Page 38 of On His Mind

I left my phone at the table, so I hold out my hand. “Give me your phone.”

He looks at my palm, then reaches into his back pocket and sets his phone in it. I type my number into a blank message and send myself a single period. It’s the most reckless thing I’ve ever done, but there’s something about this quiet boy that makes me feel at ease.

I hand his phone back. “Come over tonight.” It’s out before I’ve cleared it with myself, and I hear how uncomposed it is. I stand taller but fail at taking the words back. “When your shift’s done. If you want.”

He studies me the way he does. “Yeah,” he says.

“What time is your shift done?”

“Ten-thirty.”

“Okay.” I need to go before I say anything else that’s true.

Oliver watches Percy clear a table over my shoulder when I sit back down. “You didn’t go to the restroom. You know him?”

“A friend from Camden.”

“Is he in the program?”

“No.”

Something in his face eases. He asks whether I ski. I do. He tells me the snow suits me. He eats slowly, the way men eat when the meal is really a way of keeping you at the table. I answer all of his questions with my guard up. I don’t look at Percy once, and as far as I can tell, Percy returns the favor.

When dinner is finally over, and I’m reaching for my coat, Oliver says, “You don’t want dessert? Chocolate mousse?”

“No. Thank you.” I leave before the no can turn into a conversation.

“Penelope.” Oliver stands.

I look back at him, wondering what it is.

He says, “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Oliver. I’ll see you next year.”

Then I’m out in the snow. I don’t run, but I want to.

At 10:35, a number I haven’t saved sends me two words.

I’m outside.

I take the elevator down. When the doors open on the lobby, Percy’s there in all that black, snow melting into his hair, taller than he keeps being in my memory, and he doesn’t say hi. He says my name the way he did on the street, like it’s a whole sentence on its own.

“Penelope.”

“Come up.” I hold the elevator doors open for us.

He steps in, and I press the button. The doors close on the two of us.

“When did you start at the Camerie?” I ask, filling the silence.

His voice is deep when he replies, “It’s just for the break.”

“Do you like it?”

He almost shrugs.

The doors open on my floor. “Tonight was a work thing,” I say to him as we step out.