AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This being…”
“Being you losing your damn mind.”
Well. That did call for celebration.
I went to the bar, and I found myself spontaneously ordering a cosmo, my mind going back to LIV, and Ruth’s Mai Tai. The bartender took her time, busy sweet-talking a couple of college boys who looked like they were ready to bleed tips for attention, and by the time she got my drinks set down, Ruth showed up next to me with a twenty to cover them both.
“Hey,” I said, and she nudged me.
“You’re unemployed. Besides, my apology for being late.”
“Well, not turning down a free drink. Thanks.”
She drank too much of her cocktail in one go, laughing as she set it down back at our table by the railing. “So, now that I bought you that drink…”
“You were just trying to buy gossip?”
“So shoot me.” She put her arms out to the sides. “I’ll be a martyr for something this juicy.”
I looked down into the surface of my drink. There was something… about it. About everything, here, tonight. A kind of surrealism in the atmosphere, a sense that I was above it all, looking down from a bird’s-eye view. It took a second to find words. “It was just a casual thing. Met her at LIV that Sunday night—”
“Seriously? You went and hooked up with the client beforehand?”
“Just don’t tell anybody…”
She laughed, loud and wild, into her hand. “London Sinclair, you dog.”
“Like I said, it was just casual. Until… it wasn’t.” I sipped lightly at my drink, just occupying myself while I picked out words from a nebulous ether. “And then everything went to hell in a handbasket. For both of us. Her parent company is seriously considering dropping her brand, after a bit of a… smear campaign from her ex-husband.” I furrowed my brow. “Current husband… I suppose.”
She shook her head. “If I were to pick, out of all the names in the world, who would go on a fling with a client—a married woman—and Cameron goddamn Mercier—you would not be in my top one million.”
“I know… I know.”
“She changed you.” She leaned in towards me, narrowing her eyes. “That’s what this is about? Cameron Mercier’s made you into a different woman.”
Was it that simple? It was a million more things, and yet, at its heart… “Yeah. That’s about it.”
“So… what’s the coin thing?”
“Uh—don’t worry about that.” I sat up straighter. “I went to see her earlier today. She told me… told me we never could have been, anyway.”
She frowned. “Because of her husband?”
“You’d think. But no. She’s a very contrary woman.” I laughed suddenly, running a finger around the rim of my drink. “It’s very attractive, if I’m being honest.”
She pursed her lips. “Not what I would have placed as your type.”
“Well, now you know.”
“Learning new things about you all the time.”
“Me too.” I folded my arms, giving her a serious look. “No. She said it’s because I’m not me. I’m trying to be someone else.”
She frowned.
“And I know you know what she means.”
She avoided my gaze, focusing on the ocean view. “You’ve just got a hell of a customer service face,” she said, her voice not really there.
