Mr. Mayfair (Mister)

“I really don’t like cats,” he said.

“Maybe not, but if her cat is important to her and she’s important to you, then you’d want to know what happened at the vet.” Something about the way he looked at me told me he wasn’t buying it. But what did I care? “For the record, this is a cat-free zone.”

“Thank God. What’s the second reason?” he asked, sitting up.

“We all get days where we want to sit around and decompress after work. People in love understand that they can do that together.”

He hooked his legs over my bed and began to examine what was on my bedside table. “Is that what it was like with you and Matt?”

I paused as I watched him pick up the silver elephant trinket box that I’d bought on a trip to India with Matt after graduation. Matt’s parents hadn’t approved of a gap year. But we had a gap six weeks. We’d been so happy, as if we’d been limbering up for a marathon or in the wings of a theatre before the first show—we were full of excitement and nervousness, hope and expectation. I’d thought we’d be together forever.

A lot had happened since then.

“Maybe. In the beginning, when things were good.”

“That’s the other thing I don’t get about couples. They always seem to stick it out when it’s clear to everyone around them that neither of them is happy and they both need to move on. Why the hell is that?”

I uncurled the towel on my head and picked up my hairbrush. “I suppose one or both of them is hoping it will get better. Wishing it could go back to how things used to be. It?

?s hard to walk away when you’ve invested so much time and effort into someone.”

“But it’s a sunk cost. That time and effort is gone—spent. No point wasting more resources on a project that’s not going anywhere.”

“Jeez. Relationships aren’t a balance sheet. Feelings are involved. Or are you just a cold-hearted businessman who’s all about the cold, hard cash?”

Holding the book I was currently reading—The Goldfinch—he turned to stare at me. In actual fact, it was the book I was trying to read—what I was actually reading was the latest Nora Roberts. I’d gotten into the habit of having one paperback by my bedside that Matt would approve of and the one I was reading on my Kindle where he couldn’t comment on the number of brain cells I was losing by reading it. I suppose I had no one to pretend to anymore.

“Maybe I am. Perhaps I’m just not capable of being in a relationship.”

“Who was your last girlfriend?”

“Danielle. She was a pharmacist. Gorgeous girl.”

I wasn’t about to admit it, but I’d assumed he’d be dating models or ballerinas. Where the hell did men find ballerinas? Every ex-boyfriend Florence ever had left her for a ballerina. “What did you like about her?” I asked.

“She was busy.”

I burst into laughter. “You liked that she was busy?”

He shrugged. “I mean, she was pretty. Great body. Her hair was . . . glossy. What do you want me to say?”

I bit down on my bottom lip, willing myself not to laugh again. This guy was totally clueless. “Why was the first thing that popped into your head that she was busy? Because you didn’t have to see her much?”

He tossed my copy of The Goldfinch on the bed and wandered over to my wardrobe. “No, I don’t think so. I just liked that she had her own life, her own friends. She wasn’t too needy. Although, I think I might have assumed she needed less attention from me than she actually did.”

“So, your ideal woman doesn’t need anything from you? You don’t have to pay attention to her, hear about her day, concern yourself with what’s important to her, just as long as she’s around for a shag at your convenience? Is that about the size of it?”

“You’re making me sound like a dick,” he said, pulling out a pink hoodie that I really should donate or at least fold away in a drawer as I never wore it.

“I’m just replaying what I heard.”

“You’re saying I’m a dick.”

“I’m not saying that.” But I wasn’t not saying that either. Make-up done, I stood up and pulled out some jeans and a top from the chest under the window. “You need to leave, go poke about in my kitchen or something while I change.”

He fixed me with a serious expression. “I really should see you naked if we’re doing our research properly.”

Heat rose up my body and thundered into my cheeks and I shivered. It had been a long time since I’d felt those first whispers of attraction to someone.