.
“Thank you.”
The boy added:
“My dad cleaned for two hours.”
“Enough.”
the Single Dad said.
Pizza arrived.
The CEO ate two slices.
The boy seemed impressed.
She helped with his solar-system model.
She was terrible at gluing planets.
The Single Dad laughed.
She accused him of workplace insubordination.
The boy immediately became interested.
“Can you fire him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because that would create paperwork.”
The boy nodded solemnly.
“Paperwork is bad.”
“Exactly.”
Later, after bedtime, the CEO stood in the kitchen beside the Single Dad.
No rain.
No hotel hallway.
No exhaustion.
No vulnerability that could confuse consent.
She wore his old apron because she insisted on washing dishes.
He leaned against the counter.
She looked at him.
“I remember everything.”
His throat tightened.
“The hallway?”
“Yes.”
He looked away.
“You told me to ask again when I was rested and fed.”
She stepped closer.
“I have slept.”
He smiled.
“I can tell.”
“I ate pizza.”
“Two slices.”
“Correct.”
She closed the final distance.
“May I kiss you?”
He stared.
Then laughed quietly.
“What?”
“You actually remembered the wording.”
“You made a rule.”
“I respect rules.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Sometimes.”
He touched her waist.
This time deliberately.
“Yes.”