Saudade | Loubbie

Chapter Thirty

Debbie breathed, taking all the courage in the world as she accepted Lou's hand, "Mrs. Debbie." She corrected.

Lou held her hand tighter, a smile growing on her lips as she held Debbie's eyes, "Miss Debbie."

The way Lou held her hand felt like a burning carousel. It happened so quick, but it felt like the moment was stretching to forever. Debbie was cognizant that her hand was cold, almost shaking, but her ex-wife's hand was soft, gentle, and warm, despite the fact that her grip was hard. And maybe, forgetting her was a futile attemp, because as Debbie held her hand again - she realized that she could never kill Lou.  All the unspent love gathered up in the corners of her eyes, the lump in her throat was becoming bigger and the hollow part of Debbie's chest felt even hollower. It had been five years, but with Lou's touch, she felt like a doomed maiden, suddenly aching for the touch she once promised herself she would never crave.

Debbie cleared her throat as she withdrew her hand, "Correcting you, Ms. Miller. It's Mrs. Debbie."

Lou gave her a half smirk, "Okay." She then turned to look at Keanu with a wide grin, "So let's start? Shall we?"

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"So the plan is, we both stretch around Asia. It is a great opportunity for the business that we will be doing. Since you are an adept already with how bars work, I would like you to lead the way, Miss Miller. This case, I am depending on you. I would also like to offer --"

Debbie really wanted to roll her eyes. While Keanu was up on the podium, presenting Lou all the plans with his projector, Lou, on the other hand, was shamelessly looking at her. It was a mistake that Debbie sat across the blonde. 

"You know what?" Lou snapped her gum, took it out with her fingers before she placed it on the napkin on the table, "Whatever the plan is, Mr. Reeves, I am all in. I am also very ready to be your business partner. But one thing..." The blonde smiled as she looked at Debbie, "Your wife here seems to be very supportive of what you do, despite the fact that you two are in different line of work and I am intrigued." She jested playfully as she placed her chin on her palm before she leaned on the table, "Mind if you tell me how did you get such a pretty wife?" She asked, emphasizing the word wife, and suddenly for Debbie, it felt like a stab, "No offense, Mr. Reeves, you are handsome, but to get such a fine, very beautiful and smart woman." Lou leaned back against the swivel chair, "I mean how?"

Keanu smiled charmingly before he turned the projector off. Debbie was pissed. She knew Lou was pulling a game and whatever the mechanics were, she didn't care. Debbie looked at Keanu as he approached and sat beside her.

"Do you want to tell the story, love?" Keanu asked.

The rolling of Lou's eyes never left undetected by Debbie. Love. It sounded tasteless on Keanu's tongue and Lou had to stop herself from laughing. She used to call Debbie that and it suited Debbie perfectly. Used to.

The brunette shook her head, brushing her annoyance with a small smile, damn you, Lou, damn you, "No."

"Uhm..." Keanu sat comfortably on his chair across the blonde, "We met during one of my business trips. We actually met in Greece. She was there, eating alone in a restaurant and I had mistaken Debbie as the one who I was meeting that time. I thought she was my future imvestor. We hit it off for a week." Keanu finished, taking Debbie's hand and placing it on the table as if it was the most prized thing that earth ever had, "I found that she was a lawyer. No family. Single. And I was like, how on earth? Courted her for half a year, then eventually we got married."

"That is nice."

Keanu nodded, "How about you, Ms. Miller? Don't you have a lover? I mean, come on!  You are beautiful." He chuckled before looking at Debbie, "Not as beautiful as my wife though, but you are."

Lou gave him a smirk. Damn, if only you knew boy. The jealousy was already poisoning the blonde's head, enough amount to get her stomach twisted, but she played it off with a smirk, a smile and a casual leaning on the chair.

"Used to have a wife." She smiled, emphasizing the wife again, "Used to have a daughter too. Long story short, our daughter died..." She stated, this time, looking into Debbie's eyes as if she was solely talking to her; as if Keanu was not there and as if it was just the two of them, "She blamed me - I mean, my ex-wife blamed me for the death of our daughter. Partly, I was to be blamed too. So now, I am alone, but I am happy..." Lou went on, "...now I know that my ex-wife is now happy and is living the life she deserves, I am happy for her."

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