Page 4 of The Meeting
The line stayed silent when Kailynn finished. She pulled her phone away to see the screen and make sure the call hadn’t been dropped.
“Abi? Hello?”
“I’m here.”
The silence continued after that. Kailynn tossed her hands in the air even though Abi couldn’t see her. She was now standing in front of the bathroom mirror with Abi on speakerphone while she did her makeup.
“So…?”
“What do you want me to say?”
Kailynn roughly shoved her mascara wand into the tube several times. “I don’t know. Give me your thoughts. Sympathize with me. Does Logan ever pull this shit with you?”
“Honestly? No. Even all the shitty guys I’ve dated have never treated me that way. Well, aside from when they cheated on me. But they were always pleasant otherwise. Even when they were being assholes, it was different. Not like that.”
She leaned her hip against the vanity and picked the phone up, taking Abi off speakerphone. “So what you’re saying is…”
Abi’s sigh came through the phone. “Look, Kailynn. It’s your decision, and you need to do what’s right for you. But I really think you should consider the way he treats you and the way you want to be treated. Is that what you want for the rest of your life? Is he the person you want to come home to every day? If you ask yourself those questions, and answer honestly, I think you’ll have your answer.”
Kailynn blew out a breath. “You’re right. I know you’re right.”
They spent a few more minutes catching up before saying their goodbyes when Abi’s break at work was up. Kailynn spent the rest of the morning weighing the pros and cons of her relationship with Drew as she finished getting ready and drove over to her office. The problem was that she realized most of her pros had to do with the business, and not with Drew.
Did she want to figure out how to work with her ex instead of having a clean break? No. Did she want to try to figure out how to split their assets since they had been living together for several years and bought furniture together? No.
But… were those good reasons to stay in an unhappy relationship?
No.
She pulled up to the small area they rented for work and stared at the building. It was large and leased to several tenants, and they all had their separate spaces. She and Drew rented a smaller unit since it was just the two of them working a majority of the time. It had two rooms, which was enough for them. When Jessica was there, she used a laptop and migrated between their offices. Sometimes she wished they had gotten a larger space since her design area was always too full with projects, but Drew complained that spending more money on a larger unit would cut into their profits.
He was correct, technically. But she always argued that if she could spread out more to organize, then she would be able to work faster since she wouldn’t spend valuable time looking for things.
He still didn’t budge.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized she was only staying with Drew out of convenience. Yes, she had cared about him at one point, but it had been a long time since she had wanted to come home to him.
Abi’s questions hit the nail on the head. Kailynn hadn’t been treated the way she wanted for longer than she could recall. It wasn’t what she wanted for the rest of her life.
She grabbed her purse and made her way inside the office. It wasn’t lost on her that she and Drew used to ride to work together, but somewhere along the line, it changed. He would make a comment about getting to the office early and leave. It became their new norm.
Her head was thrumming with her new revelation. She needed out. She stepped into their rented space to find Drew sitting at his desk with the pictures of her new design on the screen. Once again, he didn’t acknowledge her as she stepped in, nor did he make a single comment about the new dress.
She stared at him. Waiting. Waiting for what? She didn’t know yet. But she was waiting anyway. After what felt like a lifetime, but was probably only a minute, he turned toward her.
“Is there something you want?”
“Are you happy?” she asked.
“With?”
“Us. Are you happy with how things are going?”
He rolled his eyes and turned back toward his computer. “Is this about the shoes?”
“No. This is about us.”
He continued to stare at the screen without a response. Was he seriously dismissing her just like that?
