Shrugging off my suit jacket, I motion the next girl in line to approach the table.
Somehow, we make it through the hour or so and a couple of hundred girls. I have no idea how things are going for Sterling, whether he likes any of the women he’s met. Other than a text from him an hour ago that said he had something he needed to tell me, we’ve not had any contact since this began.
Suddenly, Anna rises to her feet and stretches her arms over her head.
I glance up at her, wondering if she needs a bathroom break. We joked with each other about wearing adult diapers today so we wouldn’t need to visit the restroom.
“You know what?” she says, fixing her skirt. “Life’s too short. You only live once, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
“If you’re not going to grab life by the balls, I will.”
“Anna?” I ask, my mouth going dry.
“First you let that douche David walk all over you, and now you’re just going to sit back and give up on Sterling too?” She shakes her head.
My stomach fills with lead, and I watch in stunned horror as my supposed best friend straightens her shoulders and struts all the way down to Sterling’s room, waiting until the security guard opens the door and lets her in.
The fuck?
Did Anna just quit her job for a chance with Sterling?
“Hello? Hellooo?” The blonde standing in front of me wearing stripper high heels waves a hand at me. “Are you okay?”
My heart is slamming against my ribs, and I’ve broken out in a cold sweat. No, I’m definitely not okay. I just watched twenty years of friendship be thrown away for a shot at a guy. A hot, British, soon-to-be millionaire, but still. If you asked me yesterday if anything could rock my friendship with Anna, I would have sworn on a stack of bibles that nothing could. We were as solid as they come. She knows all my darkest secrets and failures, and she’s been there beside me through them all, just like I have for her. And in an instant, that’s all over.
“Hello?” Bitch Barbie repeats.
“Just go.” I motion her down the hall, feeling like I’ve now truly failed at everything. At my job, at being a friend, at winning over Sterling. I can feel the edges of a deep depression that’s standing at attention, ready to take over the moment I let my guard down.
I send a few more girls away, wondering if Sterling was as thrown off as I was at seeing Anna toss her hat into the ring. I wonder what they could be talking about, and if they’ll click.
Finally, Anna emerges from down the hall. She walks straight past my table, her eyes forward the entire time. It’s as though she’s fighting to hold her head high and make a graceful exit, but I sense that things didn’t go quite as well as she had hoped. Oh, darn. Then she disappears down the escalator, and I wonder if I’ll ever see her again.
I wave the next few girls through without bothering to check their names or pull their information cards. I feel like the world’s biggest idiot for setting all this up for the man I’ve fallen for.
At just before lunchtime, I send a girl in a red dress through to meet Sterling, somewhat aware that she looks vaguely familiar. Maybe she goes to my gym, or then again, maybe I’m just losing it. My entire goal at the moment is to just survive the next few hours and get home, where I’ll enjoy a large bottle of wine.
Several minutes later, I check my phone for the time again, annoyed that the girl is going to cut into our one break today. Not that I have any interest in actually eating lunch, my stomach is too twisted up in knots for that, but I just want to go hide away from the crowd for thirty minutes and attempt to get my fucking shit together.
I suspect Sterling’s request to talk over lunch will be the breakup conversation I’ve suspected was going to happen all along. I was just a fun distraction, nothing more. And it’s not a conversation I’m ready to have. Now or ever.
Realizing she should have been out by now, I rise from the table with a huff and head back to Sterling’s room. The security guard is nowhere to be found.
What the hell? Guess he decided to take an early break.
Pulling open the door, I’m struck by several things at once, and my brain struggles to make sense of it all.
First, there’s a red dress lying discarded at my feet, along with a tiny black thong. Second, there are soft moans—both male and female—in the otherwise silent room. I keep my eyes cast down on the dress, knowing I’ll never be able to un-see Sterling’s heart-shattering betrayal.
Just as quickly as I opened it, I pull the door closed and stand there, my mouth hanging open, hot tears staining my cheeks.
The fact that we made love last night makes this moment ten thousand times worse. I feel like my heart has been ripped from my chest and forced through a meat grinder.
With horror, I realize why that girl in the red dress looked familiar. That was Rebecca, Sterling’s ex. The lawyer from his firm. The one he dated for eight months last year.
It seems he’s found his Mrs. Right, someone who can give him exactly what he wants.
The contents of my stomach rising, I run for the bathroom. As I dry heave over the toilet, a cry slips from my lips.
Fuck.
That shit with Anna surprised me earlier, but if I thought that was shocking, it was nothing compared to this moment.
Hot tears sting my eyes as I sink onto the cold tile floor in the stall, sobbing. When that first girl came out of the room, she said he was still hung up on someone. I guess she was right.
Has Sterling been hung up on his ex this entire time?