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“That’s the simplest way you could put it, yeah.”
We sat down at a table by the window.
“Would you care for an aperitif?” said the waiter.
“Champagne,” I said to him. “Crystal, please.”
The waiter smiled politely and nodded. He returned just a moment later with a chilled bottle, and popped the cork for us. My favorite sound in the whole world. He poured us both a glass, and then left.
“Where are the menus?” said Lola.
“Oh, there are no menus at Space,” I explained. “You just tell them what you don’t like and what you do like, and they bring you something.”
“Wow. Sounds kind of like potluck. I mean, the last time I had potluck was when I was back home a couple of years ago. But still.”
“I promise you, the food’s good.”
Lola looked up at me, and I watched with gentle curiosity as she tossed her hair over her shoulder. She’d worn a beautiful dress for the occasion, a flower print. Her hair was cheerily and messily worn loose over her shoulder. And suddenly, she began to look more and more like the girl I’d met in Bali six years ago.
“So where is home?”
“Oh. I mean Wisconsin. That’s where my parents are from, anyhow.”
“You’re from the Midwest, then?”
“Oh yeah. I grew up there.”
“Did you like it?”
“Well, I moved to New York when I was twenty-one. Tell you the truth, I’ve kind of forgotten what it’s like out there. I mean, I took Macy for Christmas a couple of years ago. But I like it here, you know?”
“What, in New York?”
“Why? Don’t you?”
“Maybe it’s not where I’d choose to live right now,” I said. “But I like the roots I’ve put down.The Blue Orchidespecially.”
“You and Zeke seem pretty tight.”
“I guess that’s true. We met when I used to work in a bar down in the East Village.”
“A bar? How old were you?”
“I was nineteen.”
“You’ve lived here since you were nineteen?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“What did you do?”
“Like I said. Worked bar. Anything, really. I was saving up some cash when a bar closed across the street from me. I threw everything I had into it. But by then, Zeke was a legend. He opened for these people in Chinatown and had a knack for it. He could make anything happen. That’s why I hired him.”
“And Luca?”
I smiled thinly. “Luca came along much later.”
“I hope I’ve seen the last of that jackass.”
