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brought to our table.
    “Mmm…so good,” I said in a muffled voice around a delicious bite.
    The black truffle emulsion the wagyu beef came served in made the meat mouth-wateringly tender. When I looked up from my dish, Arie was watching me eat as if waiting for my tears or a hysterical outburst. I almost laughed at the scared expression on his face. Obviously, he didn’t know me very well.
    “The less intelligence you share with people about your life, the better. What you share is only evidence,” Arie said wisely.
    I contemplated his words. Clearly, he knew a thing or two about sharing information. “I guess you’ve had to become…artful about what you communicate.”
    “A skill acquired with experience—an essential one to my survival.”
    “Then you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
    - Unfortunately, I do.- His psychic communication didn’t feel intrusive this time. It resonated with a part of me that felt understood. I suppose we all had our secrets. I had to learn to hide the Sight because otherwise I might end up in a loony bin. It made me shiver to think back to the one foster family that dragged me to countless doctors, trying to figure out what was wrong with me and thinking they could medicate it out of me.
    Arie was the same. He had to hide who he was or be feared and hated. And when people fear or hate, they’re capable of killing that which brings out the worst in them. It’s only human nature.
    The server cleared our dinner and brought two desserts to the table. I eyed the first delectable dish, a raspberry mascarpone with tart yuzu, which the server placed before Arie. Another dessert with a hard manjari chocolate shell, filled with salted caramel on top, the server placed in front of me. It came with frozen malted vanilla and I smelled a hint of coffee. Both dishes made my mouth water. For the first time throughout our entire meal I fully relaxed. A genuine smile formed on my lips while we ate our desserts in a silence that felt almost natural.
    His dark hair had hints of amber depending on how the light hit it. He had the most striking features I’ve ever seen. And he awoke a desire in me that I’d given up on anyone fulfilling other than myself. I’d finally met someone who made me want to do something about it.
    “Holly, I want to show you something.”
    “Do I have a choice in the matter?” I asked sarcastically.
    “No, but I promise that you’ll like it.”
    How could I feel more connected to him than I’d felt connected to anyone in my whole life? I’d only just met him but I felt like he understood me. And that meant everything to me.
    ***
    We headed north on Lincoln Park West beside a tree-lined sidewalk. I could see a fence bordering the Lincoln Park Conservatory on the right. Arie stopped at the traffic signal and I watched distractedly out the window. I smiled at a young couple kissing under the canopy of a large tree in front of the park bench despite the cold. Snow still fell in flakes that wrapped the couple in a semi-private filigree envelope.
    Arie turned right onto West Fullerton Parkway and continued straight at the intersection at North Cannon Drive. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye when I began fidgeting with the fabric of my sweater again. I noticed the direction of his gaze and the irritated look in his eyes. I wondered why he looked like he wanted to throttle me. What could he possibly have against fidgeting?
    Biting my lip compulsively, I stopped twisting my sweater and continued to stare out the window. We passed over a bridge while the scenery zipped by in a blur. He merged onto the highway, heading south. The dark waters of the lake looked serene with its deserted beach front and piers where no one ventured in these cold conditions. Arie pulled off the highway, taking the Grand Avenue exit, bearing left onto Lower North Lake Shore Drive.
    “Where are we going?” I asked.
    “You’ll see. I guarantee you it’s somewhere you’ve never