Page 53 of Xavier

"Maybe I’ve changed. Maybe I like fast cars now. And anyway, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to listen to my ideas."

"You didn't pay all that money for us to be listening to your ideas. You paid for me, so you're going to get me."

I stop and look at her, one eyebrow raising.

Her brow furrows for a moment and then her eyes roll.

"You know what I mean. You paid for my services."

Now I feel my other eyebrow raise as well.

"Oh shush, come on. I have other clients to meet. You're not my only appointment today."

"Oh, so we're really not having lunch together."

"I already had lunch."

"Oh? With whom?"

"Cameron.”

It's like a splash of ice water over me, and it takes me a few seconds to recover before I shake myself out of it.

"What do you think about that?" She points to a bed.

It's fine. I don't care. I tell her so.

"You're supposed to care. It's your home."

I shrug. "Have you seen my home? Does it look like I care?"

"Then why am I here, Xavier?"

My eyes wander for a moment over her face before resting on her eyes. "You know why."

She takes a moment and then looks down at the list in her hand, clearing her throat.

"Fine, that bed it is. You'll like it. It won't take too much away from your minimalist aesthetic. I'll have it delivered by the end of the week."

She gives me a look and starts to walk away.

"Wait," I grab her by the wrist before she can get too far. She stops, and I drop her hand. "My one question."

Her shoulders lift as she takes a deep breath, bracing herself.

"OK. What is it?"

"The letter you sent me. You... you said you'd met someone else. Was that true?"

"Xavier. What's the point of all this? It's not going to change anything. Let's leave it in the past and move on..." She meets my eyes, and they tell her that there's no moving on. Not for me. Not without knowing. "No. It's not true."

"Oh my god, Malynda, then what happened?"

She holds up her hand, stopping me. I can't see her face.

"No more questions, Xavier. This was a mistake. I knew we couldn’t do this.”

I block her as she moves to run past me, and I know the only thing stopping her is the look in my eyes.

"I need to know what happened, Malynda. If you didn't meet someone else, then why did you stop me coming to New York? We had our whole lives together, a future ahead of us. It was all planned!”

"Sometimes things just don't go to plan, Xavier. Sometimes, they just don't."