“I’ve got my eye on a new concept restaurant actually,” Matt says. “It’s one of those fusion places, but they claim to be different to anything already out there. I’m going to talk to them tomorrow. I’m thinking maybe some sort of franchise deal.”
“Fusion huh? Like Sushi crossed with curry?”
“It’s a bit more sophisticated than that,” Matt laughs.
“I like something simple personally. Something where I don’t need some sort of degree in food engineering just to work out the menu,” I say.
“So you think we should go for low end?” Matt asks raising an eyebrow.
“No. I think we should stick to what works. Classic dishes that people enjoy in a high end setting with good quality ingredients. But hey, what do I know? I’m just talking as a customer here. You’re the food guy. Kimberley was always into those fancy places. I’d rather go to a bar and grab a steak.”
Matt looks down at his plate but not quickly enough that I don’t see him smirking.
“What?” I say. “You can’t seriously tell me you don’t enjoy a good steak?”
“Who doesn’t love steak?” Matt replies. “I’m not laughing at that. I’m laughing at your mention of Kimberley.”
“Oh that,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Honestly, I’m totally over her Matt. I think I just needed that one last time to really see it. You know, to get closure of whatever. It took a long time, but I can finally see that she’s really not that special. I mean she’s just a girl right? I haven’t even thought of her since she came to my office acting like a brat after we had sex. Until today apparently.”
Matt is openly laughing now and I frown.
“What?” I demand. “What the hell is so funny?”
“You trying to claim you haven’t thought of Kimberley in weeks. Come on Seb. Who are you trying to kid here? She’s all you’ve talked about since that night.”
“What? No she isn’t,” I insist.
Matt raises an eyebrow.
“We were talking about a restaurant and you managed to bring the conversation around to Kimberley,” he says.
“Ok, so I mentioned her once in three weeks. I hardly think that means she’s all I talk about.”
Do I talk about her a lot? No, surely I don’t.
“When we were talking about movies last weekend at mom’s place, you talked for like ten minutes about Kimberley’s favourite movies. You even managed to turn a conversation about Callie’s day working in the library into a conversation about Kimberley’s favourite authors the other day.”
“I …” I start.
Matt cuts me off with another laugh.
“I know you’re going to try and deny it, but really Seb just give it up. You know Chance’s even stopped taking your calls because he’s so sick of hearing Kimberley this, Kimberley that.”
I open my mouth but I don’t have anything to say to that and I close it again. I take a big bite of my sandwich, an excuse not to reply. Matt smiles knowingly at me. Ok, the sandwich trick isn’t working. I’ll have to meet him half way. I chew the bite and swallow.
“Ok. Maybe I didn’t stop thinking about her quite as quickly as I implied. It was a process I suppose. But I’m over her now.”
“That’s probably a good thing really, you know, considering everything,” Matt says.
It’s obvious he’s holding something back and he’s going to make me work to get it out of him. If I refuse to take the bait, he won’t be able to resist telling me whatever piece of juicy gossip he has, but still, I take the bait like he knew I would.
“Considering what?” I say.
“Oh just stuff you know.”
“For God’s sake Matt, just spit it out,” I say.
He grins again.
“Well a couple of days ago, Kimberley dropped by my office and she asked me if I thought you would ever come around to her. I thought of all of the times you’d sworn off her and I remembered you saying you were totally over her. So I told her no, I didn’t think you would and she should just move on and forget about you.”
“Good advice,” I say.
I thought I’d be happy to learn Kimberley is the one pining for me, trying to find a way to make me come back to her. I’m not though. I don’t like the idea of causing her pain.
“I thought so,” Matt says. “Anyway, word is, she has a date. Tonight.”
“A date with who?” I demand.
Matt smirks again.
“Why do you care if you’re over her?”
“I don’t care. I was just making conversation,” I say.
“Right,” Matt says. “Some guy she met in a club or something. I don’t really know.”
“Speaking of clubs, how’s ours doing?” I ask.
Anything to move the conversation away from Kimberley.
“Good,” Matt says. “It’s more Chance’s area than mine, but he’s happy with the profit margins. He’s even talking about expanding to a few more so the money must be there.”
Some guy she met in a fucking club? He doesn’t exactly sound special.
“We should definitely look at that then. Maybe a bar or two as well,” I say.
“You just want somewhere you can get a discount when you go out on the sniff,” Matt laughs.
“Nothing wrong with that is there?” I say. “How’s Callie doing? Did she get that promotion at work?”
Kimberley in a tight dress, some fucking guy with his hands all over her.
“She hasn’t heard anything yet. They said it would be next week when she finds out.”
“No news is good news right.”
I finish up the last of my sandwich. It tastes like cardboard now. The bread suddenly feels too thick and spongey. I swallow down a long swig of water.
“I have to go,” I say. “I’ve
