Chapter 137: Workable lines

Seeing that Tom had not answered, Sienna repeated the question with a patient smile, as if patience alone might draw the words out of him.

"What is your favorite meal for breakfast?"

Tom blinked, the persistence finally landing fully this time. He set his fork down against the plate and looked at her across the spread of eggs, salmon, fruit, and too many careful options.

"Why do you want to go through that kind of effort?" he asked bluntly.

Sienna held his gaze, one hand resting near her cup, the other lightly smoothing the edge of her napkin.

"Because that is what a normal couple does on a daily basis." she said after a moment of silence which Tom thoroughly indulged her in.

Tom peered at her, unable to hide the thought moving through his face. This was coming from a woman who had not cared about any of that before. Not in the early days of the contract. Not when silence had been easier for her than attention. Not when he had been little more than an arrangement under her roof. There was a reason she was not saying, and he could see it sitting behind the careful composure.

"We’re not a normal couple. You don’t have to try that hard." he said, mercilessly, bluntly again.

Sienna looked at him and stayed quiet for a moment. The smile did not vanish completely, but it thinned. Then she swallowed hard and said, more quietly, "What if I said I just want to do it? Whether we are a normal couple or not." She added quickly, before he could press into the soft place she had just exposed, "Can you not ask why?"

Tom peered at her, studying her face. He could see the effort in it and the stubborn decision underneath the softness. Whatever had shifted in her, she was not ready to name it clearly, and forcing it would only make her retreat. After a second, he nodded simply.

"Okay, You can do whatever you want." he said.

Sienna nodded as well and flashed him a small smile, quieter than the first one but more real. "Then tell me. What is your favorite meal for breakfast?"

Seeing that she was genuinely serious about it, Tom finally answered. "I’m not picky. I can eat anything."

"And on special occasions?" Sienna asked, leaning in slightly. "Don’t you have a favorite meal for that?"

Tom hesitated, his fork forgotten beside his plate. The question reached further back than breakfast preferences. After a moment, he gave in. "Alright. I have one. It’s what my mother used to make whenever there was something worth celebrating."

Sienna’s expression shifted with recognition almost immediately. "So that was the meal you prepared a few days ago."

"Yes."

She nodded as if placing the memory properly. "I’ll inform Aria to keep it on the menu from now on. On Sundays." she said.

Tom just looked at her, openly taken aback by this version of her. The woman who used to pass him with clipped words and cold distance was now arranging Sunday meals around a dish tied to his mother.

The table between them still held the excess of a breakfast planned by uncertainty, but the woman sitting across from him no longer looked uncertain about the direction she had chosen for the mornings ahead.

He did not ask why again. He simply picked up his fork and continued eating, aware that something in the house was changing whether he fully trusted it yet or not.

~~~~~~~~~

After breakfast, Tom left the house and settled into the car.

Bree was already in the driver’s seat. She looked beautiful as usual and fiercely ready for work.

She checked the side mirror once, then pulled away from the property with her usual eagerness to work that Tom just didn’t seem to understand the motivation for.

The first item on Tom’s schedule was shoot training at L×L, so Bree was driving them to the company.

"Do you have plans for later in the day?" Bree asked him after driving in silence for a few seconds.

"Yes, I have a lunch to attend. And a dinner after that." He glanced sideways at her because he had decided to sit at the front seat instead of the back at owner’s corner.

"I’ll need you to handle something for me." he said.

"Anything, sir." she replied. There was no hesitation in the answer. With Bree, there rarely was. Tom had noticed that.

"I have a private club setup to take care of." Tom’s voice hardened with the weight of the deadline behind the words.

"I’m working with a deadline of fourteen days."

"Today, I want you to get in touch with the interior decorator on my behalf and arrange when work can begin. After that, work closely with the decorator and get back to me on everything needed. Right now the club is just a space. Nothing has been put in place."

Bree nodded, already shifting into execution mode. "I’ll need to visit the place first. To see where to start from."

"I’ll give you the address. And the decorator’s contact details." Tom told her.

"Okay." She tapped the steering wheel lightly with one thumb, thinking ahead. "If the space is empty, the first assessment should cover layout, lighting, furniture range, private rooms, and bar structure. I’ll get the full requirement list after inspection."

Tom looked at her for a moment, then gave a short breath of approval. "Good."

She continued driving, and he sat back with the day arranging itself into workable lines: L×L first, Josie’s lunch after, Sienna’s public dinner later, and the club clock already running underneath all of it.

~~~~~~~~~

By the time the lunch meeting ended, Tom was already inside the restaurant Ray had chosen.

It was the kind of place that favored privacy over display; there was generous spacing between tables and waiters who understood when not to interrupt.

Tom had not announced himself at the start of the meeting. He had taken a seat at a corner table with a clear line of sight to where Josie sat with Ray and watched from a distance. To anyone else, he might have looked like another guest finishing a quiet meal. To Josie, once she noticed him, the intention was obvious enough.

He had not interfered. He had simply remained present while she handled her business.

When the meeting concluded and Ray rose to leave, Josie’s gaze found Tom’s table almost immediately. She said something brief to the departing man, then walked through the room and stopped in front of him.

"I wasn’t expecting you," she said.

Tom looked up at her with a smile. "I was watching out for you. Making sure Ray didn’t try anything funny. You can say I came to confirm that what I took care of, is well taken care of."

Josie peered at him for a second, surprise and assessment mixing in her expression. She had not asked him to come. She had not needed a bodyguard in any obvious sense. And yet he had shown up anyway with a meaningful intention.

Then she exhaled softly. "Thank you."

"Did everything go well?" Tom asked.

"Yes." She pulled out the chair across from him and sat, looking relieved yet composed.

"Ray has let go of the building. He didn’t take anything from me in return." Her brows knit slightly. "He said what he would be getting from you was enough."

Tom’s mouth curved into a tight smile, but he did not immediately fill the silence.

Josie’s eyes narrowed with curiosity. "I’m curious what exactly Ray is getting from you."

Tom chuckled under his breath and reached for the glass in front of him. "That’s men’s business. Don’t worry your pretty mind about it."

Josie scoffed, though the edge lacked real offense. If anything, there was reluctant acceptance in it; the understanding that some parts of the arrangement had moved outside her control and into his.

"Thank you. Really. I appreciate it."

"Congratulations," Tom said. She gave a small smile in response.

Then, after a beat, Tom’s expression shifted into a quieter intention.

"I have something for you. To congratulate you." he announced.

Josie looked at him, in open surprise, her lips parted slightly as the composure of the CEO slipped just enough to show she had not expected the win to come with anything, especially from him.