Chapter 9 - THE MAN WHO LEARNED TO ASK
Adrian and Elena did not date immediately.
That disappointed nearly everyone except Elena.
Leo was particularly irritated.
“You two already argue like married people.”
Elena stared.
“Do you enjoy employment?”
Leo left.
Mia remained convinced Adrian belonged to them in some undefined way.
Three-year-olds have flexible legal categories.
One afternoon she drew a picture.
Mommy.
Mia.
Daddy in heaven.
Mr. Grumpy.
Adrian was much taller than everyone else and had no mouth.
He studied it.
“Why don't I have a mouth?”
“You forget to open it.”
Elena had to leave the room.
Adrian eventually asked her to dinner.
Properly.
“Would you like to have dinner with me Friday?”
“At my café?”
“No.”
“You're afraid I'll make you wait.”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“Then maybe.”
He waited.
She deliberately waited too.
“Yes.”
Their first date was awkward.
Adrian chose a quiet Italian restaurant.
Elena accused him of lacking imagination.
He told her he had rejected four places because they were Moretti investments.
Reasonable.
They talked about things that had nothing to do with Daniel.
Books.
Childhood.
Music.
Adrian hated musicals.
Elena considered this a moral failing.
Then he told her why he had stopped smiling.
His older brother Marco died when Adrian was twenty-eight.
Not in a mob war.
Cancer.
That surprised her.
Power had done nothing.
Money had purchased excellent doctors.
Still nothing.
After Marco died, Adrian took over more of the family.
Work became easier than grief.
Control easier than fear.
Food became something meetings interrupted.
Sleep became optional.
By thirty-nine, everyone around Adrian knew how to obey him.
Almost nobody knew him.
Then Mia entered carrying oatmeal.
Elena listened.
She did not tell him Mia had fixed him.
Neither did he.
After dinner, Adrian drove her home.
No kiss.
He stood on the sidewalk.
“Elena.”
“Yes?”
“Can I ask something inappropriate?”
“Usually people don't announce it.”
“Do you feel guilty being here?”
She knew what he meant.
Daniel.
“Yes.”
Adrian nodded.
“Me too.”
She frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I knew part of what happened to him before you did.”
There it was.
Not swept away.
Not repaired by romance.
Elena appreciated that.
“I don't know when that stops mattering.”
“It shouldn't.”
She looked at him.
“You want it to matter forever?”
“I want what I did to remain true even if you forgive me.”
That was the best answer he could have given.
Elena stepped closer.
Then kissed him once.
Brief.
When she moved away, Adrian looked stunned.
“Don't make a thing out of it.”
“I wouldn't dare.”
“You're already making a face.”
“I have one face.”
“You have at least seven terrifying ones.”
He smiled.
“There.”
“What?”
“You're smiling.”
His expression immediately flattened.
Elena laughed.
Inside her apartment, Mia slept under a blanket printed with rabbits.
Daniel's photograph sat on the dresser.
Elena looked at it.
For months she'd feared moving forward would mean leaving him behind.
Now she understood.
Love was not a chair only one person could occupy.
Daniel was part of her.
May you like
Adrian could not replace him.
That was precisely why there might someday be room for something new.
