Page 89 of My Heart's Doctor
—Stop right there, Devon! Don’t start with that because you know it really bothers me to hear you say those things. I don’t agree with you and I never will.
At that moment my phone rang with an incoming message. It was from him.
William:
«Dinner tonight, the three of us?
At my place. You can’t say no.
We need to see each other»
I decided not to respond because I wanted to think about it more carefully.
—It’s a message from him. He insists that we have dinner tonight.
—And? —my friend asked.
—I’m going to think about it more. I’m very confused, Orson.
—I can see that, and that’s what worries me most. You’re afraid to take a step forward because of fear, and that’s because you have no control over what might happen —he stated, hitting exactly on what I was feeling—. In life, one of the hardest things is making decisions, but we are the only ones responsible for our lives and we must make them despite everything and everyone. You’re brave, darling, very brave; whatever decision you make, I’ll support you and be by your side.
I stretched my hand across the table and took his, knowing that Orson was my family and one of the people I could always count on.
A while later I was in my apartment thinking about what to respond, but I couldn’t analyze it much because William called me.
—Hello —I answered, aware that my voice sounded hesitant.
—You didn’t respond to my invitation —he reproached.
—I didn’t respond because I’m not sure that going to your house is the best thing for Aurora. As you yourself said, if we share things together we might confuse her, and I don’t want to hurt her.
—Just for today, Devon. Because we went to the beach and she’s very tired, but she hasn’t stopped asking for you —he commented, and that didn’t surprise me because I was well aware that Aurora had become very attached to me.
For a few minutes I remained silent, processing the pros and cons of going to his house. I knew that Aurora had already seen us together, so if we showed ourselves as we had been doing and it was just for that night, it didn’t seem harmful for the little one. The question was, harmful for me? And that was another story, but I didn’t analyze it much and heard myself saying:
“Alright. What time do you want me to be there? Because Aurora eats dinner early and it’s already seven.”
“Right now Delia is giving her a bath and I’m about to take a shower too, but we can have dinner as soon as you arrive. Can you leave now?” he asked, and his voice revealed the joy my response had caused him.
“That’s fine, I’ll leave in ten minutes. Would you like me to bring anything?”
“You don’t need to bring anything. Thank you, ‘Sweet,’ for everything.”
“See you in a bit,” I said, and ended the call knowing I was getting myself into something that would surely destroy me.
Half an hour later I was on my way to his house feeling extremely nervous. Why was I? I wasn’t entirely sure, I think it was a combination of things. Having dinner at his house, the three of us together, knowing he wanted to talk to me—in short, every time I thought about it my stomach churned with anxiety and nerves.
I arrived at the gate and the security person opened it without asking me anything because they already knew me. I parked in the large garden and got out of the car. When I went to knock on the door, I noticed my hands were shaking, but I took a deep breath, summoning the necessary courage, and knocked.
I thought one of his employees would open the door, but it was he himself who appeared before me as the door opened. How handsome he was!
“Hello, William. Am I very late?” I asked, just to say something, because I couldn’t process anything more intelligent.
“Not at all, Aurora is waiting for you anxiously. Come in,” he said, and stepped aside so I could enter the house.
In any other case, I would have greeted him with a kiss on the cheek, but I really didn’t know how to greet him in his house, so I walked past him without doing or saying anything. I hadn’t taken two steps when I felt his hand gripping my arm to stop me. He made me turn around and, to my surprise, gave me a delicate kiss on the lips.
“Aurora is in the living room. If you want, go to her and I’ll let Delia know she can serve dinner,” he said, with a sly smile, because the damn man knew perfectly well that with that kiss he had not only surprised me but had completely destabilized me.
