He smiled full and unguarded. She had not seen that yet. The full smile without the almost. She filed it. They talked through breakfast and into the late morning.
And this time the conversation had the who had covered ground already and were now moving through the landscape rather than surveying it. She told him about the board call and the Georgia trades program. She told him she'd named it something other than what she'd wanted to call it. What did you want to call it? He said.
She looked at her coffee. Something that would have required a longer explanation than I was ready to give to a boardroom. He studied her. What would the longer explanation have been? She said that I met a man in Georgia who reminded me that the work people do with their hands is as worthy of investment as anything I've built with a keyboard and a capital raise.
And that I should have known that already, but I didn't. And now I do. Marcus was quiet for a moment. You could have just called it the Carter Initiative, he said. I didn't want to make assumptions, she said.
About what? She looked at him directly. About what I'm allowed to name after you. The weight of it settled between them. Not heavy, the right kind of weight.
Marcus turned his coffee cup in both hands. The same way he turned his mug that first Friday night in his living room. Ava told me this morning she was going to show you the dinosaur display. He said the rebuilt one. She's been working on it for 2 weeks.
I'd like to see it. Victoria said she'll want your full attention. He said, "No phone. " "I left my phone in the car," she said. He looked at her. "I left it on purpose," she said.
Something moved across his face, something that was not the almost smile and not the full smile, but something in between that was its own thing entirely, and might have been the one she'd remember longest. They were back at his house by noon. Ava opened the front door before the car was fully stopped, which meant she'd been watching from the window, which meant Marcus had been right about the level of anticipation involved in the dinosaur display presentation. "You came back," Ava said. "I said I would," Victoria said.
Ava looked at her father with an expression that communicated with surgical precision her assessment of his judgment in having introduced this particular person into their life. See, Ava said to Marcus. I see, Marcus said. She's not like the ones who say they will and then don't. Ava said in the tone of a woman who has been keeping score.