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Ava sat down and pulled out a container with three slices of pizza in it. I smiled when she closed her eyes before taking the first bite. The last woman I’d dated ordered the most expensive item on the menu but didn’t even take a bite of it. It had bothered me. Not only the waste but also the disconnection.
I found it comforting to share a meal with someone else. When we were younger, my brothers and I always ate dinner together. Our foster parents were rarely there, but we always sat down in front of some makeshift meal. Even though Luke was the baby, he was the one who enjoyed cooking the most. When I was old enough to work, I would pick up something special, like veal sandwiches, for the three of us on Friday nights.
I watched Ava pick up her slice with her unpainted fingernails and bring it to her pink mouth. Her lipstick had worn off, but her mouth beckoned me, nonetheless.
“Would you like a bite?” she asked.
“Excuse me?”
“You were staring at my pizza.”
I was staring at your mouth, actually. But I couldn’t tell her that.
“No. I’m good. I was just wondering where you ordered it from. It looks good.”
“Oh, it’s homemade.”
“You made it?”
“Gosh, no. My grandmother did. She’s an amazing cook.”
“You live with your grandmother?”
“Yes. And my parents and brother.”
Huh. That surprised me. It’d been a long while since I’d spoken to a woman who still lived at home with her parents. While I would have thought it’d make her less sophisticated, I found it quite endearing, actually. Not having a proper family life, I envied her. I probably wouldn’t want to leave a happy home either.
“You must like living at home,” I said.
Her cheeks reddened and I wanted to take the words back. I hadn’t meant them as an insult, but I couldn’t help thinking I’d hurt her feelings.
“I mean, you must have a great family.”
“I do,” she said but didn’t elaborate.
She remained quiet for some minutes and I’d lost any hope of carrying on with the conversation, until she said, “Sometimes… all you have is family.”
She stared down at her pizza, but her words hit me square in the chest. I owned a large penthouse, a multi-billion-dollar company, and fancy cars, but none of them mattered because I’d lost my family and lost what was precious to them.
“And when you lose it… you feel lost yourself.”
Her eyelashes fluttered and she stared back at me. It was just one sentence, but I had revealed to her in those few words more about me than I’d even divulged to my brothers. I sipped my coffee and looked around the office. “So, what do you think of the job so far?”
She smiled. “I think it’s great.”
I laughed. “Well, I won’t lie. You’d be the first one to think that.”
“Why is that?” she asked, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
“Because I can be an asshole.”
Now it was her turn to laugh.
“I know it sounds crazy. But I can be difficult to work with,” I teased. I couldn’t believe I was teasing and laughing with my assistant. The most I’d ever hoped for was a competent employee. But I was starting to really like Ms. Ava Grady.
“Perhaps this time will be different.”
It already was different. She was different.
