Three dots appeared, then disappeared, then appeared again. Thank you. He put the phone face down on the table and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Then he got up, went to check on Jaden, and told himself he was just going to have a conversation, a professional conversation between two adults who had found themselves in an unusual situation and needed to clear the air. That was it.
That was all this was. He didn't entirely believe himself, but he went anyway. The north end of the beach was quieter like she'd promised. Less families, fewer umbrellas, just open sand, and the sound of the water doing what the water always does. Arriving, pulling back, arriving again.
Malcolm got there a few minutes early. He stood at the waterline and let the foam run over his feet and tried not to rehearse anything because every time he'd rehearsed conversations in his life, they'd gone sideways anyway. He heard her footsteps in the sand behind him. He turned. Viven was dressed simply.
Shorts, a linen shirt, hair pulled back, no armor. That was the word that came to him. He'd always seen her with armor on. The tailored suits, the perfect posture, the careful precision of every word. This was different.
She looked like a person who had decided at some cost to show up without it. You came, she said. I said I would. She nodded. They stood there for a moment, side by side, facing the water, not talking, just arriving.
Then she said, "I owe you more than an apology." Viven, "Let me say it." She said, "Not harshly, just firmly. Please." He nodded.
"What I did yesterday was selfish. I was caught off guard and I reacted and I used you to protect myself without stopping to think about whether that was fair to you. It wasn't." She paused. You are someone I respect enormously, and you deserved better than being deployed as a prop without your consent.
Malcolm watched her face while she said it. The effort it was taking her to say it plainly without deflection, without the executive language she usually hid inside. He could see the effort. He respected it. I appreciate that, he said.
I do. And for what it's worth, I'm not angry. You should be. Maybe, but I'm not. He looked at her sideways.
What I am is curious. She glanced at him. About about why a woman who handles billiondoll negotiations without blinking panicked over one man walking down a beach. Vivien was quiet for a long moment. The waves kept coming.
A pair of birds cut across the sky above them. "Ethan didn't just leave me," she said finally. He left me in a very specific way 3 weeks before the wedding by letter. She said the word like it still had a particular flavor she hadn't gotten used to. I had told 400 people about this wedding.