Lin showered and dried himself off angrily.
His guilt all encompassing.
He looked in the mirror, his eyes frowning back at him and made a decision. Regardless of what Gia was doing he shouldn't have done anything with Iris. It was wrong. Very wrong, he had to let her know how sorry he was and ask her to leave, he would pay for her to stay in a hotel for the remaining night.
When Gia was back and the whole nasty truth was in the open, well who knows, maybe then he could give her a call and pick up where they left off, he really liked her. He definitely had feelings for her that went beyond the realms of friendship.
He put on a fresh t shirt and tracksuit bottoms and nodded to himself.
"Decision made. Let's go!"
He walked into the kitchen.
She had changed into a woollen dress that looked so soft he had an urge to just wrap his arms round her.
"Iris I need to talk to you, I ... are those Tostones?"
"Yep, and Mofongo with chicken."
He looked at the food then back up at her.
"You made these?"
"Uh huh. I've had strict instructions from the manager of the Bodega on the corner. I hope I've done ok."
"Iris... I. That's the sweetest thing anyone has done for me in a long time, this must have taken you hours."
He stood looking at her, his hand on his heart.
"Well, you've been working so hard. I thought you deserved a taste of home." She looked at him.
"Lin. Look, I know we need to talk, and I know we've probably just done something that you're regretting. I think we both got carried away, but I do like you. I really like you."
He smiled and bit his lip.
"I like you too but yeah, we need to talk. How about we eat and relax with some drinks first?"
She nodded gratefully and piled the food on a couple of plates.
Taking them over to the table he poured them each a large wine.
"This looks amazing."
He took a bite and rolled his eyes.
"Oh God! That is so good. They are even better than my Abuelas. Don't ever mention that!"
Iris laughed.
"I won't. So did you manage to get the draft sent through?"
He nodded.
"I did. God I can't tell you what a relief it is, I'm sorry, I still can't tell you what it's for though."
"Hey, it's fine I didn't expect you to.
So what's next?"
"Oh I don't want to bore you all night with work talk."
Iris refilled the drinks. She didn't want to admit that she was happy to keep talking about anything while it was delaying the inevitable conversation that was sitting in the middle of the table like an elephant in the room.
"It's not boring. It's interesting."
"Really? Gia always says....."
He stopped suddenly and looked down at his plate. He stopped talking, both of them finishing their meals in an uncomfortable silence.
Iris cleared away as Lin watched her from behind.
He realised he didn't want to tell her to go. He enjoyed her company, they talked easily till he spoiled it by mentioning Gia.
She walked back to the table and picked up her drink.
"I think I'll take this to my room. Let you relax for the night."
He frowned at her and sighed.
"No, please, don't. I'm sorry. It's me, my head is all over. How about we get another bottle and talk this through? Please?"
She looked at his dark brown eyes pleading with her and nodded. She didn't want to leave things like this.
They settled together on the couch facing each other.
"Can I go first?"
Lin asked. She nodded.
"Ok." He breathed out heavily and leaned towards her taking her hands in his.
"Firstly. I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have let things get that far. I've never done anything like that before, aside from knowing my wife is having an affair I honestly don't know what's going on at the moment, or what's going to happen when she gets back, but until I do. I'm still married. However, secondly.
I like you."
He looked at her face as he said it. His words slowly registering with her. He leaned closer.
"I really like you, and when this is all sorted out. I would like to take you out. Properly, and see where it goes. If you would like to as well of course."
