All the Lies - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,3

turn to walk away, but Alex stops me. He puts his hand on the door and pushes it back, shutting it.

“You can't leave,” he says. “We need to talk about this.”

I flip my body around. The adrenaline starts pumping through my veins and I feel myself coming back to life.

“What do you want to talk about?” I ask.

“You weren't supposed to be here,” Alex says.

I shake my head.

“No,” he backtracks. It's only just occurred to him that that's the wrong thing to say. “That's not what I meant. I'm sorry.”

“How could you do this to me?” I ask. “Today's our engagement party.”

“I know,” he whispers, “I'm sorry.”

“Fuck you,” I say and spit on the floor.

I haven't spat like that since I played softball, but it feels visceral and good. I push past him and walk out of the office.

I'm tempted to trot, but I stop myself.

I have done nothing wrong.

I have no reason to run away.

I almost get to the elevator when Alex catches up with me and pulls me into the empty office across from the front desk.

He closes the door behind us. The room smells like it has recently been painted. It's completely empty with nothing but a chair near the far wall.

“Where are you going?” Alex asks.

“Away.”

“Listen, I'm sorry. I had no idea you were coming.”

“Yes, I know. Otherwise, you would have continued lying.”

“I'm such an asshole. I know that. I've just been working so much and I've been so overwhelmed with everything. Can we talk about this?”

“How long has this been going on?” I ask, crossing my arms.

He hesitates.

“You wanted to talk so answer me.”

I whip my hair around and walk over to the enormous floor-to-ceiling window. I look down at the street below and stare at the restaurant where I just got takeout at for my fiancé and contemplate how much my life has changed in the last twenty minutes.

Alex walks over to me and puts his arms around my shoulders. I brush him off, but he does it again.

“I'm really sorry, Emma. I'm such a dick. I'm such a shit-head.”

“You're also a liar and a cheater,” I say.

“I know.”

“How long has this been going on?” I ask him again.

Again, he hesitates.

“Listen, you were the one that wanted to talk. You want to explain yourself? Then do it. Tell me the truth.”

“Jen is my boss,” he says.

She's also ten years older than you, I want to add, but I bite my tongue. I want to hear what he has to say.

“The truth is that, and this is really difficult to say… we have been together for a long time.”

My mouth drops open. A part of me thought that this might be a one-time thing. Not that that was okay, but at least it would be…

“What are you talking about?” I ask, feeling all the blood drain away from my face.

“Jen and I have been together since before you and I met. We've been dating for about five years.”

“Dating? She's married. She has two children.”

“I know, but it was just something that happened and then it kept happening. I knew that she did not want to divorce her husband and that was okay with me. I didn't want anything serious either.”

“You didn't want anything serious?” I ask. “We have been together for two years. We've been practically living together. You asked me to marry you.”

“I know,” Alex says. “I didn't want anything special with her. When I met you, I knew that I wanted to have a life with you.”

“So why didn't you stop seeing her?” I ask and shake my head.

“I tried,” he says with a shrug. “We never really saw each other outside of work. This occasional rendezvous over lunch, a few times a week, that's just something we started doing five years ago and it just continued. It never got serious and it never got past that point of just…sex. We became something like coworkers who slept together occasionally, at work.”

I stare at his beautiful toned face, his luscious lips, and his thick ash blonde hair. I can't believe that this is the same person who I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

Outside of our very demanding jobs, we have practically spent every minute together.

We stopped hanging out with friends and acquaintances. We missed family dinners.

We stayed up late talking into the night when we had to be up early the next day.

When I met Alex, I never thought that I would ever connect with someone like