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“My mother raised me right,” he said.
“You still talk to her a lot, don’t you?” she asked. She wouldn’t know what that was like. In her eyes, her mother didn’t exist anymore and shouldn’t. She had Quinn instead.
“I do. She called me the other night,” he said. “But with eight of us, she spreads her nosiness—love—around.”
Lilian giggled and put her hand in front of her mouth. That was an immature sound for sure. She wasn’t sure the last time she giggled over anything.
“That’s kind of sweet,” she said.
“I guess,” he said. “So how long have you been in Manhattan?”
“A few months,” she said.
“Is it everything you thought it’d be?” he asked. She liked he wasn’t being intrusive with his questions. Maybe he wasn’t interested in anything more than this thank you lunch now that he knew her age.
“I’m not sure what I thought,” she said. “Living here is. I expected the small cramped place. But it’s close by so I can walk. I sold my car before I moved here. No reason to keep it and pay insurance and storage on it when I wouldn’t use it.”
“Makes sense. Not many like taking public transportation.”
“I don’t have a problem with it,” she said. “I like to walk, but if it’s too far away, then I’ll get on a bus or the subway. I bet you always take a taxi.”
“I do,” he said. “Usually. Sometimes I walk, depending on where I’m going, but it’s a ten to fifteen minute taxi ride to work so not something I want to walk, more so if it’s hot, cold or raining.”
“Yeah, I’ve experienced the heat and the rain. The cold won’t be fun, but I could take the subway if I need to. Although I probably could still get there faster walking. I’ll figure it out when the time comes.”
He nodded and they continued to eat their lunch for a few minutes.
His phone rang and he looked at his watch and then ignored that. When hers rang, she did the same, but it kept going off.
“Do you need to get that?” he asked.
“It’d be rude. I’m on my lunch.”
“It might be your boss,” he said.
“She left for the day. I’m not too concerned that I have to stop everything to answer it right now.” She pulled her phone out and saw two missed calls from Stella and rolled her eyes when she saw the text that followed. “I stand corrected. It was her.”
“Leaving instructions for you?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “No reason to call her back. She’s at the spa anyway.”
He chuckled over that. Their bill was brought out and their plates cleared away.
“Guess they want us to move on,” he said.
She barely got her last bite in before it was taken away when the bill landed.
She grabbed her wallet to get her card out and pay, but Braylon already had cash on the table. More than was needed.
“I’ve got it,” she said. “I asked you.”
“I never had any intention of you paying. I was just glad you asked.”
“Why?” she asked, putting her wallet away.
“Maybe I wanted to get to know you more,” he said.
He had a little dimple on his chin with a smirk on his face. “Did you find out what you wanted?”
