Santa Fe Billionaire

Chapter 63

Ava

I'm stumped really as to why I have allowed myself to even bother coming for coffee with Mark. Save for the apology. What does that even matter now anymore? I could be snapping pictures instead of sitting here in this coffee shop, albeit a nice coffee shop with Mark.

He is seated opposite me whilst we wait for the waiter to bring us our drinks. I take in my surroundings. Petrol blue tongue and groove walls to the midway point and a silver-grey wallpaper on top with outlines in white of leaves. It's pretty and cosy. The tables are all round mahogany with metal legs and the chairs are solid wood mahogany, with fabric to match the wallpaper. It's pretty decadent but at this side of the city, it would be.

The lighting is subdued and the glass windows are smoked, thus giving the impression of it being much later than it actually is. I calculate that Sebastian will land in Spain in around four hours. It will be early morning for him when he does and I cannot wait to talk with him and hear his soft and soothing voice.

I am still keeping my fingers crossed that when he speaks with his daughter she is going to be accepting of me becoming her stepmom. It will be an awful lot for a young, nine year old girl to comprehend. As far as she is concerned, she will be going to live with her daddy on her own. I feel tense inside. Not just because of the situation with Arabella but because I'm sitting here in front of Mark, with our knees almost touching.

Moving further away from him for some extra space is not an option. The coffee shop is full, there are smart business looking types on every table. Some just chatting to one another and others with their laptops. It's the city that never stops. Does any city stop? Not from my experience.

"So how have you been?" He asks me as he plays nervously with a napkin. I've never known Mark to be the nervous type yet right now he appears very uncomfortable.

"What's it to you, Mark." I shift slightly to my left to allow our waiter to place the coffees on the table.

"Would you like something to eat? Our specials board is right over there." He points towards the serving area. "And we have homemade mushroom soup as the special of the day." He hovers with his pad and a pen. I shake my head. Mark shakes his.

As far as I am concerned this is only coffee, the least amount of time I need to spend with him the better. Yet I can't help noticing his long fingers, the same ones that used to stroke my skin, caress my body and melt my insides. He full lips move, "no thanks. Just the coffee." Those are the lips I used to trace my fingertips over. How sad that what I thought was a lifetime of love, was so easily swept from underneath me. I feel a stab of pain, even though I've moved on I realize I am still hurting.

"How's Charlotte?" I ask once the waiter has left.

"About that." The napkin is now twisted. I want to rip it out of his hands, it's irritating me.

I say nothing and simply wait. "We," he coughs nervously. Christ what is with him? The usually so confident, self-assertive man I knew is behaving like some kind of teenage boy who has something to say but scared to say it.

"Split up." I almost splutter my coffee out of my mouth. I didn't see that coming. I mean the woman he couldn't wait to get into my bed, the house I shared with him, the woman who was his perfect match. Mrs Corporate wife to be. I don't say anything still. Let him suffer.

Finally, he leaves the napkin alone. Nobody is paying any attention to us. They cannot detect that I am shocked and angry. So angry. Angry that this man ended our relationship of five years, told me I wasn't what he was looking for, hooks up with another woman in a matter of weeks and is now telling me they have split up. Wow. He gave me up for a few months with someone else. Not a lifetime. Not a marriage. Not a love that would last forever. A. Few. Damn. Months.

"We weren't working out."

"Funny, I thought you'd both be well suited. You know, dressing in your power suits every day, talking spreadsheets and money all day long. Doing romantic stuff like working on your laptops in your pajamas every night tucked up in bed." I cannot bring myself to hide the sarcasm that laces my tone. Nope. Not at all.

"I'm sorry, Ava. I never meant to hurt you."

"Save it." I say and drink more coffee. What I'd really like right now is a nice glass of wine or two, okay three at least to numb how I am feeling.

"I thought I wanted something different. You know a wife to be with me all the time, someone to support me as I go up the ranks." I merely raise my eyebrows.

"Really." I see him squirm. Good so he should. How dare he sit face to face with me and say he thought he wanted someone else? It's all I can do to stop myself from slapping him, standing up and walking away. Which actually I'm wondering why I'm not doing precisely that.

"I don't know what came over me or what I was thinking. We'd been together for so long and the wedding plans were going full throttle and I got scared. Everything seemed to move so fast. I just ran the other way." Like that makes it any better.

"You moved her in to our house, Mark. You were obviously seeing her before you told me to take a hike."

"It wasn't quite like that."

"Wasn't it." My eyebrows are raised so much they could easily push up my hairline several inches. I feel a headache coming on. Inside I'm bitter and twisted.

"I want you back." Oh. My. Fucking. God. Did he really just say that?