Page 129 of The Hookup
She looked up, perplexed. “You deserved an explanation in person.” Her cellphone beeped, and she looked at it, typed a few things, then slipped it away quickly. “I have to go,” she said.
“Now?”
“I’m meeting a friend.”
The way she said it, he had a feeling she was seeing someone. “A friend?”
“'Bye, Luke. I think it's best if we just go our separate ways. I'm a different person now. I can't let myself be treated like that.”
“What do you want?”
“I want the fairytale. “
“I can give you the fairytale,” he replied, thinking, as he said it, how odd it was for him to say that.
“You don't believe in fairytales.”
“But I believe in you, and I believe in us.”
Her mouth twisted, as if she was going to say something but had decided against it.
“What?” he asked, desperate to know. “Say it.”
“You...You’re …” She shrugged. “Maybe you have had time to think about things.”
“I have and—”
“I’m glad you’re getting counseling,” she said, cutting him short.
Before he could say anything, her gaze drifted to behind him, and she waved. His heart took a deep dive, the type of dive a plane would take when its engines misfired and it was about to crash. He turned around only to someone walking towards her. A guy. And he looked familiar. And the fucker was smiling at Kay.
“I have to go,” she said, looking impatient to leave. He examined her face, needing to read, to understand what the fuck this was. She looked uneasy, or excited. He couldn’t tell which. “You’re seeing someone?” he asked, shock spinning inside him like an angry twister.
“Dr. Santini,” she said, turning to go.
It took a few seconds before the name meant something. “You’re seeing myconsultant?”
“I wish you all the best, Luke, I really do,” she said, flashing him a rare smile; something he hadn’t seen from her in a while. And then she was gone.
Dr. Santini hadn’t even noticed him. He was too busy grinning away at Kay. They shook hands, awkwardly at first, before she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
Everyone in the lobby faded into the background, and all Luke could see were Kay and Santini. His mind blanked and he forgot to breathe.
She had moved on.
He had barely recovered, and she had already moved on.
Chapter 44
Dr. Santini looked taken aback when she kissed him on the cheek, hooked her arm in his and walked out.
Once outside, she pulled away, as if he’d given her an electric shock. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. “I’m sorry I made you come here. I was running late.”
He looked pleasantly surprised. “It’s not a problem. I was waiting around the corner,” he replied. “I hopped into a cab.”
That explained why he got here so fast. But it had worked to her advantage. What better way to make Luke see that she was done with this, than to show that she had moved on? “I can only spare half an hour,” she told the doctor, wanting to quickly undo the damage that her crossed messages might have caused.
“Shall we go for a drink, then?” he asked.
