“I think he’s looking at me,” Jorge said, indicating with a slight tilt of his head to the right and his eyes.
Candace and Mei turned bodily in their chairs to see.
“My god,” Jorge whispered under his breath.
“Which one?” Candace asked, her eyes scanning the room. “Red tie?”
“No, black tie with the pocket square by the window,” Mei said.
They both turned back to Jorge, who glared at them. “Neither,” he said, annoyed. “Gray suit walking out the door.”
They turned, and Mei saw the back of a man walking from the building. “Sorry,” she said.
He sighed. “It’s fine. His beard needed to be brushed anyway. Do we want another round, ladies?”
“Oof, no, I need food,” Candace said.
Mei tipped the last of her glass of wine into her mouth and nodded. She pressed her palms against her hot cheeks.
“Alright, where do you want to eat?” he asked.
“Um…” Candace started.
“I miss Miles,” Mei said.
“Okay,” Jorge said cautiously.
“But I hate him too.”
Candace and Jorge were silent. Mei sat back in her chair and looked at them. “What?”
“Nothing,” Candace said, reaching for her cocktail. The glass was empty, so she grabbed her water instead.
“You can tell me,” Mei said, sighing in exasperation.
“Can I?” Candace said.
“Oop,” Jorge breathed into his drink.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Noth—”
“Don’t say nothing,” Mei warned.
Candace took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled. “Fine. For nearly four years, you’ve wanted to know why Miles left you, and now you do.”
“We’ve had this conversation already.”
“I’m not done,” Candace shot back. “You wanted to know why he left you, and of course, it was some altruistic, albeit misguided expression of his love for you. But instead of talking it out, you make out with him in the center of Paris and then run away.”
“Iconic,” Jorge whispered.
“Chaotic,” Candace corrected, shooting him a quick glare before turning her attention back to Mei. “If you want to know what I think, it’s the same thing I said this morning. You love Miles. Miles loves you.”
“We’re a happy family,” Jorge sang under his breath.
This time, Mei and Candace both turned to Jorge. Candace reached for his drink and took it out of his hands. “I think you’re done, baby. Have some water.” Mei pushed his full glass of water into his other hand, and they watched until he took his first sip.
Candace turned back to Mei. “You can hold a grudge,” she said. “And Lord knows you’d be well within your right to do so. And hey, as your best friend, I’ll support you. But as your best friend, I would be shitty if I didn’t point out that you can also just go talk to him and work this out because we both know that’s what you want to do.”
Mei licked her dry lips and closed her eyes. “What if he hurts me again?” she whispered.
Candace gasped and reached out, grabbing Mei’s right forearm with both of hers. “Then you leave, or you keep working at it. Whatever you want to do. You should do whatever you want to do. Whatever will make you happy. And we both know that’s Miles. Besides, if y’all get back together, we can have a double wedding.”
“I want to get married,” Jorge sighed and then hiccupped.
“Drink some more water, hon,” Candace said. He nodded and followed her instructions.
“I’m scared,” Mei said.
She nodded. “I get it. I’m fucking terrified that me and Ezra will have spent all this time circling each other but in like eight months, we’ll break up because who we actually are isn’t the same as the fictional versions of each other we made up in our heads.”
Mei nodded.
“But if that happens, I’ll survive it.”
“How?” Mei asked in all seriousness.
Candace smiled sadly. “The only thing I ever envied you and Miles for was the fact that you tried. You gave each other the opportunity to fall in love and live it, and Ezra and I deserve that. Don’t you and Miles deserve to see if there’s still more love left in your relationship?”
“There is,” Mei said. This was the first thing she’d been sure of in the last two days.
Candace smiled. “Then I guess we have our answer.”
Mei smiled sadly and nodded, licking her lips. Nervous. Expectant. Terrified. Hopeful.
Jorge hiccupped.
“Lord, let’s get him back to the hotel,” Candace said.
Mei nodded, and they both stood from their table. They carefully helped Jorge from his chair and walked him out to the sidewalk.
“Damn, it’s dark,” Jorge said.
“How long were we in there?”
“Too long,” Candace said.
“What time is it?” Mei asked, her heart suddenly pounding against her chest.
* * *
“If you throw up on me, I’m never speaking to you again,” Candace warned Jorge as they walked across the lobby to the elevator.
“I’m not gonna throw up. On you. Possibly,” Jorge said haltingly. His voice was as shaky as his knees. They’d managed to rustle him into a cab quickly, but it took much longer to get back to the hotel than Mei was expecting. She didn’t have a sense of where they were in the city at all and the ride to the hotel had worked her nerves.
“Go, I’ve got this,” Candace said again.
Mei pressed the button to call the elevator and shook her head. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not,” Candace said.
“I don’t know his room number anyway.”
