“You don’t drink?You should have said.”
“I do, but I’m not feeling like it.”
I don’t know what to make of it.Why didn’t she just say?
The server asks if we’re ready to order.I look at Maya and I feel conflicted.It’s obvious that she doesn’t like this place.
“You don’t have to eat if you don’t want anything on the menu,” I suggest, trying to hazard a guess at what might be bothering her.She’s put the menu down without a word.“I can order your favorite food from somewhere, just tell me.”
She folds her arms and sits back, brows coming together.“Won’t they mind if you order food from somewhere else and I eat it here?”
“They won’t mind.”
“Because you’re a Knight?”she scoffs, her jaw tightening.
I tilt my chin, sensing that I’ve probably played into every jaded thought she’s ever had about rich men with too much power and influence.But it’s the truth.“Yes.”
When you reach the obscene levels of wealth that the Knight empire has amassed, you can do anything.“I’ll order whatever you want.All I want to do is for you to be happy.”
She sighs, like this is all getting to be too much.“I don’t want you to do whatever it takes to make me happy, Zach.I just want you to ...”Her words trail off.I wait expectantly.
“You want me to what?”I ask softly, wondering why this evening feels like I’ve been through ten rounds in the boxing ring with a fierce, unrelenting opponent.
She whispers, “I want you to leave me alone.We met by chance, but I hope we can go our separate ways again.We don’t have to do this.”She waves a hand between us.
“Do what?”
“Meet.Be in one another’s lives again.”
It feels like a plea.Like she’s begging me to leave her be and my heart sinks because this isn’t what I want.
“I’m sorry if it feels like I’m going over the top, making a big deal of this.”I stop, being careful to choose my words.I hate lying, but tonight seems to be too much for her.“I just wanted to have dinner to catch up with you.”
Her lips part slightly, nude lipstick softening them.“It really wasn’t necessary.”
Thankfully, the waiter returns and takes our order.Steak for me.A chicken Caesar salad for her.
“I’m sorry if it offends you, me trying to be nice.”
“I don’t need you to be nice, or to save me” she says quietly.
“Save you?I’m ...I’m just trying to make conversation.Find out where you’ve been, what you’ve been up to.”
Her eyes lift then, meeting mine.Something unspoken flickers there.
“Why do we need to?It’s gone, it’s happened, it’s in the past.”
“True.”
“At least we understand each other,” she says.
I lift my wine glass in defiance.“To old friends finding each other again.”
She lifts her glass.“To friends who lost touch and are having their last supper.”
Her comment stings, and once again I wonder what’s hurting her.Did I do or say something that offended her, all those years ago?Impossible.We were so close.Falling in love.Always looking out for one another.Seems like we were different people then.
The food arrives.We eat mostly in silence until I shift the conversation to Stella because her career seems to be a safe topic.
