I’d been driving past a coffee shop near James’s office and caught a glimpse of Chloe outside with a young man in a courier uniform, the two of them close in the easy way that people are when they belong to each other. I hadn’t thought much of it then. When the time came, I tracked down the depot, found Kyle, and told him there was something happening at the hotel downtown that evening he wouldn’t want to miss.
That if he showed up by 7:30 and waited near the back, he’d understand why I’d come to find him. He looked at me for a moment and said, “I’ll be there.”
And that was enough. “Kyle, I can explain…” Chloe rushed.
“Two years, Chloe.” He shook his head slowly. “I was saving up for a ring.” He looked at her for one long, final moment. “We’re done.”
James spun toward Chloe with something wild behind his eyes.
“What is he doing here?” he demanded. “I don’t know,” Chloe snapped, her voice rising. “You kissed her at a resort pool in the middle of a Saturday afternoon,” I said from the stage, still holding the microphone.
“I simply paid attention, James.”
James turned back to me, and for a moment I thought he might actually try to argue his way out of it in front of 200 people. He didn’t. Richard, James’s company director, stepped forward then, calm as ever.
“James, Chloe… this will be addressed Monday morning with HR present. Company policy on this is very clear,” he said. Neither of them said a word.
There was nothing left to say. James found me near the edge of the room as I was collecting my clutch. He grabbed my arm desperately and dropped his voice low, begging.
I looked at his hand on my arm until he let go. “I already spoke to my attorney,” I said. “Your things are packed and in the front hallway.
Come get them whenever you’re ready.”
I picked up my coat from the chair beside me. “And James, don’t be late. You’re not good at it.”
I found Kyle near the exit, and we exchanged a look that didn’t need words.
I put on my coat and walked out through the lobby of the hotel into the cool night air, and I didn’t look back once.
