“Yes. That look, “she gestured to the unruly hair and the stubble of hair on his cheeks. “This disheveled look is quite a turn on. I am saying all of that to say this.” She leaned forward. “You don’t belong here. What is wrong with this picture?”
“What picture?’
Melanie waited until their meals had been served before she continued. “You don’t belong in this subdued restaurant with the dim lighting and shabby chic decor and most of all you don’t belong on a date with someone like me.”
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked as he sipped his wine.
“Absolutely nothing! I am smart and an overachiever and attractive in my own way. Don’t get me wrong, I am not in the least bit low in the self-esteem area but when a guy who has been out with actresses and movie stars asks me for a date, I tend to get suspicious.”
“You are selling yourself short.” Chad murmured as he cut into his tender roast. “I happen to like you Melanie.”
“Let me guess that one conversation we had at your mother’s party was so scintillating that you could not stop thinking about me.” She said with a grin.
“Something like that….!” He responded with a grin and found himself relaxing. “I like you. Is something wrong with that….?”
“Nothing at all!” She speared her meat with the knife. “You have not been tied to anyone recently.”
“I make it my life’s effort to stay away from the public eye.”
“And you manage to do it. I get away with it because I am who I am. A boring scientist who has her nose buried in research but how do you do it?”
“I stay away from most places where the reporters tend to gather.”
“I am surprised that there is no one assigned to trail you and see what you are up to.”
“There was one particular persistent one who would not get the message.”
“What did you do?”
“I moved in the middle of the night to an undisclosed address.”
“So, I take it you won’t be inviting me back to your place?”
He studied her for a moment, his green eyes intense and causing her to squirm. “Not right now. Were you planning on getting invited back?”
“No.” She said soberly. “I know you are not available emotionally Chad.”
“What?” he looked at her startled.
She smiled and put her utensils down, propping her folded hands beneath her chin. “That night when I saw you and even before I came over and struck up a conversation, I got these vibes from you.”
“And what were these vibes?” he asked casually.
“Solitude…. Sadness…. You exuded this aloofness that was slightly off putting. Then when I started talking to you, I realized it and could see the sadness in your eyes. Whoever she was must have done quite a number on you.”
“It was not like that.” He picked up his wineglass and sipped, studying her over the rim of the glass. He had not expected her to be so intuitive.
“You did a number on her?”
“Something like that.”
“Why don’t you try and make it up with her?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Sometimes we overthink things. An apology goes a long, long way.”
“It is not something that I can simply say ‘sorry ‘and be done with it.”
“You are in love with her.”
His mouth twisted slightly. “Yes. I told myself that I was over her, but I was lying to myself. I have stopped doing so.”
“How long has it been?”
He hesitated and wondered if he should tell her. “Ten years.”
She blinked and put her glass down. “I am sorry, did you say ten years?”
He smiled slightly at her incredulous expression. “I was sixteen when I met her, and she was fifteen. I was incredibly rude to her the first time we met, and she put me in my place. We became best friends who told each other everything. When I was with her….” He broke off and stared into his glass. “When I was with her, I was myself and nothing else existed.”
“It sounds like the epic love.”
“It was.”
“What happened?”
“My parents found out.”
“She was not the right girl for a guy like you.”
“She came from a broken home and the worst area downtown.”
She leaned forward on the table. “I am going to play devil’s advocate and suggest something. Could it be that the attraction was all that? Her unsuitability and you rebelling against your parents.”
He laughed harshly. “At first it was that but then what I felt for her took me completely by surprise. When we parted, I figured that I could get over her in a matter of weeks. I am Chad Gilroy and could just about get any woman I wanted.”
“But you were wrong.”
“Dead wrong.” He said grimly. “I spent years trying to run away from the memories. Back packing across Europe - jumping into parts and acting my ass off, sleeping with any and every woman who came my way.”
“It didn’t work did it?”
“It worked for a little bit and only when I was not in bed by myself. I compared every woman I met to her. The way she laughed, the dimple in her left cheek, the way she read with her eyes squinted like she needed glasses.” He smiled slightly. “Then came a time when I stopped trying to forget her.”
“You never tried to find her?”
“I did but she had moved from where she was living, and I had said some pretty awful things to her. I figured it was best that I did not find her anyway.”
“So here you are living a pretty miserable existence.”
“Oh it’s not so bad. I am here with you.”
“A poor substitute.” She muttered as she stared at him. It’s a pity Chad Gilroy.”
“What is?”
“That your heart belongs to someone else.”
*****
“When I got the summons, I mistakenly thought that you had seen my theater performances and was quite impressed with my acting skills and wanted me for a part in one of your movies.” Joel said dryly as he sat across from the desk. “But you need something.”