CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Two Months
Two months with Jalen passed like a fast song.
Maya had expected guilt to ruin everything. Instead, guilt and excitement lived side by side until excitement became louder.
Andre moved to Seattle three weeks after Maya and Jalen made their relationship official.The night before his flight, Maya wrote him a long message and deleted it.
Then she wrote a shorter one.Maya: I hope Seattle is everything you deserve.
I'm sorry for the way this ended.Andre did not answer until the next morning.Andre: I hope you find peace, Maya.
Take care of yourself.There was no anger in it.No invitation either.Maya cried in her office bathroom, reapplied her makeup, and went to a client meeting.Then Jalen picked her up for dinner that evening and reminded her why she had chosen him.At least, that was how it felt.He was attentive in ways she remembered and ways she had never known.
He sent flowers to her office after a successful campaign.
He took her to Malibu on a Sunday and packed a picnic because Maya once told him she hated restaurants that treated ocean views as an excuse for bad food.
He introduced her to clients and friends as "the woman I should've gotten right the first time.
"Every time he said it, Maya's heart softened.Tasha did not trust the speed.
"You're still grieving Andre," she said over dinner one night.
"I'm not using Jalen to get over Andre.""I didn't say you were.
I said grief doesn't disappear because the new relationship feels good.
""It's not new."Tasha raised an eyebrow.Maya sighed.
"You know what I mean.""That's exactly what worries me.
You keep treating a two-month relationship like it's seventeen years old.
It's not. You knew a teenage version of him.
You're dating the adult version for the first time.
"Maya hated how often Tasha made sense.Still, Jalen seemed determined to prove everyone wrong.He cooked for Maya at his downtown loft.
He let her keep a toothbrush at his place.
He gave her a key after six weeks."Too fast?
" he asked.Maya held the small brass key in her palm.
"Probably.""Want me to take it back?"She closed her fingers around it.
"No."Jalen smiled.Those early weeks were full of repair.They revisited old arguments and retold them with adult perspective.
Jalen admitted jealousy had made him controlling.
Maya admitted fear of abandonment had made her test him, leave first, threaten breakups she did not mean.
They sat on his balcony until midnight discussing the people they had become without each other.Sometimes it felt less like falling in love and more like winning a case they had been arguing for half their lives.See?
Maya wanted to tell the universe. We could have been good if we had been older.The proof seemed everywhere.Until it wasn't.The first change was small.Jalen stopped answering during work hours.Maya understood.
His studio was busy.Then he began canceling dinner because clients ran late.She understood that too.
Her own job had trained her to respect deadlines.Then, one Friday, he canceled a weekend in Palm Springs two hours before they were supposed to leave.
"Emergency session," he said over the phone.
"One of my athletes tweaked his hamstring.
"Maya looked at the packed suitcase beside her bed.
"You couldn't have told me earlier?""I just found out.
""We paid for the hotel.""I'll cover it.
""That's not the point."Jalen exhaled sharply.
"Maya, I can't control when someone gets injured.
"His tone changed something inside her.Not because it was cruel.Because it was familiar.The impatience.The way concern became accusation in one sentence.
"I didn't say you could," she replied."Then why are we arguing?
""We're not.""Good. Because I don't have time for this right now.
" The call ended.Maya stared at the screen.A memory surfaced: eighteen-year-old Jalen saying, I don't have time for this, after she asked why he had disappeared at a party.Maya pushed the memory away.People grew.Bad moments were not patterns.One canceled trip did not mean anything.She unpacked her suitcase alone.