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And then, at the very least, they would have spent the next few weeks texting if not eventually giving in to meet up somewhere.
It was a disaster waiting to happen. Hollis had to find a good lawyer and get this divorce in motion. She did feel a little guilty that she’d given Kate the impression that she was in the middle of a divorce rather than her finally feeling like she could do it, that she was ready to find a lawyer.
And if she stayed in touch with Kate, the next thing that would happen is that Kate would say that she’d wait for her.
It just couldn’t happen like this. Hollis had to sort out of her life, and then, maybe, she could use Kate’s number. How long would that take? A year? Maybe a little less? Would Kate have moved on by then?
Hollis exhaled loudly as she pushed herself up, folding the piece of paper in half and tucking it into one of the interior zippered pockets in her bag. She wanted to forget that she had Kate’s number. At least for now.
Her eyes landed on the clock beside the bed. She had to get ready for her client meeting, and she needed to land her.
Hollis spent the drive back to Pasadena thinking about all of the things she needed to do from finding a solid lawyer to ramping up business. She wanted to stay busy to keep herself distracted, but she knew that she could do with stashing some extra money away to at the very least pay for the divorce and ideally to keep her afloat for a while. Things would probably be rocky for a few weeks if not a few months. She’d need to find somewhere to live. She’d have court dates to attend she assumed, and she didn’t want to be worrying about money.She didn’t want anything to stand in her way when it came to putting her marriage behind her.
She slid out of her sandals and padded into the closet, pulling her favorite skirt and crisp white button-up blouse from their hangers. As she dressed for her meeting, her mind was calm and focused. In her twenty two years in this business, she’d discovered early on it wasn’t always about giving the client what they said they wanted. It was about getting to the heart of the look, the feel that they wanted for their home and delivering it, even if it meant leaving out the particular style they’d asked for.And that’s what made her good. Because she didn’t always follow their exact requests, and she was able to get to the heart of their desired look and deliver it flawlessly.
Hollis slid on a pair of sleek black heels and spent sometime in the bathroom, touching up her makeup, feeling surprisingly energized despite the fact that she’d hardly slept this weekend.
But she knew it wouldn’t last. She’d crash tonight, memories of the weekend giving way to tiredness, to her everyday life at work and at home, and with any luck, in a few days, maybe weeks, Hollis would be able to stop thinking about Kate and what might have been if she’d dealt with her problems sooner.
15
Kate had never known time to drag on so slowly like she had in the week after she’d snuck out of Hollis’s hotel room. As soon as she got back to Lexi’s apartment on Sunday, she threw herself into job hunting, knowing that she’d have to stay busy if she wanted to keep her mind off of Hollis and the fact that Kate might never see her again.
With each day that went by, Kate’s heart continued to jump at the sound of a text coming in, hoping that this was it. Hollis had finally decided to use her number and say hi or that she was thinking of Kate or that she wanted to see her again. Something. Anything.
But it was Sunday again, and Kate never heard from her. She’d had her first shift at a sports bar yesterday, and she had a few job interviews lined up during the week, hoping to find a morning shift at a coffee shop. She had to save up some money as fast as possible, because even though she knew Lexi wouldn’t kick her out, Kate couldn’t sleep on her couch forever.
“Hey,” Lexi said, coming to join her on that very couch. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Kate shook her head. “You know, just thinking about... Everything.”
“It’ll get easier.” Lexi shifted to turn towards her. “You know what you said in the car on the way back last weekend, about going back to college to finish your degree?”
“Yeah.”
“I think the deadline is soon. Like this week or maybe next week. If you’re serious about doing your last year.”
“Shit,” Kate pulled her phone out of her pocket, hating that she’d even stopped to check the notifications for an unknown number. She searched for the college she’d already did three years at, also hating the fact that she’d left her education behind to go to New York on a whim. “Thanks, Lex. I have four days to get my shit together. Fuck, I was so caught up in trying to get a job.”
“Hey, you’re doing just fine. I’m not going to throw you out if that’s what you’re worried about. And you know Isabelle doesn’t care. She’s just happy her rent’s gone down. Stay as long as you need to.”
“I know. Thank you. I’m just trying to get my life together. I mean, I know I needed to, but the whole thing with Hollis just made it so clear. How could I ever expect someone like her, a business owner who’s in her forties to take me seriously when I’m a college drop out, sleeping on my best friend’s couch.”
“She hasn’t text has she?” Lexi asked with almost a wince, already knowing the answer.
“Nope.” It was a dull ache that had sat in the middle of her chest all week, because with each passing day, the chances of Hollis reaching out grew slimmer. And because of the way Kate had done things, she had no way of getting in touch with Hollis.
“If it’s meant to work out, it will.”
Kate blew out a breath. “I can’t believe I didn’t stay.”
“Yeah, but you said it yourself. What if Hollis flat out told you that she wasn’t going to give you her number because she didn’t want to see you again? Or maybe not something that harsh, but you know what I mean. That Hollis knew she wasn’t in a place where she could see you again, and therefore, ended things then and there, in her hotel room.”
“That might have been better. Knowing. Right now, I keep jumping when my phone lights up.”
“It’s only been a week. I’m not saying to wait around for her, but she is going through a divorce. Maybe, when it’s all finalized, she’ll get in touch.”
“God, I hope so.”
