Page 70 of River
“Cheers to us two broken people.” Maximum stretched out his legs and lifted his drink.
“Cheers.” I drank from my sparkling water. The buzzing sensation of the little champagne I’d had earlier was long gone.
“What about you? Don’t you ever get jealous?”
Playing with my wristband, I thought about it for a moment. “I was humiliated and hurt that time I thought Storm cheated on me with Serena, or maybe that’s different since it was a break-up. Other than that, I’ve never felt jealous, from what I can remember.”
“What about Noah? You liked him. Doesn’t it bother you to see him with other women, or do you not follow him on social media?”
I bit my lip and furrowed my brow. “No, I don’t follow him. What are you talking about? Does he have a new girlfriend?”
“What do you mean when you saynew? I thought you said you weren’t his girlfriend.”
“Answer the question, Maximum!” I felt tense and unamused.
Maximum pulled out his phone. “If you’re curious, I have his profile right here.”
I was tempted, but the pain in my stomach made me turn my head away. “No, I don’t want to see it.”
“Why?”
“Because I just don’t.” The thought of seeing Noah with someone else made me aggressive. “He’s free to date whomever he wants to, and it’s none of my business.”
We sat in silence just watching people partying. Jolene and Atlas were dancing to the slow song, swaying from side to side while holding hands, looking into each other’s eyes, and talking. Lumi and Damian were on the dance floor as well. He had his nose in her hair as she rested her head against his neck.
“Look at them all,” I muttered and scanned the couples old and young. “Why is it so easy for them?”
“Maybe they wouldn’t agree that it’s been easy.”
“Watching Lumi with Damian makes me want to put an ad up for someone to get handcuffed to myself. And Jolene and Atlas…” I sighed. “They’re best friends, Maximum.”
“Isn’t that the idea? That you marry your best friend?”
I skewed my mouth. “Most of my friends would say you marry the best catch.”
“Ah, yes.” Maximum took another sip of his drink. “And I assume catch has everything to do with his bank account rather than his personality?”
“Money and status,” I said in agreement and fell into silence once again, my thoughts drifting off to my time in Bali, where I’d been so happy with Noah and the children. “You know what I’ve been thinking about a lot?”
Maximum emptied his drink. “Do tell.”
“I think about our first days in Bali and how shocked I was about the conditions of the house. Remember the mold and the smell? The children had almost no toys, and yet they were so happy.”
He met my eyes while I continued.
“I couldn’t understand how they could be so content when they had nothing, you know?”
“Children are resilient.”
“Yes, but…” I tucked my hands under my thighs and stared at my high stilettos, while my mind showed me memories. “That first morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, there was a family of five, do you remember?”
“Mhmm.”
“All three children had their heads in their iPads, and when their mom told them to get some food, the youngest threw a tantrum because there wasn’t any Nutella on the buffet. And the oldest kid complained that the pool wasn’t big enough.”
“Yes, and then we walked to the orphanage.” Maximum placed his hand over mine on the table. “It was a powerful contrast for sure.”
“I never want such ungrateful, spoiled, tantrum-throwing children as that. I want my children to be happy like the ones in the orphanage, but at the same time, I want to spoil my kids.”
