“Rex?”
A flicker of disgust or even hate passed over his face. It came and went so fast that it might have been her imagination. Rex’s face turned to the polite and slightly roguish smile she first saw on him.
Zoe tried to keep her face as neutral as possible. She maintained her slightly surprised expression without mirroring his flicker.
Zoe trusted herself far too much to believe it had been her imagination.
“Hey, Zoe. Just got back into town after some business.” He hefted up a bottle of wine. “Thought we might catch up, yeah?”
“So you came straight to my home late in the evening?”
“Well, I got your address from Martina. I thought about stopping by in the morning.” He brought his free hand to the side of his mouth. In the loudest stage whisper Zoe heard, he said, “I’m not much of a morning person.”
Zoe allowed a polite smile to touch her lips, though she kept careful watch for any more flickers of emotion. “I spoke with Martina about you, you know.”
A lopsided grin split his face. He brushed one finger along his chin, almost as if stroking a nonexistent beard. “Did she mention what a handsome devil I am?”
“More like, ‘don’t get yourself involved with that pathetic display of walking pestilence. I regret the day I met him everyday,’ or something along those lines.”
He leaned back and let out a roaring laugh. “That sounds like Martina.”
It didn’t sound like half the joke he apparently thought it was when Martina said it.
“So,” he said, “this a bad time?”
A brief thought of slamming the door in his face crossed her mind. She wasn’t quite sure where the thought came from. Even with his flicker of emotion, Zoe wasn’t such a rude person.
“Not as such, no.” Zoe opened her door wider and stepped to one side. “Though I’ll let you know this: I intend to keep our interactions strictly professional. No relationships in the workplace.”
“Me as well, me as well.” He took one step into the door way before leaning over in his stage whisper pose. “Trust me, you don’t want Martina’s hellish breath on the back of your neck.”
“I’m sure I can imagine,” Zoe said as she led him inside. “There’s a lasagna in the oven. Should be done soon. I think there will be enough for two.” So long as I give up leftovers for the weekend, Zoe thought with a mental sigh.
“Excellent, Excellent. It smells lovely,” he said after a long breath through his nose.
“Take a seat.” Zoe gestured towards the couches. She tried to ignore the sudden realization that they were incredibly cheap and not very comfortable. If she had a proper dining room setup, she’d have led him there instead. “I’ll get us some glasses,” Zoe said and quickly stepped into the kitchen.
Zoe sighed as she retrieved two glasses. They weren’t even wine glasses, just cups. Rex would look at them, look around at her home, and run off. He’d wisely decide to find a career that paid more, even though Zoe made more than enough to live off of. Most of her money went towards research.
Freezing halfway back to the sitting room, Zoe had a thought. What were they going to talk about. Not many people considered magical theory to be an interesting line of discussion. Sure, they would politely nod along and pretend they understood or cared about what she said–they never actually did.
Many of her projects, especially the current ring project, she couldn’t even talk about with anyone. They were simply too dangerous or too incriminating.
Resigning herself to a night of awkward silence, Zoe headed back to Rex. She dropped the glasses on the coffee table and took a seat across from him.
He politely smiled, no traces of any disgust on his face. With a flourish Tom would be jealous at, Rex popped open the bottle and poured a healthy amount in both glasses. Her glass slid across the table with a flick of his finger.
Zoe lifted the glass, swirling it around with her wrist. It had a faint scent of alcohol and bit of a floral smell to it. It wasn’t that she thought Rex Zagan would poison her, but she waited for him to take a swig of his own glass before she took a small sip of hers.
Paranoia never hurt anybody, after all.
The drink was a tad dry. Not to her tastes at all.
“So,” Rex said after she set the glass back on the table, “everything is lined up for me. I’ll be finishing the paperwork tonight to finalize my teaching position next year.”
“That’s good,” Zoe said. The words felt, for lack of a better word, lame in her mouth. “I’m sure the students will enjoy another practical class,” she added.
“Ah, yes. I am sure I will enjoy teaching them. It should be,” he paused, “fun.”
During that pause, Zoe was sure she saw a flicker again. Not of disgust or hatred, but of elation. The barest hint of a grin before his face resumed the mannerly smile he had on before.
That’s a good sign, Zoe thought. At least he seemed happy about teaching. Instructors who did not have fun and were not happy teaching generally did not teach much at all.
Beeping of the oven echoed throughout the small house before Zoe could continue the conversation. Zoe excused herself and headed into the kitchen, shut off the timer, and pulled out the lasagna. She scooped a third onto her plate and a third onto another plate. One leftover meal would have to suffice.
For a moment, Zoe thought about moving the lasagna into some sort of visually appealing arrangement. That thought quickly vanished from her mind. Not only did she not know where to start, but she decided she didn’t care. If Rex wanted a fancy looking meal, he could go find a restaurant.
“Looks delicious,” Rex said as Zoe set out the plates on the table. He said it sincerely if Zoe didn’t miss her mark.
She took her own seat and started eating.
A few bites in and Rex was all smiles. Zoe couldn’t detect the slightest flickers of any other emotion on his face. He dug in like a man possessed. Eating the way he did made Zoe wonder if he had been eating much at all in the past few days.
“This is absolutely exquisite. You’ll have to give me the recipe sometime, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Zoe said, “maybe. It might be a family secret.” It might also be from the frozen food aisle.
“Ah,” he said, “I know a lot about family secrets.”
“Oh?”
“Yep. My family has a whole slew of them. ‘Never speak of these to others,’ I was always told growing up. Quite the pain if I say so myself.” He took a large bite of his lasagna leaving not much left.
Zoe hoped he wouldn’t ask for seconds.
“Then again, all my family secrets are about magic and other magery. Not many culinary secrets in the Zagan family.”
Zoe couldn’t help herself. She had to ask. “And what secrets are in the Zagan family?”
“Now, now,” Rex said slowly, “just because it is a pain doesn’t mean I can go around spilling the secrets of my ancient magical knowledge. They wouldn’t be secret for very long if I did that.”
Ancient magical knowledge sounded very much like something she wanted to get her hands on. Zoe frowned, prompting a laugh from Rex. “Any hints?”
“Well,” he shifted his eyes from side to side as if checking for any eavesdroppers, “I suppose I could say that a lot of them are fairly tantric in nature.”
Her eyes narrowed, prompting another laugh from Rex.
“There are plenty of secrets that are more normal, to someone like you at least.”
Someone like me. Zoe wasn’t sure what to make of that. Instead of thinking, she downed the entire glass of wine.
“Perhaps we can trade. One of your secrets for one of mine.”
Zoe frowned. “I might have to get back to you on that one.”
“Oh, it doesn’t have to be about your culinary expertise. I am certain there are other secrets held by a fascinating individual such as yourself.”