Chapter 11
Nora had just bought a cappuccino from the small local cafe, when her cell phone rang in the pocket of her jeans. Balancing the Styrofoam cup in one hand, she pulled it out of her pocket and answered the call, not realizing that it was Jack.
“Nora!” she heard his voice and stopped in her tracks. She had forgotten all about him since she came back home. Since she had laid eyes on Theo again.
“Jack, hey, how are you?” she said, pushing open the glass door of the cafe with her back. Outside, she stood under the shade of the cafe’s awning near the door.
“Just thought I’d check in to see if you’re free tonight. I could come over,” Jack said and Nora knotted her eyebrows in confusion. Then a second later she realized that he had forgotten she wasn’t in New York.
“You can’t. I’m visiting my dad at home, remember?” Nora said, shaking her head slightly.
“Oh! Right! I forgot about that. When are you back?” he said and Nora tried to manage her rising temper. How could he have forgotten such an important detail? She’d called him from the airport before she took the flight. Did she really mean that little to him?
“Why, Jack? Are you horny?” she said, spitting out the words. Instead of sensing that she was actually mad at him, Jack laughed.
“Kinda,” he said and Nora shook her head. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and was now glad that she hadn’t invited him to come on this trip with her.
“I’m sure you’ll find someone else to take care of it,” she said, rage dripping from her voice. Jack had finally caught on to the sarcasm in her voice and he fell silent for a few moments.
“I’m sensing that you’re mad at me for some reason,” she heard him say and she rolled her eyes.
“You didn’t even realize that I’m not in New York!” she snapped.
“Yeah, so? I’ve been busy. I didn’t have a chance to think about it. It’s not like you’re not coming back!” Jack’s voice had risen as well. Nora gripped the cup in her hand tightly, dropping her voice to a whisper when she saw an old neighbor walk past her. She forced a fake smile on her face and waved, before speaking to Jack again.
“What are we doing, Jack? What is this thing that we have going on?” she said and heard him let out a deep exhausted sigh.
“Do you really want to have this conversation over the phone, Nora? I don’t know what you want me to say. We go on dates. We fuck. We share a few common running jokes,” Jack said and Nora pressed her eyes close.
“And you sleep with other people when you want to,” she completed his thought and Jack sighed again.
“Not that again, Nora! Seriously. It was the one time, and we had just started seeing each other. It wasn’t like it counts as actually cheating!” Jack’s voice was raised now and Nora opened her eyes.
“We’d been seeing each other for three months at that point, Jack,” she said in a quieter voice and he had started laughing.
“Do you want me to apologize again, Nora? Fine, I’m very sorry. There! Are you happy?” she could sense how lightly he was taking this and she couldn’t even remember anymore how this conversation had started.
“Whatever. I’ll talk to you later, I guess,” she said.
“Nora! Wait, when are you coming back then?” he asked and she sighed.
“I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet. Couple of days, maybe a week. I don’t know,” she was anxious to get off the phone with him. She couldn’t bear to hear his voice in her ear anymore. She needed her distance from him.
“Okay, let me know,” he said.
“Why? You didn’t even notice I was gone,” Nora snapped at him.
“Yeah, whatever. Suit yourself then,” Jack said and before she could, he had hung up on her. The back of her neck was burning up with rage, as Nora looked at her phone screen, clenching her jaw to hold back the scream that would have escaped her lips otherwise.
She couldn’t believe she had wasted all this time on a guy like him. Did he even know her last name? He called her when he wanted to and he fixed dates based on his sexual urges. How had she allowed herself to stoop so low for men who didn’t even see her for who she was or what she had to offer?
“Boyfriend?” she heard Theo’s voice behind her and whipped around to find him standing at the cafe door. He was holding his own Styrofoam cup of coffee in one hand and dangling a leather briefcase from the other. He was dressed in a smart pin striped suit, his shoes were polished and black and his bottle green tie looked luxurious. Nora gulped, her cheeks flushed because he had clearly overheard the conversation she just had.
“Not really. Just a guy I’ve been seeing casually,” she said and pushed her cell phone back into her jeans. Theo nodded his head, narrowing his green eyes on her and she felt naked under his gaze again.
“Doesn’t sound like he deserves you,” he said and Nora opened her mouth to speak. At that moment, she didn’t feel like she deserved anybody or anything. Least of all, Theo. She was feeling small and humiliated and very close to just breaking into tears. “Sorry, I have to run. I have a meeting to get to,” he added quickly and walking past her, Nora watched as he unlocked the doors of his Audi and got into the driver’s seat. Without another look at her, he had driven off.