I started to feel sad. The place was amazing, but yet he couldn’t have it. Even worse, he knew he couldn’t have it… but he’d still come to see it anyway.
“So you’re just gonna lock this place up?” I said. “Turn the lights out, and that’ll be that?”
“Yup,” said Donovan. “But it’ll still live in my mind. It’ll still serve to motivate me in the months and years that follow, until one day I can get a place like this.” He shrugged. “Besides, at least I’ll get an idea of what I like and dislike. What’s out there, how much the rent is… all that sort of knowledge is good to have.”
I walked to the middle, trying to envision Donovan’s gym. I could see the front desk, the locker rooms, the mirrored walls. The place where the dumbbell racks would sit, designating the free weight area.
“This is kinda cool,” I admitted. “I guess it’s a good… catalyst.”
“Catalyst!” he roared, sweeping me between the two steel cables that were his arms. “That’s a great way to put it!”
He kissed me hard and forcefully, and I went limp as an overcooked noodle. My mouth opened helplessly against his. Before I knew it I was kissing him back with a passion and longing that seemed suddenly infectious.
“You’re my catalyst,” he breathed, crushing me to his chest. “You know that, right?”
I sighed and nodded, whimpering softly that I did.
“Good. Now let’s get out of here and end our date back at my place,” said Donovan lustily. “If I’m not going to see you all weekend,” he winked, “I can at least give you a proper send-off.”
Thirty-Nine
HOLLY
Friday morning found me wrapping up at the office, in anticipation of being done by lunch. It was already a skeleton crew. We’d been a half staff for most of the week, and now only a handful of us were left.
Maine…
I smiled happily, setting everything in its proper place for after the new year. Lincoln hadn’t told me everything about how it went with Kathy, but I knew he’d fired her. I also knew that by now he was looking forward to getting out of the City, about as much as I was.
A cabin in the woods…
It sounded almost like a movie when I put it that way. One of those horror flicks that always started off so scenic and beautiful, and by the end everyone was dead. The once-idealistic cabin would be covered in blood. Ditto for the car which, of course, wouldn’t start; the trees surrounding it…
“You have some imagination Holly,” I laughed out loud.
I was startled when a voice behind me actually answered. “What?”
I whirled, and there was Malcolm again. This time he had his hand up apologetically.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
I frowned as I spun back around in my chair. My ex had made the pilgrimage from the upper floors again, probably to wish me a merry Christmas or something equally stupid. Or maybe worse. I couldn’t even imagine what he wanted now.
“What is it this time, Malcol—”
CLACK!
The sound was loud and obnoxious as his hand smacked onto my desk. When his palm moved away again, there was something shiny left behind.
I stared at it in disbelief.
“You’re kidding, right?”
It was my Volkswagen key fob. The little silver one, he’d given to me once before.
“Here,” said Malcolm. “I want you to have your car back.” He paused awkwardly. “With my apologies.”
I let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “Why, is Patricia finally done with it?”