Page 7 of The Reverse Cinderella

“I try. It doesn’t always work like it should though.”

“You saved Brian,” she remembered the guy from the story he’d told earlier.

“Brian was easy. It’s the ones you work hard for and have no chance of saving that suck,” he cleared his throat. “Let’s not talk about this though. It’s depressing. We’re in an amazing city with beautiful stars.”

He squinted upward and Piaget involuntarily looked up as well. There were a lot of lights but she couldn’t see any stars. Piaget giggled. “Max, I think I had better walk you home.”

“We’re going in the right direction,” he smiled down at her. “It’s light pollution. The reason we can’t see the stars. It’s light pollution.”

“How do lights pollute?” she humored him.

“They shine upward and blot out the stars. It’s a real thing.”

Piaget nodded. He was too happy. “What’s your address?”

“My address?”

“That place where you rest your head? I think I should walk you home.”

“I’m not totally drunk,” Max gently protested. “I’m walking straight, with your help. I’m not slurring or sloppy. I’ll be fine and now I learned I can’t hold the booze like I used to, I won’t be doing that again. Plus, it’s more likely that a gorgeous girl like you could be hurt at this time of night. I’d feel really bad if something happened to you when I could have walked you home.”

“Gorgeous girl?” she repeated dryly.

“Okay, beautiful woman.”

Piaget rolled her eyes.

“So, you don’t like compliments. Duly noted. However, that doesn’t mean that I won’t think them. Or occasionally say them when I see you.”

“You think you’ll be seeing me again?” Piaget admired his optimism. She felt she could never be that confident.

“I know it,” Max replied with a grin. “I need to show you the stars. So that you can really see them.”

“We’ll see.” Piaget steered him through Elm Park. It was the shortest way to her building. She skirted around a bench with an old man sleeping on it, but Max halted her. He made his way to the bench, talked quietly with the man a moment and handed him money. They shook hands and Max came back to Piaget, putting an arm around her shoulder. “Should you be doing that?”

“What? Helping Ed? Absolutely.”

“You know him?” Piaget fumbled with her keys as they approached her building.

“Ed’s harmless. He just has no place to go. The shelters only let you stay for a certain number of days and he can’t afford to live anywhere. His wife had cancer and he used everything he had, including his retirement to pay for her care. He gets a small pension, but it can’t even get close to covering what he really needs in a city this expensive.”

Piaget turned the lock and looked up at Max. She lived right off the park and had never bothered to find out about the people who lived there. She was a little afraid of them actually. To hear Max talk about Ed, she now felt ashamed. “That was really nice of you.”

“I’m a nice guy,” Max shrugged. He pulled out a business card and in the process dropped three others. “I really would like to see you again, Piaget.”

“You’re going to get a cab, right?” Piaget asked as she took his card.

“I’ll walk. It’s a beautiful night,” Max said as he scooped up the extra cards and shoved them in a back pocket. She couldn’t help but smile at him. Max knew that she was amused by him and leaned against the door jamb. “Do you know the last time I got drunk?”

“I thought you weren’t drunk, just buzzed,” she reminded him.

“It’s a good buzz too,” Max agreed. “The last time I was drunk was six years ago. I don’t make this a habit.”

“Then why did you drink a little too much tonight?”

He took her hand in his. “I was nervous.”

“You were nervous?” Piaget highly doubted this confident man who went thrill seeking when he was younger was nervous.