Page 7 of Rules Of Engagement: St. Louis
“What?”
“Unexpected. I don’t usually enjoy the company of my clients this much.”
“Even though it’s your job to enjoy them?”
“There’s a difference between performing enjoyment and actually feeling it.”
“And you feel it tonight?”
She met my eyes directly. “Yes. Tonight I forgot I was performing.”
That meant she’d been her authentic self, and that made me warmer inside. We talked until the staff began stacking chairs and the jazz trio packed up their instruments.
“I want to know so much about you.”
She cracked a smile. “Yeah? Like what?”
“Any and everything.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m tethered to you now.”
A single brow rose up her face. “Tethered?”
“Tethered.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, then she chuckled.
“I guess you better ask your question before your time runs out then. It’s getting later by the second.”
“What was the book you read that changed how you saw the world?” I asked.
“Beloved by Toni Morrison. I resonated with the way she wrote about memory and trauma—how the past lives in our bodies even when we try to forget it.” She paused in thought for a long quiet moment before coming out of her reverie. “What about you?”
“Kitchen Confidential.Itsounds ridiculous compared to Toni Morrison, but Bourdain wrote about food the way other peoplewrite about love. It made me realize cooking was feeding people, connecting them with culture, soul, and love.”
“That’s poetic.”
“I think so.”
“Where’s the one place you’d go back to if you could?” she asked me.
“Hmmm…” I smiled over at her. “Sicily. I spent a summer there during law school. The food explodes in flavor off your tongue in such a way that you wanted to overindulge, the people are beautiful, cultured, and neighborly. Time moves slower, and you appreciate every moment.”
“That sounds amazing.”
“We should take a trip there.”
“Oh, should we?”
“Yes.”
“First Tuscany, now Sicily. Our vacation index is getting longer.”
I guffawed as she laughed while we stared each other down.
“I don’t mind it. What about you?”
