Page 13 of My Killer Blind Date

‘What medium?’

‘Oil.’

Liam leans forward with a teasing smile. ‘Does she do limited edition prints?’

‘Oh … no. She’s really just getting her start. She placed a piece in a gallery one time … but that’s it. Actually, it’s probably the same gallery you were at.’ It was a favor from Arjun, a huge breakthrough for Zoe. She was ecstatic, to say the least.

‘Mmm, that’s cool,’ he says. ‘I’ll have to check it out next time I’m there. What did you say her name was?’

‘Oh – it probably sold already. It’s been a while.’

The server – Alex – returns with our appetizer. ‘The polenta,’ he announces, sliding the plate of crispy golden wedges smothered in a rich ragu between us.

‘Thanks,’ says Liam.

For a second, we’re busy unrolling our silverware from our napkins.

‘So do you like living in the city?’ asks Liam as I take my first bite of the appetizer, which – oh my God. Crispy on the outside, the sauce silky and rich, buttery and meaty.

‘I love it,’ I say as soon as I’ve swallowed. ‘I grew up in the suburbs. Like you. I moved into the city when I was eighteen, and it was like love at first sight.’

‘Chemistry.’ Liam narrows his eyes in a sexy way, like he’s not just commenting on my feelings about Chicago, but on us. So he feels it too. I curl my toes inside my shoes.

We pause briefly as Alex returns with our fish.

‘And your family? What are they like?’ he asks.

‘Um … conventional, shall we say.’ I laugh lightly, and Liam laughs too. ‘Don’t get me wrong. We get along. They just seemed satisfied with so little.’

‘Sounds like a good thing?’

‘On the surface, sure, I guess they were content, and maybe there’s nothing wrong with that. It just seemed so …’ I grasp at the air. ‘Empty. Like, there was no bigger picture. They just wanted to be the same as everyone else. There was nothing exciting. There was no—’ I pinch my fingers. I can’t find the word.

‘Ambition? Curiosity? Vision?’

‘That!’ I lean back, laughing with relief. ‘It was all about playing it safe. I think they felt like ambition was tacky. Uniqueness was tacky. And wanting too much was embarrassing.’

‘So what’s your vision? What does Margot want?’

Suddenly I feel shy. It would sound silly to say that my greatest ambition is to find my forever partner and open a nonprofit coffee shop. It sounds … naive, I guess. Both too small and too impossible.

‘I guess I’m still figuring that out.’ I cut into the fish and take the first bite. Mmm. Flaky, buttery dill perfection.

Next, Liam asks me about work, and as we eat, I find myself telling him about my first week as a body collector. I make him laugh half a dozen times, which makes me feel like the job isn’t just this very weird and slightly suspicious life choice, but something that makes me interesting. Then, bolstered by my success at making my life sound so amusing, I number off my odd assortment of post-college jobs – telemarketer, dogwalker, nanny, receptionist for a dentist. I tell a funny story about a dental cleaning during which the hygienist discovered that a seed lodged in the patient’s teeth had actually sprouted. Liam’s jaw drops, which is immensely gratifying. I don’t even get insecure about how directionless my chaotic job history makes me sound.

‘Dogs, kids, teeth and corpses,’ Liam says with humor but also admiration as he dabs his lips with a napkin. ‘You’ve lived a lot in the four years since you graduated.’

‘You have no idea,’ I say with mock ruefulness.

Our plates are somehow empty. Damn – how long have I been talking? Liam makes it so easy to open up. What the hell, maybe I should tell him about Zoe too …

Too soon! says a voice in my head.

‘But – I’ve been talking forever!’ I exclaim instead. ‘Your turn! What do you do? Besides dabbling in art collecting?’

‘I’m afraid my job stories are nowhere near as interesting as yours,’ says Liam with a self-deprecating laugh.

‘Fair,’ I concede. And, you know? After Brian’s endless job-related anecdotes, Liam gets points for not going there.