The Real

When I began consulting at the firm she worked for a month ago, I was met with expected and underlying hostility at our introduction. It had been tumultuous for a time, but since then we’d become chummy.

Kat and I were always the first two to arrive at the silver tower at Preston Corp. On the twenty-second floor, Preston was losing money, and that’s where I came in. Kat headed up the Finance division and her job was the one on the line. We worked closely together and each day, I gave her assurances that the redlining of the department wasn’t due to any mismanagement on her part.

She looked up now and gave me a sincere smile, which was a green flag.

I exhaled and smiled back.

“Well, my weekend started out great and then it got a little weird,” I answered. “I had a flirtation with a gorgeous man, but for some godforsaken reason I rejected him, and then I bumped into him again the next day. I don’t really believe in fate or kismet but it was as if we were being pushed together. I’m supposed to meet him for coffee and I’m pretty sure if I don’t—I’ll end up adopting cats. I’m the last of my friends to pair off.”

“Ha!” She scoffed harshly, making me jump in my seat. “Run the other way. Trust me, marriage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” She slipped her purse into her desk drawer, while the two-carat evidence of her marital status glistened on her finger. “Seriously, it’s no picnic.”

“Tell me how you really feel,” I chuckled as she joined me at her door before we made our way to the breakroom for a much-needed caffeine jolt.

Kat’s face contorted in disgust as she grabbed two mugs and set them on the counter, her lithe figure wrapped in a new designer dress. She’d been a gymnast when she was younger and a bit of a celebrity. She’d revealed that to me over stale sushi when we had one of many late nights.

Though she did show concern for her position, I had a feeling through our conversations that money wasn’t one of her worries. I often wondered if her main concern had to do with the husband she was always ranting about.

“Lately, he’s worthless,” she fumed as she tapped the artificial sweetener into her cup with perfectly manicured nails. Her phone buzzed on the counter as she stirred in her sugar. “Speak of the devil,” she said before she picked up the call. “Hi, Jefferson. It’s not a good time.” A short pause. “Can we discuss this later? I’m at work.”

I stood by the machine as she listened then her eyes went cold as she spewed venom.

“I told you I didn’t want it. No, no, it’s not all up to you. Why are we talking about this again? Seriously, why? The hell you are! Jesus Christ, I’m at work,” she whisper-yelled. “I don’t have time to talk about this. Go play with your toys.” She looked up at me and rolled her eyes. “No, no, no. NO! Listen to me. Listen. To. The. Words. Coming. Out. Of. My. Mouth. I’m done with this. It’s not up for discussion and it’s ridiculous.” She sighed as she ended the call. “See? So much fun.”

I didn’t ask any questions. I’d heard more than one of those conversations and felt bad for the poor man. She was horrible to him. And though I hated to admit it, I felt better about myself at that moment. I wouldn’t talk to my worst enemy the way she talked to him, let alone the man I promised forever to. In fact, I’d been on the receiving end of similar insults. I knew all too well how it felt.

Maybe I really was better off alone.

Kat picked up her cup and sighed. “I’m hard on him, I know. But I can’t handle when he gets all needy.”

“Hey, I’m not judging,” I lied.

She shrugged, and I could see little to no remorse in her eyes for the way she just spoke to her husband. “I’m just over it lately. Maybe I’ll just go home and screw his brains out to keep the peace for a while.”

“Now, this is coffee talk.” We both turned to see Avery—a newly hired temp—in the doorway wearing a Cheshire smile.

“What did you hear?” Kat said with a giggle unfit for a woman in her late thirties.

“Something about screwing brains. And if it weren’t against company policy to have this conversation, I would correct you. That’s not how the anatomy part of it works.”

Kat giggled again, smitten, while I rolled my eyes. She fell for his ass-kissing antics daily. I was over it after the first ten minutes I’d spent with him, but it wasn’t my ass he kept kissing. Java in hand, Kat and I set out on our day, working through lunch, and purging the majority of our to-do list.

After hours of tireless number crunching, I sat kicked back at her desk and spoke through a mouthful of Shrimp Lo Mein. My mind drifted back to Cameron. I’d been thinking about his smile for the past two days. Although I was mentally kicking myself in the ass, I didn’t know if I was ready for anything more than flirtation. But it had been some time since I daydreamed about anyone.

Kat was absently typing up a list of notes. She always preferred working to eating. I envied her for her figure, though she was a little too thin.

I set my noodles down and pushed the day away from underneath my exhausted eyes. “What time is it?”

“Six-thirty.”

“Six-thirty?!”

I couldn’t believe we’d been at it for so long. I was wiped, but Kat looked like she’d gotten her second wind. I hated riding the train from the city at night. I made quick work of packing up, but Kat hadn’t moved.

“Don’t you want to get home?”

Kat glanced away. “Not really. But I guess I’ll go have sex.” She sighed tiredly, standing up to stretch, and I grinned.

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