No matter how much I realized I’d done wrong since I’d gotten married, how selfish and self-centered I’d been, this parallel just brought it all home

A

ri perused the Reserve Cuts menu seriously. I looked at it, but nothing penetrated. What did he want to talk about?

“You order for me,” I told Ari. He looked at me, trying to read my face, but I could see the eagerness in the jut of his jaw.

“I trust your taste,” I said. Ari smiled. Sometimes I forget the power I have to make him happy, and how it’s not that hard.

Ari waved the waiter over and ordered a bunch of stuff, he seemed familiar with the menu. I didn’t pay much attention, I was looking over at the wine collection on display .

“So,” Ari said after the waiter had left. “What’s up?”

I raised a brow. “You tell me. You’re the one taking us out tonight.”

Ari chuckled and shifted in his seat. He’s nervous, why’s he nervous, he’s making me nervous.

“So remember I missed a call of yours a week or so ago.”

I nodded.

“And I told you I got pulled into a meeting.”

I nodded again. Was Ari fired? If he was fired, why were we here? Was he getting a promotion? A raise. Oh, my G-d, they want to promote and transfer him. He’s gonna want to move to some tiny town. I’m gonna die.

“So it wasn’t an official work meeting. It was a meeting with a few guys.”

Okay, so he wasn’t being fired. I arranged my face into a neutral listening one.

“They had this idea of revolutionizing the online clothing shopping experience for men. They figured most men hate shopping, which is true. And if they can take all the guesswork out of finding the right style and size and price, then the customer is in their pocket. They know how they want the site to work, but they don’t actually have someone to build it.”

I waited for Ari to fill in the blanks, this wasn’t what I was expecting.

“So they want me to join as the IT guy and develop the platform. I’d be the CTO if the whole thing takes off.” Ari stopped talking and looked at me expectantly.

I think I was supposed to react here. But I was confused and surprised. “What does that mean, are you leaving your job, do you want to?”

Ari’s shoulders dropped like a weight had been lifted and he could move freely.

“I don’t know.” He seemed relieved to share his doubt, though he was obviously excited too. “It would be an after-hours thing until we figure it out, launch, and see where it goes. But that would mean essentially working two jobs. They have some seed money, but they really can’t offer me much now, it’s all for the future. And I just don’t know.”

“You don’t know what?” I asked. In my head, the answer is Yes! Opportunity, branch out, more money if it pans out. Looks good on the résumé either way.