LITMIR.BIZ

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to start from.

      Suddenly, the door of the office guarded by the grumpy secretary opened and I saw Zane come out, accompanied by a very elegant and beautiful woman.

      "Zane, you know how to make a woman happy," she exclaimed happily.

      "Trisha, I know how to make you happy," he replied with a seductive smile and that hoarse voice that in the past always managed to make my legs give out.

      "What a flatterer," she laughed cheerfully, but he was no longer smiling.

      He was looking at me.

      When I returned his gaze, every trace of his smile and charm was gone.

      "Sarah, take the lady to the elevator," Zane immediately ordered his secretary irritably. “Trisha, sorry, but I have an emergency. I'll talk to you later. "

       The emergency would be me ... Thanks for the umpteenth blow to my self-esteem.

      "Get out! You're not welcome here,” Zane hissed as soon as we were alone. "Have you come to create trouble here too and to ruin what I've built in these years?"

      "Absolutely not. How can you think that of me? "

      'First you accuse me of getting you fired, then you slap me and now you're here. Sorry if I cannot be optimistic. Maybe you preferred a welcome with open arms? Well, forget it! Your name no longer appears on the plaque at the entrance and you can no longer come here. Have I made myself clear?"

      I had hardly heard a word of what he had just said to me. The hatred and anger I saw in his icy eyes had paralyzed me.

      I did not understand how he could hate me so much.

      He had a thriving and successful business.

      He had remained young and handsome, just as I remembered him.

      Surely, he already had another partner, perhaps that very woman, Trisha.

      In an instant I looked at his left right finger searching for a ring.

       No, he has not remarried.

      He had it all. I had nothing.

      What more could he want?

      “I just wanted to apologize for yesterday and give you these muffins Gwen made. They are blueberry muffins, your favorites. Just a small gesture to make me forgive myself for what happened. I apologize. I did not mean to slap you. It was an impulsive and stupid gesture, dictated by the nervousness caused by a difficult period and ... “

      "I don't care," he stopped me.

      "Zane, I'm really sorry."

      "As I told you yesterday, I don't know what to make of your apologies. Now, please leave and never come back. I have to work."

      "What about the muffins?"

      “I don't want anything from you. I just want you to leave. "

      Zane looked really determined.

      "Ok, sorry. I am leaving immediately. Bye,” I stammered with a lump in my throat that seemed to want to suffocate me.

      Zane did not even answer me.

      I turned on my heels and headed for the elevators, under his watchful gaze.

      I had never felt so humiliated and torn since the divorce day.

      Apparently, four years were not enough to forget. Not for me and not even for him.

      Only when the elevator doors closed, a tear of sadness fell on my face.

      I felt alone, in the middle of an ocean.

      I hugged my arms in search of warmth but found myself trembling confused and desperate.

      I felt only a great void inside me.

      This was not how I hoped to feel after four years.

      Many times, I had imagined meeting Zane, but in all my fantasies, I always remained dispassionate and serene, satisfied with my life, and committed to my new career.

      Instead, I was penniless, without a job or a new love ... and soon a house, if I did not immediately pay the rent.

       Audrey, don't give up! There are still many things you can do!

      I wiped my face and, when the elevator doors reopened, I ran to the exit.

      I walked for a long time, until I arrived at Sherman Park, where I relaxed on a bench in front of a pond filled with ducks.

      Exhausted and hungry, I opened Gwen's muffin box.

      The scent of blueberries and frosting penetrated my nostrils, taking me back over the years, to when I used to spend Sunday mornings lying on the bed next to Zane, after making love all night.

      I remembered that I loved leaving home early, secretly, to go to Gwen's coffee shop one block from our house. I stocked up on coffee, blueberry muffins for Zane and chocolate chips for me. Then I would go home, prepare trays, and go back to the bedroom. Each time Zane woke up because of the smell of sweets and coffee, his drug of choice.

      We always had breakfast in each other’s arms, making plans for the future, then we went back to making love without worrying about what time it was.

      Only once Zane got ahead of me and woke up before me to go get muffins and have a surprise breakfast.

      That was the time I found an engagement ring inside one of my sweets.

      "What's this?" I asked him, pretending indifference, while my heart had jumped out of my chest.

      "Oh, nothing important," he added quickly nonchalantly. "It's just a way of reminding you that you'll soon be my wife."

      "And this would be your marriage proposal?" I laughed amused. "I expected something more romantic and blatant from a creative director."

      "I thought about it, but then you dampened my enthusiasm the time you told me you hate public declarations of love."

      "True."

      "You also told me that you can't stand to hear the usual phrase" Will you marry me? "In romantic films”

      "I find it devoid of originality and too classic."

      "I know."

      "Therefore? Does this mean you don't even ask me? "

      "What?"

      "If I want to marry you."

      "There is no need."

      "Aren't you thinking too much of yourself?" I had made fun of him.

      "No. I am simply avoiding being refused, since without question, there is no answer. "

      "I would never do that. You know I love you so much. "

      “Thank God ... I made it! If you had refused me, I would have died. The idea of living without you is something that I hope will never happen. I do not know what I would do without you. I love you, Audrey, you are my whole life. "

      "You are everything to me too," I replied, kissing him with passion and sealing our love with that ring.

      That memory made me melt into tears.

      I could not eat even one of the six muffins that soon became drenched in tears.

      I sat there on that bench for I do not know how long.

      I just wanted to get rid of all the pain that had taken hold of my stomach and chest.

      4

      Zane

      "A whiskey, please," I ordered hurriedly to the bartender, sitting at the counter.

      I could not believe it.

      I had

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