Page 100 of Reckless Vow

A day or two?

I pace the streets mindlessly, not sure what to do with myself. A housekeeper showed up and I decided to go out, but I have no interest in sightseeing or discovering the city.

I wanted to write in a cafe, but I’m full of pent-up energy. So mad at him for running away from the situation. Or maybe he really had a business meeting he couldn’t postpone and forgot to mention it earlier.

I keep at my mindless traversing of the picturesque streets for almost two hours before my feet scream in protest, and I finally stop and sit in a small bistro near the water.

I order a coffee and the delicious sweet pastel de nata and open my laptop. I reread the last scene I wrote, but my mind keeps wandering to the events of the last few days.

I became a new woman, in some sense of the word. My first orgasms and Baldo’s need to please me helped me reclaim my body.

I didn’t even know I still needed that part of me to be complete.

In some way, I also got closure of my abruptly killed first love.

But my current relationship with Baldo is as unresolved as it’s ever been.

He didn’t find me repulsive, but if he doesn’t address the issue and deal with his own trauma that I’m sure my revelation caused, he’ll start to hate me. Not me, but everything I remind him of.

And maybe he already regrets everything, and that’s why he disappeared. It’s not like the man has shared one thought or feeling with me.

I opened up, but there was no time for him to reciprocate and speak up, or he skillfully diverted the topic.

I click out of the manuscript and click on video conferencing.

Saar answers quickly. “Give me a moment.”

Wearing heavy makeup and an elaborate hairdo, she scurries into a corner of some hangar or warehouse, leaving people behind.

A heavy metal door creaks and she steps into the sunshine. “Hey.” She smiles.

“Hey, where are you? Are you working? Am I interrupting?”

“Yeah, I’m in Madrid, I think. God, I’m so jetlagged I don’t even know.”

“That’s not far from me. Maybe you can come and visit when you’re done.”

“I’m stuck on set till midnight, probably. Why don’t you come over and we’ll spend the day together tomorrow before I have to fly out in the afternoon?”

I almost decline, but fuck, why not? I’m here alone. And this is Europe, after all. Nothing is more than a two-hour flight.

“Okay. Send me the address where you’re staying and I’ll wait for you tonight, if I can find a flight.”

She squeals in delight. “I can’t wait to see you and hear everything about your fake honeymoon.”

Groaning, I hide my face in my hands.

“Saar, get your ass back here.” A male voice comes from somewhere on the other side.

“What’s going on, Brook? Are you not faking it anymore? Are you togethertogether?”

“Saar,” the same voice yells.

“You better go. I’ll tell you everything when I get there.”

I pay and rush outside, making my way to Baldo’s building.

“Brook?”

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