High Fidelity

51. board meetings and death drops

Sydney Bay Janes

I woke up after nine am with lines of crust trailing from my eyes from crying myself to sleep which I barely got any.

After a successful event, I couldn't bring myself to celebrate how good it was for business because I had so much other shit on my mind.

Was last night real, I kept asking myself. Surely it couldn't be.

Driving angrily to Will's the next morning, I stopped at a sign and checked my phone for the hundredth time to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Nope, he just hadn't reached out to me.

This was beyond me.

BANG! BANG! BANG! I pounded my fist against his front door.

I had already planned out in my head what I was going to say to Will, AKA Captain-save-a-hoe, I just hoped I wouldn't fold on that when I laid eyes on him.

After waiting a few minutes, I figured he took his Jeep to work instead of the pick-up today.

So, I went across town to his office. But first, I really needed to use the bathroom again.

*

"Hey, Nene," Damian greeted me upon my entrance.

He was in the main lobby helping a customer but I didn't care, sorry.

"Hi. Where's Will?" I asked him.

"Excuse me," Damian said to the small lady, stepping away to talk to me. His face dropped like he knew what was coming.

"He's not here," Damian said, "he's working on a yard somewhere."

"Where?" I barked, calling bullshit.

"Way outta town," he lied.

My eyes followed Damian's line of sight as he looked over my head.

The noise that sounds when someone enters or exits went off, making me snap my neck to see who was there.

Low and behold, it was Wilson in the flesh.

"Wow, Will, you got back fast," Damian made up.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Damian signaling Will to play along, but he didn't.

I followed Wilson back outside, waiting for an explanation as to last night's events.

The midday wind blew the hair across my face, making it hard to keep a straight face.

We stared each down, standing in between his Wrangler and my Audi.

"You don't have anything to say for yourself?" I asked him, enraged, my eyes darting between his sunken ones.

His jaw clenched. "What's there to say?"

"Really?! How about sorry for the way you talked to me all day yesterday? Or give me a good excuse as to why you left me for Anna!"

Wilson waited for a man and his wife to walk inside the building before addressing me as they looked concerned from my yelling.

"Sydney, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings but I meant everything I said. You have no idea what I went through yesterday."

"Why is this all about you now? Trust me when I say this is a battle I'd win," I pushed out a sarcastic laugh.

I'm five weeks pregnant with his child and he doesn't even know it. See, I win.

"I don't have time for this right now," he grumbled, trying to walk away.

"Will, why can't you just talk to me?!" I had to raise my voice.