Page 116 of One Bossy Date
This was it.
Pick up, woman.
She didn’t.
* * *
My chauffeur and I arrived at the airport, and I ducked my head against the chilly rain, pulling my jacket lapels up to protect my neck. I boarded the private jet, settled in, and pulled out my laptop. The captain was preparing to take off. When I put the laptop case on the seat next to me, my Christmas gift from Zoe caught my eye.
It was a little cat, carved from wood, and hanging from a keychain.
I’d hooked it onto my bag after opening the wrapper. Right after she’d left, I’d torn it open, hoping to find answers. All I found was this little wooden cat, hand-painted in yellow.
A yellow cat.
Fucking yellow. Why always yellow?
Anytime I saw that damn color now it would be associated with her. Before, it had brought a smile to my face when I noted something yellow. I’d think of Zoe and her luminous yellow nails, her yellow dresses, and yellow underwear.
Now, the color brought on sadness instead.
I turned the little cat over, and on the back side, it read, “You like cats?”
The joke wasn’t lost on me. Turning the little yellow kitty over in my hand a few times, I questioned “fate,” as my mother had called it.
…when things work out in funny ways.
I wasn’t laughing.
Sure, nothing felt funny about this.
I was hurt that Zoe had left me without fully talking things through with me—that she hadn’t realized how much I needed her to stay by my side.
That she didn’t love me. That was the thought that pained me most.
Wasn’t that the crux of it all?
She just didn’t love me… I tried not to restate those words, but they seemed to play on a loop in my head—on damn repeat, might I add—until finally, I had to find something else to drown out the noise.
But what? Elevator music?
Fuck that shit.
I was miserable. That’s all there was to it.
It had been an emotional day—to say the least—and the weather reflected that in its growing severity.
The finality of my decision became increasingly real when the jet lifted off, pushing noisily through the heavy rain and winds.
38
ZOE
“Hey, Jim?” I called out to the grooming room from the front of the shop. I heard his distant reply and said, “I’mback. The new dog grooming stuff has arrived.”
Faintly, I heard him say, “Yaass,Queen. I’m coming.”
Rain pounded down on the streets of New York today, making it difficult to hear each other across the store. It was gloomy, and dark, and cold, and I tried not to associate that emotion with the fact that it reminded me of the day we met—ourcute-enoughmeet-cute—and the fact that Anders was leaving for South America today.