Page 22 of Xavier

Five

Her

Present Day

"'Xavier? I'd like you to meet Isabella.” Jade turns to me and gestures to the man in front of me, who is so handsome, I turn giddy from breathlessness. But it’s not his angled jaw that has me dizzy. It’s his eyes. Those shocking green eyes. Eyes I haven’t seen in twelve years.

He reaches his hand out to me, his face unreadable.

"’Isabella,’ was it? I'm Xavier. Nice to meet you."

"Ahem, yes. Y-you, too." I manage to get out, taking his hand. I’m not sure what I expect when our fingers touch, but it’s just like any other handshake, and I wonder how that can be.

"Well, I'll leave you two to it. I'm actually really glad Xavier won the auction. He really could use help with the barren space he calls his apartment." With that, Jade rushes off before I can beg her to stay.

I’m not sure how long we stand there gaping at each other. Ten seconds, ten years. Time whizzes by, backward or forward, I can’t tell.

"Is it really you?” he finally says, his hand still grasping my hand, and his eyes searching for something in mine. Those emerald eyes. How could I have forgotten those eyes?

"W-what do you mean?" I say, the lightness of my own voice surprising me.

"Malynda..." He says, and it’s like I haven’t spent the last twelve years trying to forget the name. Something in the way it pricks at my brain makes me remember who I am today.

"No. I’m not Malynda. Anymore."

“You are. Your name is Malynda!” he says, a little more forcefully, his forehead furrowing, deep, intense frustration plastering all over his face. I pull my hand out of his, taking a step back.

“My name is Isabella,” I say as firmly as I can.

"Not to me, it isn't!” There’s a huskiness in his voice that wasn’t there twelve years ago. And it’s only one of the many changes in him that I’m forcing myself to ignore. He leans in, his lips inches from my ear and I can smell the Scotch on his breath, the cinnamon in his aftershave. “My god, where have you been?”

I can feel my head shake left to right. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This was never supposed to happen. "I can't do this, Xavier." I take another step back but he just follows.

"You can’t do this? What about... hey, don't walk away from me. Don’t you dare."

I can’t stand the confusion filling up his eyes and I turn to run. "Xavier, please. I can't...”

"Isabella!" The sound of a man's voice cuts through the tension sphere enveloping us and we spring apart, as if shot through a time portal. "There you are, darling. I was looking all over for you. Jade pointed me over here."

"Oh, wonderful." I can barely speak. I take the glass he hands me and take a sip, hoping he will think the flush on my cheeks is because of the champagne.

"Hello, I'm Cameron,” my partner says to Xavier, offering his hand.

"I'm... um… I’m..." Xavier sounds just as flustered as I do. I can’t blame him.

"Oh, yes, you're the guy who bid on Isabella's services here. Thanks for doing that by the way, created some buzz. That won't hurt our budding business, will it?” Cameron winks at me.

I just nod, recovering my breath.

"Well, um, I heard she's the best,” Xavier says.

"That she is. She's made our place pretty much the envy of everyone."

I feel Xavier’s eyes still on me, and I can’t focus on anything else.

"Well, darling, we’d better be going. I have an early plane to catch tomorrow morning." Cameron lays his hand in the small of my back, and I try not to push it away when I notice Xavier watching.

"Nice to meet you, um, I'm sorry I didn't catch your name…"

"Xavier. Nice to meet you.” He turns back to me and I have no choice but to meet his look. “And um, Maly-er, um... I will be in touch, very soon."

"I'm s-sorry?" I stutter, I can’t think of a reason I would put either of us through this again.

“For his apartment design, darling," Cameron says, shaking his head at Xavier and rolling his eyes as if to lament over my forgetfulness.

"Oh, um, yes, of course." No. There’s no way. I’m going to have to find a way out of this.

Xavier locks his eyes with mine for one last moment before he flings himself into the crowd, and it’s only seconds before he’s swallowed up by the bodies in tuxedos and silk.

My breath doesn’t return as fast as I hope, but Cameron’s hand on my back is now a source of steadiness.

"Hey, he was kind of a strange guy. What were you two talking about?" he asks as we step out into the night.

I take a breath before answering.

“He just mistook me for someone he used to know.”

But she doesn’t exist anymore.