Chapter 9
“He got you tickets to the opera, but he isn’t going?” Sheila asked as they climbed into the limo.
“He might be here, but he can’t go with me”, Aurora explained. She hated how it all sounded, and how it made her feel. Sheila was trying to look reassuring, but it was only making Aurora feel worse. She wanted to be able to be seen in public with her man.
Aurora rolled the partition down. She heard Anthony sigh as he realized he was going to have to talk. Aurora rolled her eyes at him. She knew that he was not her biggest fan. Aurora was going to speak, but then she thought it would be more fun to make Anthony talk.
“How can I help you?” Anthony grumbled.
“Is your employer going to be at the opera tonight?” Aurora tried to keep the tone as formal as possible. She knew that it would bother Anthony more that way. She was enjoying making him talk to her. Aurora looked over at Sheila to see that the older woman was just drinking in Anthony’s resentful tone.
“He’s away on business this weekend”, Anthony smirked as he saw the expression on Aurora’s face change. She wasn’t expecting that response. The partition went up as Aurora couldn’t take Anthony’s face for another second.
“Why wouldn’t he tell me?” Aurora put her hand up before Sheila could answer.
“I’m not going to say anything”, Sheila said.
“That’s saying a lot”, Aurora joked. Sheila shot an angry look across the back seat, but then she smiled.
“I just want you to be happy”, Sheila said as she moved closer to Aurora. “And I worry that you’re not going to be happy until you move on”. Sheila put an arm around her friend.
“No pity”, said Aurora as she moved to the mini-fridge. Aurora pulled out a bottle of champagne and two glasses. She poured the glasses and Sheila started tossing the drinks back. Aurora tried to keep up, but she ended up just getting mad.
She stewed all the way through the opera. It was a terrific show and Sheila really enjoyed it, but Aurora barely heard a note, not really heard anyway. The whole time she sat there wondering what Lance would say if she confronted him about this. Anthony hadn’t said anything about a girl going with him, but that didn’t mean anything. Aurora knew that the limo driver would lie for his boss.
The worst part was that he was just keeping her busy again. It was fussing about notes all over again. Lance needed her out of the way, and this opera was his way of keeping her distracted until he got back.
“What are you doing?” Sheila said as she saw Aurora looking through her purse.
“I need to text him and find out what he says”, Aurora groaned the words. She didn’t want to sound like a crazy person, but she needed to know what was going on. She needed to ask Lance where he was, and she needed to know what he was going to say. Aurora wasn’t going to be able to get on with her life until she knew.
The show was over, and everyone was making their way to the exits. Aurora knew that Anthony was waiting outside for them. They were still in their seats. Aurora got her phone out and she stared at it for a moment as she considered the right message to send.
“Can we hang out?” Aurora regretted sending the message. She had tried to think of the perfect message. She wanted it to sound casual, and relaxed, but this didn’t sound like something she would text. She felt like the message was going to tip Lance off to the purpose of her message.
“Anthony probably gave him a heads up”, Aurora said this mainly to herself, but Sheila agreed with her. That was a bad feeling. She didn’t want to be right. She wanted to know that Lance’s response came from the heart.
“I’m out of town”, the message came back. “I’m a little busy, text later”. This message quickly followed the first.
“He told you the truth”. Sheila sounded hopeful, and she was trying to seem supportive, but she could tell it wasn’t working. “Okay, what should I say?”
“He told the truth, but he is away on business, and I know how his business trips work”, Aurora said as she remembered her amazing trip into a mountain paradise. It was somewhat tainted by the thoughts of whatever business was going on, on this business trip.
“How can you ever be happy with a man you don’t trust?” Sheila’s word hit hard. Aurora didn’t like how they tasted in her mouth.
Standing up, Aurora walked out of the theatre without saying another word. Sheila was trying her best to keep her mouth shut. It was hard to do anything when her every action was being taken as a slap to the face. Sheila thought that she was right, but she didn’t want to gloat. This was not something that she liked being right about. Sheila could see the pain it was causing her friend. “I just hate to see you in pain”.
“I get it”, Aurora sighed. “You were right, and there’s nothing wrong with you feeling good about that…”
“Believe me when I say that it doesn’t feel good”, Sheila tried to reassure Aurora, but there was no reaching her. Aurora was lost in her own little world.
Her mother had called it an emotional tailspin. “You get a thought into your head, and you don’t know if it’s true, but it circles around in your mind until…boom! It takes hold of you”. Her mother’s words were coming to Aurora as she tried to pull herself out of the tailspin.
