After Hello Read Free Page B

don’t have a story.”
    “Sure you do. Everyone does.”
    “Mine is lame.”
    Sam shrugged. “You’ll never know that if you don’t tell it. Maybe Vanessa’s story is the lame one and yours is the one filled with zombies and black magic and stuff.”
    I laughed. “I doubt that. I don’t even like zombies.”
    “But you do like pirates. And stories about their treasure maps.” He raised an eyebrow as though daring me to contradict him.
    “Everyone likes pirates.”
    “Law-abiding sailors don’t.”
    I mulled that over. “True,” I granted. “But law-abiding sailors don’t bury treasure, either.”
    “You might be surprised,” Sam said.
    “I’m still not sure a story for a story is a fair trade.”
    “Are you kidding? That’s totally a fair trade. It’s the very definition of a fair trade.”
    “Sorry, not interested. Try again.”
    He stopped in the shadow of an enormous, beautiful gray building. The roof was a light shade of green. Flags snapped above us in the breeze. “How’s this: I’ll finish telling you the story of Vanessa and the pirates, and, in exchange, you let me buy you lunch.”
     

Chapter 4
     
    Sam
     
    Her face turned a dusky pink color. She shifted her weight on her feet and hooked a strand of long, blondish-brown hair behind her ear. “Oh, I couldn’t let you do that.”
    “You won’t be.”
    Sam saw her eyebrows start to twitch up and answered before she could say anything.
    “You aren’t letting me do anything. It’s a trade, remember?”
    “But I thought you wanted a fair trade. What do you get out of it?”
    He shrugged. “Lunch. And some company.” And a chance to find out more about you, he thought.
    Still she hesitated. He wasn’t used to that. Usually when he offered something, the girl said yes right away.
    “It’s almost one—past lunch, but not by much. And I’m willing to bet that, even if you had breakfast this morning, you’re probably hungry by now.”
    She pressed her hand to her stomach as though afraid he had heard the growl, which he had. “Okay, I guess,” she said. “Deal.”
    “Good,” Sam said and turned immediately toward the building’s doors.
    A doorman in a long burgundy coat and white gloves sprang into action, smoothly opening the door and nodding them inside.
    “Wait—we’re having lunch here?” Sara’s voice cracked on the last word.
    “Welcome to the Plaza Hotel,” the doorman said as Sam led the way into the opulent lobby.
    “Business first, then lunch,” Sam said. “I told my brother I’d meet him here at one.”
    Sara tugged at the hem of her dark red T-shirt and hurriedly ran her fingers through her hair.
    Sam cut diagonally across the lobby, bypassing the check-in counter with a single wave to the afternoon manager and heading directly for the gleaming concierge desk in the corner. Will was on duty, talking to an elderly couple and looking none too happy about it.
    “Are you sure we can’t just walk to the Statue of Liberty?” the man was asking Will.
    “I wouldn’t recommend it,” Will said in the tone of a man who had said it more than once already. “Considering it’s on an island. Like I said, the fastest way would be to take the A train south to—”
    “Oh, the subway?” the woman said, placing her hand on her husband’s arm. They were wearing matching I Heart NY shirts. “I don’t know about that—”
    “Then perhaps you’d like me to call a taxi for you?” Will suggested, a strain appearing in his smile.
    “A taxi would be terribly expensive, though, wouldn’t it?” the woman said, pulling her purse closer to her chest.
    Will looked up as Sam approached, his nod acknowledging an equal, but his eyes begging for help.
    Sam reached into his bag and pulled out a pamphlet. He stepped up to the side of the counter. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said, flashing a white smile, “but have you seen the Panorama yet?” He set the pamphlet down and slid it a fraction of an inch closer to