“Not really. When you see people who are actually starving, you’re just not in the mood for Double-Stuf Oreos anymore. Not that I could have gotten them in Ethiopia anyway.” I took my hand mirror and stood in front of the window to put on one last coat of mascara.
“And you look…confident. So not what you used to look like.”
“Well, thanks, I guess.” Shannon was right. I used to hope no one noticed me, poor mousy girl that I was. Short no-nonsense hair, no makeup—anything to avoid attention. That girl was still alive and well on the inside though. Especially when it came to things like a blind date.
“No, I didn’t mean you were ugly before, Kathy, I just meant—”
“Casey. Not Kathy anymore, remember?”
“Casey, sorry. Why’d you change it to Casey, anyway?”
“Eh. Kathy just didn’t suit me any more. I used my initials, K. C. Smith, and people in Africa pronounced them like a name, so I changed it. I like the sound of it.”
“I’ll try to remember, but I’ll never forget the Kathy Smith I used to have sleepovers with. Where’d you get the dress?”
“Thrift store. I made the skirt a lot shorter.”
“Ugh, I don’t know how you can stand to wear other people’s clothes.”
“You’re funny. In Africa, I would have been thrilled to have all the selection of one thrift store.”
“So, are you still having culture shock?”
“Yeah, pretty much. I saw a little kid in a convenience store get mad and throw his sandwich on the floor. And he and his mom, they didn’t even pick it up. Where I was, no child would have ever thrown perfectly good food away, not in a million years. I started to cry when I saw it.”
“Oh, sweetie. I’m so sorry.” She hugged me. “Is that…normal? To react like that?”
“From what I’ve heard, it is. I mean, I’ve only been back for two weeks. And this country is so different from Ethiopia. I’ll get used to being here again.”
“Maybe what you need is a little romance to spice up your life, huh? And this guy is a lawyer, I know you like lawyers.”
“I do?” I said.
“Wasn’t the Mysterious Man From Your Past in law school?” she chanted dramatically, hand on heart. “The man who ruined you for all inferior men? The guy you would never tell me about?”
She was laughing, but I felt my face grow hot. There was a man in my distant past, and I thought about him every day. I would never tell Shannon who he was, when we were back in college. For good reason.
“Oh my god. I can’t believe you remember that!” I laughed too, but I don’t know how real it sounded. Shannon used to tease me unmercifully about my old crush, but I never told her that he was my stepbrother. Yeah. Don’t judge me. I was only a teenager, and he was like a god to me. My ideal. He had kind of dropped out of sight, though, and I hadn’t seen him for almost seven years. Every time I’d come home from college, I’d hope to see him, but he was never around, and spent all of the holidays with his mom’s side of the family.
Shannon was enthusiastic. “Well anyway, this guy is an environmental lawyer, Jim says. I asked him if the guy was good-looking and he said he didn’t know.” She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
Shannon was crazy about her husband, at least from what I could tell. She’d written me letters about him, and about their wedding, which I’d missed. Apparently they’d had a whirlwind courtship, from meeting to marriage in five months. For me, that would be insane, but for Shannon, maybe not. There was something perfectly lovable about her, and I had no doubt that her husband, whom I hadn’t met yet, adored her. And maybe, if she could find love so quickly, maybe I could forget about my stepbrother and open my heart to someone new, too.
“Yeah, he told me about being an environmental lawyer on the phone. We didn’t talk long, though, so I didn’t get a good sense of what he’s like.”
“Jim did say that he works out every day, so that’s something I guess. Where’s he taking you?”
“Le Cirque? I’ve never heard of it.”
“Really? Wow. That’s supposed to be one of the best restaurants in town. We can never get a reservation. This guy must know somebody.”
“Uh oh. I don’t think I’m dressed for the best restaurant in town. Not to mention…ugh. Expensive food is not exactly my thing.”
“You’ll be fine. And, Casey, try not to be judgy about it. The guy is probably just trying to make a good first impression.”
“I know, but…. That’s not a good sign. A guy who tries to impress women with his money? Doesn’t sound like my type.”
