Page 9 of Duke, Actually
“Speaking of visits,” Max went on, “I thought I might pay one to the bar.” He stood again. “Allow me to bring a round of drinks. What can I get you, Berkeley? Wine? Beer?”
While Berkeley was old enough to drink in Europe, she wasn’t here. Dani glanced at Vince, though she wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like he was going to jump in and say something to save Berkeley. So Dani did it, reminding herself that the girl was just that—a girl. A girl who was very likely to grow up and realize that all she had gotten in exchange for quitting college was custody of an entitled man-child who could talk a good game.
Dani pasted on a smile, held up her empty glass, and said, “I think Berkeley’s a Diet Coke aficionado like I am, aren’t you, Berkeley?”
“Yes!” Berkeley exclaimed.
“But I think maybe it’s time for us to go?” She turned to Max and raised her eyebrows. They had accomplished more than she had dared dream this morning. Not only had she seen Vince andnot died, she had come out looking good, thanks, amazingly, to Max, the perfect party accessory. This was as good a moment as any to flounce off.
Max held out a hand to help her up. “Your wish is my command.” Once she was up, the hand settled on her back again. It was starting to feel normal. Dani widened her fake smile, said goodbye to Vince and Berkeley, and let herself be escorted off by a baron who looked like a movie star.
As if by silent agreement, they did not speak as Max collected their coats and held hers for her as they strolled out of the building. It was snowing big, fat, fluffy flakes, and with each step they took, Dani started to feel a little lighter. Not only was the dreaded party over, so was the semester. A week of grading—and she could do that at home in her pajamas—and she was free until January.
“Well,” Max said when they were safely out on the sidewalk. “That was...” He quirked a brow. “Bracing.”
Max. Her surprising secret weapon. He had pitched everything perfectly in there—his words, his accent, his outfit, his posture, all of it.
He wasn’t wearing a hat, and the snow was accumulating in his hair, laying down an extra glazing on the cool blond. With the streetlights glinting off him, he looked like an ice prince. If she called him that, he’d probably say, “Icebaron, actually.”
She was getting that delicious “Christmas break” feeling, that sense of another term under her belt, a pause in the grind of regular obligations. Dani loved Christmas. Or at least she used to. Last year’s, her first with Vince gone, had been bleak. And Leo and Gabby had traveled to Eldovia for the holidays, leaving heralone with her sadness. Dani hadn’t gotten the “Christmas break” feeling last year. She was glad it was back.
“I have a car,” Max said, pulling out his phone. “Can I drop you at home?”
“No,” she said, not wanting to let go of her Christmas buzz, wanting to ride this crest of joy a little longer.Joy. It had been a while. “Let’s go for negronis.”
Chapter Two
“I think negronis are supposed to be more...” Dani scrunched her nose as she searched for the word she wanted. “Spitting drinks.Spittingdrinks? That’s not right,” She laughed, shook her head, picked up her glass, and took an exaggeratedly dainty sip.
“Sipping drinks?” Max suggested, as they seemed to be playing charades. Playing charades with Daniela Martinez at a bar in the Bronx—this was not how he’d expected this evening to end. He was going to look back on this as a bright spot in the New York trip he’d made to placate his parents.
She pointed at him. “Yes! I don’t think you’re supposed to chug them like I’ve been doing. You’re supposed to sip them!” She demonstrated again, but this time she tried to get her pinky to extend, as if she were a caricature of a tea-drinking aristocrat. But her little finger wasn’t cooperating. It kept springing back in line with the rest of her fingers, which were clutching her highball glass. She tried to use her other hand to hold it up, but she came close to spilling her drink.
“Allow me to assist.” He was matching her pace, so they wereeach on drink number two, but she was smaller than he was. He set down his drink and arranged her hand so her pinky was fully extended and let go. It sprang back.
“It isn’t listening!” she said with seemingly genuine dismay.
The Dani who deftly flayed the outer layer of skin off full-of-shit students was a delight, but so was, it turned out, Drunk Dani. An unexpected delight. Though he wasn’t sure why he’d thought to add the “unexpected” qualifier. He knew all too well how alcohol could exaggerate people’s underlying personalities.
He shook his head. No reason to go there tonight. He reached for Dani’s pinky again, and this time when he got it extended, he kept hold of it lightly with his thumb and forefinger. Together, they lifted her drink, her holding the glass, him holding her pinky. It was ridiculous.
As was the gratification that followed when she successfully took a sip and they reversed course until the drink was safely returned to the bar.
“Yes!” After the glass made contact with the bar, she lifted her arms in victory, turned, and held a hand out for a high five. He laughed and slapped her hand.
The bartender showed up to check on them, and Max asked for a menu. “We should eat something.”
“Pro... buly,” she slurred, making a self-deprecating face at him, “Sorry, I’m kinda tipsy.”
“No apologies necessary.” He didn’t think she’d want to hear that he thought she was a delightful drunk. His acquaintance with Daniela Martinez had been brief, but he somehow knew she would not want to be called delightful, at least not by him.
“I’m just so happy that party is over. I’m so happy thesemesteris over.” She made a theatrical gagging noise. “I don’t have to set foot in that place for almost a month.”
“Not your dream job?”
“It’s fine.”
“Don’t sound so excited.”