Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 86596 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86596 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
I swear this is on my bucket list.
“This is where I come to blow off steam.”
Ha. “And how often is that?”
“Not often enough. Not like it’s easily accessible, but at least the company has a jet and this private hangar, so I can come in and out whenever I want and just…”
He shrugs.
For the first few minutes, all we do is sit on the back of his convertible, gazing out onto the runway as planes taxi to the runway and takeoff. It’s a sight to behold, to be sure, and something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s incredible. Amazing.
“I never thought I would be doing this,” I finally tell him. “It’s so cool to watch the planes take off. I wonder which one I think is neater—the takeoff or the landing.”
“Neater?” That makes him laugh.
I rifle through the brown paper sack so I can give him the cheeseburger he ordered, removing mine, too, before taking both cartons of fries and dumping them into the bag. I fold down the brown paper so we can easily stick our hands inside.
We sit idly munching and gazing at the sky.
“Do you wanna tell me what happened back there? I know it’s none of my business, but if we’re going to be friends…” My voice trails off because honestly? I doubt he’s actually going to tell me what’s on his mind, but he finishes chewing and sucks down a large swig of cola before he speaks.
“That woman back there—the blonde back at the event?”
“The pregnant one?”
“Yes,” he says with a laugh. “The pregnant one.”
I wait, sensing that this is a sensitive subject, judging by the way he stuffs another fry into his mouth.
“Laura and I actually went to law school together. She’s changed a lot since we first started dating, though,” he begins. “I thought we were going to get married.”
He thought they were going to get married?! Were they engaged? I stuff the sandwich into my mouth so that I don’t blurt out an insensitive question, nearly choking on my own shock.
Married?
Eli?
“Anyway, I found out we weren’t getting married when she was photographed with one of my clients on a weekend I was traveling. It was a compromising position they were in.” He’s quiet for a few moments, wiping his hands on a napkin. “It’s a shitty way to find out that the love of your life is cheating on you. I had everything planned out, you know? I had an engagement ring.” His laugh is bitter. “Keith Dwyer beat me to it, I guess.”
“Who’s Keith Dwyer?”
“Some hotshot football player.”
Of all the things I was expecting him to confide—of all the things I was expecting him to tell me—this was not it. I thought perhaps he would tell me she was a rival sportscaster or head on a story about one of his players in the past, and they had a bitter relationship. I wasn’t expecting him to tell me that the pregnant woman at the event was his ex-girlfriend/ex-fiancée/the woman he was going to have babies with.
For a while, I just let him look out at the runway. It’s a busy night for travel, and planes are coming and going at regular intervals.
“I’m sorry,” I say at last. And I mean the words—I am sorry. It’s obvious he’s hurting, and no one deserves to be shit on like that. Certainly not by someone they loved. It makes me wonder what that does to a person, being cheated on like that. What it means for their future relationships.
The guy must have some serious trust issues.
No wonder he doesn’t want women hitting on him all the time. He’s still healing.
“You’re not the one who has to apologize.”
True.
But since meeting him, I've gone from having my guard up and letting that imaginary wall stand between us to feeling some kind of emotional... something toward him. It's definitely friendship if I had to give it a name. I’d even go as far as to say I’m feeling somewhat sisterly toward him.
Look. I’m a sensitive person. The last thing I want is to see a person hurt when it could have been avoided.
All a woman like Laura would have had to have done was tell Eli she wasn't happy in their relationship and that she wanted more. Whether it was more of that she wanted: more fame or more attention or more money.
Doing that would have saved him a lot of grief and embarrassment.
I groan.
Embarrassment.
In the profession Eli is in, it must have been brutal watching his girlfriend flaunting her new boyfriend in the media, a boyfriend she kept a secret from him until it couldn't be kept a secret any longer.
And now she's pregnant?
Oh my god.
“When was the last time you saw her? In person?”
Eli doesn’t look at me. “Seven, eight months ago? I’m not sure, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen her in person. She was at my apartment packing her things, and I only saw her briefly in the lobby so the doorman would let her up. Before that, I’d only seen her on television. It’s not like she broke up with me in person.”