Love In Between
Chapter 6

I didn’t know what was going to happen at that meeting in that bar. I don’t think you did either. The only thing we both knew was that it was urgent for us to see each other again. In that meeting our pasts were exposed and with it our wounds.

I understand perfectly why you have summoned me to this bar. It is a lonely, dark place where no one could imagine that Gael Martí could be. The wooden floor, the tables of the same material, and the pictures hanging on the walls of old times make me feel like I’m in a movie from the fifties.

The waiter comes with the coffee cup and leaves it on the table without saying a word and as soon as he leaves Gael crosses his path.

-Bring him another one please. – He asks him and continues walking towards me while the young man leaves to get the other cup of coffee. It’s clear he hasn’t recognized him, but it’s not his fault. The black cap Gael is wearing and dodging looking him in the face was a good strategy.

-Good afternoon, beautiful,” he says as he reaches the table and approaches me.

-Good afternoon,” I say firmly and he greets me with two k****s, one of them practically on my lips.

-Let me tell you that those clothes look amazing on you,” he says as he sits down on the chair right in front of me and turns his back to the rest of the bar.

-Thank you very much, I had an important work meeting. What I didn’t know is that I would have to work with you,” I say nonchalantly and take a sip of coffee.

That f*****g sexy half smile appears on his face and I’d gladly let him lay me down on this table and repeat the other night, but no, it’s not possible.

-I was calling to tell you that I was in Madrid and that I’d love to see you, but it wasn’t necessary. I saw you in the place I would have least expected,” he explains.

I leave the cup of coffee on the table and the waiter approaches leaving the other cup in front of him and leaves silently again.

-And how many women have you been with in the last few days,” I ask bluntly and he laughs, “I don’t know what you’re laughing about,” I complain.

-Do you think I f**k every girl that crosses my path,” he asks, leaning over the table to close the distance.

-I don’t know. Not that I care either. -I say and lean my body to shorten the distance. -I’m just looking for a good f**k with you once in a while. Don’t consider yourself so important either. -I tell him firmly and he smiles.

-I’m looking for the same with you. You know, I’m not in the mood for love dramas or for a woman to complain to me if I don’t call her the next day after having s*x with her,” he explains and I nod.

-And I’m not for a man to celebrate me and tell me what I can and can’t do,” I reply immediately.

-What have they done to you to make you like this? It is clear that you are not a woman who goes through life screwing any man who appears in front of her,” she tells me and it bothers me that she can read who I am so well.

-I tell you and you tell me what they have done to you,” I propose.

-Okay.

-My ex, Pedro was a sweetheart at first. He was a sweetheart at the beginning. He used to follow me everywhere I went, and then he became obsessive and jealous. He became violent… things got worse and I had to flee his side only to find him two days later with his real family in a restaurant. Wife and a daughter – I confess and Gael’s face changes completely.

-What a shitty guy,” he says, still shocked.

-I just don’t trust men anymore and I don’t believe in love. That’s the new Selena Hauser. I just want to be the best publicist in Spain and not depend on anyone else. -And you? I press.

-It happened to me that Delfina broke my heart into a thousand pieces. One night I went to her house after returning from a long day’s work and she made me choose between her and the company. She told me that she could no longer stand the distance my work was causing me.

-And what did you tell her? I asked her in surprise. I can’t believe that someone would make you choose between your future and love.

-That he couldn’t make me choose. That it wasn’t fair… at that moment he threw me out of his house and never answered my calls again. I don’t want to fall in love again, I don’t want anyone else to make me choose, not anymore,” he tells me firmly and I understand him.

-You are right. Love sucks; it takes you to heaven and then you fall to the ground all at once and without warning, leaving all your bones broken,” I add.

-That’s right, that’s why I like it here. – He says pointing at us and smiled.

-I invite you to my house to have a glass of wine and have a good time for a while, what do you say, do you have time?

-He says smiling and without further ado he calls the waiter to ask for the bill so we can get out of here.

Perhaps confessing our pasts to each other was the most liberating thing we have done. The wounds were exposed, but thanks to that we knew why we did what we did.