“You should be taking care of yourself.”
Grinding my teeth, I turned to Tiff. “Can you get us a drink?”
“Sure. I’ll get a waiter over here.” I placed a hand on her arm to stop her.
“I meant from the bar,” I said, imploring her to give Brad and me some space.
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
She eyed Brad warily for a long moment, then stood up and walked toward the bar.
“She hasn’t changed, I see.” Brad filled the spot Tiffany left, and I fought against my gut reaction to shift my chair away from him.
He had never been Tiff’s biggest fan, but he’d obviously stopped caring about upsetting me by saying anything about it.
With a resolve I wouldn’t have had a few months ago, I let his comment remain untouched and moved on. “I didn’t realize you were seeing anyone.”
“I wasn’t expecting to. It just happened.”
“How long?”
“Almost a year. We’re pretty focussed on our careers, but we’re making it work.”
“Wow.” I hadn’t meant to say it, but it had hardly been more than a year since the divorce, which meant Brad hadn’t wasted any time. I was torn between wanting to know just how short of a period he’d waited before jumping back into a relationship and wishing I could already forget the small amount he’d told me.
“And you?” Brad asked.
I resented the question immediately. Brad wanted to compete. He wanted to prove to me he had moved on. That of the two of us, he had his shit together. I’d spent years hearing him “support” me by always questioning my choices and trying to get me to “find my purpose” as long as that purpose was one he deemed acceptable.
And yes, I was seeing someone, but he didn’t care about that. This was just another way he could one-up me in life. Oh, you’ve been dating someone for a few weeks? Well, Natalie and I are about to move in together. He hadn’t changed.
“I’m happy,” I finally said.
“I’ll take that as a no then.” I felt my jaw clench, but I reminded myself I didn’t want to engage. It was what he wanted, and I had promised myself I wouldn’t fall into his traps anymore. I’d left it all behind.
So why could he still get to me like this?
“I’d be careful with that startup, too. Sixty percent of new businesses fail in the first year. And trust me, you couldn’t handle that.”
“You don’t know anything about me anymore, Brad. Surprisingly, I’m able to function without you.”
He scoffed, unconvinced. ”You don’t know what you want. Never did. You always preferred someone telling you what to do. Anytime it got hard, it was always ‘Brad what do you think?’ And ‘Brad what should I do?’”
He didn’t seem to notice my frustration, or perhaps he always noticed and never cared. He continued. “You should find someone, Audrey. If you’re determined to accept the life you have and nothing more, you could at least make sure you’re not alone. And that doesn’t mean spending all of your time at that bar, getting drunk.”
My focus was locked onto my plate as I fiddled with the cutlery and blinked back tears. I couldn’t believe him. I knew we hadn’t exactly left things in a great place, but to still hold a grudge after this long? To still want to hurt me like this?
His chair was forcibly pulled out from the table by Tiffany. “Ok, asshole, time to go back to your ice princess.”
He scoffed and stood. “You’re still as charming as I remember you, Tiffany. Goodnight, Audrey. Think about what I said.”
I refused to look at him as he walked away.
Tiff plopped down on the seat and placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “You ok?”
I let out a shaky breath and nodded. I didn’t trust myself to speak, and luckily Tiffany didn’t push beyond a supportive grip on my shoulder and a whispered “asshole” that managed to make me smile.
