Twenty
Scarlett
Well, that was a hell of a letdown. I hoofed it all the way uptown to Priest Pharmaceuticals, only to be met with disappointment.
“Sorry, Chadwick’s out of the office in meetings all day. Can I give him a message for you?”
The receptionist was incredibly apologetic, especially because she knows exactly who I am, but it doesn’t change the fact that my trip was a complete waste. As I walk out of the lobby into the glass atrium of the building, I tap the screen of my phone to pull up Chadwick’s contact. I’m not waiting until tonight to tell him what I think.Hell. No.
Shockingly, he picks up on the second ring. “Hey, babe! How did it go with the counselor? Did you talk to her about your problem?”
My back goes poker straight and my response is clipped. If he thought I was cold before, he’d better watch out. “Exactly what problem are you talking about?”
“Your problem in our relationship.”
A wave of crimson washes across my vision.
“Myproblem in our relationship? You’re going to have to be more specific, Chadwick, because I’m pretty sure there’s more than one.”
I hear some garbled words and then the sound of a door opening and closing. Finally, he comes back to the line.
“Sorry, I had to step out of the meeting so we could talk.”
One part of me wants to apologize for the fact that I interrupted the meeting, but that’s the same accommodating part of me that didn’t ask questions when Chadwick set me up on a surprise date with a sex therapist. I stay quiet, letting my anger build as I wait for him to continue.
“Good, because we definitely need to talk about what the hell you just sprang on me. I came to your office to tell you in person, but obviously you’re not here.”
“Wait, you’re saying you left the appointment and didn’t talk to her? I paid three hundred bucks for that slot, and if it didn’t fix you, then you’re going to have to pay for the other appointments.”
The anger rising in his tone makes me see red.
“Oh, I talked to her,” I say, enunciating more clearly than I ever have before. “But I’m curious about exactly why you thought I needed a freakingsex therapist?” My voice rises at the end, and I remember that I’m in public. I scan the atrium and spot a few people watching me.
I shove through the glass doors and walk out onto the sidewalk where I can disappear into a sea of New Yorkers who don’t give a damn who I am or what I’m talking about.
“Because we hardly ever have sex, and if it were up to you, I wouldn’t get laid at all. Because, trust me, I’m all for it, all the time, but you’re never in the mood, which means you’ve got a problem, Scarlett. I’m not going to put up with it anymore. Either you fix this and start getting with the program—which means putting out or at least sucking dick a lot fucking more—or we’re done. I’ve had it.”
A sense of cold calmness settles over me, like a blanket of freshly fallen snow has just cloaked me and the city streets. It’s like I’m staring out at a landscape that’s pure and unspoiled and full of second chances. This is my out. Right here. And I’m taking it.
“Then we’re done. Good talk,Chad. Glad we worked that out so civilly. I’ll mail anything I have of yours to your condo.”
The other end of the call goes silent for a beat until Chadwick starts sputtering. But there’s one difference now. I don’t have to listen to a single word of it.
I hold my phone away from my head and tap the screen to end the call.
Just. Like. That.
In the middle of the plaza, in front of the building housing my father’s company, I double over—with laughter.
It was so easy. So effortless. So perfectlyfinal.
I straighten and fling my arms into a triumphantVin the air. “I am single!”
A woman in a suit turns to me, and her fuchsia frown turns into a smile. “Get it, girl.”
I spin around in a circle and dance like Elaine fromSeinfeld, feeling utterly and completely freefor the first time in years. Like I’ve just broken the chains holding me down, and now I can soar.
Power fills me, bubbling to the surface until I’m fairly certain I’m a 100 percent badass.