flowers and inhaling their scent.
Sweet. Blushing, I smile over to Mary and Libby, who are both staring at me dopey-eyed. I pull out the card to read and Libby takes the flowers.
“I’ll put them in water,” she gushes.
I peel open the envelope.
My favorite color. I want to see it on your skin.
My brow furrows and my lungs constrict. My throat goes tight and the room begins to spin.
“Antonia?” Aidan’s voice booms, and I stumble, only to be caught by Gavin. He brings me to the couch and barks at Mary to bring me water. Gaby rushes around the living room, shouting for everyone to find my handbag.
“It’s okay.”
Gavin takes my hand and places it over his heart and does the same with his on mine.
“Focus on the rhythm of my heartbeat. Look into my eyes.”
I struggle to stop myself from drowning in the choking hold my anxiety has on me.
“One.” Du dum. “Two.” Du dum. “Three.” Du dum. My airways loosen and air gushes into my lungs, expanding them.
The room comes into focus and all eyes are staring down at me.
“I’m sorry.”
“What the hell?” Aidan asks. I track his form and see him holding the card between his fingers.
“What?” Gavin asks, getting to his feet and snatching it from his hand. “It’s a mistake. The florist must have misheard. They’ll be from Finlay. I’ll call him,” he tells the room, fleeing with the card in his hand.
THIS APARTMENT IS MY favorite place. I should have brought Antonia with me. She needs a holiday, but work would prevent me from showing her all the sights to visit here so it would be pointless, and she has school that she’s throwing herself back into, and that’s a good thing.
We finally appear to be making progress, and before I left, it felt like it used to. My stomach grumbles and reminds me I need to eat. It’s so late, I should just catch up on sleep. Ding dong. My eyes fly to the front door. Who the hell could that be at this time of night?
Dragging my ass up from the chair, I scan through the peephole. “Son of a bitch.” Yanking the door open, I point at Julie. “Go away.”
“Charming,” she scoffs.
“I don’t know why the fuck you’re in Japan, Julie, but you cannot be here.”
“I’m here with work. Did Brad not tell you?”
“No, he did not.”
“Fin, just let me in. We can’t do this in the corridor.”
“Do what?” I’m dreading the answer. It’s weird, but for the last few weeks, I keep getting flashes of her in my apartment, and it’s more vivid than any dream I’ve had before.
She pushes past me and enters my apartment. I want to grab her arm and throw her out but she’ll make a scene and I can’t handle any drama from her right now. I’m finally starting to breathe without a constant restriction in my chest.
“Do you have something to drink?” she asks.
“No.”
“Fine. I’ll just have tap water.”
“Julie, what the hell do you want?”
She takes her coat off and makes herself comfortable on the couch. I walk over and grab her coat, throwing it in her lap.
“Get out.”
“Finlay, for God’s sake. We were colleagues and friends once, you know?”
She’s right, but since then, she’s caused trouble with Antonia, and I won’t allow her to do that again. Just having her inside the apartment is dangerous ground.
“Why are you in Japan?”
“Brad reinstated me weeks ago. Where is your head at?”
She fucking knows the answer to that question. She just doesn’t get how someone can change when they meet the one. Work was my focus before Antonia, but if I’m honest with myself, and if she knows me like she claims she does, she will know this life is one I manically live through. I hate running the business, I hate that it takes me away from everyone, and that it consumes so much of my time, my life.
“Brad doesn’t have the authority to re-hire you.”
She laughs, but it’s not a funny laugh, it’s a mocking laugh. “You don’t remember, do you?”
“Remember what?”
“You signed over the shares to Brad, even after what I told you.”
Her words stall my eviction of her. How would she know that and what did she tell me?
“I can see by the look on your face you have no idea what I’m talking about.”
“What do you mean?”
She rolls her eyes and leans back, placing one arm along the back cushion. “The night I came to yours and things got heated?” She puckers