International Player(8)

“There was a time when I didn’t think I’d be able to do anything but be still. So now I have a choice, I like to keep moving,” I replied. I totally understood that some people, Rob included, would never get why I had the need to keep striving for more—to get faster, stronger, more successful.

“So, did you just finish your cycle or are you in the middle of one?”

“Are we talking about periods or women?” I didn’t set a watch to my relationships. And I didn’t cheat. I just didn’t see myself in a long-term relationship or married, and I gravitated toward partners who were looking for the same. There were too many women that I hadn’t met. I liked learning how a new body worked.

“Well if you’re having a period, you definitely need to talk about it, but to a qualified medical professional and not me.”

I grinned. I’d missed Rob. I’d seen him periodically since I’d moved to New York and kept in touch over email, but it hadn’t been the same. Friendships made as teenagers were different from the relationships I’d formed once I’d started work. People I met now seemed to be more about networking than anything else. “No women. No one in particular anyway.”

“No one in New York?”

“Turn right here,” I said, indicating the turn off the Marylebone Road. I’d forgotten how bad the traffic was in London. “And then it’s second on the left.” I turned up the air conditioning a notch. “No one special.” I’d been there four years and going by Rob’s estimates that meant there should have been sixteen women . . . which sounded about right. Although not all of them had lasted three months—some of them I hadn’t known for more than a few hours.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find someone soon enough.”

“I’m not looking.” I had a thousand things to focus on and a long list of things to do. Women weren’t a priority. They never were.

“You’re never looking but somehow the women always find you.”

“Are you peanut butter and jealous?” I said with a grin.

“Have you seen my wife? I’m just saying maybe you should look rather than be found. You might discover someone who’ll last longer than three months.”

“I’m pretty happy focusing on the stuff that matters to me.”

“Your problem is you want breadth not depth when it comes to relationships.”

I chuckled. “Really? I don’t see that as a problem.”

“I’m just saying you don’t know how good it can be with someone who knows you better than you know yourself. You never let anyone in long enough.”

“Well I’ll let you worry about that. And while you ponder, I’ll keep having fun and enjoying a breadth of women in London.”

The car fell silent as Rob navigated crossing the traffic without running over the tourists who were filing out of Madame Tussauds.

“It was good to see Truly on Sunday,” I said, wanting to change the subject from my love life. “She looked well. Happy,” I stated, though I really wanted it to be a question.

Was she happy? She’d barely said anything about herself at lunch, and I hadn’t wanted to ask in case it was . . . out of line. But she seemed just the same, looked just the same. Still beautiful in the same unassuming way. Still sheltering in the shadow of her older sister, who she’d always seen as more accomplished, more attractive. That was the thing that I liked best and least about Truly—she always underestimated herself.

“I guess,” Rob said as he navigated the right turn. “What are all these things you’ve got planned? Are you going to spend all your time skydiving and taking flying lessons?”

“I’ve got a few things lined up. Meetings, introductions, that kind of thing. I want the next challenge to be as fulfilling as Concordance Tech was. But different.” I pulled out a key fob and pointed it at the door. “The garage is just here on your right.”

“Oh, you have parking. Nice.” Rob said.

I was grateful he was easily distracted. It was the first time in my life I wasn’t completely focused on a goal—learning to walk again, school, university, my business—and it made me uncomfortable. Untethered. So the goal for me was to find a goal, then the rest of life in London would fall into place.

“You don’t have to work though, do you?” Rob asked. “You could just roll around in cash for the next decade?”

I pushed open my door. “I guess I don’t have to work if I don’t want to.” The float of Concordance Tech had made me rich, and money brought freedom, but the thought of sitting on a yacht all day filled me with terror. Plus that was the playground of billionaires, not someone with a measly fifteen mil in the bank. It wasn’t until I’d made money that I realized how much more everyone else had. “But I want to be constructive. I’m not sure about building another business.” I gripped my keys and pressed the fob against the security pad by the door to the lifts. “You know that I don’t like to do the same thing twice.”

“Maybe a different kind of business?” Rob asked.

“Yeah. Maybe.” I wasn’t convinced. I had plenty to keep me busy. A list of things to do. But I wanted a purpose. An overarching challenge to consume me like building Concordance Tech had. I’d seen something on social media about an emergency fundraising the hospital that had looked after me after the accident were doing. I’d donated, but it didn’t feel like enough. Maybe I could do something more. “I might do something entirely different. I’m not Bill Gates, but there are plenty of issues in the world that need time and attention.”