page47 (1/2)

“Yes,” I said “Thisaround the man’s house”

I rushed back to ood

Whoever was cooking — Julius,into the bathroom, I touched up my makeup I did a tiny bit of eyeliner and touched up my lips Not too much, but not too little

Then, the negative thoughts went into overdrive What if he was souys had soot paranoid about it? He could end up throwing ht out of his house

What if he was a veteran? Maybe he’s suffering froht That would explain the big, ehbors Maybe he had so scars under all those expensive clothes! That would be uncoloss, bringing it down to a ine a conversation at dinner

“So, what do you do?” I said to the mirror

I frowned No, that’s not going to be good I guess talking about work is the next best thing; it’s so we both have in conal to him that I’d like to be more than just co-workers, maybe in a way that could be interpreted two different ways If he accepted, ould end up having sex, and if he got offended, I could just pretend I didn’t mean it that way

With one final check of the mirror, I headed out of the bedroom and downstairs Hopefully, I wouldn’t make a fool of myself at dinner

Chapter Seven

Dixie

In the kitchen, Julius was chopping up scallions for garnish on the ossobuco he had just prepared

“Wow, you’re quite the cook!” I said, genuinely ih for two?”

“Usually, I hts and just reheat it,” he said “But since you’re here, it’s only the best”

“The best, huh? I like the sound of that,” I said

I sat down and we started eating

“Seriously,” I said “This is a You could cook in a restaurant”

“Nah, I just follow instructions Anyone can do it, really”

“I tried to ton for Shawn once,” I said “It was burnt on the outside and raw in the middle What a mess!”

“I a,” he said “We had this training seet everyone together on Zooure it out?”