after you left,” she quickly explained. “It’s all legal and you have no right to be here. You’ve basically broken into my apartment and have entered it illegally and I have every right to call the police and haven you arrested.” She crossed her arms over her chest and her chin jutted out, defiance written all over her face and body language.
His eye brows shot up at that explanation. “Well, wasn’t that smart of you? I wouldn’t have anticipated anything that intelligent coming from you.”
“More flattery, Drew?” Her insides were twisting painfully and she was embarrassed that she had married this shell of a man. He was so pathetic and all she could think about was getting back downstairs to Victor. She would have to hurry, she knew because Victor wouldn’t wait downstairs for long and she wanted this embarrassing scene finished before he came up and found Drew in her apartment.
“I can dish it out, honey!” he laughed and his humor almost toppled him over.
“Drew, you have to leave,” she said firmly, standing her ground and not showing any of her fear on her face. Drew was drunk and there was no telling what he might do in this condition.
His laughter stopped and he glared at her from several feet away although he had to prop himself up on the doorway to keep steady. “Why? Your boyfriend going to come up and kick me out?”
Lana wished that were the case but, despite Victor’s amazing amount of muscles, she couldn’t imagine him resorting to violence. He was much too urbane.
“Let’s just say there’s no point to your presence in this apartment and leave it at that?”
Drew laughed harshly. “What you’re saying is that you don’t have a boyfriend, do you?” He turned and walked over to her desk. His hand picked up a stack of papers. He turned to mock her. “Can’t get a man of your own so you’ve resorted to inventing your own? What happened to your receptionist job? Not working out for you?” He dumped the papers back onto her desk and Lana wanted to rush over and save the stack, half of which fell to the floor in his careless replacement. “You won’t get published,” he sneered. “You don’t have it in you to be in that kind of cutthroat business. Besides, no one really reads that kind of drivel,” he slurred out. “Why don’t you try writing a real book? Maybe that would have better success and you can get out of your dreary life?”
“What do you want?” Lana demanded, not bothering to contradict his assessment of her character or her writing skills. It made her proud of her accomplishments now that he was saying she’d never make it anywhere. She’d already been published several times, and was now living off of the income from those stories. She’s never tell him that. Not that she was ashamed, but she just didn’t think he had any need to know her business. He was in her past and she was eternally thankful for that.
“Tell me about your receptionist job?” he asked, leaning against her desk as if he had all the time in the world.
Lana took a deep breath, disgusted with him and refusing to be intimidated. “Drew, you ask that question as if there was something wrong with being a receptionist. But I’ll have you know that there are a lot of people out there who enjoy the interaction with new people and are very good at being a receptionist. They enjoy it and take a great deal of pride in their work.”
“How would you know?”
She straightened her shoulders to confront him. “Because I was one of them. I genuinely enjoyed meeting new people each day as well as the people who worked in the office. Their requests weren’t demeaning. In fact, helping them with small tasks made me feel good and needed. I was useful. I can’t say the same about being married to you. So in fact, you walking out on me for another woman was the best thing you ever did for me. I’m different now and I’d appreciate it if you would leave this apartment immediately before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing.”
Drew chuckled. “You’re bluffing but you’re pretty good at it.” He walked across the small den toward her. “Now be a good girl and cook me some dinner and we’ll talk about getting back together. Okay?”
Lana couldn’t contain the revulsion from showing on her face at