Chapter 32
Kendall
I arrived at Peter’s office setup. I looked at from the parking lot, and it was a far cry from Elijah’s workplace. The building was located on a small shopping strip, and just subtly blended in with the stores which were stood either side of it. If you had not looked for it specifically, you could have bypassed it all together.
“Morning Kendall,” Peter said as he greeted me. “Welcome to my humble second home.”
“Morning, Peter. It looks nice, small but nice,” I replied.
“Never judge a book by its cover. I know she’s not pretty from the outside, but in here, this is where the magic happens,” Peter said as he took my coat. “Come on. I’ll give you the grand tour.”
“As you can see, this is the kitchen and dining area, small yet quaint and cozy,” he explained. “Restrooms to the left, and fire exit there.”
“Well, this end looks all above board, check,” I said with a giggle as I tried to act bubbly.
“We have six staff who are seated there as you can see from the six desks, and this is my office, situated right next to your area.”
“What are my duties exactly?” I asked.
“To some degree, they are exactly as you performed for Elijah, yet on a smaller scale obviously. There are one or two other things I’ll have you doing. Hopefully not too boring, but they’re important nevertheless,” Peter said.
“Ah, sure, I’m sure I can get my head around it pretty quickly,” I replied.
“Just one thing. I don’t want you thinking this is a position which has just been made up for you, it’s far from it. I did need somebody for this role because I’m getting swamped with new projects,” Peter explained.
“Thanks for that Peter and the opportunity is very much appreciated,” I replied with a smile. “I can’t help myself asking, but how is Elijah doing?”
“He’s…” he started to say. “Come into my office and close the door for a moment.”
We walked into the office, and he started to explain. “Well, I saw Elijah yesterday, and he’s, well let’s just say he’s struggling with himself at the moment. It has been a difficult time for him recently, so we just have to stick with him.”
“But he’s okay, right?” I asked, worried.
“What I do know is that Elijah may have just ended your relationship quickly, but he did it for a reason. He really does care for you and just doesn’t want to see you hurt,” he explained. “He didn’t want to drag anything out so it would become painful for you, so he just decided for your protection to finish it then and there.”
I listened to what Peter had to say, and I could feel myself sink into a pit of self-pity and concern for Elijah. He was indeed in a place where he would be all alone, and if he had any more flashbacks, he would have no one to turn to.
I had finally accepted the way Elijah had finished our relationship, and in a way, I could understand it, but this didn’t make me feel any better about the whole situation. I actually felt like shit the more I thought about it.
“I know it’s as hard for you as it’s for Elijah. I can see it on your face that it bothers you,” Peter said.
“I’m concerned and a little confused by the whole situation honestly. Even though I can understand how events have panned out, it’s also a shock how it happened,” I said.
“Well Kendall, if you need the day off, you can take the time and get yourself settled with all the emotions that are flooding about,” Peter said.
“If you don’t mind, another day just to get my head round it would be great, but I’ll be in tomorrow bright and early, I don’t want to find I have dwelled on anything longer than is needed,” I replied gratefully.
“Alright. I’ll see you in the morning,” Peter said.
“Thank you,” I said to Peter as I headed home.
I arrived home, and let Bo run in the garden for a while as I stood in the kitchen doorway and started to think more about the events that had unfolded.
Peter had explained in detail about Elijah and how he cared for me and just hadn’t wished to put me in a position where he could hurt me. All of this made sense, and it wasn’t the easiest pill to swallow.
Bo finished running around and came back into the house. I curled up on the couch and decided to call my mother.
“Hi, Mom, how you are doing?” I asked.
“Hi sweetie what’s new with you? Hey, and why are you calling so early in the day?”
“I have a lot to tell you, a lot of things have happened over the past couple of days,” I said as I gripped my cushion between my legs.
“So, what has happened that you need to tell me?”
“Well, Mom, from the start me and Elijah had been getting on really well and had spent a lot of time together, we went to the fair and to the falls. I stayed at his house a couple of nights,” I explained.
