Vicks’s smile was genuine. “You have this way . . . of turning bad stuff into good stuff.”
“I appreciate the compliment.” She couldn’t stop looking at his face. There was so much depth in his eyes. “Do you still love me?”
“Unfortunately, I do. That’s never going to change.”
“If you want to be more than friends, now’s the time to speak up.” When he didn’t say anything, she said, “Okay. Got my answer.”
“Dorothy, I thought I made this clear—”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I’m being selfish. If something happens to you, I don’t want it on my conscience.”
“I absolve you, my son.”
“We’re not starting up again.” He shook his head. “Besides, you’d just cheat on me again.”
She had nothing to feel self-righteous about. Still, his words wounded deeply.
“Ro, I’m boring!” He exhaled. “I mean, I don’t think I’m boring. Inside my head are all sorts of ideas. But you’re not a mind reader, and even if you did read my mind, you’d probably find my thoughts tedious. In the back of my brain, I actually understand what you did. I’m good company for an hour and then . . . I dunno . . . my mind starts to wander. I start thinking about a physics problem or a math problem or how the hell am I gonna get past those gates at Los Alamos. It’s gonna take a very unusual girl to put up with me. You, on the other hand, are . . . social and graceful and—”
“What I am is a wit like Dorothy Parker. Actually, I was named after her by my grandmother. Or was it Dorothy Kilgallen.”
“Who was she?”
“Also a wit. If you’re named Dorothy, you’re either a forties socialite wit or someone from Kansas.”
“You are a wit,” he told her. “I’m a loner. We’re terrible together.”
“Not everything was terrible.”
Vicks raised his eyebrows. The first honest smile turned his lips upward. “Was he good?”
“No!”
“You’re ly-ing.”
“I am not!”
“Ro, what you need to say is he was good, but I was way better.”
“Of course you were way better. For one thing, I love you. And just for pure practicality, I actually remember sex with you. With him, I don’t remember anything.”
“Except you made him wear condoms. Why’d you do that?”
“I dunno . . . I was stalling. I really didn’t want to do it.”
“Then why did you?”
“I don’t know. It was stupid.” It was her turn to squirm. “You don’t hate me?”
“No, I don’t hate you.”
“What about JD?”
“Don’t hate him since I punched him. The best part was he didn’t punch back.” He patted her hand. “Are you two officially back together?”
“Nope. I tell him, ‘Do whoever you want. Say whatever you want. You’re not getting play from me.’” She threw up her hands. “What is it with you guys? You never want what you have and you always want what you don’t have.”
“Hon, we’re all confused. Girls mystify us. I grew up with sisters and I still don’t have a clue.”
“Fair enough.” The caviar came. She prepared a bite for him, adding shredded egg and onion to the fish roe and the cracker. “Try it.”
Before he could object, she stuffed it in his mouth. He chewed. “It’s good.”
“Have more.” She offered him another cracker. “How’s your research coming?”
Vicks took the cracker. “I’m totally stumped on how to move forward. Shanks won’t do anything concrete with the labs because my ideas are based on intuition and a map. And even if I did have evidence, it’s doubtful if a guy like Shanks could penetrate a classified lab. I’m just that stupid hamster spinning in the wheel . . . all this exertion and going nowhere.” His face registered defeat. “This city is crazy. It can nab a visiting scientist shooting prairie dogs, but a serial killer? They’re helpless.”
They polished off the caviar. Ro said, “You really are discouraged, aren’t you.”
“Been some rough days lately.”
The salad and the sliders came. She took a slider and bit into it. “This is really, really dope.”
Vicks took the second slider. “Wow.” Another bite. “This is sick.”
“Not to bring up the past, Vicks, but out of curiosity, where were you going to take me on Valentine’s Day?”
“Here.”
“Here?”
“Yep. I had it planned for a month . . . roses on the table and everything.”
“Roses?”
“Yep. A dozen long-stemmed coral roses. I thought red was a cliché.”
“I love coral roses.” She stared at him. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have chosen another place.”
“You wanted to go here for your birthday. You’re entitled.” He gave a small smile. “You know it cost me fifty bucks to reserve a table on Valentine’s Day.”
“You lost fifty dollars?”
“I had to give them my credit card because they were packed.”
“That’s awful. God, I’d be pissed for that alone. I’ll pay you back.”
“You can pay for this. That’s enough.”
The entrées came a few minutes later. Ro said, “How’s your salmon?”
“Phenomenal. Do you want a bite?”
“Of course.” He fed her and she cut off half the steak and put it on the bread plate. “Try this. You’ll die.”
“Whoa . . . this is good.”
“I didn’t know places like this existed beyond NYC.”
“Snob.”
“And proud of it.”
“I really wish you’d quit your job. You’ve got like three more months of high school. You should be enjoying yourself. I mean, isn’t the spring fling coming up?”
“First week in April.”
“You should be shopping for a dress, not putting up with the creepy men ogling your butt.”
“Maybe I’ll ask for the night off. JD has already offered to take me.”
“Then do it. Why should you be miserable?”
“Okay.” She pushed her plate away. “I’ll go to the spring fling with JD.” And that was that. “Dessert?”
“I not only ate my food, I ate your steak. I’m stuffed.”
“So . . . what you’re really saying is we should look at the dessert menu.”
“I suppose we can share something.”
“Not on your life,” Ro told him. “Are you coming to school tomorrow?”
“Yep, I’ll be there.”
“Okay. This is what I’m going to do. I’m going to start sitting with JD again . . . you know I haven’t been sitting at his table. Because I work nights, I like to sleep whenever I can.”
“Will you please quit?”
“No. I like the attention. I like the money.” Yves came and Ro ordered the cheese soufflé with Grand Marnier and the strawberry crêpes. “I want to sit with you tomorrow. Where do you eat lunch?”
“Gomez’s office.”
“Fine. I’ll meet you there. The rest of the time I’ll sit with JD.” She looked down. “Not to be a downer, but the vernal equinox is right around the corner.”
“I’m well aware of that. I’m taking the day off to watch Haley . . . Haley and Lilly actually. Where one goes, so does the other.”
“You don’t have to do that. I can watch them at school. And I don’t have to be at work until five thirty. I’ll make sure they’re home and are going to stay there before I leave.”
“I don’t want them walking anywhere.”
“I know. I got it.”