We ate the rest of our lunch in silence that day. Daniel was aware he’d touched on a nerve, and he didn’t bring the subject up again.
Late Friday afternoon, he came by my cubicle just as I was packing up my things. Thankfully, Florence had already cut out for the day.
“I’d like to take you to dinner tonight,” he said, and there was something very meaningful in his eyes. Oh, God. This was it, wasn’t it? He was going to propose to me. In public, I was sure. He had to make a spectacle of it.
“Okay,” I said, my heart already fluttering in my chest.
“Be ready at seven o’clock.”
The midnight blue dress was still in its plastic bag from the cleaner’s, hanging in the back of my closet. I hadn’t expected to need it again so soon. I pulled it out when I got home, quickly showered and dried my hair, and zipped myself up in it. It still looked fantastic, even when paired with a haunted, thousand-yard stare.
I wasn’t ready for this. But I didn’t exactly have a choice.
I clasped the necklace on and slipped in the earrings, pondering what I should do with my hair. Simply leaving it down didn’t seem to befit the occasion, but it was stubborn. If I tried to put it up in something, I’d be fighting with it all night. The downside to naturally thick, glossy hair was that it was improbably heavy and slippery. I’d yet to meet a band or clip that could hold it, and I hated hairspray with a fiery passion.
Nothing for it, then. I brushed it thoroughly and let it fall around my shoulders, hoping I wouldn’t look horribly out of place in whatever insanely expensive restaurant he was taking me to.
The driver was punctual as always, and this time, I was surprised to see Daniel already in the back seat waiting for me.
“Hello, Maddy,” he said, looking at me approvingly. It had to be put on. No real date of his would wear the same dress more than once. But he hadn’t said a word about it, so I tried not to worry.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered, as I settled into the seat next to him. “This is the only fancy thing I have.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “You still look as stunning as ever.”
I rolled my eyes.
The driver was watching us and chuckling to himself.
“She can’t take a complement gracefully, this one,” said Daniel. “It’s tragic.”
“Well, you’ll just have to work on that, sir.”
“I will, John. Don’t you worry.”
I sank deeper into the Italian leather and tried not to look miserable.
“What’s the matter, darling?” Daniel said, finally, squeezing my shoulder gently.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I guess I’m just tired.”
“Well, you’ll forget all about it when we get where we’re going.”
There was something different in the tone of his voice, now that he was talking to me in front of John. Something a little…distant, maybe. Aloof? Uncaring, even. I was beginning to put the pieces together - how he must live large portions of his life, or maybe all of his life, striving to fulfill the expectations that were placed on him.
Poor little rich boy. I smirked at myself. Was I really trying to feel sorry for him? The man who could buy a space shuttle?#p#分页标题#e#
Man, I was really getting fixated on those shuttles. Maybe it was the summer moon shining so brightly every night that had me dwelling on space travel.
“Did you ever want to go to the moon when you were a kid?” I blurted out, sitting up straighter and looking at him.
His face broke into a smile - a genuine one. “What?”
“It’s a simple question. Did you ever want to go to the moon?”
He shrugged. “It’s just a rock. A giant rock out in the middle of nothing. What’s to see?”
“Yeah, you know that now. But when you were a kid. Didn’t you ever look at it, and marvel at how close it was, and think man, I’d really like to go there. It looks like it’s so close, like you could just jump in the car and drive there in a few minutes.” I looked out of the window; it was waxing, big and round, glowing just above the tallest buildings. “Doesn’t it?”
“Honestly…” he squinted at it. “Well. Maybe.”
“See? I used to imagine climbing the tallest trees around my house to try and get there. I knew it wouldn’t work, even when I was little, but I just wanted to go there so badly. Just to do it. I don’t know why. I know there’s nothing there. I’d just like to be able to experience it, once in my life.”
“Well, you know, space tourism is under development as we speak. You may yet have a chance.”
Hell - he was right. If I was wise with my profits from this whole venture, I might be able to actually afford a trip to the moon someday. What an insane idea. My childhood dream, that I thought for sure would never come true. I really could have anything I wanted.