“You helped me impress my young designers. They thought I was very cool when I told them where I was having dinner. It sounds like fun,” she said to him with a smile, as he looked at her. He felt as though someone had pulled all the bones out of his body and dumped them on the street. He’d had the same feeling the first time he saw her, hiding in the back room. “Thank you for inviting me,” she said politely. They walked into the diner together, and she grinned when she saw the authentic décor. “I love it! Thank you for not taking me someplace fancy. I like this so much better.” She thought how much Axel would have liked it as they sat down in their booth, but she didn’t say it.

“Thank you for making the time to see me,” he said, unable to take his eyes off her. Just knowing what she had been through and survived as a whole human being made him respect her more, and he wanted to protect her from anything like it ever happening again.

“What kind of law do you practice?” she asked him after they both ordered burgers with everything on them. He was about to say “criminal” but didn’t want to scare her.

“Just business law: tax, estate, labor issues. I’m more of a general practitioner, for select clients.”

“That must be interesting,” she said. There was something so gentle about his eyes, which she found unusual, as though he could speak to her without talking, and she’d understand him. He felt the same about her, they had an instant connection, as though he had known her forever, or in a past life, which he didn’t really believe in. He was more pragmatic than that. But there was something very special about her. He could feel it every time she spoke.

“Sometimes it’s interesting,” he said about his real job. “I used to deal with some very exciting cases, but the higher you rise, the more sedate it gets. I don’t always enjoy that. What you do with fashion seems like more fun.”

“I used to love it,” she admitted as a cloud of sadness crossed her eyes, “and I’m starting to again. I like L.A., and Dallas is always fun. I hadn’t been there in a long time. I have more time to travel now.” She said it simply. She didn’t know if he knew her recent history, but she had the feeling he did, and she didn’t want to explain it to him tonight and spoil the evening with such painful subjects. “Do you travel for work?”

“Sometimes. I have a client in Paris,” he suddenly invented, in case an opportunity came to visit her at some point and he’d need an excuse to go there. “Do you miss living in the States?” he asked her, and she shook her head.