"Can you meet me at 1:30 tomorrow at Café Spiaggia for lunch? My treat. I assume you know where that is."
Julie's jaw went slack for what felt like the millionth time in 24 hours.
"Hello?" Emma said impatiently, then sighed. "I'm not going to poison you, ambush you, have a hit man take you out—nothing melodramatic like that. I assure you, it's a peaceful offer. I won't even say anything offensive about your indiscretion with my husband."
Frowning, Julie said, "Okay, but… why do you want to have lunch with me?"
"I would like to talk to you about something. I don't really have time for this right now, I have a very busy schedule and if I miss my damn flight someone in security is going to wish they had never come to work this morning. Anyway, Café Spiaggia tomorrow at 1:30?"
She had no idea where that was, but she wasn't going to ask Emma and risk looking unsophisticated. "Okay," Julie managed.
"Great. I'll see you then."
The phone call ended, and Julie stared at it as if it were a foreign object.
She was so disoriented that she didn't even sense Aaron behind her until she heard, "You okay?"
Turning around, she looked at him a little dazedly. "It was Emma," she said.
Frowning, he asked, "What did she want?"
"To...have lunch with me? Where's Café Spiaggia?" Julie asked, still reeling from the phone call.
Aaron's frown deepened and he said, "It's right on Michigan Avenue. Why does she want to have lunch with you?"
"I don't know, she didn't say. She was at an airport…I think. I don't know, I feel so confused."
Aaron seemed to think about it for a minute, then he asked, "What did you say? Are you going to meet her?"
Nodding, Julie said, "I kind of felt like I owed it to her…"
Snorting, Aaron said, "You owe her nothing, Julie. If Emma's asking you to lunch, it's not because one of her girlfriends cancelled—she has an agenda. Be careful."
"She said that it wasn't a confrontational thing…"
Aaron gazed at her for another few seconds thoughtfully, then he shook his head. "You're too gullible. Just… be careful, okay?"
Nodding, Julie said, "Oh, I will. I mean, I'm sure she doesn't want to start a book club or anything, I just… don't know why she wants to talk to me."
"I don't either, but I'm sure it's not good." He scratched his head, making a slight face. "Fucking headache. I'm gonna go take a shower, I'll be out in a bit."
"Okay," Julie said, offering a smile. "Do you want some breakfast?"
"I'll throw it up," he stated.
"Got it, no breakfast," she said with a decisive nod. "How about coffee?"
"Now you're talking," he said, offering her a slight smile before disappearing into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.
---
The whole day was just strange.
Aaron didn't go back to being mean to her like before, but he seemed vaguely awkward, like he wasn't quite sure how to act around her.
As it was, even though he was being more civil toward her, he only stayed home until a little after noon, then he left—and she had no idea where he was going, because the restaurant was closed, but it felt too weird to ask him.
He returned later in the evening, but he merely sat down on the couch with a notebook, a folder and a calculator and did some sort of figuring that she assumed was related to the restaurant.