"Buffet."
"You can leave."
"We'll do it ourselves."
All three of them say, at almost exactly the same moment. I press my lips together hard.
I send Elias an apologetic look but he is also smiling and he winks at me when he says “Very well, behave like savages if you prefer”
He says already over his shoulder as he starts to leave, "Kalinihta."
Then we're alone.
When Carter makes a motion and I follow him outside where I can see that the fire pit is lighted, throwing amber across the terrace stone. The olive trees are silver-grey in the dark, the small lights in the branches catching when the canyon breeze moves. The table is set for four, crystal and white linen, and beside it a side table with chafing dishes and champagne standing in a tall frapé.
Adrian goes straight to the chafing dishes and opens every one inspecting them. William pulls the champagne from the ice.
Carter says, "Come, let's go take a seat," and his hand goes briefly to my back as we move toward the table.
We sit. The jazz is coming from inside, low enough that I can hear the fire cracking.
Adrian comes back with a plate, leans down slightly to show me what's what, asks what I like. I tell him. He nods and goes back for the rest.
William pours. We eat.
Adrian starts talking about a mediation that went sideways last week.
Carter takes a drink. Says nothing. The corner of his mouth resists a smile when Adrian’s story becomes amusing.
I can’t help but laugh. Adrian sees it and grins. William's attention moves to my face, and something about being lookedat like that, in this dress, at this table, makes my chest expand with joy.
I look at them in the light from the candles and the fire.
I'm happy.
That's the word. Just that. Simple and devastating. Sitting in my chest like something I don't know how to hold.
The champagne is cold. I drink carefully because I want to feel this without any blur on it.
They planned this moment. All three. Together. Nobody has ever done anything like this for me.
The atmosphere has been changing for a while before I register it consciously.
It starts with the way William is looking at me across the table. He's been looking at me all evening but it's different now, heavier. Longer. He's looking at the neckline of the dress, then at my face and he doesn’t bother to disguise the heat in his eyes when I catch him looking..
I shiver.
Not from cold. The canyon air is soft tonight, the fire warm at my side. It's the charge in the room, the way the evening has been pulling toward something for the last hour
Adrian's knee pressing against mine under the table.
Carter's thumb moving on the back of my hand every so often.
William notices my shiver and says, "Are you cold? We can go inside."
I’m feeling safe and wanted so I become bold and I say “I’m not cold. But maybe we can go inside…”. For a moment I think that they don’t understand what I’m saying. That I’m going to need to be more specific. I don’t think I can.
Nobody speaks.
