Page 22 of Vitamin Sea

It was odd, but his use of her first name was what really drove it home for her.

Hearing that Liam didn’t want to be with her anymore hurt, yes.

But there was something about the use of her first name that made it seem so final.

As if things could have gone back to normal, like they had been six months ago, if he had only called her Chlo.

The crème br?lée, her favourite dessert, which Liam had insisted on ordering, sat cold in front of her.

Fuck the crème br?lée . She stared at it miserably as if it was the source of her discontent. Had he actually thought that ordering her a dessert would somehow soften the blow?

Liam opened his mouth, but Chloe had had enough. Sitting in the restaurant was starting to feel suffocating.

Without a word to her former boyfriend, she pushed back her chair, grabbed her purse, stood up, and headed for the exit while trying to avoid everyone’s stares.

It wasn’t that she and Liam’s breakup had been loud and dramatic. No, that wasn’t it. Despite the fact that it was a small restaurant, Chloe was confident that the only other people who were aware of her relationship demise were the nosy woman who had been sitting next to them and their waiter.

And while their conversation hadn’t drawn attention, Chloe’s post-breakup appearance had.

Not knowing that her boyfriend was going to torpedo their five-year relationship that evening, she had put on regular mascara and eyeliner, not the waterproof kind.

She could feel everyone’s eyes on her—a vision in red lace and Halloween makeup.

Oh god , she thought to herself; she would never be able to come back here.

“Are you okay, miss?” A hesitant voice broke through her musings.

She looked to her left. A busboy, bless his heart, was concerned about the deranged-looking woman in high heels and a cocktail dress. Given the way she looked, he probably didn’t know whether to offer her help or holy water.

“I am not,” she said kindly. “But thank you for asking.”

She grabbed her phone out of her purse and pulled up her Uber app.

No way was she taking the subway looking like this.

Murphy’s Law dictated that this would be the time she would run into someone she knew.

Then word would be all over the street that she and Liam were over and that Chloe had come apart faster than a Shein sweater.

Devastation washed over her, but it was interrupted by a sudden thought.

What the fuck was she going to do about their living situation?

That, she decided, was to be determined, but one thing she knew was that Liam was absolutely, positively not sleeping at their condo tonight.

At home, still sporting tear-streaked mascara and the pretty red dress, she had Googled Sophia.

It took her less than two minutes for her to find the woman she was looking for.

Sophia Sullivan was a tall, lithe, tanned-to-perfection blonde bombshell.

The kind of woman who seems to have effortlessly perfected the sexy, tousled-curls style and who looks like a model in every photo.

Her smile revealed a perfect set of perfectly proportioned pearly whites, and her cheekbones were as sharp as knives.

Chloe felt like she was going to be sick and a new wave of anguish washed over her as she pictured Sophia cozied up to Liam during one of their late nights at the office. Then an image of Liam and Sophia banging on his desk flitted through her brain.

She should not have Googled Sophia. She should really not have Googled her.

Sobs wracked from deep inside her, and she emptied a tissue box trying to dry the flow of her tears. Finally, she went to the bathroom, wiped off her makeup and snatched an entire roll of toilet paper out from under the sink.

Liam texted her shortly after and said he would spend the night at Karam’s—his close friend from university—to give Chloe some space.

She hadn’t replied.

She was in a nightmare. A waking nightmare.

One that wouldn’t go away when she woke up the next morning.

That was—if she was even able to get any sleep.

How she was going to walk into Strut on Monday morning and keep her composure was beyond her.

How was she going to be able to concentrate on her work?

How was she going to be able to do anything?

A myriad of thoughts flashed through her mind as she lay awake in bed that night. Sadness, sorrow, anger, and everything in between. Scenarios of revenge raced through her head—everything from throwing Liam’s clothes off the balcony to showing up at his office on Monday morning and causing a scene.

She had never had a breakup like this before and as she tossed and turned that night while thoughts raced through her head, she came to understand what ‘coming unglued’ really meant.

◆◆◆

Her eyes were glassy the next morning as she had coffee and contemplated the previous evening. Her hair was wild and unruly, and she felt dehydrated from all the tears; her emotional hangover was helped along by a couple of hours of restless sleep.

What had Liam been thinking? Taking her to their special dinner spot only to drop terrible, life-shattering news? Had he done it in an attempt to sully all the great memories they had shared there?

No, she realized. Liam was more practical than that. He had taken her there because he thought that if he broke up with her in a fancy establishment, she wouldn’t cause a scene.

Well, she reflected, he’d been right on that account. Her behaviour hadn’t drawn any attention. Her post-breakup makeup, however, had.

Out of nowhere a fresh set of tears spilled out of her puffy eyes and onto her housecoat.

How could this be happening to her?

