Kevin looks at me over the laptop screen. He does not say anything else.
They leave by ten. Kevin takes leftover pork in a container. Austin blinks awake on the couch and asks if he missed anything. Grant steers him toward the door.
"Luca," Grant says at the door. Not the kid. "Good to meet you."
"Good to meet you, Grant."
Grant grips my shoulder at the threshold. The same grip from August, brief and firm. His eyes hold mine for a second.
I lock the door. The apartment settles. Berger is at the sink finishing the last glass, the water running, his sleeves pushed to his elbows.
"They're nice," he says. "Kevin is going to text me about the spreadsheet. I can tell."
"He will. He’s like that."
Berger dries the glass and sets it in the rack and turns off the water. He leans against the counter and looks at me.
"Thank you," he says. "For tonight."
"You don't need to thank me."
"I know I don't need to. I want to."
I cross the kitchen. His back is against the counter and I stand in front of him and put my hands on his hips. His hands come up to my forearms.
"They loved you," I say.
"They don't know me yet."
"They know enough. And they know I like you."
He tilts his head and looks at me. His hands are warm on my forearms and his face is the one I only see here.
I haven't seen you smile like this in a long time.
Kevin is right. He hasn’t. Nobody has. The man standing in my kitchen drying glasses is the reason, and my friends know it now, and the world has not ended.
?
Chapter 15: Luca
THEN
The crab cakes are a six-nine. The breading is thick enough to notice and thin enough to forgive, and the crab ratio is honest, which is all I ask from a passed appetizer at a charity fundraiser in January.
"You're rating the crab cakes," Paulson says. He is holding two of them on a cocktail napkin like a man who has never encountered a plate.
"Everything gets rated. The band is a seven-three. The lighting is an eight. The napkin folds are ambitious."
"The napkin folds?"
"The napkins are trying to be swans. They are not swans. They are napkins that have been folded with conviction. I respect the effort."
"Berger, you are the only guy at this party having this much fun alone."
"I'm not alone. I'm with you and two crab cakes."
He laughs and reaches for his drink. "Hey, Mercy's got that balcony view, right? The one that faces the water? You lucked out with that guest room. I'd kill for that setup."
