Page 19 of Once Upon A Player
There’s a stricken look on her face, like she believes she could ever be boring, but I’m more fixated on what she’s just revealed about her prick of an ex.
“How long were you dating him?”
She blinks like she doesn’t understand what I’m talking about. “Just over a year.”
Ayear? I’d been thinking a couple of months, although I’ve no idea why. She never gave any hint of how long she was seeing her ex. Somehow this revelation makes it less likely than ever that she’ll ever want to go out with me.
“That’s some commitment.”
“It was at the time. More me than him, obviously.” She gives a dismissive sniff but doesn’t look as though I’ve crossed a line by asking her about it. “It took a while for me to realize, but I’m definitely better off without him. His ego was unbelievable.”
“Sounds like you’re over him.” More importantly, not on the rebound.
Give it a rest, Carter.
“I wouldn’t take him back if he crawled over broken glass and begged me.”
“Been a while since you’ve seen him?” For fuck’s sake, since when have I been a masochist? The last thing I want to talk about is her ex, but I have this weird compulsion to discover all I can about him.
Liar.All I want to know is that Violet is totally over him.
“Not since the night we split up. And that was in April last year.”
Bloody hell. That was fifteen months ago. If she’s still against dating footballers after all this time, she’ll never change her mind.
“His loss.” I grin so she doesn’t guess how much I mean that. I need to change the subject before I tell her that her ex is a fucking moron for ditching her, since that might cross thefriends onlyline. “When’s our next appointment?”
Appointmentsare what Violet calls these meetings, almost like she has to continually reinforce the fact they’re purely professional.
Projecting, again?
“Oh.” She whips out her phone and checks the dates. “We don’t have any more scheduled, as we’re waiting on the decorators.”
Violet suggested repainting the acres of white walls so the effect is less stark, with a couple of feature walls as focal points, and the decorators are due to start next week. It hadn’t occurred to me our professional relationship was almost at an end.
“Guess you’ll need to check on their progress.”
“I could do that.”
She’s still holding her phone and gives me a sideways glance.
“Do you want to make another appointment?” There’s an oddly diffident note in her voice, as though she’s not sure if I’ll want to see her again since we’ve now finished the virtual makeover.
I should tell her there’s no need for her to come back. Make a clean break, go out with the lads, and find a gorgeous girl who wants to fuck my brains out tonight. Wanting a girl who isn’t interested in my celebrity status might be different, but when my career is the major reason why she won’t even go out for a drink with me, the novelty soon turns shitty.
“Sure.” What thehell?
“Just to check, you know, the colors and everything. In case you decide you want something else.”
“Sounds good.”So much for a clean break.
“Hmm.” She concentrates on her phone, as though her calendar is the most exciting thing in the room. “If you like, I could always call you instead, see if you need me to come round to sort out any…problems.”
I’m more than capable of sorting out any problems, but is that what she’s really saying? My sister and her mates have a whole language of subtext. In my experience, it seems to be universal when it comes to girls. Normally I don’t even try to decode it, since I’m all about having shallow fun without complications, but all my usual crap deserted me the day I met Violet.
“Okay.” I sound guarded, but I’ve no idea what she wants me to say.
She lets out a relieved breath and drops her phone into her bag.Does this mean she’s going to call?
