The Meeting Point by Olivia Lara
Forty-Eight
I go in, my head spinning. Get a Caramel Macchiato and sit on a barstool by the window, watching people pass by. Trying to calm down, avoiding looking in his direction and trying to think of what I should do next.
I thought I was so smart, playing Celine and Ethan, and it all came back to bite me in the behind. I knew I wasn’t cut out for this. I’m a lousy liar and manipulator.
All good? Can you talk now?
It’s a text from Alisa.
I call her.
“This is turning out to be the worst day. Ethan was behind me. He heard everything.”
“That’s not good. What did he say?”
“What didn’t he say? By the way, among other things, I think he knew who I was.”
“How could he have known?”
“You sound like him,” I say bitterly. “Well, guess what? The main character’s name is Maya. He used my freaking real name.”
“No way! Wait.”
I hear the rustling of pages.
“Wait. I’m on page 50, and there’s no mention of you or that day. It’s his life before. Wait.” More pages rustling. “OK, I didn’t read, just scanned for names. Yes. Maya June from New York. And her description is the spitting image of you.”
“How did he know what I look like? I don’t get it. He didn’t see me.”
Pages. More pages. Rustling. And ‘oh’, ‘ah’.
“You’d better read it yourself. Let me check the tracking.”
I wait. A minute. Two. “So?”
“About that. You’re going to kill me. I’m so sorry. I made a mistake.”
“What?”
“I accidentally sent it to the inn. I don’t know why. I must’ve had both addresses written next to each other. Can you get it from there? It says it was delivered this morning.”
“I will, no worries; now I’m scared to even read it.”
“Don’t be. It’s just different from what we thought, I guess.”
“Almost forgot the other shocking thing. He asked me to go today on purpose.”
“What do you mean on purpose?”
“He used me to get publicity. He knew there would be photographers there and some senior executive from his publishing house. When they heard my name, you should’ve seen their faces. It’s like I was Madonna or something.”
“I don’t get it. What are you talking about? Did they know about you?”
“Maya in the book. Maya in real life. Ethan kept the identity of Max and Maya a secret, and when they saw us together, they might’ve thought—”
“Thought what?”
“That Max is Ethan, I guess. Why else would ‘the Maya’ be with him?”
“That’s ridiculous. Ethan already said Max is a friend of his,” says Alisa. “Maybe they thought you’re cheating on Max with his friend. That gets more publicity.”
“I don’t know what to tell you and I don’t care. What I care about is that there are photos of us kissing and I need to talk to Max before he sees them. I doubt Ethan will tell him the truth.”
“What kind of friend is he? This whole thing is making my head spin, honestly. I never imagined it would turn into this complicated affair.”
“Don’t use the word affair or I’ll vomit.”
“Sorry.”
“And David keeps calling and I’m just at the end of my rope here.”
“I’m sorry. If there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll do it. I don’t like to see you like this.”
“You’re already doing a lot. I’d go insane without you.”
“Why don’t you take it easy today? Go get the book, avoid Ethan, and let’s hope he at least has the decency to give you Max’s contact details. He’s much sneakier than I thought. I guess you were right about him after all. Your intuition was spot on.”
“What good did that do if I didn’t listen to it?”
“It’s OK. We’ll figure it out. It’s not the end of this story.”
I wish I could hug her. If she only knew how much her friendship means to me. How lost I’d be without her.