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coming.”
    Diane made a face. “You may live to regret it,” she said taking a sip. “I tend to ask embarrassing questions when I’ve been drinking.”
    “Ask away. My life is pretty much an open book anyway.”
    “Okay.” She took another long drink and sat back. She could feel a little buzz in the back of her head. “Do you like your life being an open book?”
    “No,” he said quickly. He shrugged. “I don’t. But it’s part of the package. You can’t be somebody like me without having to put up with some bullshit. It’s invasive. I love the fans, I really do, but I don’t think they have a right to know every single thing about my life.”  
    She finished her drink and felt her lips go numb. She looked at him carefully. His eyes were very blue. “Are you wearing contacts? I can’t tell,” she asked.
    “No. Why?”
    “You said you wore glasses.”
    “Oh, I did. I had laser surgery. Really amazing.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Yep. A couple of years ago.”
    Diane tilted her head. “Do you get laid a lot?”
    Michael blinked. “Excuse me?
    Diane was blushing furiously. “I can’t believe I just asked you that. I am so sorry. See, I told you.” She buried her face in her hands. “God,” she muttered.
    He was laughing. The waiter had returned, placing in front of them two salads.
    “Diane,” Michael said, “please, eat some salad. It looks terrific.”  
    Diane dropped her hands and stared down at her dish. “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be.” Michael took a bite of salad. “I used to. Get laid a lot. It was amazing, after that first album. There were girls everywhere. I was only eighteen, and Denise stayed home, and Dave came on tour with us and man, all I had to do was point and smile. After a while, I started looking for more, ah, permanent relationships. But the women in this business, they just assumed that every date would end up in bed. I’d meet them for coffee and automatically stay to breakfast. I didn’t even like some of them. Most of them.” He shrugged. “Seth used to say there was no such thing as a wasted condom, but I don’t know. It gets old. Finding somebody to go to bed with is easy. Finding someone to wake up with, now that’s hard.”  
    Diane lifted her fork and started eating. “So, how many times have you been in love?” she asked, looking up at him again.  
    He thought. “Three times. My first great love was Theresa Milano. She moved next door to us when I was in the third grade. She was in public school, and I was in Catholic school, but I was determined to make it work. I proposed to her half-way through the fourth grade, but she had become infatuated with a shortstop. She broke my heart. But we stayed friends. She’s an intern now, at Columbia Medical School. I still see her.”
    “How sweet.”
    “There was an actress. We dated for about a year. Then I stopped touring and we lived together for six months. All that togetherness was a big mistake.” He sipped more wine. “And then there was a week ago Tuesday.”
    Diane looked puzzled, then broke into a smile. “Oh?”
    “Yes. I’d ask you to spend the rest of your life with me, but I have to go to Philadelphia tomorrow.”
    “Well, I’m crushed, of course, but I understand. Especially since I would never go to Philadelphia.”
    Michael smiled and shrugged. “That’s what I figured.” The salad plates were gone, and were replaced by bowls of steaming risotto.
    “Oh, this is fantastic,” Diane exclaimed. “So, do you have a show in Philly?”
    “Yes, Sunday and Monday. We’ve got promos and interviews tomorrow. Seth likes to be there when they set up the equipment, even though our road manager has been doing it perfectly for years.”
    “Denise doesn’t do that stuff anymore?”
    “No. David oversees everything now. Denise is our lawyer. She takes care of contracts, investments - all that stuff.”
    “Good for her. This risotto is amazing. So the famous Marco and your father are