Page 153 of Now and Forever

“You have to go back to Munich.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Eric needs you, and he needs you now!”

I shift positions and clarify.

“I lost everything in Munich, Björn. You saw for yourself what happened that night. Nothing worked between him and me. You saw that ...”

“What I saw is you kissed me to make him angry. That’s what I saw.”

“Fuck, Björn! Don’t remind me.”

“Was it so terrible?” he jokes. And when I’m about to respond, he laughs again. “But, seriously, darling, what made you want to do that?”

Even more thrown off, I furrow my brow.

“I kissed you because Eric needed one final blow to throw me out of his life. He’d just said he was going to seconds before you came in, and I’m sorry, but I saw you and I had to do it. I kissed you so he’d take the final step and be done with me.”

“But did he actually tell you to go?”

I stop and think.

“Yes.”

“No,” he corrects me. “You were shouting that you were leaving, and in the end, he said you should go if that was what you wanted. But it was you, my dear Judith, who decided to leave.”

“No ... but ...”

“He never told you to go.”

Before Björn says another word, I get up from the sofa.

“Look, if you came here to drive me crazy talking about your asshole of a friend, you can go right back out that door, understand?”

Björn smiles and says under his breath, “Wow! ... Eric’s right. She’s got an attitude!”

I close my eyes. I sigh. I scratch my neck.

“Don’t scratch yourself, woman. It’s bad for your hives.”

I look at him, and he rolls his eyes.

“Listen, Eric’s driving me crazy. He never stops talking about you, and I can’t take it anymore. I know about your hives. What makes you mad. I know you love truffles. Strawberry bubble gum. Please, I can’t stand it anymore!”

That makes my heart flutter, but I don’t know if I can believe anything he says. “He told me he was going to start back up with his games.”

“He really said that?”

“Yes.”

“Well, as far as I know, my dear, I haven’t seen him at any parties. What’s more, I’m starting to think he’s going to become a monk.”

That shuts me up.

“The night he lost you, that stupid, pigheaded friend of mine was going to ask you to marry him.”

“What!”

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