Page 40 of Mr. Big Shot

God, all the things I could have offloaded onto him but didn’t. Every little annoying thing I buried for the sake of our relationship comes pouring in now that I’ve opened the floodgates. It’s all there, at the forefront of my mind.

He never made me laugh. In fact, his personality kind of sucked. I was willing to dress him up with words like “kind” and “nice” and “respectful”, but in reality, he was barely any of those things. He was just quiet, which can sometimes be confused for other, better qualities.

His relationship with his mom is weird. They talk multiple times a day. About what?! Why do you need to chat with your mommy that much, you adult man-child?!

And his fucking hair. Guess what? It’s receding. Yeah. He’s going full-on Prince William, and I would have never ever made him feel bad about that or even CARED, but Mr. BALDING MAN, you don’t get to call me BORING IN THE BEDROOM while you have a literal crop circle on the top of your skull that I had to look at the ONE time you went down on me in our entire relationship.

Oh my god. He and I were never going to work long-term. He wants to marry Annette Jr, a dutiful wife whose life goal is to wait on him hand and foot, who’s ready to pop out children and roll through the carpool line and play tennis at the club and Mahjong her day away. He masked it well, of course. He made it seem like he was worried about me surviving at Elwood Hoyt every time he suggested I rethink my career decisions, but really, it was always about him and his needs.

I hate that I wasted a year on him, but then, that’s how it goes.

Live and learn.

Barrett is the first person I call on my way home, and he puts me on speakerphone with Nyles. I’m in a fog. Deep down I’m seething, but on the surface I’m oddly calm.

“I broke up with Jasper,” I tell them, wanting to rip the Band-Aid off as fast as possible.

Nyles’ response absolutely slays me. “Oh, sweetie, of course you did. You were never going to marry him. He’s blond.”

I play dumb. “I’m confused.”

“No you aren’t.”

I burst out laughing.

“Also…can I just say, I saw you speaking with that man in the flight suit at the party last night, and I’m surprised you didn’t swallow your tongue. God, he was good-looking.”

“Are you talking about Hudson?” Barrett asks incredulously.

“Oh is that his name?” Nyles says. “He’s your rebound man, Scarlett. Mark my words!”

I hang up on them.

Chapter Fourteen

Scarlett

In the two weeks since my breakup with Jasper, I’ve been kickboxing and working out more than ever. It’s my favorite form of self-care, and it’s convenient that the Elwood Hoyt building has a world-class gym that takes up the entire second floor. If my body allowed, I’d be there every day after work. As it is, I manage to sneak in a session with my trainer every other day during the week.

Jasper never loved my preferred form of exercise, though of course he’d never outright say it like that. He always masked it with concern. The last time he brought it up was the night he brought Thai food over to my apartment, the night Moira attacked his leg.

Apparently, I had a little bruise on my right arm.

“Scarlett, I think you’ve taken the kickboxing thing too far. Have you tried Orange Theory? I just took my third class and I really enjoyed it. Also, my mom raves about her pilates studio. You could look into that?”

I have nothing against Orange Theory or pilates or any other form of exercise people choose to do. I couldn’t care less. It’s just the fact that he couldn’t get behind what I love. A bruise on my arm is hardly reason to cut back.

I’ve never felt as strong or as lean as I do on my current workout regimen, and I love feeling this way, like I have complete control over my body, like it’s powerful and fierce. Jasper never could understand that, but then again, Jasper is no longer my problem.

He came and picked up what few things were left at my apartment, and we did that awkward second-breakup-after-the-first-breakup thing where he tried to apologize (and justify) why he said what he said at the diner and I had to pretend I wasn’t seconds away from unloading every angry thought onto him. Fortunately, I succeeded.

Now, I run on the treadmill in the Elwood Hoyt gym, finishing up my two-mile cardio warm-up while I wait for my trainer to get here. We used to work out together at his gym before I started at Elwood Hoyt, but since it’s hard for me to make it over there with my current workload, he’s agreed to train me here instead. Unfortunately, I don’t think today is going to pan out. I check my phone to see he sent me a text while I was running.

Jake: Had a trainer no-show for work today. I can’t leave the gym. Sorry. Let me know if you want to reschedule. This week will be hard, but I could maybe get over to you later next week.

It’s a bummer, but I understand it’s hard for him to drive the thirty minutes just to train me when he has an entire gym to run. There’s probably someone else I could bring on, maybe another trainer he works with—though from the sound of it, he doesn’t exactly have people to spare at the moment.

I step into the locker room to tuck my phone away with my purse and clothes, and then I head back out into the gym. Hudson is here, by the weights.

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