Chapter 16
Dario went on his first date when Elsie was six.
He did not call it a date.
Julia did.
Repeatedly.
“You are having dinner with a woman.”
“People eat.”
“Alone.”
“Restaurants allow that.”
Julia stared at him.
Dario ignored her.
Anna Reed was thirty-nine.
She worked in urban planning.
No Ravello company contracts.
No family connections.
No reason to know anything about fleet maintenance.
Julia had known her since law school through a mutual friend.
That was apparently enough introduction.
Not enough trust.
Dario knew that.
He also knew what his security office could discover in approximately six hours.
Employment.
Marriage history.
Property.
Debt.
Litigation.
People she had dated if someone worked hard enough.
He hated that he thought about it.
Before dinner, he told Anna.
Not elegantly.
“My security team normally conducts limited checks on people who may eventually enter the estate.”
Anna stared.
“We haven’t ordered appetizers.”
“I know.”
“You’re planning estate access?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She picked up the menu.
Then:
“What does limited mean?”
Dario explained.
Identity.
Criminal history.
Immediate security conflicts.
Nothing beyond that unless an actual reason existed.
Anna considered.
“If this becomes serious enough that I’m around your daughter, tell me before you do it.”
Dario looked at her.
“You’re okay with that?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Good.
She continued.
“I understand why a man with your life has security.”
Another pause.
“I also don’t want to discover six months from now that someone interviewed my college roommate because you were nervous.”
“That would be excessive.”
“You said that very quickly.”
Fair.
Dinner lasted two hours.
Anna disagreed with him about city parking policy.
Aggressively.
Dario found that strange.
Most people around him disagreed carefully.
She did not.
At the end she said:
“This was less terrible than expected.”
He looked at her.
“Expected?”
“Julia described you.”
“That explains nothing good.”
Anna smiled.
Then:
“Coffee next week?”
Dario hesitated.
Not because he disliked her.
Because he did.
Enough that the next step suddenly felt like risk.
Camilla had once felt familiar.
Safe.
Already inside the circle.
That familiarity had allowed Dario to stop asking questions.
Anna was different.
He knew almost nothing.
For two years, that had sounded dangerous.
Now he understood something else.
Knowing nothing on the first date was normal.
Trust was not supposed to arrive before information.
It was supposed to grow after it.
“Yes.”
Anna nodded.
“Tuesday?”
“Wednesday.”
“Why?”
“Tuesday is Elsie’s therapy.”
Anna accepted that without saying:
Of course.
Without praising him for being a father.
Without asking whether therapy could move.
Wednesday became coffee.
Then dinner.
Then nothing for two weeks because Anna traveled for work.
Dario did not ask security where.
Progress.
When Elsie eventually asked:
“Who Anna?”
Dario answered:
“A friend.”
Elsie looked suspicious.
“Julia friend?”
“Mine.”
That seemed even more suspicious.
“Do I meet?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
Dario thought.
“Because adults can know each other without making children part of it immediately.”
Elsie frowned.
“That boring.”
“Yes.”
May you like
Good.
For once, boring was exactly what Dario wanted.
