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I stared at my reflection in the hotel mirror. I’d just taken a shower, but I still looked rough. Puffy bags had formed under my eyes, and my face looked a little bloated. I poked at my stomach. The muscle definition in my chest and abdomen were gone. I’d never hear the end of it from Davide today. I sucked in my stomach, but all that did was make me look strange.
Luna was gone when I’d finally finished my visual inspection. I’d heard her call a goodbye. I felt like shit, but I needed to snap out of it before team meetings, otherwise Riedl would be all over me. He’d been quiet lately, other than a few digs at my weight. Almost like he was waiting for something. Likely for Luna to run into Carlton’s arms.
I got changed and checked my phone. Another missed call from Natalie. Fuck. We’d been doing this since Mum had told me about that reporter. Although I wasn’t sure that Natalie was making too hard of an effort to reach me, and I didn’t blame her. I was an asshole to her, and maybe this was her payback. To let me stew. At least my parents had kept up a good relationship with her, otherwise I’d be fucked. I had to thank them for that.
I tried her, and to my shock she answered. I’d nearly hung up on reflex, listening to her voicemail.
“Natalie, how are you doing?” I asked, saying the first thing that had entered my mind. “It had been a long time since I’d talked to her.
“Hello, Devin.”
Her tone was cold and flat. That wasn’t a surprise. This was going to be a chilly conversation, which, of course, I deserved.
“I know you probably don’t want to talk to me.”
“It’s not that; it’s just that the only time I hear from you—which is almost never—is when you need something. So what do you need now?”
I cleared my throat and sat down on the bed. Natalie and I went back a long way, and maybe if I hadn’t fucked things up so much, we could have made it work. But she hated the limelight, hated the attention, and wanted to live a quiet life. At the time, I’d wanted the exact opposite. And sometimes I wondered if I’d screwed up with her life a little. I knew it wasn’t fair that I moved on and she … didn’t. Although she was seeing some guy, Mum had told me, so maybe she was going to have that quiet life, after all.
“My parents mentioned that someone had contacted you. Asking about me?”
“Yes.”
She really wasn’t going to give me an inch, and I fully deserved having to work for the answers. How many rows had we had when she’d bottle up her anger until it spilled over? How many times had I missed the signs? But years had passed, and now I knew her much better, and I had to be careful or she’d clam up and shut me out.
“What did he ask? What do you think he wanted?”
“He wanted to know about you. I guess he knew we dated. He was a sneaky asshole too. He kept mentioning your new girlfriend. I think that maybe he thought I gave a shit.”
The hard edge to her voice was razor-sharp. “I’m sorry that people are bothering you. I know you wanted to stay out of things. To put me behind you. I have no idea who this person is, but I’m trying to find out. He didn’t mention anyone else?”
“He mentioned Paige,” she gritted out. Shit. Of course she was livid about that. “I told him that my daughter was none of his business. Then I told him to never bother me again.”
The old Natalie, the one I fell in love with, would have been too meek to do any of that. But the new Natalie, the one hardened by me being such an asshole to her, wasn’t going to take shit from anyone. And she was going to protect her daughter with her last dying breath if she had to.
“I’m wondering if you could give me a description? The whole thing. How tall he was, how old, whatever you remember. I’m going to find out who he is.”
“I can do that. I’ll text you. Was that all?”
She was going to end the call, but I stopped her. “I was serious about wanting to know how you’re doing.”
She was silent for a stretch, but then she spoke, her voice softening. “I’m fine.”
“And Paige?”
“She’s fine.”
“And that new guy of yours? Mum mentioned him.”
“He’s fine too.”
“You know, I want you to be happy. I want you to have everything in life that you want. And I know I messed things up and that there’s no coming back from that. I’m sorry.”
She sighed. “Devin, I want you to be happy too. And I know you’re dating this big-shot woman now, and I hope that you treat her better than you treated me. Don’t fuck around on her, don’t ghost her, don’t call her a liar, and don’t take her for granted.”
“That’s all sage advice. I’ll take it to heart.”
“Look, I know it doesn’t sound like it, but I’m happy to hear from you. Take care, okay?”
