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He sounded suspicious. Of course he was. He made me sign an NDA, for God’s sake. I gave him a half shrug. I didn’t exactly want to go into detail. “It started as a community service thing I wanted to do for my resume, but I found myself really enjoying it.” A frown crossed my face. “Well, until yesterday.”
“What do you mean?”
I mentally slapped myself again. He doesn’t need to know every damn detail of your private life! I waved my hand. “It’s not a big deal, but my car got broken into while I was volunteering.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, it kind of sucks.”
We lapsed into silence as we finished the pizza. I devoured three more slices, savoring each bite.
Does he eat like this all the time?
Why wouldn’t he? After many sips from the equally delicious wine, I felt myself slip into a warm, happy stupor.
“So where did you grow up?”
I snapped to attention. “Hm? Oh—well I moved around a lot as a kid. First I lived in Richmond, then Fremont, Oakland, Antioch.” We were wading in dangerous waters. “How about yourself?”
His face tightened. “Chicago. Well, I was there until my mother passed.” He shrugged. “Then my father sent me overseas to a boarding school in London.”
God, so he did go to a boarding school.
Years of lying in bed while reading Harry Potter and fantasizing about what it would be like to live in a castle full of children made me burn with jealousy. “What was it like there?” I said in an awed voice. “Were there houses?”
He tilted his head and a slow smile spread across his face. “You mean like Gryffindor and Ravenclaw?”
I laughed and took another sip of wine, trying to hide my embarrassment.
“No, I’m afraid not. They’re not all they’re cracked up to be.”
I sank in my chair, my bubble of excitement bursting. “Are you kidding me?”
“The environment could be stifling. You’re in this studious environment from sunup to sundown. I was homesick a lot. It was lonely. At first, it was fun, but after a while you miss your mom and dad.”
It was sad to hear that. Luke stared at some point over my shoulder, his eyes echoing with the loss of his mother and the pain of being sent away after her death. I couldn’t imagine what that must have felt like. I wanted to erase that unhappy look on his face.
“You’re ruining my fantasy!”
He laughed and shrugged. Luke looked at me as if he was making his mind about something. His fingers drummed on the table and he reached inside his jacket.
“I need to ask you to fill out one more thing. You have to understand that I don’t trust easily, and I need you to complete this form so I can do a background check.”
I shrugged. “No problem.” I had nothing to hide, right? It wasn’t any different from applying to a job. I took the form and filled everything out, which included my address, phone number and social security number. A voice inside me said that it was a lot of private information to give to a complete stranger. Then Luke slid over the two thousand dollar check already written in my name and I took it. I felt guilty taking it. It was such a nice dinner.
When I returned the form, he glanced at his watch.
“Well, shall we?”
I took one last sip of wine and stood up as he threw cash on the table. We walked through the bustling restaurant. The hostess reached into the closet to retrieve my sad, synthetic wool coat and I watched as Luke shrugged on his. I noticed his patent leather Italian shoes and felt so cheap by comparison. I was an impostor, a Cinderella, but with his hand on the small of my back, I didn’t feel like one.
The glass doors swung outward and the chilly air struck my bones. Luke walked beside me with his hands deep inside his pockets.
“I’ll walk you to your car.”
“I took the BART and MUNI to get here.”
The cold stung his cheeks with pink. “Oh. Why’s that?”