She and Liam had been so happy together. Hadn’t they?

All the great times they had shared whirred through her mind like a photo album. Liam getting promoted at the bank. Going on their first vacation together. Family Christmases, birthdays, anniversaries. The years they had spent building a life together. Her partner. Her best friend.

All of it was gone.

Because of some stupid blonde bimbo named Sophia.

She should have seen it coming, she scolded herself. Maybe if she had been more aware—had asked more questions when Liam started mentioning the new woman at his office.

Sophia Sullivan had been hired as an investment banking associate with Liam’s team six months ago. When he mentioned that there was a new girl on his team, there hadn’t been anything that initially gave her pause.

But a few weeks later, she noticed he was talking about his new coworker a lot. Sophia was mentioned so often, in fact, that it had taken her a bit aback. Liam had other female coworkers, but they rarely came up in conversation.

Twice she had caught him texting with a curious smile on his face and when she asked him about it, he had brushed it off as a funny meme from one of his group chats and quickly pocketed his phone.

It struck her as suspicious and didn’t do anything to calm the concerns that lurked in the back of her head. But she didn’t press him on it.

Until one evening when Liam mentioned how he and Sophia had tried out a new restaurant for lunch that week.

An alarm bell had gone off in her brain.

His usual lunch partner was his coworker Adam. But the way that Liam was talking, it sounded like Sophia had taken over Adam’s place.

“Does Adam join you?” she asked, keeping her voice light.

“Yeah,” Liam had responded, shifting his gaze to the T.V.

Unsatisfied, Chloe, trying to maintain an air of nonchalance, asked what Sophia looked like. At that, Liam’s ears went pink—a telltale sign that he was uncomfortable with the conversation—and he shrugged.

“I don’t know. Blonde. Tall.”

“Does she have a boyfriend or a husband?” she asked, struggling to keep her tone neutral.

“I don’t know.” Liam shrugged, his attention still focused on the television screen, which was showing an infomercial for a kitchen gadget.

Chloe had pursed her lips together. Tall, blonde, someone he was spending a lot of time with and who he kept talking about, and he didn’t know if she had a partner.

A couple of weeks later she had broached the subject of Sophia again. Under questioning, Liam had blown a fuse and stormed out of their condo. He slept over at Karam’s place that night.

After that, Liam stopped talking about his coworker, and Chloe, too afraid of setting him off, didn’t bring her up again until the night of the failed anniversary dinner. And while Sophia’s name was kept out of Chloe’s mouth, that woman’s presence weighed heavily on her mind.

Of course, she still didn’t have any proof that Sophia was the cause of Liam’s sudden change of heart.

But she didn’t know what else it could be.

The timing seemed suspicious—she had started working with him six months ago, which was right around the time his physical and emotional absence had started.

She thought back to Opus and his response to being asked about whether he was sleeping with Sophia. He had denied it, but Chloe didn’t believe him. What else could have happened six months ago to have caused such a change?

One week later, Chloe had called Liam’s friend, Karam.

The dark-haired banker worked at a boutique wealth-management firm in a building close to Strut.

One thing she was thankful for was that the bank Liam worked for had changed office buildings a little over one year ago.

This, at least, ensured that she wouldn’t have to worry about seeing him in her work lobby or in the elevators.

“Chloe.” Karam sounded hesitant. “Hi.”

Of course he wasn’t thrilled to hear from her.

He was Liam’s friend. And Liam was where his loyalty lay.

Still, she wanted to talk to him. If Liam had been cheating on her, she wanted to know.

And besides, Karam could have let her call go to voicemail.

The fact that he had picked up gave her the tiniest bit of hope that he would honestly answer her question.

“Hi,” she said back, her voice wobbly.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

“Karam, I have to know. Please tell me. Is Liam with Sophia? Is that why he broke up with me?”

The silence from Karam’s end was deafening.

“Karam?” she said, her voice breaking.

“Chloe, look . . .” he said after a second, sounding uncomfortable. “I—it’s not any of my business. I’m sorry. It’s not my place to tell.”

“Oh my god.” Her heart dropped as water welled up in her eyes. “He is. I knew it. Oh my god. How could he do this to me?” She started sobbing.

“Wait! No!” Karam sounded panicked. “I didn’t say that! They aren’t together . . . I don’t think they’re together.”

Hearing that didn’t buoy her feelings like she had hoped. It just caused her to ruminate for different reasons. Was Karam telling the truth? He had primarily been Liam’s friend, yes. But five years of birthdays, barbeques, and forced group chats had to count for something.

Right?

And if Liam hadn’t dumped her for Sophia, then what was the real reason behind it?

She believed he had broken up with her due to ‘growing apart’ about as much as she believed that Elvis was alive and running a Tim Hortons in Ontario.