Page 89 of Stronger Than Fate

“What’s preventing you from knowing?” he insisted.

“Do you want me to go?”

He didn’t respond immediately, just looked at me with narrowed eyes.

“I understand,” was all he said.

“Understand what?” I asked, confused by his response.

“You were bothered that I wasn’t the one who invited you,” he stated confidently.

This man was light-years ahead of me with all his experience. With just one question, he had caught me and clearly understood the reasons for my hesitation.

“I wasn’t bothered, I simply understand that you might have reservations about my presence at a family gathering, and Idon’t want to impose myself on you. Really, I don’t want to force things.”

“Do you realize you’re always making assumptions? Why don’t you just ask me what I want?”

And he was right, it wasn’t the first time I’d drawn incorrect conclusions by not asking.

“What is it that you want?” I asked.

“That’s better,” he said, and smiled. “I don’t know yet, that’s why I hadn’t mentioned it to you. I don’t know if I’ll be able to go.”

“Do you have another commitment?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said enigmatically, and although I had told myself I wouldn’t make assumptions, I did it again, and assumed he was saying this to avoid the obligation of taking me.

We got out of the car and, as we were heading to the elevators, his phone rang.

—“Waylon, how are you?”

—“…”

—“I wasn’t planning to go to today’s game, but if you need one more player, count me in.”

—“…”

—“I’ll be at the field in an hour. Who are we playing against?”

The elevator arrived and we went up while he continued his conversation.

—“We’ll see about that later, I don’t know if I’ll join you after the game.”

—“…”

—“See you.”

We reached our floor and headed to the suite.

—“Do you have a soccer game, champ?” I asked, while opening the door.

—“Yes, I usually play on weekends, but I had told them I wasn’t coming this time. The problem is they don’t have enough players and they asked me to join them.”

—“It’s always good to meet up with friends.”

—“It is, but I need to leave now because I’ll have to stop by my place to change clothes,” he said, heading to the bedroom.

He put his phone on the table and went to the bedroom. The phone remained unlocked and at that moment a notification came in from someone named “Anabel” and I immediately remembered the woman we had run into. I wasn’t going to do it, really I wasn’t, but remembering what she had said made me pick up the phone and read the message. My mood plummeted.