Page 34 of Not Mine To Love

“Like when? Yesterday?”

I shrugged. “Can we change the subject?” I didn’t want to keep discussing my disaster of a date. “I didn’t know you were in a band. And a blues band for that matter.”

“Hold that thought,” he said. “I’m going to order us some food. What would you like? Pho for you or something else?” he said, referring to a Vietnamese soup.

“I’ll take whatever. I’m not picky.”

“That would explain your date.”

“Ha ha,” I said humorlessly, but I appreciated his attempt at humor. If I couldn’t laugh at myself, then what was the point of even having a sense of humor?

He went up to the counter and ordered for us. I stared at him while he ordered.

He was a nice guy. He should have been performing with his band, but he was here with me. And he didn’t have to be. He was just naturally a caring individual, always coming to Ana’s rescue, and now he was coming to mine. Ana was a lucky girl.

He turned around then and smiled at me. Such a nice guy, I thought again to myself as I smiled back.

“Soup, madame,” he said, placing a bowl of steaming noodles and broth covered with herbs in front of me. He ordered the same for himself and sat across from me.

I leaned forward over my bowl and inhaled deeply. “Hmm, that smells delicious.”

We ate in silence. He didn’t ask me about my date. We didn’t talk at all. After I was done, I pushed my bowl away and sighed.

“This is nice.”

“It is. Sometimes silence really is golden.”

“Wow, you sound old.”

He tossed a napkin at me, and I dodged it.

“So how did you meet Ana?” I asked. When I asked Ana earlier, I hadn’t gotten very much information, so I figured why not ask Julius directly. Claire was right about one thing, Ana wasn’t much of a sharer. Getting information from her was sort of like pulling teeth.

“We had a mutual friend.”

“Oh? Is your friend coming to the wedding? I haven’t met him or her yet, right?” So far, I don’t think I had met anyone from the wedding party.

He looked away and taped his fingers on the table. “Him. Sam Higgins. We were all friends.”

I noticed then that he was using past tense. “You guys aren’t friends anymore?”

“Well, Sam passed away last year.”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, Ana took it hard. They were roommates.” Now things were making sense. The sneakers, the jerseys, the motorcycle helmet. I noticed all those things in her apartment and assumed they belonged to Julius.

“How did he die, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Motorcycle accident. A reckless driver didn’t even see him, practically plowed right over him. He died instantly.”

I closed my eyes, unable to stomach how terrible that must have been.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Me too. Sam was a great guy. He used to play sax. That’s actually how we met. He was part of the band. And Ana quit the band after Sam died.”

“Ana was part of it?”