The Dating Plan

by Sara Desai

  Act V: The End

  “I love you, too,” he whispered as he released her, and his words tore a hole in her chest. “I will never stop loving you. That’s why I have to go.”

  • 27 •

  “BETA! I’ve brought more ice cream.”

  Layla pushed herself off the couch, patting Daisy on the knee. “Move those bowls of candy out of the way and I’ll go get it from your dad. One carton or two?”

  “One. And tell him to be quiet. I’m starting Iron Man 2. This is the one where the palladium core of the arc reactor that protects Iron Man’s heart is starting to break down. He’s in an impossible position—either he slowly lets his body be poisoned or he dies by the shrapnel piercing his heart.”

  “Very apropos.”

  “Isn’t it, though? If it were me, I wouldn’t have even built an arc reactor.” She tucked her pink princess blanket around her. “Then I would have saved myself the pain of being slowly poisoned by someone I knew I shouldn’t get involved with in the first place.”

  “I thought Iron Man was poisoned by palladium.”

  “Liam. Palladium. Same difference.”

  Layla sighed. “Sometimes I wish you could just watch tear-jerking rom-coms when you’re sad instead of forcing me to sit through Avengers movie marathons and stuff myself with candy. If you keep this up, I won’t fit into my wedding dress. What’s wrong with The Notebook? It’s only about two hours long. You watch it. You cry. And then it’s out of your system.”

  Daisy ripped open the bag of Kurkure Masala Munch that Mehar Auntie had sourced from a friend who had just returned from India and shoved a handful in her mouth. Take that, Liam.

  “I need to see all the movies to really cry at Avengers: Infinity War. It doesn’t have the same emotional impact if I skip any of the films.”

  Max snuggled beside her in solidarity with her decision to check out of the world for a few days and lose herself in junk food and movies. He had been more than content to spend hours with her on the couch watching superheroes saving the universe.

  “Is Liam really worth all this?” Layla raised her voice over Daisy’s loud crunching. “His crisis of conscience was too little too late and very ill timed. I mean, seriously, he tells you all this when you’re in the hospital? Who does that?”

  “I was fine. I was being discharged. They were keeping me overnight as a precaution. And it’s not about when he said it; it was what he said. I thought I was the broken one in our relationship, but now I realize it was him.” She tossed a few gummy bears in her mouth to counteract the spicy taste of what had been Liam’s favorite snack. “Was Sam worth eating a pot of dal and puking all over your mother’s restaurant floor?”

  Layla laughed. “Point taken. But after that I pulled myself together. After one more weekend, I expect the same from you.”

  Daisy sank back into the cushions. “That’s not enough time for a full MCU movie marathon if I have to eat, sleep, and visit with people. I’ve only been watching for four days. The hospital signed me off for a full week of medical leave.”

  “Promise me,” Layla said. “This weekend will be the end of the Avengers and the last pity food you’ll consume over Liam. You have to move on.” She returned a few minutes later with Daisy’s ice cream and two spoons, and settled on the couch beside her. Layla loved movies, and although the Avengers weren’t her favorite, she watched them just to keep Daisy company.

  “How can I move on?” Daisy stabbed at the ice cream—mint chip; her dad always knew what she needed. “I miss him. I feel like a part of me is gone. It started out as a game but somewhere along the way it became real and I . . .” She drew in a ragged breath. “How can two people love each other and not be together?”

  Layla scooped up some ice cream. “Because one of them is a hot, broken mess. He was already gone when he walked into that room. He’d made his decision. Do you really think three words could have changed his mind? If he really loves you, he’ll come back, and if he doesn’t, it was never meant to be.” She grinned, the teaspoon half in and half out of her mouth. “I read that on a coffee cup once. I’ve waited a long time to use it.”

  “Great. I’m getting advice from a coffee cup.” Daisy turned up the volume. “I need some Iron Man catharsis.”

