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24
His apartment was exactlyas she’d imagined: luxurious, sterile,spare.
Likehim.
They’d spoken very little on the way to the Upper West Side. The lack of conversation wasn’t unusual in and of itself — even the tension between them had become familiar — but this time the chemistry was different. Nina could feel it in her bones, in the pulse between herlegs.
Reggie had stopped outside the Mandarin Oriental off Central Park, and they’d made their way through a futuristic lobby to a private elevator that had taken them to the seventy-fifth floor. They’d exited into a private foyer and a view into the living room that nearly stole herbreath.
She’d heard of people who lived in five-star hotels but she’d never actually met one. She didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t the expansive apartment with two entire walls of glass showcasing thecity.
It was mesmerizing, and she walked toward it as if she was under a spell, scanning the panoramic view. There was the park, stretched out below, a blanket of green in the middle of Manhattan’s concrete grid. To the right, the Chrysler and Empire State buildings shimmered in the swiftly setting sun. She could even see the Statue of Liberty, rising out of the sea like an ancientgoddess.
“Do you like it?” Jack asked from behindher.
She turned around to find him in the kitchen, pulling food from the fridge. The sight was so incongruous she had to blink a couple times to make sure she wasn’t imaginingit.
In all the time she’d spent with Jack, he’d never given any indication that he was human. He’d never been angry or happy, his enjoyment of every meal at every celebrated restaurant limited to how much Nina enjoyed her meal. He’d never even excused himself to use therestroom.
And yet here he was, performing the very human task of caring a tray of sushi to a long, polished mahogany dining table and returning to the kitchen to pour saki from a bottle into a sakipitcher.
“It’s gorgeous,” she said. “If I lived here, I’d never want toleave.”
He held her gaze. “I’ll keep that inmind.”
He carried the saki pitcher to the table along with two tiny saki cups. “Please,” he said, pulling out one of thechairs.
She sat down, hyperaware of his nearness as he bent to help her scoot in thechair.
He took the seat to her right at the head of the table and poured saki into the twocups.
He raised his toward her. “To never wanting toleave.”
The words sent a chill up her spine, one she couldn’t identify as either fear orexcitement.
The saki was bitter and acidic on her tongue and she was grateful for the sushi Jack piled on her plate, one of each variety. She wasn’t surprised that he didn’t ask what she wanted — Jack valued experimentation, a willingness to take risks, over allthings.
He was never overly concerned with her comfort, focusing instead in the kind of education he was eager to provide: experiences not yet had, food never before eaten, questions neverasked.
He seemed slightly more at ease in the apartment, a realization that brought with it an unexpected burst of affection, a counterpoint to the intimidation and awe she’d experienced in thepast.
He was still emotionally distant — she had a feeling that wouldn’t change quickly, if at all — but here scratching the surface of his carefully maintained facade seemed almostpossible.
They spoke of her childhood in the Midwest, her hunger to escape it, her parent’s divorce when she was twelve, her father’s subsequent exodus from herlife.
She asked about his own upbringing, and while he wasn’t a fount of information, she did learn that he’d been raised by wealthy parents until he’d gone to boarding school in Switzerland when he was six years old. When she’d expressed concern about how difficult it must have been to leave home so young, his face had quickly shuttered, making it clear his confession wasover.
She tried each of the things he put on her plate and forced herself to be honest about whether she liked it, even when the face she made caused Jack tolaugh.
She was a fish out of water in his world. It was a truth neither of them could deny, and while she was willing to experiment in the name of learning more about that world, she wasn’t willing to lie about who she was. She was finally understanding that she’d been lying for a very long time — lying about being happy with Peter, about her satisfaction as the perfect wife, about her contentedness in thesuburbs.
Maybe abouteverything.
She was still figuring out who she was, what she really wanted, but whatever that was, she knew it wouldn’t be built on alie.
He insisted on clearing the plates himself, and she crossed the expansive living room, drawn back to the view, the city lights now glittering in a darksky.
It was even more lovely at night, columns of twinkling lights seeming to tower into infinity, the cars below crawling like ants. The apartment was completely insulated from the streets. It was like being adrift in space, floating through the darkness alone withJack.
