Kayla dived into the pancakes like she had never been fed before, syrup ran down her chin. I wanted to lean over and lick it off. Finally taking a break, she leant back, had a great gulp of coffee, then wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“I need to confess something and then you might not want to sleep with me anymore.”
Fuck, what the hell was she going to tell me? She had some disease?
“I’m listening.”
“So, earlier yesterday, after I visited the gallery. I, err, I slept with Daniel.”
I pushed my chair back in shock.
“What?”
“I know. I know. There has never been anything between us before, I swear. But, I had a crush on him the whole damn time I had to visit here. I thought he was with my mom, but he explained yesterday that their relationship had been a sham. He has never been with her in that way. He wanted me. He always wanted me. Things happened.”
I thought back to how when they had come back downstairs from the gallery something had been different. It made me feel sick. I pushed my pancakes away from me.
“You slept with Daniel and then a few hours later you slept with me?”
“Yes.” She rubbed her eyes. “I’m so confused. I thought all my dreams had come true with Daniel but I like you too. Now, I don’t know what to do because I need to figure out which of you I want. That’s if either of you still want me after what I’ve done. I realise I’ve jeopardized everything.
“I need time to get my head around this, Kayla. You can’t just drop this on me and expect me to respond right away.”
“I know.”
“Listen, come spend the day with me at the gallery. When Daniel returns here he’s going to want to take you to bed again. If you’re with me, it buys you a little time to think.”
“Thanks. I’ll do that. Okay, I’m going to go get dressed. Thanks for the pancakes.”
With that, she left the room, leaving me with a plate full of pancakes and no appetite to eat them. I knew one thing. I wasn’t giving up without a fight. It looked like me and Daniel needed a man to man talk.
The day passed quickly and before we knew it we were all home. Daniel had returned and had collected takeout, so we found ourselves around the table eating Chinese. Daniel kept staring at Kayla. Kayla herself clearly couldn’t leave the table fast enough and soon made her excuses saying she had a headache. Daniel told her he would check in on her later to see how she was. I bet he would. I needed to talk to him before things got any worse.
I handed him a beer and pointed to outside and the deck. Daniel’s brow creased but he followed me outside.
“We need to talk about Kayla,” I told him.
His face closed down, guarded. “What about her?”
“I know man. I know you slept together.”
“Fuck.” He said, kicking the chair leg. “She told you?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “But it’s more complicated than that.”
“Oh?”
“Last night Kayla and I fucked.”
I should have expected it but the blow came so fast, ricocheting off my jaw. I clutched my chin in agony then held down his hand as his arm lifted again.
“I’ll let you have that one, but now we sit and talk like men.”
He took a seat. His face desolate. He looked like I just told him I killed his grandma.
“I should have known she wouldn’t want anything serious with me. She’s too young.” He said, picking up his can and downing his beer in one shot. He crushed the can in his hand and threw it across the balcony.
“Son of a bitch.”