  “What happens at the end of this one?” Layla curled up on the couch. “Does he die by poisoning or shrapnel?”

  “You’ll have to wait and see.”

  * * *

  • • •

  SILENCE greeted Daisy when she walked into the office on Monday morning. Two months ago, she wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but now that she was used to the sounds of people talking, phones ringing, printers humming, chairs creaking, and papers rustling, the silence felt oppressive and wrong.

  She carefully placed her coffee cup three inches to the left of the desk separation so Mia didn’t knock it over when she arrived. Her bag went underneath instead of on top because Zoe needed the extra space for her designs. And she pulled her chair close to her desk so Josh wouldn’t bang into her when he leaned back to talk.

  Once her headphones were on, and her screen flickered to life, she was ready to work. She stared at the lines of code, trying to remember the bug fix she’d thought of last night. But it was too quiet. Now used to the distractions, she couldn’t focus despite the music in her ears.

  Zoe arrived just as she decided to hit the coffee bar and catch up on gossip. Daisy edged over to give her more room, but Zoe didn’t unload her portfolio as usual.

  Daisy pulled off her headphones. “Where is everyone?”

  “You didn’t hear?” Zoe slumped into her seat. “I thought Liam would have told you. We pitched the rebrand. Brad didn’t like it. He went ahead with his unicorns and rainbows. Tyler sent the revised pitch deck with Brad’s rebrand to the Evolution partners. They rejected it, so Tyler had to make some more cuts. Thirty percent in every department.”

  Daisy’s heart leaped into her throat. “Oh no. I can’t believe it.”

  “Mia’s gone.” Zoe’s eyes glittered with tears. “Tyler asked for volunteers and she didn’t want me to get cut because I have Lily, so she said she’d go. I feel sick about it. Josh was furious. He said there were lots of incompetent people in our department for Tyler to choose from and there was no reason for Mia to throw herself on her sword. He went to talk to Tyler about reinstating her and wound up handing in his notice.”

  Nausea roiled in Daisy’s belly. She should have been here. Instead, she’d used her post-concussion medical leave to wallow in self-pity when her friends needed her the most. “Why didn’t anyone call me?”

  “We thought you knew because you and Liam . . .” She trailed off when Daisy shook her head.

  “We ended our arrangement.”

  “I’m so sorry.” She leaned over to give Daisy a hug. “I know you said it wasn’t real, but when I saw you two together, I kind of thought it was.”

  So did I.

  An hour later, Tyler called her to his office. Slumped in his chair, back to rumpled shirts, missing ties, and unkempt hair, he looked even worse than she’d felt at the end of her MCU movie marathon.

  “You heard?”

  “Yes. I’m so sorry, Tyler.” She fisted her skirt in her lap. “I had hoped it would work out with Evolution.”

  “They said we weren’t a good fit.” He swallowed hard, his face flushing. For a moment, Daisy thought he was going to burst into tears. “It wasn’t just the product. They were looking for something more cutting-edge.”

  “Were they talking about the branding?”

  Tyler nodded. “I watched Mia and Zoe’s branding pitch. It was fantastic. I could see the boxes on the shelves, the ads, the website. It was Organicare. It was our original vision. I couldn’t believe that Brad rejected it.” He scraped a hand over his face. “I called Liam, and he told me Brad was the only expert
he could find who was even interested in working with our products. He agreed that Brad’s ideas weren’t in line with current market trends and he had no problem if we wanted to cut him loose, but . . .” He shook his head. “Brad had three times the experience of the most senior members of our team, a big name in the industry, and so many successful campaigns—”

  “But not with this kind of product,” Daisy pointed out. “And not in this political climate. That’s probably why he had the time for us in the first place. He was out of touch and no one wanted to hire him.”

  “I was just too afraid to let him go.” Tyler buried his head in his hands. “Too afraid to go with Zoe and Mia’s ideas instead of his. I’ve made so many mistakes. I was afraid to make one more, even though my gut was telling me that Brad’s ideas wouldn’t resonate with our target market.”

