Chapter 19

Soon, the workday was over. Sylvia had played it safe and scheduled her meeting with Tyler an hour later just to make sure Arnaud had really left for his dinner before she slipped out. "Mr. Kaplan, what time will you be done?" she asked. "Do you have plans?" Arnaud asked instead of answering. She shook her head. "Not really. I was just thinking if you'd be tied up for a while, I could grab dinner with my best friend." Arnaud looked up at her. Then, after a pause, he said, "We might be dating, but you still have your freedom. I'm not going to keep you from doing what you want." After all, dinner with a friend was no big deal. Even if he wasn't going out, she could still go. "Got it. Thanks, Mr. Kaplan." Sylvia turned to leave, but Arnaud stopped her and said, "Wait." "Is there something else?" He frowned. "Sylvia, once the workday's over, I'm your boyfriend. You should cut out words like 'Mr. Kaplan' and all that formal stuff." It just felt awkward. Sure, he'd never been in a