Exotic Nights

‘Did one of them have an affair?’

‘No,’ he answered. Not to his knowledge. But that was the point, wasn’t it? He hadn’t known about any of it. He’d been so obtuse. Maybe it would have been easier if one of them had. ‘They just grew apart.’

She was frowning. ‘So what, they just woke up one day and decided to call it quits?’

That was how it had seemed to him at first. A bolt from the blue. Utterly unexpected, unforeseen. But if he’d had an ounce of awareness, he would have known. It still pained him that two of the most important people in his life had been slowly imploding and he hadn’t even noticed. He’d been too preoccupied with himself and his work and all his great plans.

‘They were unhappy for a long time. I never knew. I was too busy with school and sport and socialising to notice. But they agreed to stick together until I was through school and then separate. In those teen years it seemed every other mate’s parents were busting up. I thought mine were the shining example of success. Turns out they just wanted to protect me—stop me going off the rails like so many of those mates then did.’

He didn’t want to know that level of ignorance again. Part of him was angry with them for not being honest with him sooner, part of him respected them for the way they’d loved him. More of him was angry with himself for being so blind. And he couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t be that blind again, so he wasn’t up for that kind of risk.

She’d stopped eating her pizza and was staring at him with such expressive eyes, it jabbed him inside to look into them. He stared at the box between them instead and kept on talking to cover it.

‘I think they got bored with each other. They had different interests. The only thing holding them together was me.’ Together forever just wasn’t a reality—not for anyone. If his parents couldn’t make it, no one could. He cleared his throat. ‘It wasn’t acrimonious or anything. Don’t think it left me scarred or anything. We can all get together and do dinner. They were both totally supportive when I decided to quit university to concentrate on developing my company.’

Not scarred? Bella doubted that. This was the man who swore never to marry. Who said it wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. While many men could claim commitment-phobia, his seemed more vehement than most. If that wasn’t scarred she didn’t know what was. But maybe there was more to it. Her newly assertive, independent persona took a bite of pizza and went for it.

‘And so you’ve just been working on your company ever since? No serious girlfriend?’

‘What is this?’ Irritation flashed. ‘The Spanish Inquisition?’

So there was someone. ‘Just answer.’ She pointed her pizza at him. ‘Has there really been no one serious in your life?’

‘All right.’ He took a huge bite of pizza and answered out the side of his mouth. ‘I had a girlfriend. A long time ago.’ Then he shut his lips and chomped hard.

‘What happened?’

He shrugged, eventually swallowed. ‘Nothing much.’

‘Did you live together?’ Why did she need all the details?

She couldn’t help but want all the details.

‘For a while.’

The niggle of jealousy was bigger than she expected. ‘What happened?’

‘She met someone else. They’re married now. Has a kid—two maybe.’

She stared at him, shocked. ‘She left you?’

He looked levelly at her. ‘I’m not a good companion, Bella.’

‘What makes you say that?’ Good grief, the guy was gorgeous.

‘When I’m working on a project, that’s my world, that’s all there is. For those weeks, months, whatever, other things pass me by.’

She frowned. ‘Are you working on something now?’

‘Yes.’

Yet it seemed to her that nothing much passed him by. ‘You don’t think you’re being a little hard on yourself?’

‘I didn’t notice my folks falling apart. I didn’t notice her falling apart.’ His face hardened. ‘I’m selfish, Bella, remember?’

She stared, her mental picture elsewhere, thinking. From what she’d seen of him, it didn’t quite ring true—yes, he did what he wanted, but he did what others wanted too. But he’d totally closed over now, moodily staring at the half-eaten pizza.

She wanted to lighten the mood. ‘So what, you just lock yourself away and do geeky boy hacker things?’