Page 6 of Mostly My Girlfriend
“Working,” Jules added. “We were working these past eight years, Ethan. That’s not personal. Not when you’re paying me to be there.”
It was like a solid gut punch. “You’re devastating me right now. I thought we were a team.”
“We are a team, Ethan. But again, you were paying me. Think about it. You paid me in college to take notes for you. You pay me to run your operations. After you left for Japan…I had some time to putusin perspective and I came to the conclusion that what I thought was arelationship…wasn’t. Not really.”
Was she joking? I looked at Carol. “I know when her period is. I know exactly at what moment she realizes her feet hurt when she’s wearing high heels. I know her family, her history, and her favorite foods to eat. Her favorite city—Paris. Her favorite movie—Pitch Perfect.I even know that her favorite body part is her ankles and that her least favorite are her breasts because she thinks they’re too big, and trust me, they’re not.”
“And you think knowing those things means you two are in a relationship?” Carol pressed.
“We travel together, we work together, we share meals together. We have a life…together. What is all of that if it’s not a relationship?” I asked.
“Hmm. So let me ask you, Ethan, during this time have there been other women in your life?”
“Only ones that I’ve fucked.”
Next to me Julia snorted and crossed her arms over her chest.
“What?” I asked. “They meant nothing to me! None of them ever have and you know that. It’s no different than scratching an itch. You, however, you managed to get yourself a fiancé. That’s way worse than anything I’ve ever done.”
“I was engaged to CJ for five seconds because I thought I might have a chance at having a real relationship. But I should have known that was never going to be an option as long as you were still in my life. That’s why I needed to quit you. Need to.”
“But you came back,” Carol prompted.
Jules shut her mouth.
“Ethan said that he’s here in therapy to help fix what he broke. Yesterday, you said you wanted out, Julia. Is that what you want today?”
She shook her head subtly. “I don’t know what I want. That’s as honest as I can be.”
“That’s fair. However, I think we need to talk about the wedding,” Carol announced.
“We both agreed never to talk about it,” Julia said. “I don’t see the point now.”
“Because I’m having a hard time believing that intimacy between you two wouldn’t have been anything other than important,” Carol answered her.
I looked at Jules, thinking of last night. Of how easy it had been to persuade her back into bed. Like she should have been there all along.
And maybe she should have been. I’d just been too much of a jackass to realize it. That had changed after Daniel’s wedding.
“The whole point of coming back today was to tellallof our story, Jules. That night changed things whether either one of us realized it or not.”
* * *
Three years ago
Julia
“Jordyn, did you talk to Scott?” I asked my senior assistant as she walked into my office, the elevator doors closing behind her. It was a rare, sunny day in downtown Seattle and the floor that was my office was beaming with light. Glancing outside I could see the Space Needle in all its glory and thought I should take the time to get some fresh air.
Maybe a walk around the building, even though I knew, as soon as I had the thought, it would never happen. I was here by seven in the morning and it was a rare day that had me leaving before nine at night. My schedule wasn’t conducive to midafternoon walks.
“He says you need to be patient,” Jordyn told me, setting a coffee cup on my desk. I hadn’t asked for it, but she was great about doing things like that.
“I’m going to patiently put my foot up his ass,” I muttered. “Does he have any sense of when we’re going to know about the Cameron merger? If we don’t get the specs on those land grants, I can’t commit to the planes Ethan wants us to create.”
“He didn’t say. Only that you needed to be—”
“Patient, yeah, I got it.” I could be patient. Ethan…not so much.
