“Hang in there, buddy, you’ll be headlining your own shows soon.”
“I have to go. Say hi to everyone for me. I’ll call you later.”
There was silence. I think we were both searching for the right words. “Bye, Will. Be careful.”
“Bye. You too. Lock up, pet Jackson for me.” And then he hung up.
Another week and half went by; I barely spoke to him. Apparently he was busy having dinner with the spoiled brat who annoys him because it was all over the gossip magazines. I stood in the corner market staring at a picture of him leading Sonja out of a swanky restaurant in LA. His head was down and it was nighttime but he was wearing his sunglasses. Sonja was smiling happily at the cameras. The caption read:
Sonja seen with her older man at LA hotspot “Fray.”
His name wasn’t listed in the caption, but there was no question it was Will. I stared at the picture, hoping that his face would come to life and look up so that I could see that he was pissed off for having to drag the little brat out. Instead I had to live with the possibility that she had grown on him and he was protecting her from the photographers.
My eyes welled up. I glanced behind the counter at Benton, who looked at me compassionately. He slid a mini bottle of tequila across the counter toward me and then pointed to the chocolate bars and nodded. I took my tequila and chocolate home where there was a message from Will waiting for me.
I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Call me, okay, baby? I talked to Jenny, she said you’re fine but I want to hear your voice.
I ignored it. I drank my tequila, ate my chocolate bar and went to bed.
At the café the next day, I told Jenny about the magazine and she told me to get over it, but I didn’t… and I didn’t call him back.
A couple of days later as I walked home from the bank, I passed a familiar face on the street. I stopped in my tracks, turned, and scanned his features while he did the same. It was Jason Bennett, but all grown up. He was the one and only kid in the Village I hung out with during those summers with my father. He’d lived across the street from Kell’s until I was twelve, when his whole family moved to South Africa. I was heartbroken when they left. We remained pen pals for a couple of years, but eventually lost touch.
“Mia Kelly?”
“Jason? Oh my god, I never thought I would see you here again.”
I reached up and gave him a hug and then leaned back and studied his face. I grabbed his chin. “You’re handsome.” Jason was short and very skinny with dark brown hair. He didn’t have any standout features, but he had a chiseled jaw and he was a much better-looking adult than he was a kid.
“You’re gorgeous, but you always were.”
“Thanks. It’s so good to see you. How are you and what are you doing here?”
“I’m fantastic. I wanted to bring my fiancé here to show her where I grew up.” Just as he said that, a striking Asian woman walked out of the corner market and stood next to him.
“Laura, this is the Mia I told you about. Mia, this is Laura.”
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you.” She stuck her hand out and I shook it and smiled. I noticed she had a very prominent English accent and Jason’s accent was similar but more subtle.
“It’s nice to meet you, too. Have you guys been over to Kell’s?”
“We were just headed there. How’s Pops?”
It was like a knife being slowly pushed through my heart. “He passed away last year.” I tried to say it with as much composure as possible, but my voice cracked at the last second.
“I am so sorry, Mia,” he said. Both of them stood there with sympathetic looks.
“Thank you.” I took a deep breath. “Hey, if you guys don’t have dinner plans tonight why don’t you come to my apartment and I’ll throw something together?”
“You live here now? Permanently?”
“After Pops died, I came out to run the café and I just fell in love with this place and the people here. What about you? Where do you live now?”
“London. Been there for five years.”
“That’s wonderful. So what do you say to dinner?” Jason looked over at Laura, who smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, that sounds great!”
“Okay, come over around seven.”
Jason and Laura were a charming couple, absolutely in love. She was studying to be a philosophy professor and he ran a nonprofit organization that helped get computers to schools in South Africa, where he’d lived with his family for several years before moving to London. We caught up while I cooked one of Will’s pasta recipes. While I sautéed vegetables on the stove the phone rang, so I told Jason to grab it.
“Hello?” He paused and looked over at me. “This is Jason, Mia’s friend.” Right at the most unfortunate moment I burned my hand and immediately ran over to the sink to run it under water. I heard Jason say, “She’s busy right now. Can she call you back?”
He hung up and walked over to me at the sink, “That was a guy named Will; is he your boyfriend?”
“No, roommate.”
“Oh, he seemed pissed.”
“He’s a lot nicer to women.” I was being facetious for no reason since Jason didn’t even know Will. Will was just as nice to men as he was to women, but I was feeling a little pissy after seeing the picture of him and Sonja on the magazine, so the comment just slipped out. Anyway, I knew he must have wondered who the heck Jason was and I’m sure his imagination was getting the best of him, but I didn’t care at that moment.