Page 30 of His Wall

Julian’s leg pressed against mine under the table. The length of his thigh against mine from knee to hip, the warmth through my dress — I couldn’t stop feeling it. I didn’t move my leg.

Declan stood at 8:05 p.m. “Forty years. Twenty with this idiot — and this one — and the last two with that one. I’m a lucky man. Drink the wine.”

Julian leaned in, his mouth at my ear, his breath on my neck. “He gives this exact toast every year. Watch — Thea’s going to kiss him on the cheek in three seconds.”

Thea kissed Declan’s cheek. Julian sat back, grinning.

My wine glass shook when I set it down. He saw. Said nothing. His leg didn’t move.

Soleil leaned across the table. “Claire, tell me about yourself. I’ve been trying to corner Julian for three months about his mysterious assistant.”

“Not much to tell.”

“How is it working with this one?”

“He’s organized,” I said.

Julian laughed out loud. “That’s the kindest lie anyone’s ever told about me.”

Soleil grinned and tapped my hand. “He talks about you, you know. At partner dinners. Said you were the first person who’s ever made his calendar make sense.”

“Soleil.” Julian’s voice, quiet.

“I’m being nice.”

“You’re being a menace.”

His leg pressed an extra quarter-inch into mine under the table.

The food came. Declan told a story about his daughter learning to walk. Nolan said one sentence about a gallery opening; Soleil added four more. Julian leaned in twice more, said small things into my ear that made me laugh against my will. Every time I laughed, his leg pressed a little harder.

He told a story about Declan from the early days — the first lease, negotiating 20% over market because he was too embarrassed to admit he didn’t understand cost-per-square-foot. The whole table laughed. Julian’s hands moved as he told it. He looked at Declan when he delivered the punchline, not a man telling a story but a man showing off the friend he loved.

This wasn’t the charm. This was the man underneath.

I took a drink of wine and looked across the table. Thea with her cheek on Declan’s shoulder. Soleil’s hand on Nolan’s thigh. Nolan looking at Soleil with his face soft in the candlelight.

I was the only person at the table who was not real. The thought went down into my stomach and stayed.

Dinner ended at 10:40 p.m. Coats, goodbyes. Declan hugged Julian hard at the door. Thea kissed my cheek and said, “Julian wasn’t lying about you.” Soleil pressed my hands and said, “We’re getting dinner, just us.”

Nolan nodded at me, held my eyes a half-second too long.

Julian walked me out. The sidewalk was cool. The others had gone ahead. Just us.

He was looking at my mouth. 18 in. between us. The streetlight caught the side of his face, the small line of stubble, the brown flecks in his green eyes. His mouth was open the smallest amount.

I felt myself lean. A quarter-inch. Like the wall last night.

“I’m glad you came,” he said.

“Me too.”

A horn went off behind us. Declan leaned out of his car. “Jules! Get in the car, you absolute child!”

The moment broke. Julian’s mouth moved into a real grin. “Good night, Claire.”

“Good night, Mr. Cross.”