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“New York Pizza?” She eyes the place skeptically. “This is where billionaires eat?”
I hold open the door, motioning her inside to the black and white checkered tile floor. “They’ve got the biggest, greasiest slices here. The lunch of champions.”
She tries to order a salad, but I nix that idea right away. “Trust me. Once I’m eating mine, you’ll want some. So you might as well get your own from the beginning.”
She rolls her eyes good-naturedly but agrees, and as we sit down at a rickety aluminum table in the corner with our slices, she moans aloud at the first bite. “Holy crap, this is good.”
“Told you.” I chew my own piece, the cheese hot and melty, pairing perfectly with the sweet tomato sauce.
“Where’d you find this place?” She grabs napkins out of the dispenser to wipe at the grease already covering her fingers.
“I was wandering around one day after meeting at your office and happened upon it.”
“I’m surprised you’d like somewhere like this.”
“What? Because I’m rich, I can’t eat cheap food?”
Her lips curve up. “You could dine on caviar for every meal.”
“Too salty.”
She gives a full smile, the sight of it easing something inside me.
“And besides the good food,” I continue, “they don’t know who I am. It’s a win-win.”
She takes another bite, chewing thoughtfully. “Do you hate it when you’re recognized out in public?”
I wipe at my mouth, considering her question. “Sometimes it’s okay. Like when I get special treatment.”
“You’re awful,” she grins broadly, playfully smacking my arm from across the table.
“Just being honest,” I shrug. “But when it’s people whispering right out of range or cameras and phones being raised in my direction, it’s not so hot then. It’s better to be anonymous.”
“What was it like growing up in the spotlight?”
I finish my first slice and start in on my second. “Dad didn’t really hit it big till I was… I don’t know, eleven? Twelve? And I never fully understood what a major figure he was until I got put in prep school.”
“Did the kids there give you a hard time or something?”
“Nah. They were all in the same boat as me. Absurdly wealthy or celebrity parents. Redmond Prep only takes the best of the best,” I mock, recalling their stupid school motto. “Or rather, the richest of the rich.”
“You should’ve told my mom about all the celebrities’ children you went to school with.”
“You seemed annoyed enough as it was with her fawning over me.” That night at dinner, every time her mom had asked about someone famous, Mackenzie’s nose had wrinkled. I don’t think she was even aware she was doing it, but I couldn’t stop looking at her, waiting for the next time it happened.
“I wasn’t annoyed. More… frustrated with certain things.”
“Like?” I roll my hand in agive me moregesture.
She sighs, tearing off a piece of crust from her pizza to pop in her mouth. “Now don’t get me wrong, that night was amazing. But it had this wholeboyfriend meeting my parents for the first timevibe that left me a little off center.”
I lean back in the cheap folding chair, rubbing a hand over my jaw. Had I overstepped my boundaries that much? “I didn’t mean-”
“No, I wanted it to be that kind of night. That was the problem.”
The easygoing camaraderie that’s surrounded us so far today shifts, tension filling the air.
“Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?” I finally ask when I can’t stand the silence any longer.