“You date some shallow women.”
“Well, yeah. I mean, Camilla etc., etc.”
We were quiet for a moment. Though Evan annoyed me, he hadn’t deserved to be treated like that. People thought that all women were sweet and nice, but I’d had my fair share of run-ins with manipulative and abusive women, my mother being Exhibit A.
“I have to run,” Evan said, petting Fergus one last time. “I’ll be back, my furry friend.”
“You didn’t want any dinner?” I asked, feeling slightly miffed that he was leaving.
Evan grabbed the fork out of my hand, swirled up a coil of pasta, took a bite, then handed it back to me.
“Delicious. But I bought it for you. I have a fancy dinner meeting tonight. Going to be lots of drinking and dirty guy jokes, then we’re going to a strip club.” He laughed as I puffed up. “Kidding! I’m more professional than that. I know you think I’m an asshole, and I am, but I’m an asshole with standards.”
My condo felt colder and emptier after Evan left.
“It’s just because he takes up so much freaking space,” I muttered, angrily eating the pasta.
14
Evan
The business dinner was as dry as they normally were. I was one of the few there without a plus one—not that that was anything new either. Camilla had refused to attend any business functions with me in the last few months. She said it was beneath her, and she didn’t like the wives of the investors for my hedge fund. The reality was that they didn’t like her very much either.
At the event, no one I talked to seemed all that broken up about the end of Camilla’s and my relationship.
“You can do so much better,” the wife of one of the bigger investors assured me as she took another glass of wine from a waiter. “Stop looking for a wife online. You kids and your dating apps. You have to go out and live. The perfect girl may be waiting for you where you least expect it. One day you’ll look up and say, ‘Ah, it’s you!’”
“She’s had a bit to drink,” her friend told me after the two wandered off to the ladies’ room. “But honestly, Camilla is a, what do you kids say? A skank? It’s good that problem sorted itself out before you were tied down to her.”
“Man, women can be harsh,” Sebastian remarked. He was the other single person at the dinner. “At least they haven’t started trying to set you up with their daughters or nieces yet.” He handed me several photos of polite, well-bred young women.
“Going on any hot dates?” I asked him.
“Nah, you know I spend all my free time with my little brother. Especially now that my company is moving to Harrogate. He’s been a little antsy with the change. But you need to get back out there! The best cure for a terrible breakup is a hot rebound relationship.”
“That sounds like a bad idea,” I said with a frown, heading over to the bar.
“It’s a great idea!” Sebastian insisted, throwing an arm around me. “You just have to set the expectations up front. The girl has to know it’s just about sex and you working through some things. Surely there’s a woman out there who’s also getting over a bad breakup and just needs some stress relief.”
“Sounds like a recipe for disaster. I’m trying to limit the amount of toxic people in my life,” I said with a frown.
“Find a busy professional woman who just wants to blow off steam, you know, maybe only between the hours of seven and nine on a Tuesday, because the rest of her nights are scheduled with work events, Soul Cycle, or dinners with friends. You would just be an item in her calendar. No strings, no fuss.”
“I don’t know anyone like that,” I countered then put in my drink order. Except that I did. Ivy was a busy professional woman, and unless I had completely misread the situation—but I didn’t believe I had—Ivy was into me.
“Oh?” Sebastian said, waggling his eyebrows. “You have someone in mind?”
“I don’t,” I said, refusing to think of Ivy.
“Don’t deny it! I know you too well. Who is it? Anyone I know?” Sebastian insisted.
“Yeah, but,” I admitted, accepting my drink from the bartender, “I don’t think it will work. She hates my guts.”
“Even better!” Sebastian elbowed me.
“It’s not fun hatred. I kind of sort of owe her money.”
Sebastian sucked in a breath. “Yeah, you better stay away from that. Also, pay your fucking bills, dude. You’re going to make me look bad by association if people think you’re ducking out on contracts.”
