“I do. I got your number, remember?”
Elijah stares at me and his brows twitch for a moment, then something clicks behind his eyes and realization dawns across his face like a soft wave. “You did… and you didn’t call. You… didn’t feel anything between us?”
I suck in a deep breath and lower my shoulders. “I did. And I called you.”
“What?” Elijah’s eyes widened. “When?”
“I called you and a woman answered. Your wife, remember?”
Elijah gapes at me. “My wife?”
“It was bad enough that youforgotto mention her before we slept together, but to stand there and pretend you don’t know anything about her again, to my face, is pretty fucked up.” A lick of anger laces my words.
Rather than protest, Elijah’s frown deepens and his eyes dart back and forth. After a single shake of his head, he moves past me in a rush. “I have to go.”
“What? Just like that? You don’t even have anything to say in your defense?”
When Elijah turns back to me, rather than softness or even guilt on his face, all I see is a flicker of pain. “I have to go. But please, meet me later for coffee, will you? I’ll call you.”
And with that, he’s gone so quickly, it’s like he was never here at all.
19
ELIJAH
More than a day later, I sit in a cafe that rests on the edge of the bay and overlooks the sparkling sand and dark, gleaming water of the sea.
This late at night, there’s no one else but me, and given how the minutes are ticking by, I’m not sure Calliope will even meet me. She has her son to take care of, after all, and if it doesn’t work out, then it just doesn’t.
But I spent all of last night and most of today trying to get to the bottom of her accusation. A wife? I’ve never been married in my life, but telling her that to her face after she’s spent nearly seven years thinking I cheated with her simply wasn’t enough. I needed proof. A real explanation.
“Another?” The waitress approaches, her yellow dress surprisingly free of stains given how hectic this cafe has been the other few times I’ve been here. She holds a coffee pot in one hand and tilts her head, sending brown curls cascading over one shoulder.
“No, thank you. Not yet.”
“Alright, sweetheart, you just let me know.” Her tongue pops against something in her mouth and she flashes me a wide smile that deepens the crow's feet around her eyes, then she turns and heads back to the counter.
San Francisco is so different from New York, but I like it here. Everything moves a little slower, the people have a little more time for you, and there’s no pressure to be ten steps ahead at every second. Although part of my enjoyment here is definitely linked to Calliope.
It’s been an hour and she still isn’t here.
How long should I give her? Should I text her? That might come across as pushy, and I don’t want to add to her stress. It was a surprise she even agreed to meet me in the first place. Wrapping my hands around my mug, I cling to the lingering warmth that radiates from my leftover coffee and wait.
Twenty minutes later, the door to the cafe swings open and Calliope steps inside. Her dark hair spills around her face and settles in the red scarf wrapped around her neck, and her eyes sparkle as the sudden change from the cold outside to the warmth inside brings tears to her corners.
In one glance around the cafe, she spots me and her lips twitch into a very brief greeting smile as she approaches. “I’m so sorry I’m late.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. Everything was going to plan but then Nick was throwing a tantrum, and my house is currently in chaos, so I had to wait for my friend to get off work to come and stay with him and…” She puffs out her cheeks as she slides into the boothand rapidly removes her scarf. A red flush coats her throat and creeps up to her cheeks as she settles. “Sorry.”
“We could have rescheduled,” I say, breathing in the minty, spicy mix of her perfume as it fills the air around me. “I wouldn’t have minded.”
“I mean, it sounded kind of urgent when you called so… I’m here.” She shrugs off her coat, revealing a coral knit sweater beneath, and she immediately shoves both sleeves up to her elbows.
“Do you want anything to eat? Drink?”
“Coffee would be great.”
