back in Texas. I’m just not sure whether I want anything to do with it.”
“What happened?” He took a long sip of his wine, his eyes on me and the smile gone from his face.
This was him giving me space to tell him what I wanted to tell him, I realized—and I was grateful for it.
I hadn’t talked to anyone about the full story, because Bryan and I had shared so many friends, and I didn’t know how many of them had already known what was happening. I didn’t know how many of them were going to judge me for having been stupid enough to fall for his stories.
And, of course, when you break up with someone, you have to divide up all your mutual friends, like the books you might have bought together. Some go with one person, some go with the other. And the truth was… I just hadn’t been sure how many of our friends were going to side with me rather than him.
I had never felt lonelier. And so I’d run from all of them.
“I had a boyfriend,” I said, diving right into the deep end. “We’d been together for three years, and I thought we were moving toward marriage. I had assumed that we were almost there. I thought he must already have the ring and just be waiting for the right time to propose.”
“Maybe setting up the right situation,” Nikos added.
I pointed at him, using the hand that was holding yet another full glass of wine. “Exactly. I was so sure of it, in fact, that I had started shopping for wedding dresses. I’d been going through magazines and collecting ideas, and talking to my friends about whether we would have a big wedding or a small one. Everyone was so freaking excited. I thought I’d found the person I was supposed to be with for the rest of my life. And then…”
My voice caught in my throat and I stifled a sob. God, I’d thought I was over this, but it turned out that a month hadn’t been enough time for it to stop hurting. Instead, it was just sitting there, a thorn in my lungs that made it feel like it was hard to breathe.
Still, breathe I did. Because it would be rude of me to just up and die on the man who had just saved my life.
“Then I came home one night and found him in bed with another girl,” I finished, getting through it as quickly as possible. “His secretary, as it happens. So cliché, right? They’d always been flirtatious with each other, but I never thought anything of it. I thought… I thought he was faithful to me. I thought he loved me and that I was lucky to have him. Turns out I was just a sort of meal ticket, though.”
Nikos was quiet for a moment, then asked, “What do you mean?”
I snorted and shook my head. “I was the way he got his job. I’d hired him as an intern when I first started doing account management, and I recommended him for promotion after promotion. By the time I found him in bed with that woman, he was my equal in the company. And I’d put him there.”
“Ah. And then you had to go to work and face him,” Nikos guessed.
“Exactly, but it gets even better.” I smiled a bit, trying to take the edge out of my voice. Trying to make myself laugh about what had happened.
Failing. But trying, at least.
“Not only did I have to face him, which would have been bad enough, but he’d gone around the entire executive suite, telling everyone that I was bad in bed. And that he’d been a saint to put up with me for as long as he had.”
Nikos didn’t say anything after that, and I didn’t blame him. Because what exactly can you say to something like that? Especially when it comes from a complete stranger.
I forged ahead. “Anyhow, my assistant came to me and told me what he was saying, and just like that my decision was made. I threw everything I could grab from my office in a box and emailed my boss, letting him know that I was taking a leave of absence. Indefinitely. I didn’t even say goodbye to anyone before I left.”
Nikos leaned toward me, took my hand, and squeezed it gently. “The man obviously doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” he said firmly. “And he obviously didn’t deserve you. He