I shrug. “It was easy for me. I made dinner.” I point to the kitchen table. Leo’s eyes widen even more comically. “Eat.”
“Aren’t you going to eat? You made all of this.”
“I’m here to work. You should eat. I can eat something else.”
Leo shakes his head. “No. Eat. You worked hard for it.” He sits down at the table and pats the seat beside him. “Come on. Join me.”
After a moment of hesitation, I sit down beside him. It’s hard for me to be near Leo when he’s so handsome and charming and offered me this job when I had nowhere else to go.
“You’re a surprise, Emma. I’ll give you that.” He bites into the chicken and lets out a low moan. “This is delicious. You’re a good cook too? Who would have thought.”
“Thank you. I’ve been cooking my own meals for a long time now.” My mother always made sure I knew how to make her dinner as she didn’t want to make it herself. She would guilt trip me into doing it, saying that I couldn’t let her starve.
“With just you and your mother.”
“Yes.”
He sits back in his seat, gazing at me in a way I don’t understand. “You said your father is not in your life.”
“Yes. I did say that.”
“You never met him? Is he dead? I don’t mean to pry but I’m just curious about you.”
“I never met him. I don’t even know his name. My mother never told me.”
Leo frowns. It should make him look ugly but he only looks more handsome. “I wonder why. So your mother and father… they’re not together.”
“I don’t even know if my dad is alive or not. She never said.”
“Why didn’t she?”
I shrug. “I have no idea. You’d have to ask my mother.”
“And where is your mother now? Why isn’t she here, helping to take care of you?”
I stare hard into my potatoes, hoping to escape from everything. “My mother… it’s complicated. I just had to get away from her. That’s all.”
“Sorry. I don’t mean to push you. It’s just that you show up on my doorstep in need of help. I was just curious. But you’re really not at all what I had expected. More innocent that I could have imagined.”
“Why do you speak like you were waiting for me? We’ve never met before.”
“Call it fate.” He takes my hand in his, making my face light on fire. “I’m glad you’re here, Emma.”
“Me too. But… I don’t know anything about you. I’m grateful that you’ve taken me in. But you’re still a stranger to me.”
“What do you want to know?” he asks, letting go of my hand. It’s disappointing, I’ll be honest.
“Like… what do you do for work? You own this nice, big house. You must make good money.”
“Don’t you know that it’s taboo to ask people about their money?”
I gasp, looking away from him. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, Emma,” he says with a chuckle. “I was just teasing you. I work with powerful men. In business.”
“Oh. What does that mean exactly?”
“I’m told what to do by my boss. I deliver on what he needs from me. I help prevent wars from happening. Typical business stuff.”
