Page 26 of The Endowment Effect

Staring at his face she blurted, “You’re… not what I expected.”

Wow. That was slick.

“Oh, yeah?” he asked, with a friendly smile. “What were you expecting?”

“Someone less… mature.”

“You mean old?”

“Yes, but I didn’t want to be rude.”

“Listen, young lady, my ego has taken about as many hits today as it can handle. Would you like to come inside and speak with Mr. Santos?”

Her eyes widened at the revelation. “You’re not Lucas Santos?”

“No, ma’am.”

Thank God.

She strained her neck to the side and then pulled back just as quickly as another man came to the door.

Non-bio-dad stepped aside and said to the other man, “This young lady is asking for you. I’m just going to go inside and start researching burial plots.”

Once again, but to a much larger degree, Mia wasn’t prepared.

“Hi, can I help you?”

He was tall with hair that was so dark it was almost black, like hers, and eyes the color of Hershey’s chocolate syrup, also. Just. Like. Hers.

“Hello there. Are you okay?” he asked. “Are you lost?”

“So… so lost.”

She didn’t mean to say that out loud.

His voice, it was like, perfect. So much so it made her want to cry. For no reason.

Well, other than this was her dad. Sorry, bio-dad.

He wore a really nice dress shirt, like her real dad used to wear for certain meetings and he smelled really, really good. Not like aftershave, but a really, really strong, clean soap smell.

She continued to stare as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Why don’t you come in and sit down? Tell me how you got lost.”

Suddenly, out of nowhere, she grew a spine.

“My name is Mia Shepherd.”

She waited for when the Mack truck realization of who she was broadsided him.

Annnddd… nothing.

He just smiled warmly and said, “Hello, Mia. I’m Lucas. Why don’t you come inside and I’ll get you something to drink?”

Her heart finally dislodged from her throat and crashed to her feet.

He didn’t know who she was. How was that possible? He should know her name.

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