magically appeared.
I look down at the key sitting heavy in my hand. “Thank you. I can’t wait to use it. There’s nothing like the feel and smell of real photos.”
“You’re welcome. Do you have any plans tonight?”
“I’m working.”
Gio frowns. “Okay. Well, Maggie made you a cake. It’s in the kitchen. Make sure you find time to eat a piece.”
“I will. Thank you.” The awkwardness that surrounds us is palpable, so I make the first move to walk away, but before I do, Gio stops me, his hand touching my arm and sending a bolt of electricity through me.
“I have some info on your ex-boyfriend. We have a meeting in New York we need to go to. It’ll be a same day trip, so you’ll need the day after tomorrow off.”
I have so many questions to ask but hold them in for now. “Okay, I’ll let Cecilia know. Thank you, Gio.”
He gives me a curt nod before stalking away.
“I have a club opening in two days. I know it’s short notice, but I’ll let Cecilia know I’m willing to pay double for the inconvenience.” Benjamin and I are sitting at the dinner table. Caesar is only about ten feet away guarding me. You wouldn’t know it unless you knew him. He never looks my way, but I know I’m safe no matter where I am because he’s always close. I’ve spent the last two hours pretending Benjamin and I are at this fancy Japanese restaurant for my birthday but when the waiters came out to sing Happy Birthday and they stopped at the table next to us, it hit me that while I wanted this, to work and be independent, I’m not any happier than I was before. While I might be going through the motions of life, I’m not actually living.
“I can’t. I have a meeting in New York and I don’t know what time I’ll be back.” Benjamin’s mouth turns downward into a frown. “I’m sorry.”
“Aria, what’s going on?”
“Nothing. It’s just a last-minute meeting.”
“Not the meeting. Tonight, you seem down. You haven’t spoken more than a handful of sentences the entire night.”
“I’m sorry,” I say again.
“Stop apologizing and tell me what’s going on.” Benjamin takes my hands in his and for a second, I think about what it would feel like to be on a real date with Benjamin instead of getting paid to escort him to dinner.
“Today’s my birthday,” I blurt out.
His eyebrows raise in shock. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“Because I don’t get paid to celebrate my birthday.” I pull my hand out of his. “I’m twenty-one today and my life is nothing like I pictured it would be.”
“How did you picture it?”
“In college, majoring in photography. Maybe traveling to Italy for the summer. Dating and hanging out with friends. Visiting art museums and taking tons of pictures to commemorate each new chapter of my life.” I’m not sure why I’m telling Benjamin all this. Maybe because he’s an outsider and I don’t have any feelings one way or another for him.
“I went through some stuff recently and I’m finally ready to move forward with my life. Start living again. But it feels like I’m hitting one obstacle after the next.”
“Then you should start living,” he says. “Life’s too short to not live it how you want to.”
Those are my thoughts exactly, so why haven’t I started living my life with that mindset?
We finish our dinner and Benjamin pays the check. A twenty-minute ride in silence later and he drops me off at the front door. He leans in close, his lips grazing my cheek softly. “Good night, Aria. Good luck on living your life.” He steps back, and with a wink, walks back toward his vehicle. He didn’t say it, but I can tell by finality in his words, I won’t be seeing him again.
I walk inside and find Cecilia sitting at the bar. I sit next to her and ask Emilio for a Jack and Coke.
“Aren’t you a little young to be drinking such an adult drink?” God, this woman is such a bitch.
“I’m twenty-one today.” I take my drink Emilio placed in front of me and lift it up, giving Cecilia a fake cheers before I down half the glass. I set it on the bar top and glance at her. “I want to change my profile. I want to add an option to it.”
“Oh yeah? And what would you like to add?”
“Sex. I’m willing to have sex.”
The plane ride to New York is