Judging Books

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said, stammering.

“Why not?” he asked, his eyes narrowing a little. His hand went up to push a loose strand of hair out of his eyes but only ended up pulling more hair from the tie at the back of his head. “Do you already have a date?”

“No, but…”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“No, I…”

“You’re not wearing a ring.” He gestured towards my left hand with his head.

“I’m not married. I just…”

“You are going to eat tonight, aren’t you?”

“Well, yes, of course, but…”

“Why not, then?”

“I don’t even know you!” I finally blurted out.

“Well, I know that,” he said with another smile. “The whole idea of going to dinner is for us to get to know each other.”

“But I’m going to be here for hours,” I said. “I’m not even sure when I’ll be done.”

“I’ll wait for you,” he said. He pointed to the ground beneath his feet. “Right here. I didn’t have any other plans today, so it’s no big deal at all.”

“I don’t even know your name,” I said.

“Ethan. Now will you go to dinner with me?”

“Well, Ethan”—I sighed, finally giving in—“I’m Ashlyn. And I guess if you really feel like waiting that long, I’ll look for you when I get out. If you are still here, maybe we can go to dinner.”

“Sweet,” he said, the half-smile returning. He maneuvered the bike behind him with one hand and stepped up closer to me. His tongue darted out and twisted the hoops in a circle through his lip. “Can I kiss you?”

“What?” I gasped. “No!”

“Okay,” he said, still smiling. “I’m gonna go get a couple things, but I’ll be back here in an hour. I know just where to take you.”

I glanced at my phone. Three minutes before two o’clock.

“I won’t be done until after six,” I said.

“That’s cool,” he responded, sitting on the seat of his bike and lighting a cigarette with a chrome-plated Zippo lighter. “I’m gonna go grab something, but then I’ll be right back here.”

He pedaled off slowly without looking back, perfectly balanced on the bike—one hand holding the cigarette and the other tapping on his phone.

I shook my head and went into the building.

Chapter 3—Interview

The interviews went fine, of course. I mean, having my dad ask me a bunch of questions about my GPA and why I wanted to go into accounting was ridiculous, but we played the game for the sake of appearances anyway. The current CFO and my immediate supervisor would be Helen Dragonov, my father’s older sister who didn’t even bother asking me about my schooling. Instead, we talked about my stepmother’s upcoming party.

“I swear, Miles makes a bigger deal out of it than Sue does,” Helen said. “He tries to tell everyone that she’s the instigator of such things, but my brother loves to show the estate off to anyone who will come around.”

“That sounds like Dad.” I laughed.

“He’s always been that way,” she said. “Even as a child, he would get angry if one of his playmates didn’t come to his birthday parties.”