“When Jill showed me a picture of you, I thought you looked familiar,” he said. He laughed a little. “At first I thought maybe you’d been a student in one of my classes. It never occurred to me that you were the man I’d met last summer in New York, but I’d had a lot to drink that night.”
“That makes two of us,” I mumbled. Knowing I had to get out of the restaurant and away from Paul as soon as possible, I waited until my mother returned to the table before telling her that I had a terrible headache and needed to go home. I offered to give money towards the bill, but Paul waved my cash away, just as he’d done at the bar in New York, telling me he’d take care of it. I kissed my mother’s cheek and told her I’d talk to her later.
“I hope you feel better, Jason,” he said, shaking my hand. “It was nice meeting you.”