Page 7 of Five

“Are you coming or not?” Rory asks. And then she squints her eyes at the window and spots Oliver.

“Yes,” I say, walking towards her until I’m so close, she has to turn and continue into the dining room. Because this could go very wrong, very fast if I don’t get a few minutes to explain.

Lie. That’s what I really mean. I need to lie and calm her down.

We get the window table Rose promised, take our menus, and then, just as Rory is about to start in on me, the champagne arrives.

“Wow,” Rose says, as we wait for the champagne to be poured. “I can’t believe you two are here again. Remember that one time you guys gave your parents the slip on Christmas Eve? God, I think about that all the time. How romantic it was.” She actually sighs.

But it was romantic. And Rory knows it too. She glares at me, but her eyes are sad, not angry.

“It was the best day of my life,” I say, lifting up my glass. “I think about it all the time.”

Rory’s glare softens. Rose excuses herself. I nod my head to her glass of champagne. “Come on, let’s toast.”

Rory shakes her head slowly. “No. You don’t get to disappear for six years and then come home for a meeting, accidentally find out I’m in town, and then try to pull it off like it was all planned. Forget it, Aston. I might be blonde, but I’m not stupid.”

“Come on, Rory,” I say, flashing her my most charming smile.

“No, you come on, Five.” The way she says my name doesn’t conjure up visions of affection. “Just what the fuck?”

I glance around to see if anyone can hear us argue, but it’s not very busy today.

“I’m sorry, OK? That’s not how I planned things, it just got… complicated.”

“What got complicated? Me and you?”

“No,” I say. And goddammit, this isn’t the direction this conversation needed to go either. “Just… life, ya know?”

“Mmmhmm,” she says, her lips pressed together. “You came to town for a meeting and I’m screwing up all your plans. Does that about sum it up?”

Yes. That is a very succinct description of what’s happening right now. “No,” I lie. “I just didn’t know you’d be here—” She scoots her chair back, ready to get the fuck out of here. So I continue hurriedly. “But now that you are, Princess, I’m thrilled. How long can you stay? I do have a meeting in Denver tonight, but I’m coming back to FoCo to visit with everyone. And I was going to call you tomorrow and see if you’d like to meet up while I was in New York.”

“Passing through New York, you mean? On your way home to England?”

I sigh, feeling defeated. “Can you just please… cut me a break? Please? I need one, OK? How’s that for some reality? Shit’s gone weird and I’m here to try to fix it. I don’t want you involved, so I haven’t called—”

“Not one call!” she says, her eyes filling up with tears. “Not even a fucking Love Note!”

I have to stop and laugh at the mention of that old app I gave her for Christmas just before I left for Oxford. “Love Notes. You still have that thing?”

“Of course I still have it, you jerk! You made it for me! You promised me we’d keep in touch. You said you’d send me messages on it and what did I get? A big. Fat. Nothing!” The glare is back and she’s aiming it at me. “I think,” she says in a low, low whisper, “I hate you, Five Aston.”

Chapter Three - Rory

Five stares at me. Not grinning, but almost. Like he can’t help himself. Like he finds me cute. Like this is the best.

“Stop it,” I say, glaring back.

“Stop what?” His tone is teasing.

“That stupid look you’re giving me. It’s not funny, you asshole. I really fucking hate you.”

“I’m not laughing.” But he is. He’s definitely got that ‘you’re so cute’ look on his face.

“You left me, Five.”

He frowns.