Page 142 of Now and Forever

“Thank you for thinking of me. I’ll have it for lunch.” A strained smile crossed my lips. “Why don’t you join me tomorrow? We can watch a movie right after. We can do more things once this is off on Friday.” Meaning the cast.

“I can’t tomorrow. I’m actually going away for a week. Tonight was about bringing you dinner and also to tell you this.”

The familiar helplessness I perpetually felt with him came back full-force.

“Where are you going?”

He became unreadable. It was impossible to detect anything from those fathomless eyes.

He waited a beat or two, directing a nonchalant look at me. “For school and work-related stuff.” He couldn’t be more ambiguous with his response.

“You work? Since when? You never once mentioned it.” I would have remembered if he had. How could I not know? We had been living under the same roof for over two months, and not once had I suspected he had a job. If he had aimed to aggravate me, he had been successful.

His phone beeped once again, making me want to tear it from his hands and silence it forever.

While texting back to whomever, he barely glanced at me. “It’s not a job per say, but it’s all for experience. I’m basically studying and shadowing someone while they’re on the job.”

“Like …?” Fishing was not my thing, but he wasn’t being forthcoming.

While putting the phone away for the second time, he briskly stated, “Usual work stuff.”

Damn you. Double damn you!

“Right.”

He let out a sigh. “I better get going.”

Yeah, why don’t you? This is what you’re good at—fucking with my head all the goddamn time!

“You really should. You don’t want to keep them waiting. Not everyone is patient like I am.” My eyes challenged him to say something, anything that indicated we were on the same level, the same mindset … but it was to no avail. He had blocked me off. I could feel it right in my bones. He was such an unforgiving bastard.

Taking the remote from where Spencer had dropped it earlier, I pressed play then grabbed the champagne bottle from the coffee table and took a large, lengthy gulp.

“Please behave while I’m gone,” I heard him say.

Keep up with the distance. I don’t care anymore.

“I don’t make promises I can’t keep.” If he was fed up, so was I.

Through my peripheral vision, I could see him stare at me, but I completely ignored him. He stayed like that for a good five minutes before he took his cue, leaving without a word, without a sound, just like he always had in my life. I was so immune to all of it that I couldn’t even bring myself to shed a tear.

In my mind, I knew he would most likely be surrounded by women tonight and doing God knew what with them. It was hard to accept that I was merely that woman on the side for security when I was the one person who had consistently been loyal to him and loved him through it all. Yeah, he was going to have the shock of a lifetime when he got back. Gone were the pining days.

Once this cast was discarded, I was going to revive my life. It was time to live again.

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