I Do

He also asked her what kind of diamond cut she would prefer so that he could be sure that she was going to like the ring he picked out and that the ring was going to fit her.

“Last year, you took me to that jewelry store,” she said in a soft voice. “Remember?”

He nodded.

“Of course I do.”

“Then, what was that about?” she asked. “Because I have been waiting for the big question since then, but it is like it is not forthcoming.”

Lucas waved his hand at her.

“This is why. You are pushing things… you always push things.”

“What?” she asked “How am I pushing things? I just want to know if this relationship has a future or not.”

Lucas began walking towards the car.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“To the car. This is not a conversation we should be having in full view of the public.”

It was at that moment that everything became clear to Josie. It was like she had been wearing a blindfold for the entirety of their relationship. When she had first gotten antsy about his commitment issues, he had proposed a romantic trip to the Caribbean. The second time she felt him being distant, he told her that it was because he had been working on something special: introducing her to his family. Now that she was thinking about it, the trip to the jewelry store came just after she began talking about having children. He was always dangling a carrot in front of her. He might have been in a relationship with her but he was not really with her.

“Are you coming?” Lucas asked when he unlocked the car. “We can finish this conversation later.”

“Let me guess,” Josie said in a soft voice. “We are going to talk about this while parked in front of my apartment building…before you lean in and tell me that you love me…before asking to come upstairs. Then we will be very very quiet so my roommate doesn’t hear us making up?”

Lucas did not answer her. He was just standing there looking at her. Almost like he was waiting for her to read his mind or something.

“I can’t do this anymore, Lucas,” she finally said. “I cannot be in a relationship that has no future.”

He looked at her for a long time and shrugged.

“Maybe this is a conversation we should have later. Much later.”

She shook her head.

“No, Lucas. I am done.” She tugged at the ends of her scarf. “It’s over.”

Lucas leaned against the car and looked down at his keys for a long second before he spoke again.

“I’ll drop you off,” he said without looking at her and Josie shook her head.

“No, I’ll take a Lyft. I need to be alone right now,” she said.

Deep inside her, she was hoping that he was going to do something or even just say something. Anything to make her think twice about her decision. But he was not saying anything. He just looked at her and then got into the car and left her standing there. As she stood there watching the car drive off, she knew that she had made the right choice. For the rest of the weekend, she just stayed indoors and watched old movies as she carb-loaded on ice cream and junk food. She might have been sad but she knew in her heart of hearts that she had made the right choice.

However, two days after her breakup, she was still feeling a little blue. She sat down at her desk and exhaled loudly as she powered on her computer. She had just taken off the jacket she had thrown over her black dress when the girl who worked in the mailroom stopped her cart at Josie’s desk.

“Good morning, Roxanne,” Josie said, forcing a smile.

“Morning, Josie.”

“Anything for me?” Josie asked.

“Yes.” Roxanne put a few envelopes on Josie’s desk and then looked at her. “Are you okay? You look like you partied a little too hard over the weekend.”

Josie shook her head.

“Nothing of the sort. Far from it actually… I am just a little exhausted.”

“That explains why you are here and not in the conference room,” Roxanne pointed out and Josie sighed loudly.

“My morning was spent running errands,” she lied. “Why? What’s going on in the conference room?”

“Anton was supposed to be making the announcement today.”

Josie shook her head. That was definitely something she was interested in knowing. She was actually surprised that she was just finding out.

“The announcement as in the announcement?” she asked and Roxanne nodded.

“Yeah. I heard people applaud and everything. So, it must be it.”

“They made the announcement already?” Josie asked and Roxanne shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Do you know if they are done yet?” Josie asked.

“Well, they have been in there for a while. So, I can’t really tell.”

Josie frowned. No one had told her about anything happening in the conference room that morning. Hell, she had not even heard any hushed whispers about anything happening in the conference room. Suddenly, she had a bad feeling. This was not something that should have been kept a secret. This was the kind of news that should have been shouted from the rooftop. The last time she got railroaded with such news was the day she found out that another person had been promoted instead of her, despite the fact that she had been the one who had just landed two big clients, in a short span of time. After that, she had worked extra hard to make sure that she got as much business as she could for her company and it was no small feat. She did not know if it was the fact that she was a woman in a male-dominated field or just the fact that when she approached people, they expected a pitch calling for investments running in the millions to come from a partner. Whatever it was had potential investors looking the other way any time Josie approached them. But even after that, she had somehow managed to get millions in billable hours after signing three new accounts.