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“Glad my hunger for gossip could help,” she said with a laugh.
She got up to leave and then stopped at the door. “Hey, Lana.”
I looked up at her.
“Don’t you dare drop that account.”
I knew then I wouldn’t. I’d worked my ass off on that account.
I was determined that no matter what happened, I was going to make sure Deft Rock got that collab, and my career stayed on track.
I figured I’d hear from Austin before the trip, maybe with another ultimatum if not an actual apology.
I decided that I’d at least do Austin the courtesy of letting him know I was still going on the trip. He could make whatever decision he wanted based on that.
But since that was his sticking point, I wanted him to know I hadn’t changed my mind.
When I called, his phone went to voicemail. I didn’t leave one.
He’d see that I called and return it or not. The ball was in his court.
An hour later, my phone buzzed with a text from Austin.
I think it's best if we end things. This just isn't working.
He was seriously breaking up with me over text?
“Wow…” I whispered as I stared at the screen in disbelief.
“Take care” were the last words of the text.
My first instinct was to call him and demand a real conversation.
But as I went to dial his number, my fingers froze over the screen. Was there really anything left to say at this point?
We'd both made our positions clear.
I should’ve been angry or sad. But I wasn’t. Instead, I felt…relieved.
Relieved to know that Austin wasn’t the right guy for me. Letting Austin steamroll me would have slowly suffocated the person I was.
I realized in that moment I didn't want Austin himself all that much. I wanted a partner. That person clearly wasn't Austin.
I didn’t cry the way I had when I found out about Todd cheating on me.
I couldn’t muster a single tear about Austin breaking up with me, in fact. With that chapter over, I really didn’t want to think about him anymore at all.
I pulled out my laptop and worked on the Emberox Spirits presentation instead. I wanted to win them over.
I wanted a promotion.
And I had to admit to myself, I really wanted to make Dylan proud.
31
DYLAN
The afternoon sunstreamed through the windows of theDeft Rocktaproom as our mixology session got underway.
