Page 102 of Rude Boss 2

“What are you going to do now?”

“I’ma go talk to him. He already fired me. What more can he do?”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t want to find out. I’ll see ya around.”

And now I’m standing in the conference room alone, taking deep breaths, preparing myself to go talk to him. I don’t know if he’s returned to his office, or if he’s gone someplace else to blow off some steam, but I take the elevator up there anyway and when I push the door open, I see that he is there, sitting behind his desk, seemingly perplexed.

I quietly close the door and ask, “What the heck was that, Essex? You’re firing me?”

“Yes. I’m firing you,” he says bluntly. “I never wanted you to work for me. It’s whatyouwanted, and I went with it, but not anymore.”

“Wow. So, you woke up this morning and decided to be a jerk to me.”

“No. I woke up this morning realizing that the woman I love doesn’t love me.”

“Okay, you’re being ridiculous.”

“Am I?”

“Yes! We just got back from our honeymoon. Where is all of this coming from?”

He starts typing something like he’s not paying me any attention saying, “I have work to do. Please go clean out your desk.”

“No! You don’t get to put this wall up and shut me out. Talk to me.”

He’s steadily typing.

“Essex.”

“Now you know my name,” he says.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

He slams his laptop closed and says, “It’s coming from the fact that when we were making love last night, you called me Stewart. You said, I love you,Stewart. Do you know what that told me, Quintessa? It told me you were never really intome. You never loved me like you said you did. You love Stewart.”

“YouareStewart.”

“I’m not Stewart! I’m not that man anymore! I’ll never be that man again, but he’s who you love. Who you want. And to think I did all of this for you. I became this person for you. Someone you couldchooseand be proud of. Someone you wouldn’t mind bragging to your friends about. Someone you could respect. And all you want is a loser. AStewart. What does that say about you?”

“My God…you were not a loser back then, Stewart, and yes, I’m intentionally calling youStewartright now since you seem to be having an identity crisis right about now. I didn’t ask you to change who you were for me. You did that on your own when it wasn’t even required.”

“It wasn’t?” he asks, standing.

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Then why didn’t you join me at college?”

“Because I couldn’t. How many times have we talked about this already?”

He shakes his head. “The thing is, you could have. If I was worth it, youwouldhave, but I wasn’t worth it, was I?”

“You were, but you have to realize I was doing something to make my mother happy. I couldn’t please you both. And honestly, you never gave me any indication that you saw a future with me.”

“You’re a liar!”

“You didn’t,” I say near tears, “But if that’s how you feel, then that’s how you feel. I should’ve known better to think I could change you for the better, but you’re no better from the first day I stepped into this building. You’re still that guy—the man who has to show everybody that he’stheman. A man who people are afraid of. A man who didn’t shed a tear when his mother died. A man who has the ability to make people feel smaller than nothing because you have it all? But beneath that tough exterior of yours is theloser—your word, not mine—that you want to forget, but you can’t because no matter how far you’ve climbed up the ladder, or how many zeroes are in your bank account, you’re still Stewart. You’ll always be him. Change your name all you want. You can’t change your past.”

I angrily wipe the tears from my eyes and say, “And for the record, I never told you to change for me. I always accepted you the way that you were.” I sniffle and say, “And don’t worry—I’ll be sure to clean my stuff out of my desk andyourhouse.”

I don’t have much at my desk, but the few items I do have, I pack them up quickly and head out the door, not saying a word to anyone. As soon as I get inside my car, the tears come raining down my face. I can’t believe this is happening – can’t believe how fast he flipped on me. This isn’t what marriage is supposed to be like. We’re supposed to talk things through – work out our differences – but he just wants to toss it aside like I mean nothing to him, making me believe that none of this was ever real to begin with.

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