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TWO

Two hours later and the hu as beautiful and perfect as it e set it all up, Joel couldn’t help hi After all, he’d co for dinner, and I didn’t protest as he greedily scooped up the dip with leftover spiced pita chips straight fro

We had set up some of the plain black chairs on either side of the snack table once our feet started to hurt I looked across at hiave me a satisfied wink as he licked his lips

“I can’t believe this,” I hed a thousand pounds “Why can’t rich people value anyone’s time but their own?”

“A question for the ages,” said Joel “I wish I could say I was as surprised as you, but I’ve worked in too h class restaurants to have any fantasies left about them”

“I’ve dealt with uptight jerks before, but I’ve never been stood up by so It’s insanity” With a sigh I checked ht

Two hours, ten minutes past seven, and the Sheikh was a no-show Neither ht, and one unanswered

“Maybe it was a prank call or so I should have done some research to make sure he was for real, but he called so late in the day, all I could think about was getting the gallery ready,” I muttered

“This isn’t your fault, honey, even if it was a prank,” said Joel He put the lid back on the empty hummus container and dropped it in the waste basket under the table “It would have been worse if you hadn’t taken it seriously and he had shown up There is no da right He’s the idiot here”

“Yeah, well, at least I could have been setnot only about paying the bills, but about buying a fresh set of paints all day, a drea like steam into the open air

We sat in silence for a few tenseto caler, like it usually did Joel watched me fro brown eyes

I hated quitting Giving up felt like a tiny death But there was no point hanging on to the night’s fantasies, not now With a deep breath I got out of esture in the direction of the snack table “Do you e? At least I’ll have lunch for a—“