Chapter 15 - The Garden Party

Friday found Lucky sharing breakfast with Neo and me after staying over. As I drank the day's first cup of coffee, I watched him with Neo and was genuinely thrilled to see the private smiles and the small covert touches they gave each other.

I'd had easy relationships like that and hadn't appreciated them at the time. They had been comfortable and uncomplicated, but they'd been superficial in a fundamental way, too.

How deep could a love affair get if you didn't know the darkest corners of your lover's soul? That was the problem I'd faced with Menzi.

Day Two After Menzi had begun. I found myself wanting to go to him and apologise for leaving him. I wanted to tell him I was there for him, ready to listen or simply to sit with him and say nothing at all. But I was too emotionally invested.

I got wounded too easily. I was too afraid of rejection. And knowing he wouldn't let me get too close only intensified that fear. Even if we did figure things out, I'd only tear myself apart trying to live with the bits and pieces he decided to share with me.

At least my job was going well. The celebratory lunch the executives gave in honour of the agency landing the Vela account made me genuinely happy. I felt blessed to work somewhere so positive. But when I heard that Menzi had been invited—although nobody expected him to come—I went quietly back to my desk and focused on work for the rest of the afternoon.