Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Me too. I didn’t think I was going to still be at Dynasty Games this year, and here I am at the same job, and it is suddenly springtime,” he shrugged.
“Weren’t you talking about going to California recently? What happened to that?” I asked.
“Yeah, I was supposed to be taking a course out there. Animation…”
“Like you always wanted to do!” I smiled.
“Exactly,” he looked suddenly embarrassed. “But I got scammed. They made off with the course fees. It wasn’t just me, there were others. I lost my savings, and some I’d borrowed. My own fault, really.”
“Isn’t there anything that can be done?” I asked, a little ashamed that I hadn’t known about this. After all, we were supposed to be friends. I wondered if my parents knew.
“There was an investigation. It hit a dead end.” He looked hopeless, but managed a lopsided smile. I felt bad for ever wondering why he stuck it out at Dynasty Games. I’d thought he was just sticking with it because it was a steady paycheck. I found it disappointing even, because I knew he had been so ambitious.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, “and that’s why this whole thing with Animagic hit you so hard.”
He nodded. “It’s also why I’ve been pretty distant. I let a lot of friendships go last year. I don’t know why.”
“Hey, we’re here now, aren’t we? And I am going to take the last olive, and then we’ll be even!” I smiled, spearing the last black olive on my tiny Italian flag, and popping it in my mouth.
Hearing him take the blame for our friendship fading made me feel even worse. Really, I had dropped him and so many friends when Jason came on the scene. Jason didn’t like Drew or any of my friends. Or me talking to other men at all, really. I was reminded afresh what an idiot I’d been to not see how controlling that had been. Then when Jason and I had ended, I didn’t feel able – or worthy – of trying to rekindle some sort of friendship. I wanted to get away from everything in my past, and Drew belonged in the past. Now I had an unsettling feeling that maybe I’d been wrong.
“It’s a deal,” he laughed, and all traces of that sadness were gone, but I felt like it was still there, just under the surface. I wanted to hold him. I wanted to make it all better.
“It was just as much me as it was you, you know,” I said, feeling the need to acknowledge my part in it. “I do wish we hadn’t left it quite so long.”
“I wish lots of things,” he grinned suggestively.
“Yeah? Like what?” I challenged him and took another sip of wine, realizing that the bottle was going down rather quickly.
He leaned forward. “Like the fact that I never kissed you. Never took you to bed.”
I was lost for words, but he carried on eating. The waiter came over at that moment, so I had a few seconds to recover, and he spoke to him in Italian. My Italian was basic, but I noticed that Drew’s had certainly improved. He was thanking him for the food, telling him we used to come here a long time ago. The waiter beamed at us, and I was more convinced than ever that it was the same one who used to serve us. I was glad of the distraction. I couldn’t decide if I was more excited about finding the old Drew again – my best friend – or meeting this new, more assertive Drew. I felt his foot nudge mine under the table, and I did my best to sip my wine and smile at the waiter as though I wasn’t wishing exactly the same thing that Drew had just told me he was wishing.
Chapter 13
FREYA
“THERE’S NOTHING else to tell!” I laughed.
I was on the phone with Beatrix. She was whispering because Stan, her husband, was asleep upstairs, and she didn’t want to wake him. It was almost two and I should have been in bed, but Drew had mentioned in passing that he was seeing me, and so I had about a dozen messages from her on my phone threatening me with all sorts of vengeance if I didn’t reply to her and let her know how it had gone. I had messaged her and got an instant call back.
“No, no, no! There’s a big gap. Lovely dinner, yadda, walked back through the park… then nothing. It’s two in the morning!”
“Okay, he came back for a coffee,” I added, bracing myself for the inevitable barrage of questions.
“Oh. My. God. I knew there was more to it,” she practically squealed.
“You’re going to wake Stan!” I warned, laughing. “And anyway, he isn’t here now, so you’ll have to project your fantasies on someone else!”