CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
KATE
Things are finally coming together for the charity gala in the ways I like to see: finalized plans, confirmed reservations, venue decorations boxed up and ready to be hung, and more lattes than the eye can see. Lily and I have been plugging away for weeks and it’s finally feeling complete.
“This time last year, we didn’t have half this much done.” Lily sticks a pen in her hair and stares at the whiteboards and blackboards hung around the office. “This is incredible. What’s different this year?”
“No David.” I stand next to her and mimic her pose. “Last year he was constantly getting in the way, confusing the vendors, keeping me away from it all.”
“I remember that.” Lily frowns and throws an arm around my neck. “I’m glad he’s gone.”
“You and me both.”
“Maybe now you can really take Los Angeles by storm. No man holding you back and all that.”
“You mean we.” I shoot her a friendly wink. “I am nothing in this town without you.”
“Please. I’d still be stuck serving lattes and microwaved breakfast sandwiches if it wasn’t for you. This stuff changed my life.”
“Hopefully it’ll change a lot more.” I study all the boards again and take a deep breath. “A children’s benefit usually swings big numbers, but I’m hoping for astronomical dollar signs after the year I’ve had. I want this to be my big coming out party. To show the world Kate McArthur means business, with or without a ring on her finger.”
“Ferocious like a tiger.” Lily growls at me and laughs. “I believe it will. This will put you on the map, Kate. Everyone looks forward to your events, but I really think this will be our best yet.”
We take pictures of all the boards, update all our notes, and box the completed projects away for the night. We are so much more productive right now that it’s insane. There are so many tiny ways my life is better without David.
I like that. I like knowing, no matter what happens, I’ll still be able to live my life without him. For years, I was known as his wife. Never mind I started in this town. Never mind I introduced him to my friends. David scored big with the comic book universe and it was suddenly, “Kate Who?”
It used to be that my thoughts were consumed with David and what an asshole he’s been to me. My mind would play over and over every stupid moment I later regretted. Starting with that stupid, drunken night I slept with him.
No more.
Now all I can think about is Eric, and the way he spun me around on roller skates. About the way he fills my body, both physically and emotionally. He consumes me.
Every moment I’m away from him, I ache. I actually want to go back into mediation, just to see him.
“Speaking of, kind of.” Lily turns, bright smile on her face. She’s practically vibrating, which is bizarre behaviour for her. “I met someone.”
“What?” I shriek and clamp my hands over my mouth. “I mean, what? When?”
“A few weeks ago.” She blushes. “I didn’t want to say anything because it’s been so chaotic for you and I didn’t want to make it seem like I was bragging.”
“Shut up. Lily! That’s amazing! Tell me all about him!”
“Well, it started off very low-key and quiet. One night, you left the bar early and we sort of flirted for a while. It’s been weeks of it, actually. We never exchanged numbers until last night. It’s been over a month, Kate. I thought I was going to die.”
“Worth it?”
“Very.” A huge grin cuts through her face. “He’s such a gentleman. Always bought my drinks, would never let me pay no matter how hard I tried. And girl, I tried. Slipped my credit card over early and everything. He always managed to take it. Opened the door for me, walked me to my car.”
“That’s so sweet!” I squeeze her arm. I’ve watched Lily lead a terrible dating life for years now and it’s wonderful to finally see her happy. Still, something about it hits me in all the wrong spaces. We don’t ever talk like this about Eric because we aren’t together, not really. She’d tear me apart if she learned about our date to the rink.
“It is! And weird after Bobby. I took care of everything with him for years. To have someone want to look out for me is so strange but so nice. We have so much in common, too. It’s insane, Kate. He loves the same obscure shit I do.”
“Well, that’s awfully… obscure.”
“Very funny. We were talking about all these incredibly terrible old sci-fi movies we both love and it turns out we have the same favorites. It was like my soulmate popped out of the earth and appeared on a bar stool.”
“How romantic.”
“I know it sounds so cheesy, but I thought you might understand. I’m just so freaking excited, Kate. We’re going out later tonight for the first time. Thankfully, he’s not one of those jerks who feels the need to adhere to some stupid three-day rule for calling.”
“That’s not still a thing, is it?” I ask, moderately horrified. “I mean, we’re all grownups now. Surely that’s not still something guys do.”
“It is. For certain subsets of the male species anyway.” Lily wrinkles her nose. “So, tell me about Eric. How is that going?”
“Oh.” I busy myself with reorganizing our desk to keep from meeting her very prying gaze. “Nothing really is happening. David showed up the other night, though.”
“What?” Lily’s jaw drops. “He did not. What did he say?”
“Well,” I shudder, remembering the evening more clearly than I’d like. “He came over with roses, begging to be forgiven. He cried, Lily. It was terrible. I finally agreed to talk to him and went to change. He was standing naked in my living room.”
“Naked?”
“Naked. Fully. He didn’t look like he was crying anymore, either. Go figure.”
“That man needs to be castrated.”
“That would certainly make a lot of things easier. He’s disgusting and I really hate him.”
“I don’t blame you.”
Her phone rings, of course the new man. While she chats him up, I find myself staring at my own phone, waiting for a call that won’t come. It’s like I’m living in the spaces in between my life. Things happen, but at the wrong times, or when they shouldn’t. I can’t fully enjoy anything.
Nausea sweeps over me and I excuse myself from the room for fresh air. This love business is going to kill me.