“I should go,” I said.
“Please don’t,” Devlin said immediately. “We haven’t spoken to each other in so long… I just… I just want to talk to you.”
“About what?” I asked.
“About anything,” he said. “How about we grab some dinner now?”
“Now?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes.”
“But the exhibition?”
“Doesn’t mean as much to me as dinner with you,” Devlin said. “Please?”
I thought about saying no, but even as I considered it, I knew that it wasn’t a real possibility. I had missed him too much to turn him down now. I didn’t know if that was weakness on my part or just an admission that this whole situation was out of my hands.
“I’ll go let Gordon know I’m leaving,” Devlin said. “Please… don’t disappear on me.”
He left, and I turned around looking for Leah. She came up behind me with a look on her face that told me she had overheard everything.
“Where did you go?”
“I thought you two might need some alone time… turns out I was right.”
I smiled. “Do you think I’m crazy for going out with him tonight.”
“No… you need closure… no matter which way the pendulum swings,” Leah said. “I’m going to head back to my hotel ok… will you let me know what happens tomorrow.”
“I will.”
I said goodbye to Leah and waited for Devlin by his collection. He took a few minutes but when he returned he was smiling.
“Is everything all right?” I asked.
“Sure,” he nodded. “Gordon wasn’t thrilled about the fact that I was leaving early but he didn’t have much say in the matter.”
“Maybe you should stay.”
“I don’t want to stay,” Devlin said, taking my hand and pulling me out of the gallery.
Even that simple gesture sent a thrill shooting through my body. It had been so long since I had felt him touch me and it brought back all the memories of those nights we had spent together, tangled up in the sheets, our naked bodies pressed together in comfort and familiarity.
We walked around the city and picked a quiet restaurant and a corner table that gave us a little privacy. As we sat down, I got suddenly nervous.
“So… how have you been?” I asked, somewhat formally because I didn’t know what to say.
“Horrible,” Devlin replied.
“Horrible?” I repeated. “Come on… things are looking up for you.”
“How can they be?” Devlin asked. “When you’re no longer in my life.”
“Devlin…”
“I’m not trying to convince you of anything, Zoey,” he said, and then he smiled and sighed. “Or maybe I am, I don’t know. I promised myself I wouldn’t pursue you again. I promised myself that I would leave you alone and let you live your life. I know you deserve better than me. You deserve so much better and yet here I am… being selfish and trying to explain to you that I’m a changed man.”
“I never wanted you to change Devlin,” I said. “I wanted you to be honest with me. My music is everything to me. It’s the one thing I’m passionate about, and it’s the one thing I’m good at. If I couldn’t make music anymore… I don’t know what I’d do. So I understood why you felt you had no choice but to deal drugs… what I can’t understand is why you chose to concoct this elaborate story to cover it up.”