One Last Word by Suzanne Park

Author:Suzanne Park
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2024-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

“I knew I might find you here. Is this seat taken?”

After avoiding him for an entire week, Harry found me on a weekend evening, working by myself in a neighborhood café. There were only three places around Jia’s neighborhood that offered free Wi-Fi and a five-dollar order minimum to sit there indefinitely, and Gray Pup Coffee was one of them. I wasn’t exactly tucked away from view, sitting at a glass-top iron bistro table next to the giant windows looking onto the street. All he had to do was look up from the sidewalk to see me. I was too careless.

Immersing myself in work had been a good way to distract myself from the horrible night at the gala, but my days of hiding from Harry had come to an end.

“Have a seat,” I yelled above the noise of the grinding of coffee beans.

He slid into the metal chair and pushed aside my cherry danish to give himself more room to place his elbows on the table. “You hardly replied to my texts. I need some answers . . . When you left the gala that night in such a hurry, I looked everywhere for you. I bumped into one of the investors I wanted to introduce you to, but you had taken off.”

I dropped my chin and stared hard at my laptop keyboard.

His face fell. “Was it because of the stupid Blindr app post? I’m mentioned all the time on there, don’t let it bother you. It’s already mostly blown over too. We’re old news.”

It was probably easy for someone like Harry to dismiss the Blindr post, but it wasn’t for me. That was the first “Sara Chae” entry. Acid bubbled up from my stomach as I thought back to the insinuation that I had some “mentor with benefits” arrangement. Was that how men in VC saw women? As opportunists who would do anything for a leg up? How abhorrent and demoralizing.

He continued, “Of all people, Claudia said in an exclusive Blindr interview that if you and I were in fact a real couple, that she would be happy for us. She mentioned that we had adopted a beaver together from the silent auction and that was what mattered the most, the wildlife animals. She shared the QR code for donations and beat her annual fundraising goal. Amazing how she turned this bullshit into a lucrative opportunity. But that was always her strength.” He sighed wistfully. “And her weakness.”

My shoulders relaxed. “And we saved the beaver?”

The concern on his face shifted to amusement. “Yes.”

I checked the Blindr app, and while the post was still on the gossip feature page, it was far down. There was breaking news of hirings and firings and messy divorces that had far more views and comments. Harry was right, we were old news.

“I got dibs on naming him, so he’s Brandon the Beaver. I’ll send you photos of him tonight. By the way, you missed the breakdancing,” Harry added.

I cleared a few more business books off the table so he had more room.

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