Chapter 4 The Proposal #2
“That wasn’t my intention,” Drew said. He reached for her hand. “I did want to take you out tonight, I wanted to spend some time with you, but you’ve got to understand how swamped I am at work. It’s really stressful, hun.”
Sophie snorted.
“Seriously, Drew? You’re going to blame the job? I work there, too. I know what it’s like. Why did you even ask me out if you didn’t have the time? We could have eaten in.”
Sophie bit the inside of her cheek to distract against the tightness she felt building in her chest. The room was starting to feel too small, the other tables too close.
“I had, well have, something I want to celebrate with you. I’m sorry if that didn’t come through.”
“Okay. I’m listening.”
Drew perked up, smiled fully for the first time all evening. He almost looked normal when he smiled like that. He was certainly more handsome without the scowl.
“Okay, Sophie,” he started, “we’ve been together almost five years now, right?”
She nodded, and against her better judgment, excitement pushed the rest of her emotions aside. She thought about what she wanted, and was pretty sure it was still Drew, no matter how crazy he drove her. Her pulse raced, her breathing came in short bursts.
This was it!
“Well, you also know that I asked you to at least try to concentrate on getting your career on track a while ago, and you’ve done that, babe.
Tenfold. I’m so proud of you for how much you’ve done for you and for us.
So, I talked to my dad,” Drew paused as he reached in the breast pocket of his suit and Sophie’s heart pounded so fiercely she worried it might beat right out of her body. “And we—I—wanted to give you this.”
At that, he handed Sophie a flat, white envelope.
It was too slight to have anything other than paper inside, a fact she confirmed as she held it up to the light.
Yep, only paper. She looked at the front, thoroughly confused.
It had her name typed on the envelope, but otherwise gave no indication as to what was inside.
Her head cocked and eyebrows arched, she opened it, scanned the first page.
It was a letter of intent to offer Sophie a partial partnership at Drew’s law firm.
She read the letter three times through, not really sure where to start.
Her skin felt as if it might slide off her body, she was so out of sorts.
She inhaled deeply, the stale restaurant air offering little relief.
This couldn’t be happening. Not after all this time, all this work.
Fury was the only thing that kept her tears at bay.
Finally, after her pulse slowed, she put the offending offer down and stared at him, her jaw firmly set.
“You don’t look as happy as I thought you would. Did you read the whole thing?” he asked.
“Three times.”
Drew laughed nervously.
“Okay. And?”
“And what, Drew?” Sophie could barely utter the words, her teeth were clenched so tightly.
“And what do you think? It’s a pretty good offer if you ask me.”
“Is it, Drew? Is it really? Would you have the audacity, the balls, to offer a guy that same deal?”
Now it was Drew’s turn to look confused. Ugh. She could have kicked him in the shins for not even noticing the discrepancy. It would have been better if he’d done it intentionally, that way she at least knew where she stood.
“I’m not sure what you mean, Soph.” He wasn’t sure, was he? What a jerk.
“I mean this ‘partnership’ essentially means that I’ll be paying you to work. I’ll earn less than I do now.”
“Well, yeah,” Drew said, smiling tentatively. “I mean, you’ll have to pay for dues and overhead, things of that nature, but you’ll be a partial partner. Isn’t that great? It’s what you wanted, right?”
Was he really that obtuse?
“Drew, hun,” she said, not caring that she sounded condescending as hell. “Do you and your father pay that percentage?” She tapped her fingers on the table, a bleed over habit from trial.
“Well, no…” Drew started.
“And are you two ‘partial partners’?”
“No, but listen…” he tried again. Sophie put up a hand, the same gesture Drew used ad nauseum on her, silencing him.
“No. I came here tonight thinking you were going to ask me to marry you, so I bought a new dress, the dress I was going to get engaged in, only to get here, have you act like a prick all night, then give me a crappy deal that I should be grateful to take, just because it came from you?”
She was spiraling, but didn’t care. It felt damn good to finally tell him how she felt.
“You thought—” he started, but she cut him off with another wave of her hand. She tried not to notice how when she brought up marriage, he looked as if it had never even occurred to him.
Of course it hadn’t.
“You told me if I got my act together and took my career seriously that you would take us seriously, but this,” she said, violently shaking the letter in his face, “this shows me you’ll never take me seriously.
Not as a partner in the firm or a partner in your life.
I am done. With both of those positions if you were at all confused. ”
She took a deep breath and picked up her martini, not finding it remotely funny when Drew flinched like she might toss the contents on him.
She finished it in a single gulp, stood, and walked out of the restaurant, glad at least for the small buzz that remained and the courage it gave her.
It took every ounce of self-constraint to not turn around and apologize to him like she’d been doing for almost five years.
Five damned years. What a waste.
As soon as she hit the frigid open air, the tears fell, though, streaming down her face in torrents—not for the breakup and not for the job she loved that she’d just left, but for the relief that coursed through her now that she’d finally taken a stand.
She pulled her phone from her purse and dialed Jackie.
“Tell me everything,” Jackie said, answering on the first ring without so much as a hello. “I want every detail of your big night.”
Sophie sniffled. “It was big, alright. Can you meet me out at Finnigan’s for a drink so I can fill you in?”
“You buying?” Jackie teased.
“Nope. Since I’m unemployed now, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind picking up the tab,” Sophie replied, her lips pursed in a half-smile.
Jackie would know she was teasing about the bar tab.
As a grad student in public service, she’d barely been able to afford rent the past few years, let alone drinks out in the city.
Luckily, Sophie had enough socked away to get her by for a while until she figured something out, drinks for her and her best friend included in the budget, of course.
“Shit. No way. I’m in a cab now. Don’t start without me.”
“See you soon,” Sophie said, hanging up the phone. She took a deep breath, wiped under her eyes, and stood up straight, watching the rest of her uneven breaths turn to cold puffs of smoke as they hit the air.
She had no idea what her plan was after Finnigan’s, after tonight, or even next week, but for once she was okay with that. She was a free woman, and it was invigorating knowing that just around the corner could be something that changed her life forever.
With that thought in mind, she took off in the direction of the bar, not caring about the cold air that swept around her. Instead, she considered how she wanted her life to look now. Who did Sophie Kellerman want to be?