“Ah, yes, and what has happened since then that you just had to call me and tell me; you still need to tell me why you are calling so early Dear?” she said as she quizzed me.
“Well up until Saturday everything was going great, and I stayed at Elijah’s house, and on Sunday we had breakfast, and I went to Mandy’s house for the afternoon. Elijah meanwhile had gone to visit his mom, and she had explained all about his childhood, and he found out why he had been the way he was before his accident,” I explained.
“So, Dear, what happened since then? I can sense you have some more information to tell me that is slightly different to things are going well?” she asked.
“Well, I left Mandy’s house and returned home to find Elijah sat in my driveway,” I said plainly.
“And, what did he say?” she asked.
I thought about how to say it, and I knew she would give me the whole mother speech and say she had told me so. In a way, even though she would be upset things had happened the way they had, she would be happy knowing that Elijah had broken things off with me, she never really liked him from the start, and now she had her prayers answered.
“Well, after he had seen his mom, he realized he hurt so many people in his life, and he couldn’t do the same to me,” I said.
“Ah, so he said he had to stop seeing you, is that it?” Mom asked.
I sensed in her voice, she was pleased in a way, that she had been right, but I knew she would just be worried about me and whatever happened she would be there to support me.
“He did, he said the only way to be sure he couldn’t hurt me was to end it so I wouldn’t become more hurt in the future if he started to act like his old self,” I explained.
“Now he has hurt you by ending it, so as not to hurt you later,” she said.
“Yes, in a nutshell, that is it. I know his decision is correct, yet it does hurt so much, and I’m distraught at what has happened. He even got me a job with Peter, his brother, so I don’t even work for him anymore, I have just been shut off completely,” I said.
“Well my dear, I did try to warn you this would happen, and you wouldn’t listen, you just plowed forward and stuck by your choice. I did say you had to make your own decisions and live by them,” she said.
I wasn’t expecting her to be so hard on me, but I could understand why she was. It hurt to hear her talk this way, but I only had myself to blame at the end of the day. I should have listened more and maybe if I had left the company when I had the chance, I wouldn’t be in this situation now.
“As I have always tried to tell you, Dear, life is not made up of fairytales, and most men are the same, they see an easy way out, and they take it, no matter who they are. Secondly, they always come up with some reason for their actions,” she said.
She laid into me good and proper, and she made me feel much worse about the situation than I already felt. I was hard on myself, and I was pissed at being dumped as any person would be, but I knew it wasn’t the end of everything, It just couldn’t be.
“The thing is, I still care for him. He’s alone and should have someone close to him right now more than ever,” I said to justify my thoughts.
“Well Dear, it looks like you will never have the chance to find out, you should just get over it and get on with your life. Over time you will see that things probably turned out for the best, and Elijah has actually done you a favor,” she said in a strong tone.
“Maybe in time I’ll look back at it and know you are right, but at the moment, I can’t bring myself to think like that,” I said.
“Dear, time is a great healer, you may never forget, but any pain you feel will lessen over time. So, just put it behind you as an experience that you can learn from in the future when you are ready,” she explained.
“Well, I should get off the phone. I have taken up enough of you time for today. I want just to sit and go through my thoughts for a while,” I said.
“Yes, Dear, keep me updated and look after yourself,” she said.
“Bye, Mom,” I said as I hung up the phone.
I curled up on the couch with Bo and thought of everything, and no matter what everyone said about Elijah I couldn’t see this in him, I knew he was different, and there was just a convoluted reason behind his decision. I had found him a good man and his action wasn’t his true self, it wasn’t him going back to his old ways, even if it appeared that way, it was just that he didn’t want to continue hurting anyone. And if he did regain all his thoughts and return to the self-centered prick that he used to be, I would have made him change!
The more I sat and thought, the more I wished things had worked out differently between us, I knew we could have had a future together. I also considered how much had been influenced by his conversation with his mother.
I cuddled closer to Bo and rested my head, deep in my mind, I was sure that everything would turn out just fine.