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Was it wrong to let myself be distracted by him this way? I was here to confirm the cheating, not to cheat myself. However, if I were still in a solid relationship, this wouldn’t be happening in the first place.
"Whatever you're thinking about right now, forget it," he warned me in his deep voice, without even knowing what was on my mind. "He's hardly worth it."
I wanted to tell him he wasn't in a position to judge, but that would have just made me look foolish. So I accepted his directive and pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind.
Just as the waiter was clearing our plates and whispering something to the man, I reached out my hand to him. Before I could even speak, both of his large hands enveloped mine. I swallowed hard. "My name is Amelia, by the way." Why was it so damn hard to say those words?
Oh, right. Because he was holding my hand as if it were a precious treasure he had just been given. Everywhere our skin touched, I felt a familiar warmth that slowly traveled up my arm, morphing into a tingling sensation. It felt as though all my muscles were quivering and twitching under the influence of tiny electrical currents, yet aside from my chest, none of my body parts were moving.
"Can I offer you some advice?"
Good lord, he could give me any advice in the world.
"You're going to walk into your shared apartment, pack up all your things, and disappear without a trace. No final message, nothing. You'll block his number, leave the city, and start over somewhere completely new. That's your plan, Amelia."
"Okay," I replied, as if hypnotized.
As if it were the answer. The only right one. The one that could make all my problems vanish into thin air.
"And where do you think I should go?"
"To a place where you can forget all this." His hand twitched as if he intended to make a gesture that encompassed both Toronto and my ex, but ultimately, it didn't move an inch.
My gaze was equally fixed; I simply couldn't tear my eyes away from his face. "You look like you have a specific place in mind," I observed.
"Yes."
"But?"
He pursed his lips. "But it wouldn't be wise to tell you where."
"Don't worry, I won't force it from you."
"That's not what I mean."
Of course not. He was talking about something else. Something that I was aware of in the back of my mind but wasn't fully comprehending because my brain was still hooked on the fact that my cheating ex-boyfriend was no more than twenty yards away. Ex-boyfriend—I must have reached that decision at some point since my arrival at the restaurant without informing him of our status update.
When the waiter reappeared, this time with dessert, he reluctantly let go of my hand. With his right hand, he reached for the spoon while he repeatedly opened and closed his left, as if embarrassed. Yet, he was the onewho hadn't let go of my hand.
"To be honest, I wouldn't even know how to disappear from the city by tomorrow," I started before plunging the spoon into my dessert.
As before, he had decided for me. Taken care of me. That afternoon, I had lost my appetite, and here I was, stuffing my face in his company, as if my years-long relationship hadn't just crumbled.
"Do you need help?"
"Do you think it's wise to trust a stranger with an offer like that?"
"If by 'stranger' you mean someone you hired through one of those apps—definitely not. There are too many fools out there you're better off not meeting."
"And you are…?"
"Not a fool? Oh, I definitely am. But one with his heart in the right place. And it would ease my mind to know that you're using me to escape your past life rather than someone else." He looked at me dead serious, yet I couldn't help but notice that his statement had many layers. It wasn't just about moving my stuff out of the apartment and disappearing without a trace.
Just as I opened my mouth, I heard the hostess shouting from the front desk behind us, "You can't just?—"
The loud clacking of high heels approached, causing me to instinctively hunch my shoulders. At that moment, I realized they had stopped right next to my chair.
I looked up to see the angry face of a woman about his age. Damn. He really needed to tell me his name.
