“Sorry. What did I miss?”
It was early the next morning, the first day of September. Donovan sat with Tyler and Xavier in Xavier’s office. But his mind kept replaying his conversation with Rose from the night before.
“Sleep.” Xavier sipped his coffee from the huge company mug.
“Xavier’s right.” Tyler’s forehead was creased with concern. “You look terrible. And this toxic substance you call coffee doesn’t seem to be helping.”
“It might if he drank it.” Xavier gestured toward Donovan’s mug.
Donovan glanced at the mug of coffee balanced on his lap. It was practically full. Yet he knew the brew was strong. Its scent permeated Xavier’s office.
His friends were right. He hadn’t been able to settle down last night. Rose, her reunion and their lovemaking had circled his mind like a gam of sharks.
“What’s on your mind?” Xavier asked.
Rose wasn’t the first woman to break up with him. But the end of their relationship was the hardest to face. Was that because she meant the most to me?
“Rose broke up with me.” Donovan left his mug on a corner of Xavier’s desk and stood to wander the almost painfully neat office. “It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? How do you ‘break up’ a fake relationship?”
“It started out fake, but it was obvious that you developed feelings for her.” Tyler’s voice carried from behind Donovan.
“I didn’t think I would. My first impression of her wasn’t great. Then I realized she was tough on the outside, but kind, caring, brilliant and funny on the inside. Now I can’t get her out of my mind.” Donovan rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to banish the images of Rose that bedeviled him.
“What happened between you?” Xavier’s question wasn’t that easy to answer.
“I don’t know.” Donovan had spent a sleepless night, wondering the same thing.
“Did you ask her?” Xavier sounded as baffled as Donovan felt.
Donovan stopped in front of Xavier’s office window. Thin strips of clouds drifted across an azure sky. The image was a backdrop for more visions of Rose: her chocolate eyes, beautiful smile and brilliant presence that lit up a room despite the dark, oppressive colors of her wardrobe. When he closed his eyes he could smell her scent, feel her skin as soft as silk against his palm.
“She told me she wasn’t going to her reunion. I later found out that was a lie.” Donovan scowled at the view from the fifth-floor window. “When I confronted her, she said a fake relationship was too complicated to keep track of.”
“She has a point.” Xavier’s voice was thoughtful.
“I agree,” Tyler said.
“So do I.” Donovan turned away from the window and walked past his chair and Xavier’s glass-and-metal conversation table. “But my not going to the reunion doesn’t mean we have to stop seeing each other.”
“Then why did she break things off?” Tyler shifted on his gray cushioned seat to face Donovan.
“All she’d say is that she believes we’re too different.” The more Donovan mulled over Rose’s reasoning, the more irritated he became. It wasn’t true that they were “too different.” They had a lot in common.
“How are you different?” Xavier asked.
Donovan rubbed his forehead. “She wouldn’t give examples.”
“Then that’s not the real reason.” Tyler’s response was the realization Donovan had come to overnight. Rose was lying. But why?
“Do you want to know why she broke up with you?” Xavier’s dark eyes pinned Donovan as though trying to read his mind.
“Yes. I know I’m not the only one who developed real feelings in this make-believe relationship.”
“Then ask her again.” Xavier leaned back on his black leather executive chair, balancing his coffee mug on his right knee.
Donovan shook his head. “I’ve already asked her more than once and in different ways. She won’t come clean with me.”
“She must have told her sisters how she feels. Do you want me to ask Iris?” Tyler’s offer was tempting.