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“I got a promotion!”
I give him a smile back and grab his hands on top of the table. I know that he wanted to go to school for business, but he never wanted to live in his father’s shadow. He took his father up on his job offer right out of school and has been there since. I shouldn’t complain because it’s great money and he makes well over what I make, but sometimes I wonder how he would be if he went with his original plan of opening his own business.
“Honey, that is awesome. I’m so proud of you!”
He brings my hand up to his mouth and kisses the top of it before our food arrives. I got my usual chicken alfredo, and he got his spaghetti. He always said that it was his favorite, but I never knew how much until he ordered it at basically every place we went to. He tells me all about the executive position and how much more pay it will be.
“As long as your happy Andrew, that’s all that matters.”
“With that kind of money, I’d be happy doing anything.”
I give him a little smile, but I have this weird feeling in my stomach. We never use to be about the money, it was always a nice perk, but never something we cared about. Every time we talked about our future together in college, we both talked about how we wanted to stray away from what our parents wanted for us. I eventually told him that I wanted to write but it didn’t go as planned so I put it on the back burner. All I wanted was for us to be happy and I thought we were.Not thought, I know. We are happy!
“Money is nice, but it’s not everything.”
I can see his excitement falter a bit with that remark. He knows where I’m going with this conversation. After the way he reacted to me telling him I wanted to drop out of law school, I should just change the subject.
“Money is what allows us to have the gorgeous house we have, the two brand new cars, and all the things that fill that said house.”
“I know, I wasn’t trying to rain on your parade at all. I was just saying that we don’t need the money. We are happy where we are, and more money isn’t going to change that.”
“If you’re not moving forward then you can never be happy where you are.” I let out a little chuckle.
“Jesus, you sound like your father.” I cover my mouth after that outburst because that was probably the worst thing, I could have called him.
“I didn’t mean that, I just meant that we don’t need to have everything revolve around money. We have everything we could have wanted, just having each other and being happy is enough.”
I expect to see anger in his eyes but there is nothing but a blank expression.
“It’s fine Allison, I know what you mean. My father is a powerful man, if I can become that then being called him isn’t an insult.”
“What about starting your own business? Do you still want to do that?”
“You really need to stop living in dreamland and come to reality. We had those dreams in college, a lot has changed since then.”
I don’t know how he can casually disregard our dreams while just sitting there enjoying his dinner. I haven’t taken a bite of my food yet and even though it looks delicious, I am not hungry anymore. I know I shouldn’t overanalyze this conversation, but I know that he is right to a certain extent. The old Andrew is gone, and he is changed into the man his father always wanted him to be.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” I don’t bother pushing the matter because all it will do is start an argument.
“You don’t need to apologize babe. Finish dinner because I have dessert ready for you back at home.” He winks at me, and I smile at him. I know I should be sad but when he acts like that, I get a glimpse of the old him and I fall for it every time.
???
I bite into my dinner and try to hold back my moan from how delicious it is. No matter how many times I order this, it will never get old. Elisa brings back my second glass of wine and I down it in a few gulps before asking for another. I know I shouldn’t but I’m celebrating so who fucking cares.right?
I get an email from my landlord letting me know my apartment is ready and she did a deep clean of everything before I move in next weekend. I can’t help but smile thinking about having my own place in a new state, starting over on my own terms. I set my phone down and can’t help but see Andrew looking a bit jealous that someone has made me smile. Jokes on him because it’s not what he thinks. Elisa gets back to check in on me.
“Another Glass Mrs. Dolan?” I wince when she calls me that, technically I’m not Mrs. anymore. I really need to change my last name back to Pierce. I catch Andrew’s smile from the corner of my eye. I don’t see why he is so enamored by me when he had me and decided to throw me to the side.
“Another glass of wine please.” Elise smiles.
“Are we celebrating anything special?”
“I am moving next weekend to pursue my dream! This is the last Saturday living in New York.”
“Oh, that does sound like something to celebrate. Congratulations Mrs.…” I cut her off before she calls me Mrs. Dolan again.
“It’s Allison.” I give her a smile to let her know that I’m not trying to be rude about it.
