“Who’s this Hartley I keep hearing about?” Andrew said as we sat at the round oak table and watched Dexter and Beck argue at the bar over who was putting their card down for the tab. “She important?” He never minced his words. Never gave into platitudes or overstatement. And he had an uncanny ability to zone-in on the crux of an issue.
“It’s Hartford,” I said, nodding. Hartford Kent. “She’s fine. Moving out in a month.” Her time next door had gone quickly, at least for me. I’d thought I’d hate having her as a neighbor, but it had been better than expected. Much better. “She’s become a good friend.” A friend that I shared things with I’d never told anyone.
“What are we talking about?” Gabriel asked as he took a seat.
“Nothing really. I was just saying that Hartford is moving out soon. She’s become a good friend. Last night she was in the bath and we were talking—”
“Talking in the bath?” Gabriel asked.
“Who are you taking baths with?” Tristan asked as he sat down, quickly followed by Beck and Dexter.
“Joshua was talking to Hartford while she was in the bath,” Andrew replied, and I didn’t need to look at Tristan to know that his eyes were popping out on sticks.
“I was on the other side of the bathroom door. We weren’t in the bath together. We’re friends. I was encouraging her to relax and take care of herself.” I wasn’t clueless—I knew I wanted her to be happy and I knew that meant I liked her a lot. As much as Kelly was a great girl, I wasn’t encouraging her into the bath after we’d had sex. Hartford was different.
Around the table, all my friends were exchanging pointed glances. I got it. It was the same kind of confusion I’d felt internally for a while now.
“Right,” Beck replied. “You like her, and she’s a great girl. Attractive, seems to know how to handle you. Clever, obviously.”
“Yes of course she’s a great girl. And I don’t need to be handled, thank you.” It made me sound like cattle. But he was right, I did like her.
“It’s good that you like someone, finally. We know Diana did a number on you, but she was twenty-two when all that went down. Who’s not an idiot at twenty-two?” Tristan said.
Mentioning Diana in our group discussions was akin to talking about Macbeth in a theatre. You just didn’t. No one needed reminding of what had happened. It was embedded in our existence. Like foundations of a house that had been dug in a hundred years ago and no one had seen or thought about again. So why had my so-called friends decided tonight was the night to take down the off-limits sign on my ex? Maybe I’d given them some kind of subconscious permission slip.
“You’re still an idiot,” I snapped at Tristan.
“From what I hear from Dexter and Beck, you and this Hartford woman have been spending a lot of time together,” Andrew said, thankfully changing the subject. I wasn’t here to talk about Diana. “Everyone is cheering you on.”
“Will your heads explode if I tell you I kissed her?” I wasn’t about to confess anything more had happened between us.
“Good work,” Tristan said, holding his hand up for a high five he wasn’t going to get.
“Well, that’s progress.” Gabriel put his hand on my shoulder. “I can tell you from experience that running from pain will only get you so far. Diana left you a long time ago. You were a different man. History won’t repeat itself.”
Now Gabriel was talking about Diana? It felt like they were in my back garden, digging up my patio. There were no dead bodies there. I wasn’t in pain. Or running from it. At the time it had been difficult but we’d all had difficulties in our past. I enjoyed my life now. I was happy.
“You need to move on from Diana, mate,” Andrew said. “The probability of Hartford also leaving you at the altar is statistically insignificant.”
They were all piling on now. Is this what they all thought? That I was still hung up on Diana? From anyone else, I would have ignored them, but I trusted these men. If I ever needed to bury a dead body, these men would help me do it. And they’d figure out a burial site more inventive than under my nonexistent patio.
Gabriel cleared his throat. “I was trying to be slightly softer but, yes. What Andrew said.”
I needed a button that would transport me back to the penthouse, so I could soak in the bath for ten minutes and think about what they were saying. And then afterward, I could zap myself back here and tell them my conclusions. I was going to have to have my Genius Time on the hoof.