Page 40 of Something Old

A soft gasp escapes her lips when she sees the candles and the setting. Leora hesitates in the doorway of the dining room. “What is this, Mas?” She asks.

“It’s dinner. A small thank you for the dinners you made me.” I gently push her into the room and pull out a chair for her. She sits down and I take a seat next to her.

Our legs are touching beneath the table and it’s reminding my body what it was like to be with her. How she felt wrapped in my arms.

“It’s just that…” Her words trail off as the chef carries the starter in and plates it for us.

Muscles in white wine and garlic sauce and oysters in vodka and chili.

It looks incredible.

“Thank you.” Leora smiles at Dimitri.

The starter is amazing, but Leora is hardly talking at all.

I can see I am going to have to encourage her to open up and chat. Strange, as every other dinner we’ve had she has talked easily and freely.

“Have you been enjoying your days wherever you end up going?”

She looks up from her plate, eyeing me.

“I’m not up to anything. If that’s what you are asking. I just go walk around the garden, or the book shop. Sometimes the mall.”

“Oh - no - that’s not what I meant.” I clear my throat. I had not intended for it to come across as an interrogation. “No, I just wanted to know if you have been enjoying your time? Um—you haven’t been home much—”

“I know.” She says rather coldly.

Dimitri arrives with our main course. The lobster - done in garlic butter with lemon slices.

She smiles at Dimitri again. She hasn’t smiled at me since the last dinner she made me. It was over a week ago.

She looks down at her plate. Not saying a word, she enjoys her lobster. But she doesn’t look happy at all. My heart pulls tight in my chest. I don’t like this version of her. I want the real Leora back. I don’t understand what made her so cold and distant.

“Leora?”

She looks up at me, waiting without saying a word. Her bright eyes look sharp and intense, but not welcoming. They look hostile. I wish I could read her mind. It would make life so much easier for me. I take a deep breath.

“Leora - what’s wrong?” I ask.

She tilts her head to the side. Her brows knotted. “Nothing is wrong.” Her answer is too clipped. To short.

Her eyes look empty. The usual sparkle is no longer there. She almost looks like a hollow version of herself.

“Something is wrong.” I say more forcefully. She can’t just deny it like that. “You don’t speak to me. You are never home. You don’t eat with me—”

She drops her fork and glares at me.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Leora

Idrop my fork and glare at him. I can feel the anger flooding from my eyes towards him.

What game is he playing by asking me this?

Why the hell does he care? Why is he questioning me about these things?

“Why does it matter if I speak to you or not? Why do you care if I am home or not?” I snap, annoyed that I even had to sit at this table and eat dinner with him because being around him is still too difficult for me.

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