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Eva Grayson gives a diffident laugh, like the question surprises her. “Yes. My love life has been … quite dramatic lately.”
“I understand you just broke up with tech magnet Ian Donovan.”
“Yes.” She nods, looking forlorn.
“And what was that like? Rumor has it he’s a genius.”
“Undoubtedly.” Again with a sad smile. “It’s difficult to talk about.”
A box of Kleenex appears as if out of nowhere as the camera zooms in on Ava.
She pulls one tissue from the box with a flourish and dabs at her eyes. “Yes, he’s brilliant. But cold. Hard to live with. Difficult. After a while, I just couldn’t …” She trails off dramatically. I pushed pause on the video. She said nothing but implied a lot. I put the phone back on the counter and look up to see him watching me.
I piece together the timeline I’m making in my mind. Brilliant young guy builds an app and then a company that makes him hundreds of millions and puts him on the map. He sells the company. Dates a beautiful up-and-coming actress for a while. They break up. He becomes a recluse.
Or maybe he sold the company after they broke up. I would need to check the dates on that and I don’t want to go to the trouble while he’s watching me.
Either way, his current self-imposed solitary confinement definitely started post break-up.
That’s what this was about?
A bad break up?
Oh, People Magazine … you lying bastards. Rich people are not like us after all.
My worst break up happened two months after my dad died.
Dan and I had been dating for about a year. We worked together and lived together. At some point, I sold my car to save money. Because our shifts at the restaurant were similar enough, it made little sense for us to keep two cars.
He broke up with me three weeks into the probate case, as soon as he realized it wasn’t going to be a slam dunk. He saw the writing on the wall before I did. Or maybe he was just less invested.
My point is this: when Dan and I broke up, I lost my home and my transportation. Just after having lost my father and my future.
I had to hire an Uber to move out. Anything that didn’t fit into that Uber stayed with Dan.
The day I moved out, I cried in the shower at my new place, then I got dressed and made it to work on time. Where I had to work with Dan.
Maybe it’s a sign that I was more emotionally invested in the restaurant than I was in my relationship with Dan, or maybe I really am the heartless bitch he accused me of being.
Maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to judge.
I slide Ian’s phone across the counter back towards him. “Thank you for…” I’m not sure how to end that sentence—or what exactly I am thanking him for—so I just leave it dangling.
One thing is for sure: he really loved her.
I don’t know why that makes me sad, but it does.
Texts between Ian and Martin
seventh week
I need you to amend Savannah’s contract to take out the clause that says she can’t google me.
It’s Savannah now, is it?
What? No response? You can’t take a little teasing?
I didn’t realize that required a response.
