“You can’t stay away from her, and you know it. Even when you aren’t with her physically, you carry her with you. You’re never without this woman, yet you’ve forced her to live her life without you.”
“It’s for the best.”
“No matter how many times you say it, you aren’t convincing yourself any more than you’re convincing me.”
“I don’t know…”
“Of course you do.”
“She’s seeing someone else now.”
The woman shrugged. “In
the words of a well-known Broadway actor and producer, ‘love is love is love is love.’ There’s no denying love, young man.” The woman shook her head. “For someone so obviously bright, you are quite dim when it comes to the female heart.”
Striker was intrigued. “I’ve told you far more about me than her. What leads you to think she loves me?”
“I’m a woman.”
Striker laughed a second time. “And?”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way, I am old enough to be your mother, as well as very happily married, but you’re very lovable.”
“If you knew me better, you wouldn’t say that.”
“Yes, I would, and so would your young lady. Ask her.”
“I doubt I’ll ever talk to her again.”
This time the woman laughed. “Of course you will. Very soon, in fact.”
“Are you psychic? Not that I believe in that sort of thing.”
“Intuitive.”
“She’s still in Oregon.”
The pilot announced their descent; the woman closed her eyes and rested her head against her seat.
Striker didn’t say anything more until after they landed and separated at the gate.
“Enjoy your stay,” he said, not knowing whether she was visiting or coming home.
“Follow your heart, young man,” she said before walking in the opposite direction.
Striker didn’t respond, but her words stuck with him the rest of the day. The cynic in him knew everything she’d said was nonsense, spoken from a woman who knew very little about the reality of the situation. There was another part of him that wished, even hoped, she was right.
6
“Striker is on his way here now,” said Tabon, looking at his phone.
“Oh,” responded Aine. “I guess that means I should leave.”
“I didn’t say that. I just said he’s on his way.”
“You don’t have to hide from him, Aine. You didn’t do anything wrong and neither did he. You broke up. That’s it. You’re both adults who can learn to be around each other.”
Aine wanted to slap the condescension seeping from her sister right off of her face. If the situations were reversed, Ava wouldn’t have even agreed to come to California. It was easy for her to lecture, now that she was happily married.