Day 109: Tales Of Good Wine And Brotherly Love(Confessions)
Day 109: Tales Of Good Wine And Brotherly Love(Confessions)
Day 109 Of How To Move On From A Man — 1LD
If you’re new here to 1 Lovelock Drive, welcome! Let me fill you in on what you’ve missed.
I’m Andie and my ex, Douglas, dumped me. This is my break-up, so to speak. Douglas is a power player in Melbourne, worth more than I could ever comprehend.
I have no idea why we broke up.
I work and live at 1 Lovelock Drive. There, my best friend James and I are building Highway, our unisex clothing line. Our two other best friends, GG and Sophia, are investors.
GG is dating Douglas’ brother, Taylor. Awkward.
I’ve recently discovered my ex has bought a controlling stake in our business. But I had to find that out the hard way!
“GG did call me after you, shall I say, spoke to them.” Staring at him, in his casual, end-of-day dress down, I almost forgot who he was.
“Oh yes? I bet she was mad.”
“Mad? I wouldn’t say that. Perhaps a little pissed off that she missed half a day of work for no reason.”
Taylor reached across his dining room table and topped up my glass of pinot. It was a Colleen’s Paddock, 2015. A casual red for a mid-week glass in his world.
“But between you and me, she was impressed by how you handled yourself. She admitted to admiring your ability to tell James off.”
I couldn’t contain my smile. Reminiscing about chastising my friends didn’t exactly give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, even if it did leave the impact I desired. I wanted them to realise I wasn’t someone they could trample on.
Though I didn’t have the money and resources they did, I at least had some gumption.
“Do me a favour. Don’t tell her I spent an hour after that moment balling my eyes out.”
I looked at Taylor who was delivering me a sympathetic head tilt.
“Don’t give me that look. It was all shit. And I’m so over it.”
Taylor raised his glass.
“Well, the point is that you stood up to them, even my girlfriend, and you didn’t take it lying down. You have more guts and determination than you think. I’m proud of you.”
I had never heard Taylor talk to me like this. Like a friend, like someone who cared about me, not someone they had to be nice to.
“Thank you,” I replied, holding up my glass to his. “I’m proud of me, too.”
There was an uncomfortable silence. I stared at Taylor and he stared back at me.
“You know, we can’t keep sneaking around like this,” said Taylor.
“Are we sneaking around?”
“I’m not telling GG you’re here. Only the doorman knows you’ve been sneaking into my apartment and sneaking out. And if my lawyer knew about this, he would have a fit.”
The way he spoke about me, it sounded like I was a good-time girl, like a woman he was having an affair with.
“I know we hadn’t been advertising these catch-ups. I guess — I didn’t, I — ”
There was no explanation. I had been so wrapped up in my own bullshit, I didn’t know what was happening right in front of me.
“Us catching up is no different to them sneaking around, huh?”
Taylor shook his head. “It’s not as bad as what they did. Don’t beat yourself up.” I watched the Gallo brother squirm in his seat. The Gallo brothers never did that.
“I can’t keep doing this. For me. Personally.”
For GG? I didn’t understand.
“I can’t be around you and pretend this doesn’t confuse my feelings.”
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The 2023 romance-fiction series from the 1 Lovelock Drive (1LD) universe.
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