CHAPTER THREE The Mall
The following Saturday, Maya went to The Grove because she needed a dress for a client dinner and because Tasha had texted her three times that morning to say, Get out of the house before you become one with your laptop.
Andre had plans with his brother, so Maya went alone.
Los Angeles was in one of its shameless moods seventy-eight degrees, bright sun, expensive sunglasses everywhere.
Families moved between shops. Tourists stopped in the middle of walkways.
Music floated from outdoor speakers. Maya found two dresses, returned one, bought the other, then decided she deserved an iced coffee for surviving the fitting-room lighting.She was crossing near the fountain when someone said her name.Not loudly.Just enough.
"Maya?"Her body recognized the voice before her mind did.She stopped.The world did not actually go silent, but memory has a way of turning down every sound that is not important.Maya turned slowly.Jalen Carter stood ten feet away.For one impossible second, she saw him at eighteen.Then the present settled over him.He was thirty-six now, taller than she remembered even though she knew that made no sense.
His hair was cut low at the sides, curls left longer on top.
A close beard sharpened a face that had lost its boyish softness.
He wore black jeans, a fitted cream shirt, and a watch that looked too expensive to be decorative.He looked successful.He looked older.He looked exactly enough like the boy she remembered to make her heart betray her.
"Jalen."His smile came slowly. "Wow."Maya hated that one word could make her feel nineteen again.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.He glanced around.
"Shopping? I think that's still legal."She laughed before she could stop herself.There it was - the old rhythm.
"I mean in L.A.," she said. "Last I heard, you were in Phoenix.
""Came back a few years ago. Opened a performance studio in West Hollywood.
Athletes, rehab, private training. Keeps me busy.
""That's good.""You?""Creative director.
Branding agency in Culver City."Jalen's eyebrows rose.
"I always said you were going to run something.
"Maya remembered him saying she worked too hard.
She remembered him calling her "little CEO" when she colorcoded her college applications.
Had he believed in her? Sometimes. Had he undermined her?
Sometimes too.Memory was inconvenient that way.
It refused to organize people into villains and heroes.
"You look good, May," he said.The nickname landed somewhere dangerous.
Maya shifted the shopping bag in her hand.
"So do you." They stood there smiling too long.Then Jalen's eyes moved to her left hand.No ring.Maya noticed him notice.
"You married?" he asked."No."His expression changed, just slightly.
"But I have a boyfriend," she added quickly.
"We've been together seven years. We live together.
"The change disappeared."Seven years is serious.
""It is.""He good to you?"The question should have been simple.
"Very."Jalen nodded. For the first time since she turned around, he looked away.
"I'm glad," he said.Maya searched his face for sarcasm and found none.
"What about you?""Single. Work too much.
Date here and there. Nothing stuck."A tiny, disloyal part of her relaxed.She hated that too.They talked for ten minutes that felt like two.
Old classmates. His mother. Maya's mother.
Careers. Neighborhoods. The city. They avoided the one subject sitting openly between them: us.Finally Jalen glanced at the shopping bag.
"I should let you go.""Yeah."Neither moved.
"It was good seeing you," he said."You too.
"He pulled out his phone.Maya knew what was about to happen before he asked.
"Can I get your number?"Every sensible part of her said no.What would be the point?
They were not friends. They had never successfully been friends.
Jalen was not somebody who belonged harmlessly in the background of her life.
He was an unfinished sentence she had spent years pretending had a period.Maya heard herself say, "Sure.
"She gave it to him.Jalen called so she would have his number.
Her phone lit in her hand.Jalen Carter.Two words she had worked hard to erase were suddenly back on her screen.
"And before you think I'm trying anything," he said, "I heard you.
You have a man.""Good.""I'm just glad you're doing well.
""Me too."He gave her one last smile. "Take care, May.
"Maya watched him disappear into the crowd.Her coffee had melted into watery ice by the time she remembered she was holding it.On the drive home, she rehearsed telling Andre.You will never believe who I saw.I ran into Jalen from high school.Remember that ex I mentioned once?
Every version sounded ordinary.But nothing about the way her pulse had behaved felt ordinary.When she pulled into the garage, Andre was carrying grocery bags upstairs.
"Find a dress?" he called."Yeah.""Victory.
"Maya followed him inside.Her phone buzzed in her purse.She did not need to look.She already knew.