Page 4 of The Reverse Cinderella

“Old movie. Never mind.” Piaget felt she was showing her age again. She mentally winced and berated herself to keep current so she wouldn’t endure more blank stares.

Sasha typed away into his mobile phone and then held it up for everyone to see. “It’s a horror flick! Nightmare on Elm Street. That’s funny.”

A collective of nods went around the table before they launched in to a discussion about how to strategize the best to win the game of Katan.

Piaget let the conversation wash over her. She’d never played the game and really didn’t know what the appeal was. Lost in her thoughts, she nearly jumped out of her skin when a husky voice talked in her ear.

“I have no idea what they are talking about,” Max set the wine on the table. “Can I have my seat back?”

“Um, sure.” Piaget automatically stood and then realized that she would have nowhere to sit. She picked up her wine glass and wondered how awkward this was going to be with her being the only one standing.

“Have a seat,” Max was pointing to his leg, offering her to sit on him.

Piaget raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know you that well.”

“But you could,” he smiled suggestively. “Don’t worry, I promise to behave. Nothing the lady doesn’t want.”

Already Piaget’s feet were starting to hurt. She’d walked to the bar in these shoes because they were so pretty but pretty did not equal comfortable. They were in a public place, it wasn’t like he could really do anything.

“I promise not to bite, nor feel you up. At least not today. Sit down and enjoy yourself,” his brown eyes twinkled.

Piaget rolled her eyes and perched gingerly on his leg. He was muscular, had slightly curly black hair that was in desperate need of a cut and smelled distinctly male. Like grass and sweat. It wasn’t entirely pleasant. He must have come directly from work instead of showering first. She wondered if he did landscaping for a living, he was so tan.

“So, what do you do?” Piaget asked brilliantly.

“Me?”

“No, the guy behind you,” Piaget said as she cocked her head to the side to study him a little better.

Max laughed. “I do some consulting and supervising here and there. Right now, I’m on a bit of a vacation while I wait for some paperwork to clear. Just enjoying life for a while.”

“That’s cool,” Piaget took a sip of wine and noticed that his hand had crept around her and now was resting on her hip comfortably. “Planning any neat activities?”

“Mostly just seeing where life takes me,” Max took a drink of beer. “Are you one of their professors?”

“Me?”

“No, the guy behind you,” he repeated her words back to her.

Piaget laughed without really meaning to. “No, I’ve gone back to school. Sadly, I am one of the students.”

“Why is that sad? I think it’s great. It’s important to learn new things.” When he smiled she realized he was missing a molar right behind his top left canine tooth. “I’m reading a book on astrology so I can name the stars that I see in the sky. So far, I’m only one chapter in but it’s pretty interesting. What are you studying?”

“Media and broadcasting studies. When I was younger I always wanted to be on the radio or in television news.”

“Why didn’t you pursue it when you were younger?”

Piaget shrugged and took a sip of the wine. It was surprisingly okay for a house brand. Not that she was any connoisseur of cheap wines. “I suppose life got in the way. Now it may be a little late.”

“How’s that?”

Piaget nodded at Adam. “He keeps telling me tv and radio are dead. That they are on their way out, the world just hasn’t realized it yet.”

“Oh, I don’t know, there are televisions still in the bar here.” Sure enough there were a number of guys looking at the highlights of the latest baseball game.

“Hmmn, Adam says the percentage of cord-cutters and cord-nevers is rising. Those are people who never subscribe to satellite or cable,” Piaget explained. “It’s risen to fifty-six million people in America alone.”

“You Googled it?” he guessed.