Page 73 of Pity Play

“The house looks brand new,” I gush.

I spend a few minutes explaining the transformation, before she asks, “Can I come see it some time?” She notices my shocked expression before telling me, “A friend of mine in the city is trying to come up with some ideas to update his new brownstone. He just moved in, and he wants to give it a more modern feel.”

“Any time you want,” I tell her. “Just text me ahead of time so I can make sure I’m there.”

I see Luke cross the lobby heading in our direction and my heart clenches. He looks amazing in his navy suit. He’s not wearing a tie, but he looks sexier that way. Staring at his throat, I have the sudden urge to run up to him and kiss him. Luckily Trina turns around to see what I’m looking at, which effectively snaps me out of my daze and keeps me from making a fool of myself. “Hello!” she whispers under her breath. “Are you having dinner withhim?”

Nodding my head, I tell her. “That’s my brother’s best friend. He’s only in town for a short time.”

“Girl, you need to jump on that.” It doesn’t sound like she’s teasing either.

“I can’t,” I tell her. “He’s going back to Chicago.”

Before she can respond, Luke joins us. He leans in to give me a kiss on the cheek before saying, “Lorelai, you look beautiful.” His voice is deep and complimentary making my stomach drop like I just hit a dip on a roller coaster.

“Thank you. You look very nice yourself.” Then I gesture toward Trina. “This is my boss… I mean ex-boss…”

Trina stretches out her hand and says, “Lorelai and I arefriends. We were lucky enough to have her work at the lodge with us. I’m Trina,” she says.

Luke takes her hand, “Luke Phillips.”

Trina’s eyes open wider. “From Capon in Chicago?”

“Yes,” Luke says proudly. “That’s my restaurant.”

“My fiancé and I love eating there!” she exclaims. “You have the best duck ravioli I’ve ever eaten.”

Luke looks pleased. “It’s the combination of dried cranberries and shitake mushrooms that really makes that dish.”

“I don’t know what’s in that sauce,” Trina says, “But I could roll in it.”

Luke laughs. “I might add that to the description on the menu.”

Trina smiles before telling the hostess, “Please give Lorelai and her friend the best table in the house.”

“That’s very nice,” I say.

“With two honored guests like yourselves, we could hardly do less.” Then she tells me, “I’ll call you to make a plan for coming over.”

The hostess leads the way through the dining room to a table located under the main chandelier. It’s easy to tell this is prime seating, and I hope Luke is impressed that I can make this happen. Although, I’m sure he wasn’t totally without influence. Heisa rather famous chef.

Once we’re both seated, our waiter comes over. “Trina would like to be in charge of your menu tonight if you’re okay with that.”

While I’m totally good with it, I worry that I only have two hundred dollars to spend. But who cares, if we go over, we go over. I’m determined to leave Luke with the best possible memory of me that I can.

Smiling at Luke, I tell him, “That sounds good to me. How about you?”

Luke hands the waiter our menus. “I’m looking forward to tonight.”

The way he says that makes it sound like he’s talking about something other than food.

I’m both excited and terrified at the same time.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

LUKE

Lorelai looks elegantly beautiful tonight. If our paths had crossed in Chicago, I would have been hard pressed not to have begged her to go out with me. And that’s before I would have known what an exceptionally lovely woman she is.

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