“Maybe he does it because he’s nervous,” Shannon said. “Give him the benefit of the doubt! If he’s an environmental lawyer, guaranteed he cares about the planet, right? That sounds like it’s right up your alley.”
“True. Okay. I’ll give him a chance.”
She laughed. “The guy is wining and dining you at a gorgeous French restaurant. Try not to hate him for it.” Her face turned serious. “How are you getting home?”
“The bus runs until ten. I’m sure I won’t be out later than that.”
“The bus?” I thought her eyes were going to pop right out of her head. “Take a cab! For god’s sake, Kathy—”
“Casey.”
“Casey.” She took a breath. “It’s too dangerous to ride the bus at night into this neighborhood. I know you’ve been gone a while, but you must remember what this part of town is like.”
“I just left a country where a border war breaks out every once in a while. I’m pretty sure I can handle an ordinary dicey neighborhood here in the U.S.of A.”
She sighed. “Okay. Just…take a cab.” She peered into my face. “You won’t, will you?”
“No. Think how many kids could be fed with the money a cab costs.”
She didn’t quite roll her eyes but I could see that she wanted to. “All right, then call me. If you absolutely need a ride, I will take you home. Or better yet, out to Rosemont with Jim and me for the night.”
“Okay, if I need a ride I will. Let’s get going so I’m not late.”
Shannon drove me downtown, giving me first date tips and lecturing me on my dangerous neighborhood again. I know she means well, so I let it slide, but really. It’s like she’s lived in a bubble her whole life. She let me out of the car on Restaurant Row, right outside Le Cirque.
It was a brownstone townhouse on the outside, but to step inside it was like stepping into a different world. Some walls were sheathed in red-veined marble, and others were painted a deep cinnamon color. There was a thick carpet in the same color that silenced my steps. A Baroque string quartet played softly over hidden speakers. Even the air smelled expensive.
I gave the tuxedoed maitre d’ my name and expected to have to wait, but he bowed slightly and said, “Right this way, madam.” It was all I could do to hold in a snicker. I was more used to sitting on
a dirt floor with my African friends, eating with my fingers, scooping up doro wat with bits of flatbread.
The maitre d’ led me past a small fountain to the back of the restaurant, where large windows had a view of a twilit courtyard. We were headed to one of the tables by a window where a man sat alone. When I got a look at him, I froze in my tracks and said, “Wait” to the maitre d’. I felt my heart start to gallop and my face start to heat up. I was able to say, “I’ll go on from here by myself.” He nodded gravely and then glided away.
I hid myself behind a marble pillar, and peered out at the man sitting at the window table. It was Mick. My stepbrother. It was him, the man I’d thought about and yearned for every day for the last seven years. He looked older—he was thirty-two now—but if anything he looked even more attractive than he had the last time I’d seen him. But this was a cruel joke, wasn’t it? My big blind date, and it was the one man in the world I couldn’t have, the one who absolutely positively didn’t want me.
I guessed I had to go out there and talk to him. It wouldn’t have been right to slink out of the restaurant and let him think his date had stood him up. I hoped that after all these years we could catch up on each other’s lives and not delve into anything from the past. So I took a deep breath and walked towards him.
“Hello?” I said, sounding like an idiot, like I’d answered the phone instead of said hi to someone I knew.
“Are you Casey?” he said, standing up. When I nodded, his face broke out in a huge smile, and he sort-of discreetly looked me up and down. “Nice to meet you, Casey,” he said, sounding like he really meant it. I drank in the sight of him, the wavy dark hair and warm brown eyes, the wide shoulders thick with muscle under a trim suit jacket. Seven years had changed him, but he was every inch the man I remembered.
“Mick?” I said, barely able to get the word out. It was like he didn’t recognize me.
“Yes, Mick Branson,” he said, and put his hand out for me to shake, so I just went ahead and shook it. His hand was warm and firm, and the warmth traveled right up my arm. My body, that traitor, responded to him instantly, with a wave of desire that went straight to my core. I could hardly breathe.