Her brow pleated into a frown. “Why is everybody so obsessed with how I eat?”
“You’re a smart girl, Lee. Why don’t you ask yourself that question and see what answer you come up with.”
“I eat enough. And the light just changed.”
Alex turned away from the Cove and headed west. “As the person who picked you up off the floor a few days ago, I would like to offer a different opinion.”
“I was stressed.”
“And hungry.”
She took her hand away and crossed her arms. “If this is your idea of a date, I’m ready to go home.”
“I’m sorry. I just … I don’t know why you keep trying to lose weight. You’re so pretty. You were pretty before, too.”
“Please stop talking about this.”
He’d barely heard her; she’d turned to the side window and muttered the words. “Okay, Lee. I’m sorry.” They drove on for a few miles in silence. Alex had had a destination in mind, but now he decided on something else, and turned back toward the Cove at his earliest chance.
“Are we going home?” she asked as he pulled onto the Iway going the way they’d come. There was an edgy disappointment in her voice he liked.
“No. Unless you want to.”
“I don’t.”
“Good. I just changed my mind about where to take you.”
“Where is that?”
“You’ll see. But I’m hungry, so do you mind if we stop and get a quick bite first?”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t eat. I just didn’t like the way you asked.”
“Okay. Sorry, again.”
She nodded and fell into silence. Shit, this date really was awkward. He didn’t know how to be her boyf—her date. He knew only how to be her guard. Every word out of their mouths seemed loaded with more meanings than they could bear.
After a while, still watching the dark roll by her window, Lia said, “I want to be an actor. That’s why I’m trying to stay thin.”
“You have to be skinny to be an actor?”
“To get the parts I want, yeah. That’s what my professor said.”
“That fat asswipe with the scaly skin on his bald head? That guy?”
She shrugged. “He was a Broadway director for thirty years before he started teaching. He knows what he’s talking about.”
“Bullshit.”
Finally, she turned to him. “And you know better than somebody who’s been at the top of the field for longer than we’ve been alive?”
“I guess so, because I have eyes and see movies. What about Melissa McCarthy?”
The sudden silence in the car had so much weight Alex turned from the road and found Lia gaping at him, her eyes huge and hurt and her mouth sagging open. Like he’d just kicked Snuggles in his snout. “What?”
“You think I look like Melissa McCarthy?”
Oh, shit. Was that an insult? He supposed on the point of skinniness it could be, maybe. “I think she’s pretty. You know, for an older lady. And she’s funny as hell and seems like a good person.” Also? Lia did look a little bit like her. Smaller, definitely, but there were similarities.
“She is. All those things. But she’s not … she doesn’t … get the kind of roles I want. I want to be the lead.”
“She stars in a bunch of things.”
“Alex, you can’t be that thick. She stars in comedies. And she uses her weight as a gag a lot. That’s not what I want. I don’t want people to laugh at me. I want to be Emma Stone.”
She looked a little like Emma Stone, too. “Emma Stone’s funny.”
Lia huffed and turned her head to stare out the window again.
Alex focused on the road and tried to figure out how he was already fucking things up so badly tonight. They drove the rest of the way with all that weighty silence sitting between them.
He pulled into the lot at Santini’s and parked. It was Friday night and the restaurant was crowded, but Alex had a little pull, so he thought they’d get seated right away. Especially with Lia Pagano at his side.
“Santini’s?” she asked.
“Yeah. Best pizza in the Cove, not counting my mom’s.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
When she reached for the door handle, he caught her hand. “Hey, let me. And Lia?”
She turned back to him, waiting.
“I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. I think you’re beautiful, but that doesn’t matter. I don’t think you should have to change to please anybody but yourself.”
“That’s what I’m doing, pleasing myself. There’s a way I want my body to look.”
“Okay, then. I’ll shut up about it.” He tried to lighten the mood with a grin.