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Mena sat up a little straighter. She’d been so focused on thephysicalityof Theo, now she felt a shiver of professional excitement.
“Would it even be of interest to your museum?”
She nodded, slightly confused. Of course it was of interest to the museum!
“Perhaps, he continued smoothly. “You should view it. See if it’s in good enough condition to display here.”
Mena already knew the one from the auction was supposed to be perfect. She’d seen a photo of it in the auction catalog and it had looked fantastic.
Perhaps his Acheroraptor bone was not from the auction, maybe it was a different one altogether. There was enough of a black market in fossils that it was a possibility.
She wouldn’t have thought he was the type of man to break the law and buy something illegally. But then the man she’d known was younger and more idealistic. Goodness knows what Theo was up to these days, nowadays he was a complete stranger to her.
Plus, Mena didn't know what the protocol for making donations to the museum was. No-one had donated anything since she’d started working here. She vaguely assumed they would accept anything, but she wasn’t entirely sure and she didn’t want to make a mistake in front of him.
“That really sounds like something the Head Curator should do,” Mena said genuinely. Lisbet wasn’t in the museum today, but she would be back tomorrow.
“You used to be excited to see fossils.”
Instinctively, Mean ducked her head, embarrassed to be called out as the nerd she knew she was. Then she caught herself, she was not going to be shamed by anyone. Mena jutted out her chin.
“I still am.”
“Then you should see it.”
Mena nodded before thinking it through. “Where is it?”
“At my home. Come tonight. I’ll get dinner in and we can look at it afterward.”
“Dinner?” she asked, feeling baffled. “Tonight?”
Theo was standing up though, and ignoring her confusion.
His hand reached out to her and she reached out to touch him, before realizing he was handing her a card with his address on it.
“Yes, tonight. 7:30?”
Mena had another flashback of their time together in college. She’d been so in awe of him in college that she went along with things, just happy to be in his presence and enjoying theconvenience of being taken care of. She wasn’t going to slip back into that role.
“No, 7,” she said firmly
Then he was smiling at her, and she realized she’d just confirmed she’d meet him for dinner, without even a moment’s hesitation. She frowned, thinking about canceling, but he was already walking out of the door with a cheery goodbye on his lips. She didn’t even have time to respond before he was gone.
The whole encounter had happened so fast, there’d been no time to process.
She decided she wasn’t going home to change before she turned up at his house. It was her version of a power move; she wanted to show she wasn’t going to dress up for him. She was perfectly content that he’d only contacted her because he wanted some business done, not to actually talk to her.
Still, she stopped on the way to his place and bought something. It would be rude to turn up empty handed, and she remembered how he hated wine. He would drink it but he never enjoyed it. He’d been more of a whiskey drinker, but Mena couldn’t afford the stuff he probably drank these days. So, she picked up something he used to like.
She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised that his place was more than just an ordinary apartment. He had an actual whole building to himself with four storeys fronted by pale concrete. The front door looked like an artistic barricade of dark wood and wrought iron. It was so fancy that she struggled to find the buzzer.
She’d prepared herself for someone else, not Theo, to open the front door. Maybe a hired help, or maybe a girlfriend. Which would be totally fine, they’d broken up years ago and she wasn’t allowed to be jealous that he had moved on - which would, of course, be the most natural thing in the world.
But it was Theo that opened the front door.
“You came,” he said, and the way he spoke made it seem like she’d made some impossible journey, traveling for days, just to get here, when really, she’d taken the subway.
“Of course,” she said, some old instinct taking over as they both leaned close. His head turned at the last moment, kissing her on cheek in greeting.