  “You did what you thought was best for the company,” Daisy said softly. “Everyone knows that.”

  “I failed them.” His shoulders heaved and he let out a ragged sob. “I failed our team, our company, the customers who loved our products, and all the girls we could have helped through our outreach program. I was afraid to trust my instincts. I was afraid to take a chance, and now everything is gone.”

  * * *

  • • •

  “CONGRATULATIONS. Welcome to the partnership.”

  Liam felt like he’d been waiting a lifetime to hear those words. As he shook hands with the managing partners, Eric Davis and Kevin Mah, he imagined his dad looking down on him, and gave a mental finger to the old man who had never thought he’d amount to anything.

  “We were impressed with your work,” Eric said. “You have the largest portfolio of any senior associate, great industry contacts, and a history of sound investment decisions. Finding and working up companies like Organicare is exactly the kind of initiative that has made you so valuable to the company. If we hadn’t just shut down our consumer products portfolio, they would have been worth another look, even with their branding redesign disaster.”

  Kevin handed him a folder. “That’s the partnership agreement. You don’t have the same academic qualifications as the other partners, but we were willing to bend the rules because of your value to the company. Take a look through the documentation, and come back to us with any questions. We’ll need your answer by the end of the week. It means a permanent relocation to New York. I trust that’s not a problem.”

  “Of course not.” It was what he’d always dreamed about. Making it to the top. Proving to everyone who had ever thought he was nothing that he was worthy. His sense of elation was somewhat diminished by the reminder that he would always be less and not equal because he had no letters after his name, but he couldn’t have everything. Life didn’t work that way.

  “We’ll need you in San Francisco until we find someone to run the West Coast office,” Eric said. “Then you’ll be back here making the day-to-day decisions that keep the business running smoothly. As a junior partner, you’ll be handling the largest share of the admin, but after a few years, you’ll be back to spending most of your time out in the field. There will be a buy-in, of course . . .”

  Between his savings and his inheritance he had more than enough for the buy-in. There were benefits to not owning property or having any expenses other than his bike and the gear to go with it. But he’d never really considered the admin side of partnership. He wouldn’t be out looking for new opportunities, meeting new people, or helping start-ups grow. For the first few years, he would be in an office behind a desk fighting to keep his portfolio alive. But he’d be a partner. In New York. It was what he’d always wanted.

  * * *

  • • •

  UNICORNS sucked.

  Liam held Organicare’s pitch deck over the recycle bin. In anticipation of his acceptance, the partners had cleared out a corner office, and he was packing up his things to make way for the new associate they’d just hired. Eric and Kevin had rejected the pitch outright, and he didn’t blame them. He’d done his best to help Tyler come up with ideas for restructuring and refinancing, but the rebrand to something so overtly feminine in the current market had turned the partners right off. Daisy had been right about her colleagues’ cutting-edge proposal, but Tyler wouldn’t bite. He was too afraid to take the risk. Liam had seen it before. Good inventors weren’t always good businessmen. Sometimes they needed someone else to run the show so they could get back to doing what they did best.

  His phone buzzed on his desk and he glanced at the screen. Brendan again. Christ. His brother had called six times this morning, no doubt to harass him about the distillery. Still trying to process his promotion, and the implications of a life in New York, he just couldn’t deal with Brendan right now.

  The pitch deck thudded into the recycle bin, and he stared through the glass window at the gray, overcast city. When he’d left San Francisco on his motorcycle ten years ago, he’d never intended to wind up on the East Coast, but it seemed that no matter how long he rode, he couldn’t get far enough away. A chance encounter with well-known venture capitalist Tom Robertson in a biker bar in Oregon had decided his fate. He’d helped the weekend warrior repair his motorcycle, shared his opinions on several start-ups, and the next thing he knew, he had a job as an assistant at Evolution.