“I know you’re somewhere else right now”, Sheila said. Her voice sounded different and Aurora turned to see that her friends was getting out of the limo. They were at her building. Aurora was barely aware that they had driven anywhere. How long had she been staring off into nowhere?
“I just want you to remember that nothing has happened to you tonight, and this is how you feel”. Sheila’s face looked concerned and caring. Aurora thought of her as the big sister she had never had, and this talk felt like a very sisterly moment to Aurora. “This is not healthy. This man has a hold on you, and you need to turn back before you really get hurt. No matter what has happened tonight, you likely should just walk away”.
Sheila kissed Aurora on the forehead and then turned and walked into the building. Aurora watched her get inside and then she closed the door. Anthony started to drive the limo, and Aurora let her body slide back into the deep, leather seats.
I should just walk away, she thought as the big car crawled through the busy streets. Aurora made the decision right then and there. She turned her phone off, Lance had texted twice since they got in the car, and Aurora wasn’t even going to check the messages. She had noticed that one was an address, and the other said, “1 hour”, but that was just because it came up as a notification. She was just done. She wasn’t going anywhere with Lance.
It was the right call, as far as she was concerned. Aurora knew that she couldn’t take the pain of a real breakup, or really catching Lance cheating. She knew that she couldn’t handle being the other woman. She didn’t know if it was emotional maturity, or immaturity, but she needed more than a secret boyfriend.
“What are you doing?” Aurora put the partition down and yelled at Anthony. She was tired of his crap. She didn’t have to be nice to him anymore. “Stop the car!” Aurora watched her building fading into the distance.
“We have another stop to make”, Anthony said.
“I’m not going anywhere, but home”. Aurora sat back in the seat and folded her arms. As soon as she did it Aurora realized that the move had made her look like a petulant toddler. She caught Anthony smirking in the rear-view mirror. “Whatever, I’m still not going”.
“Well, you’re not my boss, and that’s where my boss wants me to be, so that’s where this limo is going”. Anthony closed the partition from his side.
Aurora unfolded her arms and watched the city as they passed through the streets. At every stoplight, she considered getting out and walking, but then Anthony would start moving again, and Aurora would sit back in the seat.
“I thought he was away on business?” Aurora loved how annoyed Anthony was as she put the partition back down.
“He’s in Colorado all week”, Anthony said as his eyes made contact through the rear-view mirror. “He’s negotiating with shareholders to get a bigger holding in the company. You know how it is with Lance and Trevor, they’re always competing”.
Aurora had seen the competition firsthand and she knew that Trevor was pushing to take the company. Lance had talked about it on several occasions. “So, Trevor is buying up stock”.
“The guy can’t get the board to vote for him taking over as chairman, so he’s going about it a whole different way”. Anthony explained things like he knew all about the world of high finance. Aurora herself was really only aware of the hard numbers. The political nature of stock companies was an entirely different animal.
“And Lance is busy trying to stop him”, Aurora realized that she was interfering with that. He was trying to save his job, and she was being a terrible girlfriend, secret girlfriend. Is there such thing as a terrible mistress? Aurora wondered to herself.
“He’ll fly back there tonight, I’m sure”.
“He’s flying in?” Aurora was surprised to hear this. She thought she was going somewhere to be given a present or something. Really, she wasn’t even sure what she thought. It was weird to think that someone would fly all the way across the country for her.
“He wouldn’t do this for his wife”, Anthony laughed.
Aurora could actually see the realization in Anthony’s eyes as he heard what he said and realized how it sounded. Anthony started blubbering and searching for the words to undo the damage.
“I mean he would’ve, but there was…I don’t know…It was something she did”, Anthony looked like he was about to have a stroke. Aurora would’ve stepped in and tried to calm most people down, but she genuinely didn’t like Anthony and that made it much easier to just sit back and enjoy this moment. “He loved her, and she betrayed him”.
“What did she do?” Aurora asked. Anthony looked like a deer in the headlights. “I mean for you to use the word ‘betray’ it sounds like it must’ve been pretty bad. He loved her, and then it was just all over after this one thing. What did she do?”
“Trevor”.
The car stopped and Aurora got out onto the sidewalk. She looked up at the building and turned to ask Anthony where to go, but he was already pulling away. Aurora walked into the building.
“Are you Aurora?” The security guard said as the young woman walked into the lobby. “You need to head up to the roof. Mr. Macauley will be here shortly”.