Oblivion

“Oh? That’s great, babe. Any memories of me?” He looked at me hopefully.

I blushed and leaned toward him and responded in a hushed voice, “Well, the day I woke up from my coma, I did—”

Just then, Co

“Sorry, Liv. I have to take this.” He looked at me apologetically before answering his phone.

“This is Co

I noticed the couple at the table next to ours shot a quick glance at Co

Instead, he looked over at me and mouthed a “sorry.”

I smiled and shook my head and mouthed back a “it’s okay.” I took a sip of my wine and tried to keep myself busy as Co

“I see.” He furrowed his brow. “Yes, certainly, I’m more than happy to review the numbers for you. Just send the documents over.”

Then Co

“No, of course not.” I shook my head reassuringly.

“Thank you. You’ve always been so understanding with how important this company is to me. Now where were we?”

“Um.” I tried to remember what we were talking about before the interruption. “I can’t remember.”

“That’s okay.” He looked down at his phone and I could tell he was distracted. “So how was your day yesterday? What did you end up doing?”

I bit my lip and thought about my answer. I knew that in order to answer his question honestly, to rid myself of the guilt I felt inside, and to be the fiancée he deserved, I’d have to tell him about Ethan. I looked at my engagement ring as my other hand move to the emerald diamond pendant that seemed to burn against my skin. I knew I had to tell him.

“Co

“Oh, that’s great, honey. You always did love museums.” Co

Confused by his response, I looked back at him. It was then that I noticed that he hadn’t heard what I’d say about Ethan, because he was preoccupied with whatever he was reading on his phone.

“Co

“Yeah, honey?” He responded without glancing up from his phone.

“Everything okay?”

Finally, he seemed to snap out of trance and looked up at me. “Oh, yeah. Sorry, Liv. That client just sent me something.” He motioned at his phone as if that was enough to explain what had happened. “You know how it goes. Another fire drill and the client comes first.”

“I…” I wanted to say that I didn’t know “how it goes” but I held my tongue. I didn’t want to ruin the special night he had pla

“Liv,” he interrupted my thought, “I hate to do this, but do you mind if we cut the evening short?”

“What?” I heard myself blurt out, completely surprised by Co

He frowned. “I’m so sorry, honey. I didn’t expect this to happen, but I need to go into the office for a few hours. This client wants this deal finalized tonight or he’s backing out.”

Before I could respond, I saw Co

“Don’t be upset, Liv.” He noticed my shock and disappointment.

“I’ll be fine,” I tried to reassure him as I forced a smile on my face.

Fifteen minutes later, we were standing in front of the restaurant waiting for the valet to pull Co

“I need to go straight to the office, so I can’t drop you off at home. Let me call Jim to come pick you up.”

“No, it’s really okay,” I insisted. “It’s still early and some of the shops haven’t closed yet. I want to walk around and do some shopping.” I lied. I didn’t really want to go shopping. I just wanted to walk home alone and clear my head.

“Are you sure, honey? Jim can drive you around.”

“Don’t worry. We live less than a mile from here, and there are shops the entire way home.” I forced another smile. “I’ll be fine.”

Just then, Co

“Okay. Don’t work too hard.”

“Oh yeah, do you mind feeding Scooter my leftover steak when you get in?” He handed me his to-go bag of food.

“Yeah, of course. Not a problem.”

“Have fun shopping, gorgeous. I’ll see you soon,” he said as he slid into the Aston and drove off.

“Bye,” I whispered as I watched the car disappear around the corner.

On my walk home, I thought about everything that’d happened tonight. I knew Co

As I began to have doubts about my relationship with Co

“You are one of the hardest working people at Brady Global…In fact, everyone actually thinks you and Co