Page 46 of The Bet
Yet she didn’t dare order anything here. Not now that they had all finished, and Xavier had asked for the bill. The prices in this place were ridiculous.
When they had all finished, and the bill was settled, they started to leave. She could feel people turn heads, and stare. It surprised her that anyone knew who Xavier was. But maybe with the recent wedding, she assumed that Jacob had suddenly become a person of interest.
They filed into the black SUV.
“Here,” Xavier shoved a small brown package her way.
“What’s this?” she asked, not taking it immediately.
“Food.”
She shrank away at first, thinking he had asked for his leftovers to be boxed up. “Your left-overs?”
“No,” he said, looking genuinely hurt by her accusation. “You looked hungry to me back there.” He held the package up to her again. “Take it. I didn’t buy the bullsh—,” he cleared his throat, “the story that you weren’t hungry.”
Curious, she took it and opened the lip of the brown paper bag and peeked inside. Something was sealed in a foil wrapper, and it was still warm to touch.
“It’s some sort of bean and halloumi mashup,” he said, wrinkling his nose as if he wouldn’t be caught dead sniffing something like this let alone eating it. “It was the first thing on the menu.”
“You didn’t have to,” she said, not liking that his gesture made her feel indebted, in some way, to him.
“You had that hungry look about you,” he said, his voice sexy-sweet, a come-on for most girls. But not her.
She knew what he was doing, and she wasn't about to fall for it.
“Thanks.”
She was quiet as Morris drove Jacob’s grandparents to the Museum of Modern Art, and then back to the apartment so that they could get Jacob’s scooter. Xavier gave Morris the rest of the day off, and decided to take Tobias’s Merc. There would be no point in Morris waiting around for them while they were at the park.
“Central Park?” Xavier asked her, sliding into the driver’s seat. He seemed more relaxed now that Jacob’s grandparents had left.
“That’s where you want to go, isn’t it?” she asked Jacob.
“Yeah. Can we spend 6 hours there?”
“6?” Xavier laughed. “Why 6? Why not 7 or 8?”
Jacob giggled, and even she found herself smiling.
