Chapter 17 #2
“You want to enjoy my company, you bastard? Are you sure?” I asked, looking at him seriously.
“I am. I think you need to get some air and let out everything you’re holding inside because you’re going to explode any moment.”
“Are you a psychologist now?” I said ironically.
“You don’t need to be one to know that you’re suffering from lovesickness, and I think yours has a name and surname and also a doctor’s title.”
I looked at him seriously but didn’t respond. I got up from my chair under his attentive, mocking gaze.
“Very well, let’s go to lunch,” I said, moving toward the door.
At the restaurant, we ordered our meals and Xavier leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Spit it out already. What happened between you and the beautiful Devon?”
“I screwed up monumentally,” I replied, running a hand through my hair.
“You screwed up,” he repeated, abandoning his mockery and looking at me seriously. “What did you do, you idiot?”
“We were together again, but when I proposed a relationship she...”
“Wait!” he interrupted me, uncrossing his arms and leaning toward the table with a look of disbelief.
“You asked her to be your girlfriend? And what do you know about being a boyfriend? You didn’t even date your wife; you went from sleeping with her a few times to having a baby on the way and getting married. Boyfriend and girlfriend? At your age?”
“Call it whatever you like. What I mean is a formal relationship where, if everything goes well and the relationship grows, we can look ahead and think about a future together.”
“You’re going to get married again? You said you would never marry again,” he stated incredulously.
“I don’t know, I’m confused,” I replied, resting my elbows on the table and holding my head in my hands.
“Do you have any idea what a formal relationship is?” he asked, still looking at me with surprise.
“Not a fucking clue, but it’s the way you should be with a woman like her, and I want Devon to be only mine. But she didn’t accept.”
“She didn’t accept? Are you telling me I still have a chance with her?” he joked, or at least I assumed he was joking, because otherwise I’d have to think my friend didn’t value his life at all.
“Don’t be an idiot and stop with that because you know I don’t find it the least bit funny,” I warned him seriously.
“Why didn’t she accept your proposal of relationship?” he said ironically.
“Because...” I paused in my comment because I wasn’t sure if it was right to share something so personal, but I trusted Xavier, so I continued, “she believes she doesn’t deserve to form a family because she can’t get pregnant. In fact, her ex-husband left her because of that.”
“Whaaaat? Are you telling me he abandoned Devon for that reason? Who was that son of a bitch?”
“No idea, but she got rid of that piece of trash, so better that way,” I affirmed.
“Something doesn’t add up,” Xavier said, very focused on the conversation.
“I can understand her position because maybe she thinks you want to have more children, but I don’t understand why you say she left because you screwed up.
” At that moment he looked at me and his eyes widened like saucers.
“Don’t tell me you let her go for that reason?
Did you do the same thing as her ex? I swear if you did that I. ..”
“I didn’t. How can you think I would do something like that?
I didn’t say anything about that,” I said, shaking my head, “because when she told me, I was so surprised that I didn’t say a single word.
I let her leave my house without stopping her or saying anything.
I don’t know why I behaved that way, I swear I think about it and I can’t find an explanation.
I guess it was the shock of what she was telling me or her attitude of surrender to the situation and to life.
I don’t know, but after she told me she wasn’t a woman to form a family with but for an affair like I had proposed at the beginning, she left my house and I did nothing.
Do you understand? Like a complete jerk, I did nothing. ”
“You’re a son of a bitch,” he said without hesitation.
“I’m sure she shares your opinion.”
“And you deserve it. Why didn’t you go after her to clear things up?”
“Of course I did. But that night she didn’t return to her apartment. I assume she went somewhere else from my house, and the next day when I went back, the doorman told me Devon had informed him she was going away for a week outside the city.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I am. I pressured the man a bit and he ended up telling me that she takes care of shopping for a neighbor and also stores it for her because the lady is elderly, and for that reason, she lets him know when she’s going away for several days because she asks him to take over that task,” I explained, feeling again that emotion I had never felt for anyone before.
“Wow! You realize Devon is special, right?” my friend said.
“Of course she’s special, but above all, she’s special to me.”
“And you’re going to just sit there with your arms crossed?” he pressed.
“No, but I can’t do anything until she comes back. I’ve called her and sent her messages, but without success,” I explained.
“Let me tell you that no man in his right mind could lose that woman. Her ex is surely the biggest idiot of all and will regret losing her every day. If you manage to catch her, never let her go.”
“I agree,” I said, convinced and aware of what those words meant.
“So, if today marks one week since she left, what are you doing here?”
Once again I found myself in front of the door to her building, with my nerves and anxiety at the limit of what was tolerable, and I knew the reasons why I felt that way.
“Good afternoon. I’m here to see Dr. Dulcet,” I informed the doorman, who opened the door for me.
“Go ahead. She arrived at noon, but I suppose you already know that,” he said with a smile.
“Yes, thank you,” I lied. I wasn’t going to explain to him that I hadn’t had any idea about her life for a week.
I went up in the elevator feeling extremely nervous because I was risking everything—my happiness, my future—and she played a major role in it, in my life.
I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. I heard footsteps approaching. The door opened and there she was in front of me, my sweet doctor, Devon Dulcet. An electrifying jolt ran through my chest, leaving me without any reaction. I was lost.