Chapter 4 #2
I smiled. “It wasn’t that bad. It just wasn’t what I wanted to do. Preston kept saying I had to learn the ropes, though. He opened his own real estate company under his father’s banner.”
“And didn’t take you along for the ride?” Hayley challenged.
“No. He didn’t think it was right for us to work together. He thought it might cause static if he was my boss.” I exhaled so heavily my hair ruffled. “I know now—I learned it after the fact—that he was having affairs with his secretaries.”
Bree nodded knowingly. “And having you in the same space would have cut down on his extracurricular activities.”
“Yup. This went on for a long time. I hated my job, but Preston seemed to think it was best. He kept talking about getting married, wanting the proposal and planning to be perfect. He never proposed, though, and the one and only meeting between his parents and my mother didn’t go well.”
Tears pricked the backs of my eyes. “They belittled her. She didn’t realize it. She was always a sunshine girl, and she just didn’t see it. I saw it, though, and it made me bitter. Still, I kept telling myself that once Preston was a success, he wouldn’t be such a shithead.”
“Language,” Hayley warned, although there wasn’t a lot of heat behind the word.
“Sorry.” I was rueful. “I forgot.”
“Ignore her.” Bree waved off her friend’s discomfort. “I swear all the time. She’ll get used to it.”
“And she won’t bark ‘language’ at me when she’s used to it?”
“No, she still does that.” Bree gave Hayley an elbow in the side. “It’s a reflex for her. You just won’t care.”
“Good to know.” I reached for my water this time instead of the cocktail.
“I was disillusioned with Preston, but I didn’t even realize it.
I was looking for a way out and didn’t realize that either.
Then I went to my mother’s place, which was only twenty minutes away.
She got hammered with her friends, and they all had to stay over at our place.
“Since there was nowhere to sleep but on the floor, I decided to go home,” I continued, the next memory galvanized in my mind.
“I’d started doing little exercises at that point.
I was holding fake conversations in my head.
I still thought if I expressed my feelings to Preston, which I never did because I was always hiding who I truly was, that he would listen to me. ”
I took a deep breath. “Then I heard the noises from our bedroom when I got home. He wasn’t expecting me.”
“I want to grab this guy’s nuts and twist until they fall off,” Bree complained.
“I want to help you,” Hayley agreed.
“I knew the woman. She also worked as a secretary for his father’s company. They were going at it and didn’t even see me.”
“Did you set the house on fire?” Hayley asked.
“Condo,” I replied. “And no. I grabbed the few things from the living room I wanted. I didn’t take any of my clothes. All of my most prized possessions, including my books, were at my mother’s house.
“I grabbed all the spoons from the drawer and put them down the garbage disposal but didn’t turn it on,” I continued. “I decided to let him do that himself. Then I left and didn’t say a word.”
A pall had settled over the table, and Hayley and Bree seemed enraptured by the story.
“It took him days to call and see where I was,” I supplied. “I’d gone back to my mother’s house, told her everything, then spent two days drunk and lamenting what an idiot I was.”
“None of this was your fault,” Bree argued. “He was gaslighting you.”
“Oh, I know.” I rubbed my cheek and shook my head. “He told me that I didn’t do it for him in bed and that sex meant nothing in a relationship. He was terrible in bed, for the record.”
“They always are,” Bree replied darkly. “The ones who say stuff like that are always lazy and have no idea how sex even works.”
“After that, for several weeks, he called daily to beg me back. He never apologized for what he’d done and referred to it as a ‘mistake in judgement.’ By then, I’d quit my job, and the other secretaries had told me about all of his dalliances.
“I found my old manuscripts from college when I was going through my stuff,” I continued. “I decided then and there what I wanted to do. I couldn’t stay in Salem to do it, though. It was too close to Preston.”
“Because you were afraid of him?” Bree looked like her blood pressure was about to skyrocket.
“I just didn’t want him calling. He still thinks he can get me back. He doesn’t even really want me back, whether he realizes it or not. He just wants to be in control.”
“I know you don’t want to hear it, but he’s a walking red flag,” Hayley said. “Are you sure he won’t turn violent if he doesn’t get his way?”
“He would never.” I solemnly shook my head. “In his family, that wouldn’t be allowed.”
“But harassing you is okay?” Bree challenged.
I shrugged. “Listen, I know it seems like I’m being a doormat. I just don’t want him in my life.”
“And yet he’s inserted himself in your life,” Hayley said. “I mean, come on. You don’t think this is a coincidence, do you?”
“No, definitely not. Nathan told him he’s my boyfriend, though. I think that will be enough to get Preston to back off. He’ll do the retreat—I’m still fuzzy on the details—and then he’ll go.”
“Oh, you’re an optimist.” Bree mockingly clutched at her heart. “I didn’t see that coming.”
“I grew up an optimist, and then I lost it,” I acknowledged. “That’s the part of myself I want to get back. This city makes me feel lighter. Yes, Preston coming here ruins that for me. He won’t stay, though. He’ll get the message.”
“I can’t believe Nathan volunteered to be your fake boyfriend,” Bree admitted. “That’s really going to cut down on the number of authors he can hit on at the retreat.”
I hesitated. “Maybe I should let him off the hook if that’s his thing.”
“He’s kind of a dog,” Bree said. “Not in a bad way. He’s just not looking for a relationship. If he volunteered to help you, that means that he wants to help you. Leave it be.”
“So he’s a dog but in a good way?” I rolled that over in my head. “Is that even possible?”
She laughed. “He’s a good guy. He’s going to be a good partner for somebody eventually. He just hasn’t reached the stage where he wants to settle down yet.”
“He is a good guy,” Hayley agreed. “Let him stand as your shield. It will be good for him to see what women have to put up with for a change. It might cause him to mature.”
That didn’t sound likely to me. Still, their plan was probably for the best, so I shrugged. “I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out, I guess. I just want Preston gone.”
“Oh, we’re going to make sure he’s gone after this retreat,” Bree promised. “One way or another.”