Free Remember Our Song by Emma South Page A

flavor, so I hoped at some stage I had acquired the taste.  I sniffed the steaming cup deeply before taking a tentative sip and finding it much more palatable than I remembered my previous attempts at drinking coffee, though I didn’t think it would ever be my favorite.  Jeremy and I made some more small talk as we drank, ranging from the weather to various interesting stores I’d spotted in my travels around the area.
    “No more problems with paparazzi?”
    “No, they don’t seem to bother with me if I’m not with you.”
    “Oh.  Well, I’m glad they’re staying out of your way.”
    “Me too.  How long will we be in Seattle for?”
    “Just for the day, I think.  If something comes up while we’re there that means we think we should stay longer, well, we can arrange it.”
    “Your schedule is awfully flexible for somebody with such a large… empire.  Is that the right word?”
    “Haha!  Well… I’m not sure I’d call it that.  I don’t feel like an emperor, it’s just business.  Playing the game, I was alw ays good at it.  And when you are your own boss, there’s a certain amount of leeway with the schedule.  Getting time out here and there isn’t hard, but getting a lot of it in a solid block is a problem.  Besides, I’m always connected.”
    Jeremy patted his pocket that held the smartphone and as if in response, a beeping sound emitted from it.  Pulling the phone out, Jeremy had a look at whatever message had just come through and sighed.
    “Listen, I’ve got to go put out some fires that have just sprung up in response to clearing the schedule tomorrow.  The bill for lunch is on my tab, so that’s all taken care of.  Do you need a ride back to your apartment?”
    “No thanks, I’ve got to get my walking quota in for the day,”
    “Alright.”
    Jeremy pressed a few buttons on his phone and held it up to his ear, listening for a moment before somebody on the other end answered.
    “Stan?  Yes… I’m ready now, thanks.  See you soon… Bye.”
    Jeremy hurriedly finished his drink and stood up, scanning down the road to look for his car and then looking down at me while the three women at the next table checked out his ass.  I fought back an urge to throw my remaining coffee at them, but it was a near thing.  I was surprised at myself, I had no idea where that defensive impulse came from.  The joys of dating such a hot guy I thought and then cut the internal monologue off… had I just called him ‘hot’, even if only in my own head?
    “Thanks for the message and lunch, Bea, I’ve been thinking about you all the time.  I hope this trip to Seattle does something.  I love you.”
    Jeremy leaned in as if he was going to kiss me on the cheek or something but I shrunk away, still processing the thought that had just run through my head.  I gave him a tight-lipped smile and his potentially-attempted kiss turned into an awkward pat on the shoulder as he stood up straight again.
    “Uh… that’s OK,” I said, “see you tomorrow.”
    “Bye.”
    Jeremy threaded his way between the tables and walked to the street, where Stan pulled up in the car with perfect timing as if they were some team of secret agents with synchronized watches and every move planned to the last detail.  I finished my coffee slowly, pondering that little slip of the mind-tongue.
    I couldn’t make head nor tail of it, so tried to think about what might happen tomorrow in Seattle, my hometown.  It would be good to see somewhere I was really familiar with again, I wondered how much it had changed in eight years.  Not too much, I hoped.
    *****
    The flight to Seattle was a short one on Jeremy’s private jet and, aside from some finger-shaped dents I put into the armrests on take-off and landing, I was happy to find that it didn’t provoke too much fear in me.  Nothing like those panic attacks I had before, anyway.
    Jeremy drove a hired car from Seattle-Tacoma airport towards the north and I felt my