Page 24 of Power Games

"I usually come here with Rob and every time, he spends about ten minutes studying the menu although there's, like, five choices. Then, he orders the same thing anyway."

Charles had seemed relaxed and in a good mood until now. His smile disappeared, and he looked quite concerned when he asked, "Speaking of, how is it going?"

She tilted her head, confused. "How's what going?"

"You. After the break-up. Izzy mentioned Rob and you parted ways recently."

"Oh!"

She'd forgotten. Rob had gone out with Kaia last weekend, and kissed her neck in public to get people talking.

"I felt like an asshole, by the way. You let me talk your ears off about my problems, and I didn't even know you were going through a separation. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Great, actually," she replied. "Rob and I were definitely not right for each other. We parted ways on very friendly terms."

"And he jumped right into the arms of a girl you can't stand."

She laughed again, and then leaned in, lowering her voice. "All right, so if we're going to be friends, we might as well be honest with each other, Charles."

"Honest sounds refreshing," he replied.

She theatrically glanced left, right, before whispering, "Kaia is one of my besties. And she's absolutely awesome." She lifted her fingers to her lips in a shushing motion and leaned back in her seat, winking.

He laughed. "What's all the press around you about, then?"

Vanessa shrugged. "They assumed stuff; we didn't contradict them. I think it started because Kaia can't open her mouth without spouting some form of sarcasm, so she called me a prude in public once. Of course, I had to say that people shouldn't judge the way she dressed, because it must be hard to pick a cute outfit when you can't see your reflection. Her fans rallied behind her, mine started to have my back, and we sold more songs, so our agent is still milking it. But Kaia and I see each other at least once a week, we take some dance lessons together, and I probably talk to her every day. There's zero issue between us. As for Rob..."

"He was just a friend," Charles guessed.

She shrugged. "You know how it is. Having a girlfriend suited him, and having a famous boyfriend worked for me."

Charles was shaking his head, and chuckled humorlessly. "I'm never going to believe anything Izzy reads in the gossip rags ever again."

"Very wise, sir. Come on. Now we've figured out that I'm not brokenhearted, let's talk about your mess."

"Or not," Charles proposed. "Let us forget about my mess entirely and actually enjoy a nice September day in California."

She certainly couldn't blame him for wanting to think about something else, and it wasn't like she was masochistic enough to want to know all of the details of his marriage, so she nodded. "Deal. What are you doing in Cali?"

"Nothing specific. I was at Stanford, my uncle's alma mater. We sponsor one post-grad every year in his memory. I make a yearly appearance to speak to the undergrads, tell them about the program, and let them know that Jacobs has an internship, stuff like that."

"Stanford," she repeated.

It wasn't exactly next door. She didn't point it out, but Charles must have guessed where her mind was at, because he told her, "I don't often come to this coast, so I set up a few appointments."

"Of course you did. It would be totally weird if you'd driven six hours south just to see my pretty ass."

Now he was snickering. "I'm certain many a man would go through worse ordeals to see your pretty ass, Vanessa. So, how do you like the city?"

She grimaced. "It's too hot, too big, too busy, too noisy, too superficial, but I need to be here for work, so I make do. Most of the time. You remember when we met up in NYC? Yeah, my AC had died. In August, Charles! It was over eighty degrees and I didn't have AC. So I fled to the other coast."

"Brutal," he said, sounding somehow amused. "You know last year, I had a whole week to myself, so I figured I should pull out my bucket list. I went to Egypt. Only, I booked the trip myself instead of getting my assistant to do it. Never again. I picked a place that didn't have AC, and no one could speak English, German, French, or Spanish, so I basically had to communicate with my hands."

He was so fucking easy to speak to. The time they spent passed so fast, the next time she looked around, they were the only table still occupied in the tea shop and the waitress was giving them a dirty look.

She winced. "I think we might be keeping them here late."

Their tea had been finished hours ago, and it was already getting dark.

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