“I’m done with this conversation,” she said.
“Abby, would you just listen to me.”
“That’s the problem, Colin. Now that you’ve got me chained to this ring, you think you can just bring down the ban-hammer and I’ll listen to you like the obedient little girl I am. But you don’t get to absorb my life just because we’re engaged. You don’t get to control my life just because I work for you. Your rigidity is coming out again and it is stifling me in the process. I will leave you before I let that happen.”
The mere mention of her leaving shot panic straight down to my gut.
“Whatever you need, Abby. I’ll do it. Just tell me what I can do to make this situation better.”
“I need you to leave me alone for a few days so I can clear my head. One thing you can learn about me now is that I’m wonderful at articulating everyone else’s existence. But not my own.”
“Then take all the time you need,” I said. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
She hung up the phone and I threw it across the room. I was no longer in control of this situation. Derek was free with fifty grand in his pocket, Abby was somewhere within a twenty four hour vicinity of Los Angeles with nothing but her clothes and some money. And I was here. Up high in a tower with no control over what happened to her, where she went, or whether she was even safe.
At least when we went on our road trips, she let me drive.
I needed to get out and clear my head. I needed to get a drink. I slipped by Ted’s office and knocked on his door, seeing if he was free for the evening.
“I’m always free for a drink. Abby joining us? I’ll ask Maggie to come with us if she is.”
“Nope. Just us,” I said.
It was my tone of voice that must’ve tipped him off, because his face fell immediately.
“Come on. I know a place with a strong drink and stone-cold silent bartenders,” Ted said.
I followed Ted to the bar and we sat down in a corner booth. He grabbed a beer and I ordered a whisky neat. My mind was at a standstill as I stared out the window. I could feel Ted’s eyes studying me before he took a sip of his beer.
“Where’s Abby?” he asked.
“Gone for a few days,” I said.
“Does this have anything to do with the news story Hadley had to combat this morning?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“What happened? Who the hell was that on the sidewalk?”
“Her ex,” I said.
“Good thing we’ve got Hadley on that story. She’ll squash it by the morning,” he said. “What was her ex doing cornering her like that?”
“Probably showing her the money I gave him to skip down.”
Ted choked on his beer as I picked my drink up to my lips.
“You what?” he asked.
“Let me just preface this by saying I know where I fucked up.”
“Oh, this’ll be good,” he said.
“I hired the company’s P.I. to look into Abby’s past.”
“So fucking glad you prefaced this conversation,” he said.
“I wanted to make sure there was nothing the media could dig up and spin. If there was, I wanted to be prepared. One of her main concerns was how the media portrayed her at the conference, but an engagement speech like that only works once. I wanted to craft spins on stories to stay ahead of the game.”
“Your head was in the right place, but that was a shitty move.”
“I got that, Ted. Anyway, the P.I. found the lawsuit and I squashed it before he could serve Abby any papers. Paid him fifty grand in return for signed papers saying he had to get the fuck out of town.”
“But not before he cornered Abby and told her the whole story,” he said.
“Yep. And she was irate.”
“And rightfully so. You went poking around in her past and then tried to buy her.”
“I didn’t buy her, Ted.”
“Not how she’s gonna see it,” he said.
“I know. We’ve talked.”
“How did that go?”
“Not very well, but she hasn’t left me yet so that’s a thing,” I said.
“A thing. Okay. What did she say to you on the phone?”
“Among other things, that she’s having second thoughts.”
“Well, of course. Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Wait, what?” I asked.
“Colin, seriously? You’re acting as if this is some sort of fairy tale. You’ve proposed to a woman you’ve known for all of four months, and in that whole timeframe you’ve seen each other for how long? Two or three weekends?”
I sat back and ran the numbers as my face slowly began to fall.
“And she’s a small town girl, right? Minnesota? You’ve ripped her from her home and dropped her into L.A.”
“She lived in San Diego for a spell. Worked for Popular Faces magazine,” I said.
“Los Angeles. It’s a whole different ballgame here. And she’s having to relearn it. Except you’re piling her into cars and shipping her to work. I’m surprised it took her this long before she could admit she was having second thoughts.”
“Do you think I’m going to lose her, Ted?”
“She’s freaked out. She’s scared. And if I know you well enough, you’re still pushing. Trying to get her to pick up the phone. To tell you where she is. Probably trying to convince her to come back. The best thing you can do right now is give her space.”
“That’s what she told me on the phone,” I said.
“Then why the fuck are we sitting here shooting the shit trying to figure it out if she’s already told you this?” he asked.
“Because I don’t know how to stop being so controlling!”
I threw back the rest of my drink and the waitress promptly sat another one in front of me. Ted traded his empty beer bottle for a full one, much to my relief. I didn’t want to
