The Triad

Ten

At a table in a fancy restaurant, Luna sat quietly, not speaking unless someone spoke to her first. She tuned out Jesse and his clients talking, her thoughts trailing off to other things. She couldn't help but look around at the round tables all donned with bright white table clothes, silverware wrapped in matching bright white cloth napkins, wine glasses sat waiting, and the perfect range of flowers for a center piece. The place definitely was fancy enough.

A couple tucked off to the right looked at one another across the table with such love and desire in their eyes. She remembered when Jesse looked at her that way. She remembered the feeling he used to give her, how they couldn't wait to get back home and in bed. They looked at one another like they were the only two in the room.

When Luna dreamed of making a name for herself in a big company, she never imagined it would be like this. She always wanted to earn the respect of co-workers, clients, and employers. She never wanted her name to be known just because of who she was dating or living with. She didn't want her job to basically be an assistant to her own fiancé. This isn't the life she wanted for herself, so why did it take her four years to finally see this?

"Luna,"

Luna's attention snapped back to the table; Jesse was looking at her expectantly.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking about the..." her thoughts trailed off again.

"The meeting coming up tomorrow? I told you not to worry about that, we've got it all under control." Jesse spoke for her. He knew she was day dreaming, he was good at picking up where she would drift off.

Maybe she did do that often. Maybe she was more aware of her not wanting this kind of life than she initially thought.

"Sorry." Smiling, she reached for her water and took a sip. Clearing her throat, she looked around the table at each of the gentlemen and asked, "What is it that I can do for you?"

"The Casey files. Are they complete?" One of the men asked.

Nodding, "Yes. They were entered and filed on Thursday." Glancing at Jesse, she could tell it annoyed him when the clients would talk to her, but he still brought her along because, well, it was part of the picture.

Removing the cloth napkin from her lap, she placed it next to her plate and grabbed her clutch bag.

"Excuse me, please. I'm not feeling well, I'm going to head home." She stood, looking at Jesse.

Nodding, Jesse pulled one of his credit cards from his wallet and handed it to her.

"Take out whatever you need to call a car."

Knowing he was doing it to appear as if he took care of her, she gave a tight-lipped smile while gritting her teeth together.

"Thank you, dear. Take your time, I'll be waiting for you at home."

As she walked away from the table, she heard one of the men say, "She sure is lucky to have someone like you to take care of her." Even more annoyed, she picked up her pace, walking as fast as a tight dress and heels would allow. How dare he? She made her own money; she could get herself home.

Skipping the call to have a car pick her up, she slipped her heels off and walked down the sidewalk towards the apartment suits in deep thought. Has she been so blinded by her love for him that she allowed him to walk all over her the way he does? Have things always been this way?

Looking back, she realizes that ever since she began working with the company, he stopped treating her as an equal, it quickly became as if she was only is assistant, there to do his bidding. At home, she worked on his paperwork, logged his expenses — making sure everything balanced and no one working under him attempted to skim off the top; she also took over setting up his appointments and meetings throughout the day.

Holy crud, she thought, I'm just the assistant he sleeps with. What's the point in marrying me if he doesn't see me as a partner?

As she stepped into the lobby, the doorman's smile faded as he noticed her carrying her heels.

"Everything alright, Luna?"

The first few times she ran into him, he always tried calling her Miss. She was adamant that he just call her Luna.

"Yes. Thank you. The heels were just killing me, I don't understand why women have to wear such torture devices."

Gaining a chuckle from him, she smiled as she made her way to the elevator.

Inserting the suit key, she unlocked the elevator doors into the suit and stepped in, immediately rushing towards the bedroom to get out of the dress and into leggings.

Sitting at the desk in the corner of the office, she scrolls through the numbers and begins balancing the expenses. Missing a few of the receipts and papers from his weekend trip, she made a note of asking for them when he returned.

Every so often she would be forced to refocus her attention, it drifting back to the weekend with her friends. She missed her hometown. She missed home. She missed being able to show up at Harper's unannounced and just spend the day talking about absolutely nothing. She missed the late night drives the three would take, just the wind and the music.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she focused once more on the task in front of her. Closing the expenses, she goes through each category and finishes each log for the week. Once that's complete, she opens the agenda sitting on the desk and begins sifting through the appointments for the upcoming week. With each day, she opens a new tab within the scheduling program and inserts the data needed to sync with the computers at the office building. She doesn't lose focus this time until her phone pulls her out of her zone.

"Hello?"

"Luna, I'm going golfing with these guys, can you make sure—"

"—Already inputting the data for the upcoming week. I'm actually almost done." Looking down at the time, she realized she had been at it longer than she thought. Nearly three hours had passed, which means Jesse wouldn't be home for dinner, again.

"Thank you. Not sure what I'd do without you." He spoke in his 'need to impress the clients' voice.

Luna rolled her eyes. She was quickly becoming annoyed with his antics and after the conversation, or lack thereof, this morning before lunch, she was fed up. It had only been four years, maybe a little longer, since they met. At first, she was smitten and completely head over heels. Which up until a few months ago, she thought she still was. Slowly, she felt her feelings beginning to slip away. Time at home made her question herself even more.

"You'd be just fine without me. I'm replaceable, remember?" She responded with snark.

Him not responding told her he was angry with her retort.

"Enjoy yourself, Jesse. You know where I'll be."

Ending the call, she placed her phone back on the desk and went back to inputting the data.

As if whoever it was knew her mind was all over the place and couldn't concentrate anyways, her text messages pinged.

Opening the messages, the name on the conversation shocked her.

Brent: Hey, Lunabelle. I felt like I needed to let you know that I was thinking about you. Sorry if this is weird, but I hope everything is good with you.

Smiling at her phone, she instantly forgot she was in a bad mood and replied.

Luna: Hey you 🙂 I'm just doing a little work. How about you?

Brent: Oh, you know how things go on the ranch. Fixing a few things that I should have fixed months ago.

Luna: Sounds like so much fun. Everything alright? You never text or call me, this is kind of weird.

He hadn't called her in years, and she found out why he stopped picking up when she would call him when she was visiting last weekend. Him reaching out to her out of the blue made her worry something was wrong.

Brent: Everything's fine. Like I said, I just had the urge to shoot you a message. I'm not sure why.

The texting went back and forth a little longer, until he said he needed to get back to work. Deleting the conversation, Luna smiled as she felt a little lighter while finishing her data entry.