Free Magic by Danielle Steel Page B

so they expected my brother and me to be too. My brother became a musician, so I felt even more obligated to carry on tradition, and now here I am, flying to Madrid on a Sunday to see a client. But at least I like the work I do. I wanted to be a criminal attorney, but except for the rare important crime, it was tedious and not very interesting, so I got into intellectual property, and I really like my clients. I never joined my father’s firm. They did tax law, and closed when he retired. That would have bored me to tears. It sounds like your kids have interesting jobs.”
    “They do. I told them to follow their dreams when they were growing up. They believed me, so they all did. Banker, filmmaker, and artist.” She smiled as she said it, and he could see how proud of them she was.
    “That’s a great gift you gave them, instead of obliging them to take jobs they hate.”
    “Life is too long to do something you don’t enjoy doing.” It was an interesting point of view. “I was a journalist first, and I hated it. It took me a while to discover what I love to write. It was particularly hard when I lost my husband and I had to make a living with my writing. It was frightening for a while, but it worked out well. I have fun doing it.”
    “And you’re good at it,” he commented.
    They talked animatedly all through dinner, and it was after eleven when he finally walked her home the short distance to her apartment. “I’d love to have lunch with you sometime, or dinner again, if that sounds all right to you,” he said hopefully, and she couldn’t tell if he was just being friendly, or was interested in her as a woman, which seemed unlikely given the difference in their ages. He hadn’t asked her, but it was obvious from the ages of her children. And she was clearly considerably older than he was. In fact, there were seventeen years between them, even if she didn’t look it. But she didn’t flatter herself that he was trying to date her, and there was no reason why they couldn’t be friends. She didn’t usually have dinner with strangers, but their paths had crossed often enough that she had felt comfortable doing so, especially after meeting at the White Dinner.
    “I’d like that.” She smiled easily at him. He handed her his business card then, and told her to call or text him so he’d have her number.
    “Let’s do it again soon,” he said, smiling at her, “so we don’t have to keep meeting in grocery stores or airports.” She laughed, it had been a pleasant, easy evening. “And I definitely don’t want to wait until the White Dinner next year.”
    “I don’t either,” she confirmed, “although I hope you’ll come and bring more lanterns and sit near us again. You made the evening for the rest of us.”
    “You made it for me too,” he said, suddenly looking intently into her eyes with his intriguing dark brown ones. There was more than friendship there. She suddenly felt a current pass through her, and then told herself she had imagined it. He had very expressive eyes, and a very masculine attitude. The look he had given her had nothing to do with their age difference, or the kind of warm, friendly, brotherly looks she got from Jean-Philippe. Xavier Thomas was a man talking to a woman, no matter what age she was. She wondered if he was a womanizer, but he didn’t look it. There was nothing of Gregorio’s frivolous ways about him. Xavier just seemed direct and straightforward, and made it clear that he liked her, and that appealed to her about him. He seemed very sincere, and she had a feeling Jean-Philippe would like him, which was important to her, since she respected his opinion. Maybe they could have lunch together one day, the three of them.
    She thanked him for dinner again when he left her at her building, and she waved as she pressed the door code, then let herself in through the outer door and disappeared. Xavier was smiling as he walked away, all the way back to his