Mr Reluctant Billionaire || BWWM

Sixty-six

Curiosity kills the cat. Satisfaction brings it back. It has to. That is the reason I am in this café, waiting for David after I made the spontaneous decision to see him. I pull my oversized tracksuit over my belly, trying and failing to blend in with the scanty crowd.

A wave of nostalgia hits me when someone passes with a tray of fish and chips. I need to call Clarissa. I don’t understand how we let life, thesis and coursework pull us apart but we need to meet. Sending her a short text, I roll my lip between my teeth while awaiting her reply. If she replies before David comes, I will cancel our meeting. She comes first.

I shouldn’t be here.

That seems to have become my new mantra and each time, things turn out better than I expect. I hope it’s the case today. Taking a swig from the water bottle on the table while I wait for the first person to show up, I try to push the nagging thoughts out of my head.

They always revolve around the same things. Brandon’s dead twin. His reaction to Josh’s gift. The unusual quiet in the house. I suppose I can ask him that when he decides to talk to me but I haven’t been able to process the information Josh dropped on my laps. Let alone attend to the whims of a man who has mood swings worse than that of a pregnant woman. He won’t talk to me, I won’t talk to him either. I am tired of talking.

Yes, we greet. We sleep on the same bed because I cannot imagine spending the night anywhere outside his arms but our conversation has taken a lull which I am not willing to revive. Maybe I am hurt by Josh’s revelation, more than finding out about Brianna but if he reaches out to me first. If he, for the first time in our marriage, tries to talk to me about the problem without the usual nudge from me, I might make the next move.

But until then, I’ll endure the silence. I need it to round up my thesis and final exams. As I remind myself of my goals, I can’t tune out the voice saying I’ll cave sooner than later. I believe the voice is right but I will try. Even if it is for another day, to make it a full week.

My phone pings with a text from Clarissa: Busy, raincheck? I should pick my phone to call or text her but I don’t, I just stare at the message long enough for the words to blur. To my greatest relief, David texts me an apology and a plea to hold on a little longer, he will be here in ten minutes. I nod like he can see me, quickly typing up a reply to him.

To be honest, I have no idea why I am here.

Maybe I want to know what he knows to make sure he doesn’t start fake rumours in the name of reviving his career. Maybe I am ready to listen to him like I should have done the first time he approached me. But who will blame me? A young man walks up to me and asks me to look up a name that doesn’t exist. I am bound to think him a charlatan.

The chair in front of me creaks as someone pulls it out, I look up to see David. “Don’t stand up on my account,” he says and I stare down at my body halfway out of the chair.

I nod, offering David a sheepish smile as I lower myself back to my seat. Standing takes too much effort anyway. Like me, his outfit reveals no skin. Partly due to the chill in the air. A brown sweatshirt that covers his knuckles and a muffler hanging around his neck.

With concealed interest, I watch him make an order, when his head tilts in my direction, I shake my head. He looks better with extra flesh on his cheek, the best I have seen him since our meetings but I don’t want to spend his money. I am not sure he has enough.

“My treat,” I say when the waiter calls out the full amount of his order and for the fun of it, I order a large milkshake for him when his eyes linger on it. I don’t know why. I will never know why but his shy smile before his lips close over the straw is all that matters.