Page 37 of Vitamin Sea
That, she decided, was to be determined, but one thing she knew was that Liam was absolutely, positively not sleeping at their condo tonight.
At home, still sporting tear-streaked mascara and the pretty red dress, she had Googled Sophia. It took her less than two minutes for her to find the woman she was looking for. Sophia Sullivan was a tall, lithe, tanned-to-perfection blonde bombshell. The kind of woman who seems to have effortlessly perfected the sexy, tousled-curls style and who looks like a model in every photo. Her smile revealed a perfect set of perfectly proportioned pearly whites, and her cheekbones were as sharp as knives.
Chloe felt like she was going to be sick and a new wave of anguish washed over her as she pictured Sophia cozied up to Liam during one of their late nights at the office. Then an image of Liam and Sophia banging on his desk flitted through her brain.
She should not have Googled Sophia. She should reallynothave Googled her.
Sobs wracked from deep inside her, and she emptied a tissue box trying to dry the flow of her tears. Finally, she went to the bathroom, wiped off her makeup and snatched an entire roll of toilet paper out from under the sink.
Liam texted her shortly after and said he would spend the night at Karam’s—his close friend from university—to give Chloe some space.
She hadn’t replied.
She was in a nightmare. A waking nightmare. One that wouldn’t go away when she woke up the next morning. That was—if she was even able to get any sleep. How she was going to walk intoStruton Monday morning and keep her composure was beyond her. How was she going to be able to concentrate on her work? How was she going to be able to do anything?
A myriad of thoughts flashed through her mind as she lay awake in bed that night. Sadness, sorrow, anger, and everything in between. Scenarios of revenge raced through her head—everything from throwing Liam’s clothes off the balcony to showing up at his office on Monday morning and causing a scene.
She had never had a breakup like this before and as she tossed and turned that night while thoughts raced through her head, she came to understand what ‘coming unglued’ really meant.
???
Her eyes were glassy the next morning as she had coffee and contemplated the previous evening. Her hair was wild and unruly, and she felt dehydrated from all the tears; her emotional hangover was helped along by a couple of hours of restless sleep.
What had Liam been thinking? Taking her to their special dinner spot only to drop terrible, life-shattering news? Had he done it in an attempt to sully all the great memories they had shared there?
No, she realized. Liam was more practical than that. He had taken her there because he thought that if he broke up with her in a fancy establishment, she wouldn’t cause a scene.
Well, she reflected, he’d been right on that account. Her behaviour hadn’t drawn any attention. Her post-breakup makeup, however, had.
Out of nowhere a fresh set of tears spilled out of her puffy eyes and onto her housecoat.
How could this be happening to her?
She and Liam had been so happy together. Hadn’t they?
All the great times they had shared whirred through her mind like a photo album. Liam getting promoted at the bank. Going on their first vacation together. Family Christmases, birthdays, anniversaries. The years they had spent building a life together. Her partner. Her best friend.
All of it was gone.
Because of some stupid blonde bimbo named Sophia.
She should have seen it coming, she scolded herself. Maybe if she had been more aware—had asked more questions when Liam started mentioning the new woman at his office.
Sophia Sullivan had been hired as an investment banking associate with Liam’s team six months ago. When he mentioned that there was a new girl on his team, there hadn’t been anything that initially gave her pause.
But a few weeks later, she noticed he was talking about his new coworker a lot. Sophia was mentioned so often, in fact, that it had taken her a bit aback. Liam had other female coworkers, but they rarely came up in conversation.
Twice she had caught him texting with a curious smile on his face and when she asked him about it, he had brushed it off as a funny meme from one of his group chats and quickly pocketed his phone.
It struck her as suspicious and didn’t do anything to calm the concerns that lurked in the back of her head. But she didn’t press him on it.
Until one evening when Liam mentioned how he and Sophia had tried out a new restaurant for lunch that week.
An alarm bell had gone off in her brain.
His usual lunch partner was his coworker Adam. But the way that Liam was talking, it sounded like Sophia had taken over Adam’s place.
“Does Adam join you?” she asked, keeping her voice light.