“Oh,” Candace said. “Actually, neither do I. Call Ezra.”
“No cell reception.”
Jorge and Candace stared at her. He had a look of disgusted confusion on his face that made him almost look sober. “The hell kind of phone plan do you have?” he slurred.
She rolled her eyes. “The kind that doesn’t work in France,” she said. “Not unless I want to pay out the ass for roaming and shit.”
“They still make those?” Candace asked in shocked earnestness.
“I work at a non-profit,” Mei said. “They don’t pay me much.”
“But how little?” Jorge whined.
“Alright, thank you for making me feel bad.”
“Aw, Mei, you shouldn’t feel bad. Your employer should. Use my phone.” She pulled her phone from her purse and passed it over.
Of course, Ezra picked up on the first try.
“Hey, where are you?” Ezra said instead of hello. They stepped onto the elevator.
“It’s Mei, I need your help.”
“Okay, of course. But where’s Candace?”
Mei sighed. “She’s here. We’re taking Jorge to his room for a nap. He’s a little drunk.”
“But how?” Jorge asked, not for the first time on their adventure home.
“Have you eaten today?” Candace asked again, even though they’d established the answer while waiting on their cab.
“Oh. No. Okay, we know how?”
“What floor are you on?” Mei asked Jorge.
“Three. I think.”
“Lord,” Mei muttered.
“It’s three,” Ezra confirmed. “Room 3103. I’ll meet you there.”
“No, Ezra. Fuck. Fuck,” Mei breathed as the door closed. An older white woman was just about to get onto the elevator, but she stepped back at Mei’s cursing fit.
Candace took advantage of her retreat and pressed the button to close the elevator doors slowly in the woman’s face, which made Jorge laugh.
“Oh, mistake. Mistake,” he said, pressing the hand not thrown around Candace’s shoulders to his mouth.
“Hold on,” Mei said.
“What happened with Ezra?” Candace asked.
“He said he’s gonna meet us at Jorge’s room.”
“Is he bringing a rich friend?” he asked.
Both Candace and Mei were shocked into silence.
“Do you think you’re in the right condition to meet and seduce a rich man?” Mei asked, blinking at him.
“I can pull myself together if I need to.”
“You need to,” Candace said, “but for yourself.”
“Besides, we want Ezra to bring Miles with him so he and Mei can get back together.” Candace winked at Mei.
“Talk,” Mei corrected. “We need to talk. Getting back together or having sex won’t fix anything.”
“Can’t hurt anything, either,” Candace mumbled.
Mei was saved from having to respond to that when the elevator stopped on the third floor. He gulped loudly when the car bounced slightly. When the doors slid open, Ezra was standing there with a smile on his face.
The smile slid away when he got a good look at Jorge. “Yikes,” he breathed.
Jorge tried to speak, but Candace threw a hand over his mouth.
“We need to get him back to his room before he blows,” she said.
“I can carry him.”
“Oh,” Jorge said, already disentangling himself from Candace and Mei’s hold.
“Too excited,” Candace warned.
“Don’t care,” it sounded like Jorge mumbled behind her hand.
Ezra laughed but turned to Mei.
“Where’s Miles?” she asked quickly, her pulse starting to race.
She knew her answer before Ezra could speak. His face fell, and he gave her the sad puppy dog eyes Mei knew all too well. “He had to leave for the airport.”
“But…”
“But,” Ezra said, “he left this for you.”
Mei followed the length of Ezra’s arm until it ended at a leatherbound notebook. “What’s this?”
“Don’t know. He made me promise not to open it.”
“And you listened to him?” Candace sounded disappointed, if not disgusted.
Mei took the notebook from Ezra’s hand.
“Yes, babe. Miles and I believe in boundaries.”
“Me and Mei don’t know nothing about that,” Candace said.
Mei nodded in agreement, but she was too busy pulling the familiar flat black ponytail holder from around the book. She heard Ezra hoist Jorge into his arms. Jorge tried to laugh but then gulped.
“Oh, shit, let’s go,” Ezra said.
When Mei looked up, Candace was hanging back. “You okay?” she asked for the hundredth time today.
“No,” Mei replied honestly for the first time. “I’ll go to my room.”
“Okay. I’ll check on you in a little bit. Once we get Jorge settled.”
“I’m sorry about ruining your first Valentine’s Day with Ezra,” Mei said, but Candace beamed.
“First of so many. There’s no way to ruin this.”
“No, don’t!” Ezra yelled from down the hall.
Candace’s eyes went wide. “Love you, Mei,” she called and dashed off in the direction of Ezra’s voice.
“Love you,” Mei called back as the elevator doors closed. She pressed the button to her floor and leaned against the wall. Carefully, she opened the book, and her face crumpled at the sight of Miles’s handwriting — a slanted chicken scratch she could read perfectly. Even after all these years.