Mira studied my face like she was looking for bitterness or resentment. When she didn't find it, her expression shifted.
"Can I ask you something? Were you guys having problems before? Because she made it sound like you just weren't compatible."
"We had different priorities," I said. "Turns out that was a good thing to figure out early."
She nodded slowly. "For what it is worth, I always thought she was making a mistake. But I think you might have dodged a bullet."
Interesting perspective from someone who knew her better than I did.
That weekend, I closed on my second rental property and got notification that I would hit top 10% of sales reps company-wide.
Celebrated by taking myself to that expensive restaurant where this all started. Ordered whatever sounded good without checking prices.
Sat there alone eating a $40 steak and realized I felt more content than I had in any of those dinners I had stressed about affording 6 months earlier.
Edit: Someone asked if I missed her. Honestly, I missed the idea of having a girlfriend, but I didn't miss feeling like I wasn't enough. Hard to miss someone who made you feel like a consolation prize.
Update 2: Life comes at you fast sometimes.
I had been promoted to senior sales rep with a territory expansion. Was pulling down around $110K between base and commission. Had three rental properties generating solid cash flow.
Started dating casually, but nothing serious. Was honestly enjoying the freedom of building something without having to justify my priorities to anyone.
Then last Tuesday, I am getting home from the gym around 7:00 p.m., and there is someone sitting on the steps outside my new condo downtown.
Took me a second to recognize her. Alera.
She looked different. Smaller, somehow. Not physically, but like the confidence I associated with her had been dialed way down.
"Hey," she said, standing up as I approached. "I know this is weird, but I was hoping we could talk."
My first thought was that something bad had happened. Family emergency, health scare. Something that would explain why she would drive across town to ambush me at my place.
"Everything okay?" I asked.
"Not really," she said, and I could see she had been crying.
Long story short, Zarik had dumped her. Apparently, his thing was cycling through attractive women for a few months at a time before moving on to someone new. She had just been the latest in a rotation she didn't know existed.
"I thought he was serious about me," she said. "When I left you for him, I thought we were going to build something real. But he was just using me as entertainment between work trips."
I made coffee while she explained how the breakup had gone down. He had taken her to an expensive restaurant, ironic, right? And casually mentioned he had started seeing someone else. That their arrangement had run its course.