A Cold Piece of Work by Curtis Bunn Page B

would draw attention to her cleavage, which had grown two cup sizes with the birth of her child. Even after so many years she still was, at times, uncomfortable with the growth. Besides, she would have to leave the top three buttons open to expose the necklace, which would expose too much and send the wrong message.
    Solomon arrived early at the restaurant. He wanted to be there to watch Michele walk in. And she came in feeling and looking confident. She spent ample time applying makeup and lip gloss and styling her hair. She looked great, fresh.
    The way he saw it, she was walking in slow motion as she entered Arizona’s. Statuesque and radiant. The extra pounds she had put on did not faze him.
    â€œHi there,” he said. Solomon was unsure if he should hug her or not—he told himself to be very careful about how to handle this first date—but he immediately discarded that idea and leaned in for a hug.
    Michele leaned in, too, and they embraced. “Ah, you smell so good,” Solomon said. “I see you’re still into Avon.”
    She laughed loudly—that was one of his favorite things about her that he had forgotten: Michele laughed a full, throaty laugh that was infectious.
    â€œI have you know this is Mary Kay,” she joked, and they both laughed.
    The hostess sat them in a booth near the front of the dining room. “I think this is an occasion for a midday cocktail,” Solomon said. “Some champagne?”
    â€œSounds great,” Michele said, and Solomon ordered two glasses of Veuve Clicquot.
    â€œWhat are we toasting to?” Michele asked.
    â€œHow about, to redemption and recapturing?” he said.
    â€œAnd renewing,” Michele added, and they tapped glasses.
    Over the meal, they enjoyed small talk, caught up on each other’s families and in general felt each other out.
    The “elephant in the room” had been ignored for quite a while before Solomon said: “Thank you for being here, Michele. I don’t even know if I deserve your forgiveness, but I’ve been asking for it for years, putting it out there in the universe because I didn’t think I would see you again.
    â€œBut here you are and I’m grateful. I have a friend here, Ray, who I told that I don’t live with regrets. But, really, that wascrazy. Everyone does things they wish they hadn’t, and at some point they regret them. I regret what I did to you.”
    Michele just looked at him; she didn’t know what to say.
    â€œNow, I’m trying to find my soul,” he went on.
    â€œYour soul?” Michele said.
    â€œYes, my soul,” he said. “For me, my soul means my heart, conscience and rational mind. Those three together. And when I…never mind.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI’ll leave it at that for now.”
    â€œOkay, I see,” she said. “Well, thanks for asking me out and being patient. My thing is I had to come down off the whole righteous indignation. I was hurt, but that’s a part of life, relationships. It doesn’t mean that it’s okay or that I don’t have my issues behind it because I do.
    â€œAnd the main issue is trust.”
    â€œI understand that,” Solomon said. “That’s something, if you give me a chance, that I have to earn. That I can earn.”
    â€œYes, but it’s really more about me trusting myself,” Michele said, “trusting my mind and my heart. And when they disagree, trusting that I can and will make the decision that makes the most sense.
    â€œYou may leave here today saying, ‘She’s gained some weight and she has a kid and she’s crazy and I don’t want to deal with her’—and disappear,” she said. “That would be messed up, but I couldn’t be afraid of that anymore. I had to go for what I believed in.”
    â€œAnd you believed in me? Wow,” Solomon said.
    â€œI believe in the idea of you,” she