As Kaden and I sit across from one another at the best table in the restaurant, the only words spoken are when we order food.
We sip wine and then eat in silence.
I feel like I should say something, but why should I be doing all the work?
I tried to be welcoming and considerate when he came home tired, but he treated me like I was an annoying child underfoot.
If he gets sick of sitting in awkward silence, he can be the one to break it.
It takes me about five minutes to regret my stubbornness.
Even the waiter looks between us like he can feel the tension as he serves our food. I think the whole restaurant would be able to feel it.
I try to give him a grateful smile but it feels forced and I end up just swallowing another mouthful of wine.
Finally Kaden clears his throat and looks at me. “Melinda tells me you did well at the party.”
I nearly laugh out loud.
Unbelievable.
“Well, isn’t it lucky Melinda was there to fill you in on my behavior?” My words come out harsher than I intended, but the wine is loosening my tongue.
He gives me a dark look and I return it, meeting his gaze evenly.
Whatever he has to say, he may as well get on with it.
“She tells me you made a new friend. Spent the whole time cozied up, in fact, with Deidre’s nephew, Damon.”
“And?”
“Would you have told me about that?”
I take in a breath and force myself to count to ten.
I use the napkin to dab my mouth, feeling my fingers tremble, and I pick my words carefully.
The final piece of the puzzle slips into place and I feel a strange sort of calm wash over me.
Melinda.
Perfect, beautiful Melinda.
Well, at least I know now.
But one thing is for sure: no way is he going to make me out to be the cheater so he can run off with her, guilt free.
“So I guess Melinda wasn’t on your phone’s ignore list,” I say evenly and don’t miss the way his face twitches slightly.
“Melinda and I are only good friends–”
“Good friends?” I cut him off. “Sounds to me like there is more to it than that.”
“There’s not.” His voice is firm.
“Did she happen to mention that Damon was the only person at the party who could be bothered to talk to me like I was a human being and not just some little toy you’d picked up from the gutter?”
“You’re exaggerating,” he scoffs.
“Am I?” I say. “Your perfect Melinda led me around and introduced me to everyone as the poor programmer you swept up out of poverty. She may as well have slapped a sticker on my forehead saying, ‘She’s not one of us.’ Everyone took great pleasure in telling me how lucky I was that you saved me from my miserable hovel.”
His jaw tightens and his gaze wavers. “I’m sure she didn’t mean to make you feel that way on purpose.”
“Clearly,” I return. “But you know what, I don’t think it matters. She’s right, you did save me by investing in my app and I will always be grateful.”
He looks at me sharply. “What are you...?”
“I think we both know this is over.”
I stand up and drop my napkin over my half-eaten meal. The nerves flood throughout my body but I try to keep it together.
“I’m going to stay in a hotel tonight and I’ll pack my things and move out tomorrow,” I state.
He jumps to his feet and grabs my wrist, his fingers like iron. “You’re going to Damon?”
I balk.
The nerve of him!
“The fact that you can ask me that... The fact that you think I would cheat with someone you know, in front of your friends, tells me that you don’t know me at all.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to wish him and Melinda the best.
But I can’t bring myself to say the words.
Instead I just turn and walk out.
I won’t cry.
Not here.