“Phoebe and I rushed into things.” He blows out a breath. “We went to high school together, so we knew each other well enough, at least we thought we did. We reconnected some years later and got so caught up in the whirlwind of falling in love that we forgot to iron out some important details.”
“Such as?”
“She wanted kids.” Chills skate up my arms. “And I don’t.”
“I have a kid.” I raise a hand in the air. “How is she gonna believe you settled down with a single mum?”
He shakes his head. “Sorry, I worded that wrong. It’s not that I don’t want them. I was adopted. I’d like to follow in my parents’ footsteps and give a better life to a kid who really needs it.” My breath picks up, West’s words hitting home in a way I wasn’t expecting. “I had a vasectomy at twenty-five.”
“She wouldn’t consider adoption?”
He shakes his head. “She always imagined carrying her own kids, and I respect that. I wouldn’t take that away from her. But I also wasn’t willing to give up what I knew in my heart was right for me.”
I like the way he speaks with such compassion for others without compromising his own sense of self. I can almost feel that confidence, that gentleness for life, reaching out and wrapping around me, inviting me to seek solace. To rest from the weariness I’ve battled for so long.
“So, you guys decided to end things?” No wonder she still seemed so hurt when we ran into each other. They didn’t fall out of love.
West draws in breath, a resigned smile on his face. “It caused many fights. She was convinced she could change my mind. One final blow-up ended in her sleeping with someone else. That was the final hurdle that showed we just weren’t meant to work.”
“How long ago did this all happen?”
“Five years,” he says, quickly adding, “I can assure you, there’s no unresolved feelings on my end.”
“So why the need for a date?”
I can see on his face it’s a question he’d rather leave unanswered. But I’m coming to learn that being upfront isn’t something Westley shies away from.
He looks down at his hands and spins the thick silver band around his pointer finger. “The last time I saw her we…”
I tug on the neck of my shirt, suddenly feeling hot. “You slept together?”
He looks up at me. A quick nod of agreement.
“So, I’m gonna be your glorified cock-blocker?” I laugh, ignoring the way my mouth turns dry at the thought. “Ohh, or pussy-shield?”
He smacks a palm to his face, but I can still see the twinkle in his eye that I secretly hope is just for me. “Don’t say cock and pussy. Jesus.”
“Why not? Does it turn you on?” When he looks at me, the unease melts away.
He shakes his head, rolling his lips together to hide his smile as he ignores my question. “What about this camp? What do you need me to do?”
I put my mug on the little table beside my chair, then shift back to the railing. With one hand gripping the post, I hoist my arse onto the concrete ledge. “Just act like a boyfriend who wants to be around. Whatever that looks like.”
“Fuck.” The harsh rush of the word has me turning my head back to West. He’s gripping the iron bars, leaning half his body over the railing. “Would you get down from there!?”
“What, are you worried I’m gonna fall?” I grin. There’s thick concrete boxing in each of our balconies with a top railing. I don’t know how West and mine have managed to look into each other’s. I can’t see any of my other neighbours’ balconies. Westley’s house is the only one without shared walls as well, and he sits slightlyangled where the rest of us are in a neat row. I wonder who his last neighbour was. Did he talk to them like this, too?
“I don’t have time to find another date.”
“Liar. You’re worried,” I tease, but I still jump down from the ledge. “Can I ask you a question?”
I see his grip ease from the bars, and his chest inflate with a breath. “We’re going to have to get to know each other better if we’re going to sell this. Hit me.”
“Why do you call me Trickster?”
He smiles. “I’m trying to figure you out, but you keep surprising me.”
I face him, bracing my hands on the bar, and lean forward. “A girl’s gotta keep a man on his toes.”
