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That’s not a crime is it?
To show him that other men were interested in me, appreciated me and wanted to be nice to me? He’d been so cold and distant towards me since LA, not even referring to it. It was as if it hadn’t happened, none of it. I couldn’t quite understand how he could be so disconnected from me and what had happened between us.
When Felix called me the next day while I was at work, I turned my back to Tate’s office to take the call. The door was open and in my computer screen, I noticed him glancing my way, so I knew he was listening.
“Hey there,” I said, more warmly than I would have if he wasn’t listening.
“I’m sorry about last night,” Felix said, sounding apologetic. He’d passed out on my couch at the flat I shared with Luisa. He’d had too much to drink and I didn’t think he should drive. He’d fallen asleep right away and when I left for work in the morning, he was still out for the count. Luisa had already left forclass so I left him to wake up in his own time.
“I don’t know what came over me,” he said.
I knew what had come over him, the wine at dinner, followed by shooters at the club. I had paced myself, but he had really put the drinks away.
“I was just having such a good time,” he said miserably.
“Me too,” I said with feeling. I checked in the screen, Tate was watching me.
“It was a wonderful evening,” I said, then got up and left our office, supposedly to get some privacy. My point was made.
“Was it?” Felix said.
I laughed. Now that I was out of earshot, I no longer needed to pretend.
“It’s okay, you had too much to drink! It happens! Especially when you haven’t eaten dinner!”
“Oh, that’s right,” he said weakly. “I forgot, we went straight for drinks.”
“You said we could eat later, but then… you wanted to dance!”
“I wanted to dance,” he mumbled.
He sounded so pitiful, I felt sorry for him. He’d told me during the earlier part of the evening, before he had gotten so incredibly wasted, that he’d been wanting to have some fun for a while. Work had been dreary and the weather in Germany was horrible. It was supposed to have been summer, but it had been cold and rainy for weeks and now winter was coming. He had grabbed at the opportunity to come to California, even though he didn’t need to be there in person.
The fact that he had finally broken up with his partner of many years was another reason for celebration. He told me that he had tried to break up with Janina many times but each time she threatened to jump off a bridge or harm herself in some dramatic way and he ended up staying, even though he wasn’t happy with her anymore.
Now that he’d finally gotten free of her, he’d wanted to celebrate and had overdone it.
“Let me make it up to you,” Felix said. “Can I take you out again tonight?”
I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. Felix was a lovely guy but only a friend.
“No drinking,” I said. “Just dinner?”
“No drinking, absolutely,” he said, sounding relieved.
“It will have to be an early night, ok? I have a lot of work in the morning,” I said.
As soon as I ended the call, I went back to my desk.
Tate office door was closed. He was on a call with some industry big wig and in a few hours, he had a workshop with a client. I carried on preparing for that workshop, putting together the agenda, adding the talking points like he’d asked me to.
After five I got up and stood outside his office, waving goodbye. He looked at me and nodded, but I could see he was deep in conversation with the other person.
I got on the bus, thought about the evening ahead, not really in the mood for meeting Felix.
I thought about getting out of the date for the evening. He was much too keen and I wasn’t interested in him. I took out my phone, about to text him to cancel our night out when a message from Tate came in: Need my laptop. Left it at home. Please get it. Need it for the workshop!
Shit.
