Page 45 of Saltwater Memories
“So what are you going to do?” asked Morgan.
“I’m going tell him the truth.”
“You can’t do that!” Morgan said, her volume rising. “He’s going to think you’re insane.”
“Maybe I am.” Amanda shrugged. “And I don’t mean about Lenny – about Rupert.”
“Oh.” Morgan weighed this. “Yeah, that makes sense I guess.”
She couldn’t take it anymore. Amanda excused herself to her room and sent Will a message. “I’m really sorry about yesterday. I’d like to explain if you had a few minutes to talk today?”
His response came a few moments later. “Sure. I was really worried about you. Is everything okay?”
“Can I give you a call?”
“How about we meet up? Oyster Coffee?”
She let out a sigh. It was cowardly of her to be unwilling to tell him to his face. “Okay. Half an hour?”
“I’ll be there.”
Amanda got to the coffee shop early, bought a cappuccino and sat at a table outside. Her whole body hurt. She wasn’t sure if it was because she’d run so much in her heels, or because she’d slept so poorly – throwing herself back and forth across the bed.
She had a recurring nightmare of the ballroom. No matter how many times she woke up, she’d always slip back into the same dream. In it, she and Will were dancing again, twirling and laughing. But then Rupert would show up, or Lenny would show up, and Amanda would panic and no matter how much she ran, she could never get away.
“Hey.”
She looked up. There he was, as promised. “Hi. Do you want to get some coffee?”
“No, I’m okay.” He took a seat across from her. “Areyouokay?”
“I’m fine. I’m just…I should’ve told you this yesterday.”
He put his hands up. “Listen, I’m really sorry that I made you go to that party. I thought it would be fun, I didn’t think – ”
“Itwasfun. You didn’t make me do anything. It was really fun, and you’re really fun. But things are complicated for me.”
“Oh?”
She shifted in her seat. How could she explain this without explaining it? How would Rupert put it? He was always so good at this sort of thing…
She could at least give him aformof the truth. “There’s just a lot going on. And I can’t tell you about everything.”
He let out a little laugh. “Now you’re making me nervous.”
“I’m sorry. But, see – here’s the thing. I’m sort of seeing someone. Someone from my past.” That made it sound like he was a ghost, or that it was a civil war romance or something. “I mean, it’s my ex-boyfriend. Things have kind of rekindled between us in the past few weeks.”
The words registered on his face and he sat back. “Ah, I see.”
“And there are…other things, but I can’t talk about them.”
He sighed. “If it was something I said, I’m sorry, I – ”
“No.” She set her coffee down. This wasn’t going great. But if Will knew that Lenny was with the mob, he probably would dump him as a client. Except Amanda couldn’t tell him that. “It’s about Dirk Gold Group. I don’t think they’re the kind of company you want to work for.”
“Because my boss is a creep? I mean, I know that he can be a bit weird, but he…just has a bad personality.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not that. It’s – something else. But it doesn’t matter. I think that you’re too good for that company.”
He laughed. “Well, a job is a job.”
“And I think that you’re too good for me, too.” There. She’d said it. Amanda stood up. “I’m sorry Will, I really am. I don’t think we should spend time together anymore.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I’m sorry too. I had no idea – I really enjoyed our friendship. I wouldn’t want to lose that.”
She couldn’t stand to look at him, or the shock in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Will. I don’t know if I can…I don’t know. I have to go. Take care.”
Amanda picked up her coffee, throwing the remainder in the trash. She couldn’t stomach it. She couldn’t stomach any of it.
At least it was over now.
