Page 52 of Duke, Actually

“Whoever came up with the notion that one should feel guilty about things that bring one pleasure should be shot.”

She smiled. That was a very Max-like way of looking at the world.

“Your family is great,” he said.

“They really are.”

“You look so happy when you talk about them.”

“I’m... at home with them.”

“What does that mean? Isn’t everyone at home with their family?” He made a face. “Everyone who isn’t me?”

She wondered how much to say but decided to just go for it. They’d had such a great couple of days. It was starting to feel like Max really knew her. Or, in the few ways he didn’t, like he wanted to.

“You don’t know what it’s like to be mixed-race. Which isn’t a criticism. You can’t know.”

He nodded. “You talked about feeling like you’re the diversity hire at work.”

Yes. Max listened. He just didn’t get the totality of it. “Right. At work, I’m either the ‘diversity hire’ or else I’m ‘too white.’ Like,people look at my CV and then at my skin and they think, hmm, is sheactuallyMexican? That’s true in the wider world, too. We spend the holidays with my dad’s parents in Mexico every few years, and I feel like I’mtoowhite there. It’s hard to explain. I feel like I’m always navigating these two worlds but always falling short in each of them. But at home, with my family, it’s not a thing. I’m just who I am.”

He looked at her for a long time, like he was really seeing her, and just when she was about to outright ask him to change the subject, he said, “When are you back in your apartment?”

“Tomorrow. The mime has an eleven o’clock check-out deadline.”

“So you’re going in to the party, coming back here tonight, then back to your place tomorrow?”

“Yep.”

“Stay with me at the hotel after the party. That will save you the back-and-forth. We can get a rollaway.”

“Yeah, but Max Minimus. I’d still have to come back here for him.”

“He can come. We’ll drop him off before the party.”

“You can’t bring a dog into the Four Seasons!”

“You can if you’re the Baron of Laudon.”

“Of course you can.” Max was too much sometimes.

And yet, was that true? She called him that, in her mind, but was it possible that hewasn’ttoo much?

“Come on,” he pressed. “We’ll vanquish Vince, and then we’ll go back to the hotel and drink champagne in the sauna.” He looked down at his empty McMuffin wrapper. “And maybe getsome more of these awful beautiful things. Then we can watch ghastly American TV—no offense—in our pajamas.”

Dani wanted to do that, more than anything. “When was the last time you took a woman back to your hotel for a chaste sleepover?”

He pretended to think about it. “There’s a first time for everything?”

She laughed. “Okay. Sounds like fun.” She sighed happily and ate her greasy breakfast as they watched the sunrise. It was all immensely pleasurable, and she didn’t feel guilty about it at all.

As they paused at the threshold of the party, Max had the sensation of time folding in on itself. They were in the same place, a lounge inside the university’s faculty club. There was a bar at the far end, manned by the same bartender as at Christmas.

He scanned the room. It was populated by the same types of people as before—mostly men, mostly older. He spied Dani’s friend Sinéad leaning against the bar. She must have felt his attention. She looked up, took him in, and smirked—though it seemed a friendly smirk. He hitched his head to summon her—they could use an ally—and she started making her way toward them. He took note of where Vince was—standing near a window with a deep ledge that Berkeley was sitting on. Vince hadn’t noticed them yet.

Max had a plan. At the Christmas party, his goal, which had only emerged as he’d gotten a bead on the situation, had been to shamelessly exploit his perceived poshness, to make Dani look good in front of both her departmental chair and her abominableex. Max was fully aware of the power his status afforded him, and he had never been shy about using it, be it to advance his own aims or in service of others. It was bullshit, but it was reality. Today, though, he was planning to fade into the background.

“Hel-lo.” Sinéad arrived and gave Dani a quick hug, assessing Max over Dani’s shoulder as she did so. When she straightened, she flicked the lapel of the suit he was wearing. “Linen.Nice.” Yes, he’d packed seasonally appropriate dukeish casual attire.

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