Second First Impressions(34)
He puts the torn, buttered roll on my plate. I can do it myself, but I didn’t have to just now. And that’s why it’s the most delicious bread roll I ever had.
In between bites I tell him, “Luke was about twenty. He skateboarded down the hill, hit a tortoise, and fell off. He tried to sue Providence. Luckily, I’d written down each time I’d warned him not to do it. Time and date.”
“A lawyer’s dream. A model employee,” Teddy tells me in a praising way, but I still feel embarrassed. Goody-Two-shoes. “Want another one?” He hovers his hand over the breadbasket. “You need some carbs. Thank God I saved you from your tin of soup.”
“Yes, please. I saved your dad from a lawsuit. More inheritance for you.” I accept a glass of wine from the waiter but I won’t drink it.
“Drink it,” Renata shouts across the room.
Teddy shakes his head. “That’s me. Just killing time, waiting for that inheritance of mine that I’m definitely entitled to.” He butters the next roll with a bit of violence. “Over Rose’s dead body.”
I need his smile back. “Cheers, Teddy. Congratulations on probably being the longest-serving assistant to Renata and Aggie Parloni.” We clink glasses and I take a sip of the sour wine. It’s awful, but I have to grow up.
I remember what Mel said about this being a client lunch. Maybe I should be trying to have a professional meeting with Jerry’s son.
“PDC hasn’t known we existed before now. I don’t know what this review is really for. We were totally forgotten.” Resentment colors my tone and he probably hears it.
“I ruined everything when I showed up, huh?” He waits. When he sees me trying to choose my reply, the light in him goes out. “She’ll do a review of the assets and liabilities and make a presentation to the board. She’ll tell them what will make PDC the most money. If that hill is worth more covered in high-rises, she’ll do it.”
I wonder what other inside knowledge he has without realizing it. “And is she a lovely person who has a soft spot for the elderly?”
“She probably had a toy bulldozer as a kid.” His expression is blank and I don’t like it. He picks up his phone and yawns, effectively exiting this conversation.
“Probably? You don’t know for sure?” I sip more wine. “Maybe you could convince her to come and visit. If she just sees it in person— ”
“I’m going to tell you a fact about me,” he says, and when his eyes meet mine again, I get a sharp, scared drop inside. He’s now a zero-nonsense adult man. “I always know when someone is hoping I can be useful in some sort of Prescott way. I like you a lot, so I’m going to give you a spoiler on how this turns out. I can’t get involved. If you’re imagining I have some kind of influence, you are miles from the truth.”
I respond with emotion. “Don’t you care that Providence is home to so many elderly people who don’t deserve to be uprooted at this time in their lives? The stress could kill them.”
He looks over at his employers and I see true regret. “I do care. But I can’t help you. Even if I wanted to, Rose wouldn’t allow it.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The waiter interrupts to present us with pale, unappetizing salads. The plates are dotted with enough dressing to coat one taste bud, plus garnish flowers I’ve seen growing on roadsides. My stomach makes a noise like a disappointed Melanie.
“Is this a tomato?” Teddy’s holding up something on his fork, begging for a subject change. “Is it a see-through beet? A dead onion?”
“It’s the ghost of a tomato,” I decide, and we scrape around our plates for something edible. “I don’t mean to be ungrateful about a free lunch, but so far, the buttered roll is the standout.”
He asks me now, “Your parents still together?” I nod in reply. “What do they do for a living?”
I guess I’m going to have to cross this bridge now. It’s an unsexy bridge, which makes people think it’s a shortcut to understanding why I’m like this. “You are having lunch with the Reverend’s Daughter.” I take another wincing sip of wine.
“Don’t drink it,” Teddy says.
“Not even one second after learning I am a reverend’s daughter, you’ve decided I’m too sheltered to drink wine?” I open my mouth and gulp it all. I breathe out wine fumes and feel like I swallowed a lit match.
“No, I was saying don’t drink it because you clearly don’t like it. You don’t have to do everything Renata says. She’s less than five feet tall. What’s she gonna do to you?” Teddy sips from his water glass. He’s a chauffeur, after all. “Do you still go to church?”
“If I’m visiting home, I’ll go to avoid a fight. But I don’t have a church I go to here. My dad is disappointed in me.” It’s quite frankly amazing how I’ve managed to KonMari those feelings into a matchbox. I’ve lost faith in the church, and my dad has lost faith in me. Which came first? I hold up my glass to a waiter. “I need another glass, please.”
Before I can answer, Renata’s voice cuts through the room, making patrons around us wince. “What are you two little lovebirds talking about?”
Teddy lets me field this one. I can’t even stage-whisper, because her hearing isn’t good enough. “Daddy issues?”