“Have time for a relationship?” She snorted. “That’s stupid. You know I’m not clingy. I’ve never been that way. I’m happy for you. I know you’ve wanted this job with your dad. I’m going to be busy with getting the shelter set up, but that doesn’t mean we break up. We love each other. People that love each other have to fight for the relationship. We have to work at it.”
“Thea, you’re not hearing me,” I said. I had to be firm. I knew this was going to hurt her, but I had to do this. If it meant being harsh, then that’s what I would do. “We can’t be together. I don’t want to be together. We’re going in different directions. You’re all about this shelter. That’s what will make you happy. I’m going to be rubbing elbows with the world’s elite. I’m going to be going into multimillion-dollar homes. I can’t show up to a meeting wearing cat hair and smelling like dog shit. That’s your thing—not mine.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock before she snapped it closed and glared at me. “Are you suggesting I smell like dog shit?”
“No, but—”
“You just said you didn’t want to smell like dog shit, as if I’m going to rub off on you,” she snapped.
“I just don’t want to do this anymore. We’re not the same. We’re already growing apart. You have your life and I have mine. In no scenario do our worlds ever collide. I’m ending this before we get pulled apart and things end badly.”
She was staring at me with her head tilted to the side. “Are you ashamed of me? Are you suggesting you’re too good for me? Like I’m not good enough to be seen with you.”
“I’m not ashamed of you,” I said. “I’m just saying we’re not ever going to have anything in common. This relationship has run its course. We’re not kids anymore. We’re grown up and it’s time to move on.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” She sounded mad but her face showed her hurt. The tears in her eyes revealed her pain.
“Thea, you’re a great girl, but we’re just moving in different directions. We’re going to different places in life.”
“Better places?” she hissed. “You mean to say you’re so much better than me and I’m not worthy of your rich, snobby people. You want to present yourself as a stuck-up jerk, go for it. God forbid you drag along your ratty, stinky girlfriend.”
“You’re not ratty,” I said. “I’m not saying that at all.”
“Bullshit! You all but said I smelled like dog shit. That was way fucked up, Reese. Even for you, that was bad.”
“You don’t smell like dog shit,” I said. “I just meant if we were still seeing each other, it would be hard to have any time together. I would have to visit you here at your future shelter. I would end up smelling like piss and shit while getting covered in dog hair. You know that’s true. When I visit you at the shelter now, it ends up like that. You said your clothes stink like dog, and you can’t get rid of it. I can’t show a three-million-dollar apartment smelling like that. Come on, you have to understand that.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t remember you being such an asshole.”
“I’m not being an asshole! I’m trying to end this amicably before it gets bad. Right now, we don’t have any bad blood between us. I want to save us the heartache of a messy breakup. I’m ending it now before it gets ugly.”
“Too late,” she said with a shake of her head. “This just wiped out all those good years we had together. I don’t know what you consider a messy breakup, but this feels pretty damn messy to me!”
“It doesn’t have to be,” I insisted. “I would like to remain friends. Maybe we can get together for a drink when we have time.”
“That will be a cold day in hell,” she growled. “I can’t believe you. You’re a snake. You led me to believe you loved me. You let me think we had a future.”
“I do love you. That’s not the issue. I’m just saying we don’t have a future. It’s time for us to go our separate ways. I know you’ll understand why it has to be this way.”
She was quiet for a few seconds. “That’s what this is.” She held up the paperwork for the warehouse. “You were trying to buy me off. You thought you’d buy me a warehouse and send me on my way.”
“I wasn’t buying you,” I said. “I wanted you to have this building because you deserve it. I know you will do good things.”
“You know, as much as I would like to tear up this paperwork and shove it up your nose, I’m not going to do that. I’m going to keep the warehouse because it’s not for me. It’s for the animals. So, don’t think this clears you. I hope you have a guilty conscience. I hope you feel like shit.”
She turned and walked to the door. She threw it open, knocking it against the wall. I followed behind her and closed the door. She was just getting into her car when I walked out. She looked at me with so much hate, it actually made me flinch. I got into the car with my dad and couldn’t look at him.
“She was crying, son,” he said.
“I know.”
“I really hope that you know what you’re doing,” he said. “Take it from me, you don’t want to get to be my age and look back on your life and regret letting the woman you love get away. I have a feeling you are going to regret this decision.”
“I might, but it’s too late now. It’s done.”