One Time Thing [Wattys 2021 Shortlist] ✔️

Chapter 30: Now what?

XANDER

"So, that settles that." Mr O'Hara finished his scotch and began gathering his papers. Xander took him to that bar where he met Mia, so that they could do the final paperwork.

"Yes, the down payment is on my account." Xander checked his online banking. Mr O'Hara was a man that messed around with his clothes, but didn't mess around with his business, Xander thought as he looked at the man's dark yellow suit.

"Excellent. We will see each other in three weeks, then. First, we're gonna do climbing while the weather is still nice." Mr O'Hara fixed his navy blue tie and proceeded to take out his wallet.

"No, no, it's on me." Xander said.

"Sure?"

"Yes, don't worry about it."

"Well, okay, I'll get the round on the plane, then." Mr O'Hara laughed throatily. "And, are you sure there will be no plus one?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Xander said and the man smiled knowingly, offering a hand.

"Then, this will be all for now. It's a pleasure doing business with you."

"You, too, Tom." Xander shook the man's hand. Mr O'Hara took his briefcase, waved to Fred, the waiter, and headed out of the bar. Fortunately, this time when he made a business deal in this bar, he didn't insult the business partner and make him leave during a storm.

"This is a good bar, Fred." Xander leaned onto the bar stool.

"Ah, it's a harsh world we live in, least I can do is keep a good bar." Fred poured some scotch into Xander's glass. "So, a job in Europe, ha?"

"Yeah, living out of the box and all that." Xander said.

"I couldn't help but notice there won't be any lady friends joining you on your trip." Fred arched his eyebrow.

"Yeah, I screwed up a thing or two since that offer fell on the table." Xander's thoughts drifted across the last few weeks and how his life turned upside down in such a short span of time.

"What about Mia?" Fred didn't even seem like he was prying, his questioned flew naturally. "You two seemed to have really hit it off the last time you were here."

"It turned out to be a bit more complicated than that." Xander said, but Fred smiled knowingly.

"I might have heard something about it from Mia and her friends when she was here the last time. They drank my whole stash of vodka." Fred laughed out loud, while cleaning the glasses.

"You heard them talk? I'll give you a hundred bucks if you tell me what they said." Xander winked, remembering the last time the bartender was easily bribed.

"Save your money. I may be willing to bend the boundaries of law, but never of moral." Fred smiled wisely.

"Eh, knowing wouldn't help me anyway." Xander concluded, taking a sip of his scotch. For a while after his breakup with Annie, he felt good. He missed her sometimes, especially when he walked by something pink, but it was the good kind of missing. Like he was ready to move on and fondly remembered all the memories.

"You know," Fred began, "I've seen a lot of things in this bar. I've seen a man come here alone every day after his wife died. After fifteen years, he finally came with another lady. The happiness on that man's face was the best thing I've ever seen."

"I can imagine this job being quite rewarding. Especially if you're the owner." Xander smiled.

"It is. But what I wanted to say is that some amazing things can be born out of tragedies. You just have to learn to recognise them and not let them go." Fred had a 'wise grandpa' vibe to him, even though he wasn't that old.

"Yeah? And how do you know which things are real? How do you know that it wasn't all just a symptom of the tragedy?" Xander didn't really feel like opening philosophical debates, but he wouldn't refuse talking to someone.

"What are you worried about, exactly?" Fred leaned onto the counter, but the smirk never disappeared from his lips.

"You really want to be my shrink?" Xander asked suspiciously.

"Well, if you keep drinking, you gonna pay me more than a shrink." Fred nodded towards the bottle of scotch resting next to them and Xander sighed.

"I met Mia while I was with my girlfriend. I broke up with the girlfriend in the meantime. And now I don't know whether the entire thing with Mia only happened because I was in a bad relationship." Xander knew this turmoil will be settled as soon as he escapes to Europe, but he was aware he was running away.

"No way to know that, boy. You gotta roll with it. If it fails, it fails. But you're never gonna know if you don't try." Fred's smile was self-confident and Xander fought the urge to roll his eyes at the bartender.

"I knew that one myself, Fred." Xander sighed. The atmosphere in the bar was calm and cosy, just like the last time Xander was here. He remembered how Mia said this might be an alternate dimension and it surely seemed like it. The scarce customers looked content with the peaceful vibe and surprisingly, no one looked angry or stressed. Almost like the bar affected everyone.

"There's magic here, you know?" Fred said.

"In the bar?"

"Yes, there's definitely magic. Thirty years of existence and not one single fight. Dilemmas and debates, sure, but never violence. Never hatred. It's a rare thing, this bar, you shouldn't underestimate its power." Fred winked and continued cleaning the glasses. They seemed to appear with the sole purpose of giving him work to do.

"Then, maybe I should give in to the bar, maybe it tells me what to do." Xander smiled.

"It probably will."

Xander pondered over the dilemma for a little while more. He thought about unblocking Mia' number but there was nothing constructive about the idea. Opening that can of worms would only bring more indecision. And why? Because he wanted to see her. After all, they went through something together. The least they owed to each other was a final conversation.

Has this experience taught them anything? Maybe they could compare notes. The pros and cons of cheating on one's partner. The lesson behind the mistake.

But none of those would answer the most important question that occupied Xander's head space. Was any of it real? Or was it just a side-effect of unhappiness and dissatisfaction?