100% Compatibility novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Sutton

The text came at 6 a.m., from a number I did not know.

"Prudential rooftop cafe. Four o'clock. Come alone, or I won't say anything."

I read it in the brownstone kitchen, standing in my socks.

The coat from the coat check still hung on the chair.

It was Ronan's coat.

I had not given it back, and he had not asked.

He had not come down for dinner the night before, or for coffee that morning.

I could hear his footsteps on the fourth floor, pacing, up and down.

I wrote back, "Who is this?"

The reply came:

"Sutton."

I told no one, which Maeve would call stupid.

At ten to four I took the elevator up fifty stories to a glass cafe full of tourists and cold wind.

Sutton Loring sat at a corner table with her back to the skyline.

She wore a camel coat and dark sunglasses, and she had not touched her tea.

I sat down across from her.

"If you've brought a recorder, I'll know," she said.

"I'm wearing a dress with no pockets," I said.

"You took my fiance."

"I did," she said.

She said it plainly, without apology.

"I've been with Barrett fourteen months."

"I know exactly how long," I said, "because you told the whole street."

"I didn't tell anyone anything," she said.

"You did."

That, at least, made her lift her glasses.

Her eyes were tired, and one lid was red, as if she had not slept either.

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