When she responded with nothing more than a tolerant smile, I added, "Please."
"I don't need your car service."
"You might not," I said, my hand still outstretched. "But I'll need to know you made it home without accidentally taking the Red Line to all the way down to Braintree instead of hopping on the Orange and riding it to Haymarket."
"That seems like a worst-case scenario."
"I'll spend the whole evening worrying, you know. I'll ignore my clients because I'm busy checking my phone. They'll drop me as their auditor and I won't even notice because I'm texting you for the four hundredth time. If anything, you'll be doing me a favor."
Taking care to reply with both an eye roll and an impatient sigh, Zelda snatched the phone off her desk and slapped it into my hand. "You have some peculiar theories, Ashville. More peculiar than some of my conspiracy theories."
"As you didn't argue with me on the odds of winding up in Braintree versus Revere Beach, I'll count this peculiarity as a win." I downloaded my preferred car service app and several food delivery apps too. My neighborhood wasn't nearly as lively as the North End or Back Bay come evening and she'd need to order out if she didn't find anything she liked in the fridge.
"Only because I don't know where either of those places are or the relative ease of traveling in the wrong direction on public transportation."
"It's all about knowing inbound and outbound," I said, my focus on the device as I logged into my accounts and switched the system preferences to save my passwords. To the contacts, I added my number, Magnolia's, and—against an entire canyon of better judgment—my mother's. "It doesn't always get you where you think it should." I handed the phone back. "Tell me you'll call a car instead of giving the T a shot."
She took the phone from me, slipped it into a hidden pocket in her skirt. "You're taking this a bit too seriously. We're talking about one evening where I, a capable adult woman, will return myself to your apartment before the late summer sun sets and the cast of Cats takes back the streets."
She was right about that. I was taking this far too seriously and I was worrying in unnecessary, unproductive ways. Yet I didn't care and I wasn't certain I could help it. I didn't know how I'd leave her for a meal bound to last three hours. I didn't know how I'd sit through the first round of drinks without an update on Zelda's journey back to my place not because I sincerely doubted her ability to navigate the city but because I didn't want to be separated from her for that long. And yes, there was a part of me that wanted to look after her and protect her, even if that made me an infantilizing dick.
Then again, I could always take her home and then leave for my meeting—
"Whatever you're thinking, don't," Zelda said.
I pushed out of my chair because I had too much energy coursing through me to sit much longer. "Tell me you'll take the car service."
"I am under no obligation to make such promises." She tipped her chin up and shifted to inspect the pile of junk collecting dust on the corner of my desk. "You're making it far too simple to push your buttons."
I snatched the papers she'd gathered from her hands and stepped into her space. "Is that what you're doing? You're toying with me?"
She shook her head, keeping an indifferent gaze on the junk pile. "No, I'm reminding you I'm able to get myself from point A to point B without incident, without the aid of anyone's car service, and without any male prerogative to guide my way."
I dropped my hands to her waist, tucked a finger under her skirt. "Tell me you'll do it, love."
"You want me to agree because it will make you feel better about something that isn't a real concern because this city is generally safe, and even if I did get lost on the subway, I'd find my way back eventually. However, you've invented this concern because it gives you a handy place to store the emotions you don't know how to name," she said.
"Zelda," I protested because it was the only thing I could say.
"Is it possible that making you feel better will also succeed in making me feel small and powerless? Because I have to tell you, I just climbed out of that