She doesn’t make my eyes until she’s taken a couple bites of food.
* * *
We pull up outside her building, and I sigh, not wanting her to go up.
Killing the engine, I slide my helmet off as I grab hers while she’s holding it out to me.
“You’re not gonna walk me to the door.” It’s not a question.
“Ok.”
“But can we take a walk?”
“Whatever you want, remember your call.”
We’re on the beach before she says anything. “You should havelet me pay for dinner.”
“No.”
“And why not?”
I just shake my head, not wanting to have this conversation.
“You got fired. What? 4 months ago?”
“Yeah,” I shrug. “And they’re giving me a pretty good severance.”
“They’re giving you a payout so you don’t sue.”
“Same thing.” I laugh.
“But you haven’t gotten that yet, and you don’t look like you’re struggling.” She pauses as if she’s putting all the pieces together. “And you were able to get Terri that money pretty quickly. How were you able to pay for that week?”
“I may have forgotten a couple of details when we were talking the other day.” I can feel her looking at me as I pause. “I was never on Z’s payroll.”
“I feel like that’s established.”
“But I’m on Ash’s.”
“What?” she looks confused as she stares at me. “He’s been dead for…”
“I know. I can’t explain it. When we agreed to all of this, he insisted on paying monthly. When he died, I thought the payments would stop, but they didn’t. They’ve kept coming and I don’t know how to get them to stop. I was going to talk to Z about it, but hates me at the moment. So, I figured I’d give him achance to cool down so I don’t die.”
Slowly, we walk back towards her apartment when she starts again.
“Who are you?”
“What?”
“At dinner you said you’re aware of who you are. Being with you was never a bad decision.”
“The timing was the bad part, who I had to be to do that… having to lie to you,” I sigh. “I wasn’t supposed to fall in love. And I sure as fuck wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you.”
“Is that what he said?”
“Yes.”
“Is that specifically what my dad told you?”
