Together Again(25)
“Well, I thought I might be joining a friend but it looks like I’m not. It would be nice to have company. I’d love to have breakfast with you.”
Danny picked up a plate. “Were you looking for that gorgeous guy you were with last night? Who is he?”
“If you’d come to our presentation, you’d know who he is.”
“I can hear you any time I want in Portland. I went to the panel on dealing with gangs.”
“Any new ideas?”
“No one’s having any better luck at it than we are, it sounds like.” Danny loaded her plate with eggs and bacon. “But tell me about the guy. You looked too cozy in the bar last night to just be colleagues.”
“We were celebrating. Got great reviews on our talk. And we’re old friends.”
“Friends with benefits?”
“That one over there okay with you?” Margo indicated a nearby table with her plate of bagel, cream cheese and lox before setting it down to pour coffee for herself.
“Did you hear what I asked, Margo?”
“Yes, but I don’t think there’s much more to get out of this line of conversation.” She took a bite of her bagel. “You going to the DNA session this morning?”
Hartmann seemed to be considering whether it was worth it to pursue the subject of the gorgeous guy. She apparently decided it wasn’t and answered, “Yeah, you?”
“Uh-huh, then I’m not sure what else I want to hear.”
“There’re a couple more that look interesting. I haven’t decided. You have plans for dinner tonight?”
Margo was about to say she did when it occurred to her that Tony had never said anything more about dinner. “Not really. Want to get out of the hotel and try someplace else?”
“Always glad to get a restaurant recommendation from a native.”
“About seven in the lobby, then.”
The two sessions she attended that morning dragged. She couldn’t concentrate on the speakers, constantly checking her phone for a text message or a voice mail. Her mother left the latter and Kiki the former, but neither was the person she wanted to hear from.
With no appetite for lunch, she left the convention center for a walk and found even the summer sun couldn’t burn away the memory of the night before. She sighed. What was it he said last night — she was smart and sexy? She wasn’t sure about the sexy part but she hoped she was smart enough not to read too much into what happened. Last night was about getting caught up in the mood, celebrating their good day, maybe too much to drink, which was probably what the wedding reception had been. That dance at the reunion , too. Maybe those religions that banned dancing were right. It gave you dangerous ideas.
He was her friend, like she told Beth and Danny. She was a boring lawyer who’d had her nose in one book or another all her life. He was the all-star athlete and handsomest man who’d ever walked the face of the earth. Women like her didn’t get guys like Tony except maybe on occasional loan. Like from the library, when you get a copy of a best seller that you could only have for a short time because someone like Greer is waiting for it. Not only that, she has an in with the librarian and could keep renewing it until she was finished with it.