  Tom was a self-made man, with only a high school diploma, who had started Evolution in his garage and turned it into a multimillion-dollar venture capital company. He believed Liam had an instinct for the business and liked his risk-taking nature and unconventional attitude. He’d taken Liam under his wing and the investment paid off. Although Liam was the only associate at Evolution without an MBA, or even a college degree, he was now an Evolution partner. He had it all. An office in the clouds. The title on his business cards. The respect of his colleagues. The achievement of a lifetime goal. He could finally stick it to his old man.

  Except the old man wasn’t around to see it.

  No one was around. He had a few casual friends in New York, but no family. No one who really cared. There were no aunties beating down his door so he wouldn’t be alone. No cousins warning him that “extra hot” meant raging inferno. No families dressed in shark suits trying to poison him with home-cooked meals. No sly relatives overcharging him for giant swords. No one had come to the hospital to see him.

  But then, he hadn’t told anyone he was there.

  He’d always blamed his family for not reaching out, but he had never reached out to them. He thought they hadn’t helped his mother when, in fact, they hadn’t known about the abuse she suffered. Not a day had gone by after the night of the prom that he hadn’t thought about Daisy and her family, but he hadn’t even considered getting in touch. Secrecy had been such a huge part of his childhood that it had become ingrained in his life.

  His phone buzzed again and Brendan’s name appeared on the screen. He might as well get the call over with. Once he officially accepted the offer, he wouldn’t be in a position to run the distillery. And even if he was, he couldn’t meet the terms of the trust. There was only one woman he wanted to marry, and he’d left her behind.

  “Liam! Thank God.” Brendan let out a loud breath. “Lauren!” He shouted. “I’ve got him. He answered the phone.”

  Liam’s pulse kicked up a notch at Brendan’s frantic tone. “What’s going on?”

  “I’ve been trying to get you all morning,” Brendan tripped over his words. “We went to the hospital and your apartment building. I didn’t have the address for your new office so I called New York and the receptionist was new and she said you worked in San Francisco, and she just gave me the same number . . .”

  “Did something happen to Jaxon?” His pulse kicked up a notch. If Jaxon was hurt, and he was thousands of miles away . . .

  “Jaxon? No, he’s fine. He’s playing out in the backyard. We were worried about you. Lauren saw something in the news about a motorcycle accident, and they me
ntioned your name. They said you were a hero and you’d saved Daisy, but no one we talked to knew where you were or if you’d even survived. When we couldn’t get in touch . . .” He let out a ragged breath. “Where are you? Are you okay? They had pictures of your bike and it was destroyed.”

  Liam swallowed past the lump in his throat. This wasn’t Brendan. He didn’t care. He hadn’t been there for Liam when they were young. Why would he want to be there for him now? “If you’re worried about the distillery . . .”

  “The distillery? Fuck the distillery,” Brendan said. “I’m calling about you. I was an ass the last time we met, and then Lauren read about the accident, and all I could think was that you were gone and that was the last time I would have seen you . . .” He choked up and Liam heard Lauren’s soothing voice in the background. “Why didn’t you call us?”

  Liam rubbed his chest, trying to relieve the tight feeling. Was this a joke? He couldn’t remember the last time he and Brendan had had a civil conversation, other than their brief interactions when he would pick Jaxon up or drop him off. It was a big leap to even contemplate that his concern was real. “Why would you have expected me to?”

  Brendan let out a long breath. “I deserve that. I’ve not been the best brother, but then neither have you. Ten years is a long time to stay away. If not for Jaxon, we probably wouldn’t have seen you until the funeral.”

  Very true. Until Jaxon was born, Liam had never even considered calling Brendan when he was in town for conferences and meetings. Lauren had been the one who invited him to meet his new nephew, and after that first meeting, he hadn’t been able to stay away.

  “I didn’t think you’d care,” he said honestly. “But I’m fine. Minor concussion. Nothing serious. I’m back in New York now.”

  “He’s fine,” Brendan called out, his voice slightly fainter.