I’ve barely raised my hand to attract the waitress and she’s by my side in an instant, coffee pot still glued to her hand. She places a mug down in front of Calliope and fills it. “Can I get you anything to drink? Chef leaves in half an hour if you want something hot, but we’ve still got soup on the stove and he can whip up some bacon, if you like?”
“I’m okay, thanks,” Calliope says as she warms her cold hands on her cup.
“Me too. Just a refill, please.” As she pours more coffee into my cup, my eyes dart back to Calliope as she tosses her head to free her hair from her face and rapidly blinks away her tears.
“Just holler if you need anything, okay?” With another charming smile, the waitress vanishes back behind the counter.
“So,” Calliope sighs. “You said in your message that we really had to talk so… talk.” She lifts her cup and gazes at me over the rim as she takes a slow sip.
“Right.” Straight to the point is probably best. “I wanted you to clarify what you meant by the phone call?”
“What phone call?” she asks between sips.
She’s really going to make me say it, isn’t she?
“The call that was answered by my wife.”
“Oh. That call.” Calliope sighs softly and sets her cup down, but one hand lingers on the rim. “Well… I wanted to get in touch with you, so I took your number and just straight up called one day. A woman answered and when I asked to speak to you, she started asking me all these questions about who I was. I almost thought I had the wrong number until I told her I’d met you at the conference and she said… her exact words were something like ‘oh, you mean the conference he refused to take his wife to so I had to waste that whole weekend by myself?’.” Calliope’s nose scrunches slightly. “I hung up. You never called back, and when I tried again, I found myself blocked.”
So, it was as I suspected.
“Calliope.”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t have a wife. I have never been married.”
“Sure.” The disbelief is heavy in her tone and my gut twists slightly.
“I swear I have never been married. I’ve never wanted to be married, and I definitely was not dating anyone when we attended the conference. I certainly wouldn’t have slept with you if that were the case. I’m not that kind of man.” It suddenlymakes sense why she was so snippy in the breakroom when I talked about my ex cheating. She probably thought it was karma.
“If that’s how you see it, then that’s how you see it,” Calliope replies. “It’s not like you can prove it, and I’m not going to argue with you.”
“No, I—” Without thinking, I suddenly reach across the table and place my hand over hers as if it will stop her from leaving. “Please, I’m telling the truth.”
Her eyes dart down to our touch and a flinch rolls down my spine as I take my hand back. “Sorry. I just… okay. I have a vague idea of whom you spoke to. I haven’t talked to her in years, but I did try to give her a call. She’s happily married and lives in Long Island now with two kids. Twins, I believe. But she was someone who was around me back then.”
Both of Calliope’s hands wrap around her mug and she stares at me, her eyes slightly narrowed. “Elijah…”
“No, please. It’s important to me that you know I’m not the man you think I am. Back then, I…” Pain squeezes briefly through my chest and forces me to clear my throat. “My mom was in her later years and dying of cancer. All she cared about was setting me up with someone because she couldn’t bear the thought of my being alone when she passed. She set me up with some incredible people and some really crazy people because she was desperate. And I entertained all of her notions because she was dying and I wanted to make her happy. The woman I mentioned…” I shake my head and laugh softly. “She was a character. She used to sneak into my room naked, and I’d come home and find her and have to call security. She’s likely who picked up the call, and given her… passion for my money and family name, she would call herself my wife.”
Calliope’s silent throughout my whole explanation, leaving me slightly breathless and my heart racing. It sounds like a poor excuse. I’m aware of how poor it sounds, but it’s the truth and I pray she believes me.
“So, you dated her?”
“No,” I reply firmly. “She was not one of the women I dated. She did try to invite herself along to the conference, and that showed my mother what a bad choice she was. Although she wasn’t a bad person. I believe she’s medicated now, and her head is much calmer and clearer. Back then, she was just young and… imbalanced.”
Calliope lifts her cup and drinks slowly, but she doesn’t take her eyes off me.
“I dated in my teens and my early twenties, then I threw myself into work and it worried my mother. She was just… constantly afraid that I would be alone and couldn’t understand that I enjoyed my own company most of all. I never dated anyone until about three years ago when my mom introduced me to Imogen. By then, her health was failing.” The words begin to stick in my throat. “She was old and frail, and constantly worrying about me and the future, so I said yes to Imogen. Just to make her happy. And it worked.”
“Imogen is your current ex?” Calliope asks. “The one who kept calling?”
A weary sigh drifts past my lips. “Yup. I could keep up the pretense when Mom was alive, but after she passed… my disinterest was hard to hide while I was grieving. I…” Some of Imogen’s crass words come back to me in jolts. “In her words, Ichecked out of the relationshipand that’s why she cheated. Andthe more I think about it… the more I think she’s right. I should have broken up with her as soon as I could, but…” My brow tightens and my heart gives an unexpectedly powerful thump. “I don’t know.”
“It was familiar?” Calliope offers.
“I… yeah.” My lips twitch into a smile. “In a weird way, it was also the last connection to my mother. She gave the relationship her blessing, and part of me didn’t want to lose that.” I glance down at my coffee. “But then about eight, or nine months ago now, I came home early and found her in bed with her financial advisor. I wasn’t hurt. I wasn’t even angry. I just felt… relief. We broke up immediately, but because of my name and how long we’d been living together, I took it through the court so that it was as legally fair to her as possible and no one could accuse me of stiffing her.”
