Ophelia smiles and the brightness of it nearly splits my heart in two. "That's easy. I broke rule number five."
"What's rule number five?" She'd mentioned rules before, but we never circled back to that.
"No falling in love. I broke it, because I love you, Xavier."
"Good, because I love you too."
Chapter 46: Ophelia
"Where to now?" Xavier asks.
It's been a long afternoon working out the details of Xavier's new contract. In the movies, they just cut to the next scene. In reality, it takes hours for the agent to get there, read it over, deliberate this point and then that one.
I tried to look attentive and not at all bored.
I don't think I was successful.
Lucky for me, and probably for Xavier too, Bjorn Janssen is definitely a Team Xavier person. I wasn't sure he'd remember me or respond to my emails, which is why I reached out to Hannah.
It was a Hail Mary pass, or whatever the soccer equivalent is. I should probably learn that. While waiting to see if Bjorn would respond, I searched and found Hannah LaRosa on ClikClak. She was the server at The Tower on our wedding night. I was desperate, and if Bjorn didn't come through, she was at least one more in I had with the team.
I don't think she was thrilled to have to reach out to Callaghan Entay, her former hookup, on my behalf, but she did it anyway. I'm so glad she did, because he's super helpful, getting his agent to agree to take on Xavier.
Team Xavier is pretty impressive if I do say so myself.
We should have shirts made.
I pull the car over into a Dunkin' parking lot. "Before we go any further, we need to talk. And I need you to let me go first, otherwise, I'm going to lose my nerve."
Xavier, sitting in my passenger's seat, unbuckles his seat belt and turns to face me. With a rolling wave of his arm, he says, "The floor is yours, m'lady."
"I understand that I'm impulsive. I always have been. That's not an excuse for what happened. I think my brain will always have a 'ready, fire, aim' tendency, but I need to make every effort to make sure that it doesn't hurt the people around me. The people I care about. The people I love. You."
My throat starts to get thick, making it hard to say the words. I push forward before I lose my nerve. "I didn't really know what love was until I met you. I know that sounds like some corny love song, but I don't have to tell you I'm not great at those either. But you—you were the first person to see me. The real Ophelia. And you liked me for me. I didn't have to try and be something I wasn't when I was around you. I didn't disappoint you. And you unlocked something in me that I thought I'd lost. My ability to write. From the time I was a small child, it's been my deepest desire. I tried a few years ago and … it didn't go well. So I threw myself into numbers, something I was good at. But it didn't fulfill me."
I take a breath and look at Xavier to make sure he's still paying attention. "So, yes, I was writing because of you. Inspired by you. That much is true. But I need you to take a look at this."
I hand him my phone, all queued up and ready to go.
"Ophelia, it's fine. I get it." Xavier holds up his hand. "I don't need to—"
"Just take it and read it. Please. For me."
Then I wait as his eyes scan my phone. His finger flicks the screen, scrolling. His eyes go wide. His mouth opens and closes. His head tilts to the side and his eyes squint a bit. Finally, after what feels like forever, Xavier looks at me. "What is this?"
"It's what I was writing. The story I published on Wattpad. The one the ESPN article claimed was about you."
Xavier looks at my phone again, scrolling up and down. "Unless I'm a vampire pirate with a thirteen-inch nob, then no. This does not resemble me in the least."
I start to laugh.
"Christ, Ophelia, the book is set at sea. There are literal vampires."
"I know. I wrote it."
He tilts his head as he continues reading. "Bloody hell, this is filthy. And is it even physically possible?"
I shrug. "Readers don't seem to care as long as it fulfills their fantasy."
