Page 59 of All Yours

“You look well. How’ve you been?” He leaned back in the seat, draping an arm over the back of the booth.

“What,” I stammered, “are you doing here?”

He looked surprised by the question. “I’ve been trying to contact you for months.”

“I’ve gotten no messages.”

“Didn’t you get my text message to call me?”

“That was you?”

“Who else did you think it was?”

“A wrong number. You didn’t put your name.”

“Would you have called if I had?”

“No. But I also don’t call back numbers I don’t know. Did you actually think I wanted to have anything to do with you now?”

He looked wounded. “That’s not very nice.”

“Nice? I changed my name to get away from what happened.” Outside the restaurant, the sky dimmed in the setting sun. A light flashed outside the window. Was that a camera? Did this jerk bring cameras?

“Service isn’t all that great here. I still haven’t gotten my water or menu…”

“What do you want?”

“I think we can help each other,” he said, leaning forward, clasping his hands around mine. His hands were large, with long, slender fingers that engulfed mine. There wasn’t any sort of electricity or recognition between us. He was a stranger with sweaty palms.

“Help each other?” I echoed. Not sure if I heard him correctly. “You don’t understand the damage you’ve inflicted with this book.”

His eyes widened. “I’m allowed to tell my story. If you don’t like the way you come across in it, that’s not my problem. That was how you acted.”

“But did you take responsibility for your part in it? Or is it the worst parts of me while you’re wearing a halo?”

“You didn’t read it?” His attention jerked up past me. “Hey, it’s the carpenter, and he looks mad.”

Jonah charged up to the table, red faced, out of breath and staring at our hands clasped together on the tabletop.

I tried to pull my hands away from Sebastian, but he wouldn’t let them go.

“Hey man, what’s up?” Sebastian asked, a jovial tenor in his voice.

“What the hell is going on here?” Jonah yelled.

“Keep your voice down,” I said. “There are cameras watching us.”

“There are always cameras thanks to this asshole,” Jonah ground out.

“Calm down,” Sebastian said, rubbing his hand up my arm. “Sit down, let’s all talk.”

“What do you think you’re doing here?” Jonah asked, his gaze following Sebastian’s hand.

“I have a proposition where we can help each other,” Sebastian said.

“The only way you could have helped me was by not dragging me back into the public eye,” I said, trying again to pull my hands out from under his.

“Let go of her,” Jonah said, enunciating every syllable.

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