Well, considering she hadn’t actually received his file yet, no. But Luke didn’t have to know that. “Steps are being taken. We won’t finalize everything until the Fall, but I think it’s safe to say that both of us should be on the path to getting what we want by the end of the year.”
“Oh. Well, that’s…cool, I guess.”
It struck Rori then exactly how frustrating it would have been to be married to Luke based on his communication skills alone. “I’d say we both dodged a bullet.”
“I guess. I mean, you’re nice and all, but you kind of freaked me out.”
“I freaked you out?”
“Yeah. It’s the eyes, I think. All dark and old soul-y. And you don’t blink very much. You just look at things like you’re trying to see into the heart of them and you don’t say anything when you’re done. It always made me feel stupid.”
“Uh, good to know, I guess.”
“Anyway, are we done? We broke up, right? It’s official?”
Rori laughed, deciding that her ode to Luke should be more scattered and less twisted. Maybe even a collage. “It’s official.”
“So you’re moving on to the dude that your matchmaker is lining up for you and I get Kris?”
“Well, that last part is up to Kris, but the rest is true. Yes.”
“Awesome. Well… thanks for not crying or anything. That would have been way uncomfortable.”
“No offense, Luke, but the loss of our relationship doesn’t really merit tears.”
“Ouch. But okay. Totally agree.”
“Goodbye, Luke.”
He actually took a breath before replying. “Bye, Rori. It’s been an adventure.”
“Indeed it has.”
“Oh, and Kris wants me to make sure I make it super clear that I’m totally okay with it if you hook up with Mike.”
“Not in my plans,” Rori said without hesitation even as her heart hammered at the lie. September was looking more and more promising.
“Right, but I just had to say it. Her little sister radar went off on you two, so I’m just throwing it out there as ordered.”
“Well, tell Kris I can handle my own sex life.”
“I, uh—”
“Bye, Luke.”
“Yeah. Bye.”
Rori hung up before he could get another word out. It was done. Their break up was official. She deserved a drink for making it through that car wreck of a conversation unscathed.
You, me, wine, and story time, she texted to Fredrik. You in?
While waiting for his response, Rori stared at the blank canvas in front of her. She definitely couldn’t use oil to capture the essence of Luke. Watercolors were a better fit as far as the properties of the medium, but the final result wouldn’t look right. In reality she would be better off just buying a bunch of video game posters and using portions of them to create.
Rori grinned just as her phone beeped with a message. Fredrik was headed over, plus one. And while Rori waited for him to arrive, she hopped online and looked up the posters she could remember from Luke’s walls back in Utah.
Chapter 34
Not enough could be said about the importance of timing, and the consequences for having a lack of it.
On the surface it might seem like Mike had a charmed life, but it truth the one thing he’d always lacked was timing. The reason he was stuck in Utah shooting hoops at his parents’ house was because every time an opportunity came his way to take him to the next step, somehow he missed it. Either it came and went before he could get to it, or someone else got it while he wasn’t looking. Whatever the case, he was left wondering “What if?”
What if he had gone to Thailand with Luke? What if he had cancelled his work projects and just gone? Then he would have met Rori at the same time as Luke, and they would have had a chance.
Then again, maybe not. She seemed pretty attached to the idea of marrying a rich man and having that marriage arranged by a professional. Luke had let that much slip out while they’d been playing Halo. Rori was already practically engaged to some guy she had never met. Her days of dating based on personal attraction were done and Mike had missed the window. Rori was officially out of reach.
All because Mike had never found the timing.
I need to let it go, he thought as the ball swished through the net.
At least he had timing when it came to sports. Put him in a party with all the most influential film