Page 105 of People Skills

‘What was their first date?’

‘You don’t know?’

‘Do you know your parents’ first date?’

‘My parents aren’t romantic. I think they went to the movies.’

‘Your parents—still together, a thirty-five-year marriage—are not romantic, but my parents—trainwreck marriage, messy divorce—they’re romantic?’

‘Yes,’ I say.

Xavier shakes his head. ‘No one does better PR for himself than my father.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘He knows how to spin it so you think the best of him.’

‘Do you ever think you’re too harsh on him?’

‘Sometimes. I’m probably too harsh on both of them, but the only way to survive them is to not fall for their bullshit,’ he says. ‘Also, let’s remember Dad cheated on Mum. Before we cast him as the romantic lead in this movie. And Mum savaged him publicly.’

‘Well, no one’s perfect,’ I say.

‘Some people are closer than others,’ he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me down on top of him on the couch. He has that look in his eye, that I-want-to-do-unspeakable-things-to-you look, and, god, I want to lie in his arms forever.

I rest my head on his chest and I can hear his heart beating. ‘You smell so good,’ I murmur, burrowing into his neck. I say it without thinking and I can feel more words bubbling up. And it reminds me of something. A flash of memory of lying on Caleb’s leather couch, his head in my lap, and thinking exactly this. I have so many feelings I want to tell you but I don’t know how.

I sit up quickly. I can’t go there again. I need to get my feelings under control before I do anything else with Xavier.

‘What’s wrong?’ he says to me.

‘I just remembered something I need to do for work.’

‘On a Sunday?’

‘I’m taking inspiration from James. I just need to duck into the office quickly.’

I go and get changed, and as I’m gathering my laptop and work bag, he comes up behind me.

‘Char,’ he says.

He’s never called me Char before. It’s always been Charlotte. Except last night, when he called me baby. Twice. That’s the word I’m stuck on, the word my heart keeps tripping on.

‘We should talk,’ he says.

‘Okay, when I’m back.’ I turn and give him a bright smile, but I feel absurdly like I’m going to cry. We need to talk. That’s how my last conversation with Caleb started. Damn it. I need to get Caleb out of my head.

When I get to the office, the door is unlocked, and I realise Hillary is here too. I cannot escape this goddamn family.

‘Charlotte,’ she says, looking as surprised to see me as I am to see her.

‘I was just getting a head start on some things,’ I tell her.

‘Me too,’ she says.

We both work in silence for a few minutes, and I’m hopeful that maybe I can just put my earbuds in and work as if she’s not here, when she stands up and walks over to my desk and sits in Kat’s chair across from me.

‘Charlotte, I’m so sorry about what a mess last night was. You must be appalled at my family,’ she says.