Not sure what to say, I nodded again.
“I moved here about twenty years ago for my first job out of grad school. Consulting, of course. That’s what we all did,” he said. “Tired of it pretty quickly, then struck out on my own.”
“Where did you do grad school?” I asked. I couldn’t believe how easy all of this was feeling, other than the giant elephant sitting in the middle of the table and how heavy my wedding band felt on my finger.
“Wharton,” he said like it was nothing.
“Oh.”
“Okay, let’s do this,” Mick said when the server appeared.
“Hi, I’m Zeus. Welcome to the Paula.”
“I take it your parents were into mythology?” Mick asked the server, making me smile.
“Greek mythology professors. Believe me, when I was little, I wanted to be Max or Sam, but now it’s a real conversation starter, so I don’t mind.”
“I hear you. My name’s McKenzie. My mom thought they were being creative using a last name as a first name. It was too much of a conversation starter in middle school, so I shortened it to Mick.”
I smiled during their exchange, pretending like I knew my lunch date’s real name was McKenzie when I knew nothing more than he went to Wharton and bought broken companies like the hero inPretty Woman.At least, that’s what he claimed to do.
Zeus chuckled, then asked if we wanted any drinks or appetizers while we looked at the menus.
“Drink?” Mick asked me as if day drinking were a regular thing for me or us.
“Uh, Pellegrino?” I said, and Zeus nodded.
“Something stronger when we eat?” Mick asked me.
“Perhaps.”
“Pellegrino for the lady, and a Scotch neat for me.”
When Zeus hurried off, Mick focused back on me.
“Now, back to what I was saying. Why don’t we get the hard talk out of the way, and then go back to the small talk where you tell me where you went to school or grew up. But first, tell me what really happened to your wrist, and why sparks flew when we first sat down next to each other yesterday.”
Surprised, I blinked at him. “You’re asking a lot.”
Mick ran his thumb across his chin, and I bit my lower lip.
“Margo, the tension is running thick between us. I had to call you today, and I’m hoping it wasn’t dumb luck you wanted to see me too.”
A knot of conflicted feelings and emotions settled in my belly, and I glanced around for Zeus, wanting my sparkling water to help settle it. He was nowhere to be seen, so I turned back to Mick, forced to acknowledge his question.
“Honestly, it was a bit of dumb luck. He’s ... I mean, my husband’s out of town for the evening and my daughter is sleeping at a friend’s house, which is an unusual opportunity for me to be all alone.”
Mick’s impossibly dark eyes darkened even further. “Your husband’s the one responsible for the wrist.”
“Cut right to the chase, don’t you?” This time I raised an eyebrow. Annoyed, I shoved my hair behind my neck, my curls frizzing more by the minute.
“I don’t think it was your daughter—”
“Priscilla? No, never. She’s a doll,” I said quickly as Zeus returned with our drinks. When he sat my Pellegrino before me in a glass, I gulped a big sip and wondered why I didn’t go for some liquid courage. Noticing Mick waiting patiently, I simply said, “My husband isn’t a kind man.”
Mick placed his tumbler back on the table and leaned forward. “No, he’s not. Look, you tell me as much or as little as you want for now. We can’t deny there was something there when we met, and I know better than anyone that you need to get out of the mess you’re in ... the sooner the better.”
“You’re certainly a wise one?” I ended my statement with my voice tilted up, making it more like a question, but he wasn’t wrong. The problem was, I didn’t know how to extricate myself from my husband. It was an impossible situation.
