Page 22 of A Smart Girl's Guide to Second Chances
‘Congratulations on working out how to fix hearts,’ I said, changing the subject. And although I was teasing him, the praise was sincere.
‘God, I can’t believe I used to say stuff like that!’ he said with a laugh. ‘I had so much bravado back then. I think I was compensating for a complete lack of confidence.’
I turned to him to see if he was being facetious. He’d seemed nothing but confident back then. The idea that it wasn’t how he saw it, that he might have changed and become more self-aware was somehow unsettling.
‘Well, you did the thing. The tool you made sounds incredible. Seriously,’ I said. Alex had created a diagnostic tool that was able to use AI to review chest scans and determine the probability of future heart disease. Once it was in the market it would be able to prevent a lot of the issues that were missed, particularly in women, whose heart conditions were often overlooked because their cardiac episodes didn’t look like the ones men had on TV. His work would save lives.
‘I think I got lucky with timing,’ he said. ‘A lot of the technology went from theoretical to scalable while my team was researching.’
‘I bet your mum would have been really proud,’ I said, feeling compelled to meet his humility with genuine praise.
‘There’s still a lot of work to do,’ he said finally. He kept his gaze straight ahead.
‘Yeah. I guess there’re always broken hearts to fix,’ I said, and then instantly regretted it.
‘Rebecca... we should talk about what happened that night—’
‘Hey, we don’t get nostalgic, remember?’ I knew I was being unfair, but I wanted to get through coffee, not excavate the past.
By the time we reached the market, it was already pumping. I led him past the fruit and vegetable stands around the market’s perimeter, where shoppers were piling produce into trolleys.
I checked my phone and saw that Matt had messaged me:Got our usual table.
My stomach tightened.
I led Alex past the row of butchers’ stalls, trying not to think about all the mornings we’d spent in Oxford’s Covered Market, drinking strong coffee in a small cafe we’d discovered hidden away in the market’s rafters.
‘Do you eat meat now?’ I asked.
‘Still no,’ he replied. I wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t a man of moderation, I knew he’d either eat no meat or eat it like a caveman. He didn’t live life in liminal spaces.
We turned the corner and walked until we reached Padre Coffee, my favourite cafe, in the centre of the market. Matt was already perched out the front. As usual, he was wearing an outfit that could take him anywhere – an inky blue jumper and brown cotton shorts. He had his AirPods in, and I guessed he was listening to one of the many podcasts he churned through every week.
He saw me walking towards him and smiled broadly, pulling out his headphones.
‘This is Alex,’ I said, before we were close enough to warrant an introduction. ‘We knew each other at Oxford. We were together for a bit. Like dated, you know!’ I laughed as if I’d made a joke.
‘Hi, Alex. I’m Matt.’ He stuck out his hand with a friendly smile. I exhaled.
‘I bumped into Alex on my run,’ I said, slightly glossing over the stalker element as they shook hands. ‘He’s been living in the States and is new to Melbourne, so I thought I’d show him where to get a decent coffee.’
‘We’re coffee snobs here,’ Matt said as we all sat around the table that was slightly too small for the three of us. ‘What can I get you?’
‘He drinks a long black,’ I said quickly. Though that could have changed in the intervening years – maybe he was a Starbucks Gingerbread Latte guy.
‘That would be great, thanks mate,’ Alex said. Mate? Where had that come from?
‘I can grab them,’ I offered, but Matt had already jumped up. I exhaled – I was glad I didn’t have to leave Matt and Alex alone.
‘He seems nice,’ Alex said.
‘He is. He’s the best,’ I said. ‘But you don’t like “nice” people. You always said that nice people were compensating for something.’
‘I’ve since learned that everyone is compensating for something.’
‘What are you compensating for?’
‘You already know the answer to that,’ he said.
