even a queue of people waiting outside. ‘Damn. Maybe we should leave,’ I suggest.
Kate looks at me as if I’ve gone mad. ‘I’m not leaving. I’ve just ordered seventy dollars worth of sushi.’
‘We could get takeout,’ I whisper.
She shoots me a look. ‘It’s crucial that you do not give the other party any cause to believe they have the position of power.’
‘Kate, we’re not talking about law now,’ I say desperately. ‘We’re talking about my ex-boyfriend.’
She frowns and spears another endamame. ‘If anyone’s leaving, it’s him, not us.’
‘He won’t – he’s too stubborn,’ I say pleadingly.
But she won’t budge. ‘Well, in that case, just ignore him.’
So I try. I try my very hardest. I talk about the gym, about the gallery, about anything to try to stop myself thinking about him, but it’s not easy. I mean, he’s right there next to me. Eating my miso soup, I can hear him asking the waiter to run through all the wines and then insisting on tasting every one. Before, it had impressed me, but now it annoys me. At one point I am about to turn round and yell, ‘Just choose a bloody wine,’ but thankfully my crispy salmon roll arrives and distracts me.
In fact, it’s really bizarre, but through the course of my meal I discover that all the things I used to find cute and endearing now bug the hell out of me. Like the way he gels his hair into that little peak at the front, or makes that funny hissing noise between his teeth when he laughs, or mentions his game show Big Bucks about twenty million times.
‘I mean, did he really go on about Big Bucks that much before and I never noticed?’ I whisper to Kate.
Pausing from eating her tuna sashimi, she frowns. ‘I thought you were ignoring him.’
‘I am, I am,’ I protest quickly. ‘Except it’s not that simple.’
‘Well, don’t worry, he’s leaving now,’ she says, gesturing behind me with a chopstick.
‘He is?’ Feeling a rush of relief, I turn round to see the seat next to me is now empty and he’s walking towards the exit. ‘Oh, thank goodness,’ I sigh, my whole body relaxing. ‘Bumping into him once was bad enough, but twice? In one day?’
‘Unlucky,’ says Kate simply.
I nod and turn back to my food, but something niggles. Is that all it is? Just an unlucky coincidence?
‘Of course, there’s always another reason,’ says Kate.
Unknown
‘What?’ I ask, snapping back.
‘He’s trying to find a way of getting you back.’
‘What? By following me?’ I frown.
‘Bumping into you “accidentally”,’ corrects Kate. ‘Remember like you did with Paul who used to deliver our papers?’
I’d forgotten all about that – well, more like blanked it out – but now I’m reminded and cringe at the memory. At twelve years old I had a crush on the paperboy and would find any excuse to bump into him: walking the dog along his route, accidentally on purpose being by our gate as he arrived, even resorting to following him around as he delivered the papers on his BMX. Oh, the shame.
‘Nate wouldn’t do that,’ I say dismissively. ‘He wanted to break up as much as I did.’
‘Are you sure that wasn’t just his pride talking?’ Kate raises her eyebrows. ‘Dump-before-you’re-dumped kind of thing?’
I crinkle up my forehead, doubts forming. I think back to our argument in the taxi. ‘No, trust me.’ I shake my head decisively.
‘Well, just a thought.’ She shrugs. ‘More sake?’
I’m reading too much into this. Bumping into Nate is a pain, but there’s no big reason. It’s just coincidence.
‘Um . . . yes, please.’ I hold out my glass.
Like Kate said, it’s just unlucky.
Chapter Eighteen
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Still, the next morning when I go to work, I’m on the lookout, and when I leave the office to get lunch, I make sure I carry my coffee ultra carefully, just in case. But nope, there’s no Nate on his iPhone bashing into me. No sightings of Nate in restaurants. In fact, it’s very much a Nate-free zone.
Admittedly a couple of times I spot a grey-suited man in the crowd and my chest tightens, but thankfully it’s mistaken identity. Just me being jumpy and twitchy.
By the end of the day I’m feeling much calmer, and rather silly. OK, so what happened yesterday was a bit freaky, and very annoying – despite drowning it in Vanish, I’ll never get those coffee stains out of my top, and I couldn’t enjoy my sushi with him sitting next to me – but let’s be