Unexpected Arrivals(26)
For the first time in all the years we’d been together, I didn’t feel like I could talk to Cora about my anxiety. Not because she wouldn’t have listened…I just didn’t think it was fair to burden her with the financial state of the business while she was on the high of a lifetime at Halifax. She was heading to Paris with Drake in a couple days and had been dancing around the apartment since she’d started the internship. I loved her too much to bring her down.
That left me with Neil to confide in, yet he was already aware of the financial constraints and that I was pouring money into a business that he couldn’t match. He was only taking enough of a salary to survive, which was how Cora and I had ended up supplementing the household expenses.
Cora thought it was Hannah who wasn’t coming through on the rent, not Neil. When she mentioned Hannah’s tuition costs, I let her believe that was the issue because Hannah didn’t have a trust fund, and I didn’t want my friend to feel any worse than he already did.
I’d known that by taking over a business, we ran the risk of a downturn before an upslope, yet the value of an established name with existing clients had been more appealing than a startup in an already overpopulated market. I believed in what we were doing, and I had faith in Neil as a partner—we just had to turn things around to remove a layer of gloom looming over us. We talked about it in terms of the business and what to do there, and the rest was left unspoken. I saw the shareholder loans on the books—Neil was keeping track of what I put in versus him, and I would get it all back. I just had to make it ’til then.
“Hey, James. How was work?” Cora met me at the door and kissed my lips.
Either I’d gotten really good at disguising my mood, or she’d totally lost her ability to read me.
“Long. Glad to be home. You?”
And my day continued downhill.
“Great actually.” She held something back.
“But?”
“Drake got a lead on another prospect in Paris, so we’re leaving earlier than planned.” Her meek grimace said more than her words.
I set my stuff down and took off my tie. It had been the week from hell, and the only thing that had gotten me through it was the thought of spending the weekend wrapped up in Cora. If they left any earlier than Monday, it would cut into that time.
Her lips thinned just before she tugged her bottom one into her mouth. “In the morning.”
Part of me wanted to explode, although that wouldn’t change the circumstances or her departure; it would only diminish the few hours I had before she went halfway around the world with a man she admired and the ladies chased.
“Wow. That’s soon.”
“Yeah,” she whined, and then her mouth turned down into a pitifully cute pout. “Please don’t be upset.”
“I’m not upset.” Lie. “It’s a great opportunity.”
As much as I wanted to act like things were okay and yammer on about her trip, I didn’t have it in me. Exhaustion took over just after she set the alarm in the bedroom and told me Drake was picking her up in the morning so I didn’t have to drive her to the airport. Hopefully, when she came back in two weeks, I’d be in a better headspace, and she would have had the trip of a lifetime.
When she returned fourteen days later, she dropped another bomb I wasn’t expecting. Drake Halifax offered her a paid position under him that would start when the fall semester did. She would get course credit for her work with them and still finish her master’s degree on time, so in her mind—and I guess logically—it was the best of both worlds. Except the days of her managing her own schedule had gone completely out the window with her acceptance.
“What did you tell him?” I was a tad put off that he’d made this proposal in the City of Love, but that was just me being a jealous prick.
“I told him I needed to discuss it with you, and I’d give him an answer on Monday.”
“Does that mean it’s actually open for discussion?”
“Sure. Although I can’t think of a single reason you’d object.”
“It’s a huge time commitment. You’ll have a job on top of a demanding curriculum.”
Cora wrapped her arms around my neck and cooed in my direction while smiling and staring into my eyes. “Aww. You’re worried about me?”
I rolled my eyes and pulled her arms from my body. “You need to think it through and not make a decision about how glorious the job would be based on spending two weeks with the guy in Paris.”
Obviously, her decision had been made long before she’d ever brought up the topic.
***
When relationships shift, the person being left behind starts to notice the nuances of how things have changed. And the subtle differences ate away at me with regard to Cora. I’d always been her number one, we’d done everything together, made every decision as a couple—or so I’d thought. When I looked back on the two major ones, she’d followed me both times. It hadn’t been about what was best for her; I hadn’t considered what she’d needed—just how it would have impacted me not to have her around.
Cora now had a life I wasn’t involved in. Between work and school, she’d become just as busy as I was, and coupled with my schedule, we almost never saw each other. When we did find a few moments alone, all I heard about was how wonderful Drake Halifax was and all the plans he had for her career—none of which were in New York.