52
By the time Laurie got back to the city after filming, she managed to make it to Union Square Cafe ten full minutes before the time of their reservation. This was one night that she did not want to risk making Alex wait.
She was at a bar seat near the entrance when she spotted him step from the backseat of his black Mercedes, not waiting for Ramon to open his door. She watched as he straightened his jacket at the curb and then checked his hair in the reflection of the glass before he walked inside.
She wondered whether it was possible he had become even more handsome in the past two and a half months, and decided it was.
She had braced herself for an awkward reunion, but as soon as they greeted each other with a quick hug and a kiss, it felt as if they’d seen each other only yesterday. In fact, it was better. It was as if they had reached an unspoken understanding that any hurdles that may have existed before would no longer stand in their way.
The hostess had their table ready, in the back, away from the windows, as Laurie had requested. Even before she had met him, Alex was already a public figure because of the acquittals he had obtained for his clients in several high-profile trials. His work on the first three Under Suspicion specials had broadened his celebrity. Now that his name had been submitted for the federal bench, she did not want their dinner to be interrupted by strangers asking for autographs and selfies.
“So tell me about D.C.,” she said, once they were seated.
“I will. I will tell you everything—so much that you will never want to hear another word about the Senate Judiciary Committee, but I want to hear your updates first. Please tell me that I won’t need to withdraw my name from consideration in order to defend you against charges of slowly poisoning the young Mr. Nichols.”
The last time she and Alex had spoken, Ryan was incessantly undermining her at work and she was finding him completely insufferable. Laurie smiled. “Let’s put it this way. He still plays teacher’s pet with Brett, and it’s impossible to underestimate the size of his ego, but at least he’s not stupid.”
“Wow, that is some kind of endorsement!” Alex said wryly. His eyes lit up as he smiled at her across the table.
“It’s actually getting better,” she said grudgingly. “He’s still the worst host we’ve ever had, to be sure, but I think it’s working out.” The only other host of Under Suspicion had been Alex, Laurie thought, and no one could ever fill his shoes.
We’re talking as though the last two months didn’t exist, Laurie thought happily. Oh God, how I’ve missed him.
“I accept the compliment.” He was browsing the menu. “Everything looks delicious. Have you been here since they reopened?”
Danny Meyer’s first restaurant remained one of Laurie’s favorites, but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to come in since it moved to a new location. She realized now that she’d been waiting to go with Alex. “No, this is my first time back. How about you?”
“Mine, too.” He put down the menu. “I was hoping to go with you.”
“And here we are.”
• • •
Their appetizers had been removed when Laurie finally insisted that Alex tell her all about his federal judicial confirmation process.
“The politicians exist in a completely different universe. There I was, enjoying a career as a criminal defense lawyer. I would have been happy to have kept my practice as long as clients would have me. But now that I’ve been thrown into this circus of judicial confirmations, each side views me as a potential Supreme Court justice someday. They’re trying to figure out whether I’m a ‘strict constructionist’ or a ‘legal realist.’ I told them I’m just a lawyer who reads the law and applies it to the facts, which is what trial court judges are supposed to do. I feel like a football in a Giants-Eagles matchup.”
“But is it going smoothly?” she asked. “I can’t imagine a better nominee.”
“Oh, they can, trust me. But the White House assures me that they don’t foresee any problems. Meanwhile, to keep you up to date on another front, Ramon has decided to be vegan. Some diet he saw on TV. He thinks he put on too much weight over Christmas. It’s a miracle he isn’t trying to talk me into it.”
“Maybe he can do all that yoga he was pushing on you last year,” Laurie said, laughing at the memory. After Alex’s blood pressure was at the borderline of high, Ramon acted as if Alex had been diagnosed with a serious heart problem.
“Don’t laugh,” Alex said, even though he was chuckling, too. “He was playing soothing spa sounds on the car ride down here, saying he was worried that the trip to D.C. had been too stressful for me.”
“It’s sweet. He loves you like family.”
“I certainly feel the same way. In fact, I have to fill out these forms disclosing the names of anyone who plays a substantial role in my life, even if they’re not formally family. My only biological family is Andrew, of course, but there was no question about listing Ramon.”
Something about the way he was looking at her made it clear that there was someone else who belonged on that list, too, but then the waiter arrived with their entrees, and Alex switched the topic to a budding scandal coming out of the Mayor’s Office. As the night continued, they talked about everything—some new restaurants they had tried, the books they were reading, the worst youthful dates they’d ever had. By the time the waiter asked once again if they needed anything else, Laurie noticed for the first time that they were the last couple in the restaurant. She looked at her watch. They had been there for nearly four hours, and those four hours had gone by too quickly, she thought.
Alex signaled for the check. The waiter looked relieved, but when he brought it over, Laurie beat Alex to it. “I invited you, remember?”
“Very well, then,” Alex said. “But that means next time is on me.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Is tomorrow too soon?”
“I feel like it’s not soon enough.” She could not stop smiling.
She accepted his offer of a ride back to her apartment, where Leo was watching Timmy. Ramon was clearly happy to see her and turned down the spa music multiple times to ask for updates about her and Timmy. When they were almost at Laurie’s, Alex put his arm around her. The entire night had been “effortless,” to use Alex’s word. She was no longer studying their relationship like a project to be managed. She hadn’t paused every few minutes to ask herself where this was all going.
Alex had pressed her to decide what he was to her. She finally had her answer. He wasn’t simply a co-worker or a friend, a pal to her father, or a buddy to Timmy. He wasn’t even just a boyfriend.
It had been Ivan Gray, of all people, who had helped her make sense of it all when he had read his proposal to Virginia: You told me I was your second chance at happiness, and I knew that you had opened your heart to me, where I want to stay with you always, for every breath you and I can take together.
Alex was the next chapter in her life. She was certain it was what Greg wanted for her. And now there was no doubt that it was what she wanted and needed.