Unfinished by Shae Scott

for good. All I have
done is work for my career.  I’ve been with this company since I left college
and I’ve put in countless hours to climb my way up.  And I’ve made a lot of
decisions along the way to make it even further.  It all seemed rational at the
time, but then you come along and you make me question it all.” He was
struggling with his words, and it made it that much stranger because,
typically, Owen didn’t want for the right words.
    “You’re
starting to freak me out a little bit here,” I said, hoping he would get to the
point or reassure me. 
    “I know.  I’m
sorry.  I just…I have to tell you something.  I’ve been trying to find a way to
tell you from the beginning of this whole thing, but then I would convince
myself that it wasn’t important.  But, I know that it is.  I know that it will
be important to you and I’m an asshole for not having told you before now.”  I could
almost see him running his hands through his hair in frustration.  I was really
nervous now.  This felt too big.  I had a feeling I was about to be pushed
right off cloud nine.
    “I’m kind of
involved with someone.”  Yep, there it was. The world around me stopped and I
was frozen.  I was pretty sure that I had just stepped into an episode of the
twilight zone, or maybe I was being punked. That would be so much better than
the instant ache that was settling onto my heart,  He was with someone?  With someone?  What did that mean?  I instantly felt like someone had thrown cold
water all over me.
    “Like a
girlfriend?” I managed. 
    I heard him
sigh. “Sort of,” he said. 
    I laughed and
I knew it probably sounded a bit hysterical.  “Sort of?  What is that supposed
to mean?” The shock of his words was starting to fade and I was left with
growing anger and disgust.
    “It means that
my relationship with her is complicated.  She is Max’s daughter. For years he
has tried to push us together.  We went out a few times. She’s a really nice
girl.  Anyway, she has always wanted to be a part of the company, but Max keeps
her at arms length. He’s kind of sexist asshole like that.  But when we started
dating he got all kinds of excited about it and let her in. He gave her an
office and some projects and she’s been working hard to prove herself since
then.  Along the way, we kind of just became a team.  Max likes that I date his
daughter and he gives me more responsibility in the company and she gets to be
involved and get daddy’s attention.  It’s just kind of worked for us both. It’s
all kind of superficial, but…well, I know I should have told you about it a
long time ago, I just didn’t know how.  It’s just one of those things that I
fell into and it was helping me with my job.  I mean, it was kind of a perfect
set up for someone like me.  I guess I never expected us to happen.” He stopped
talking and I know he was waiting for some sort of response from me.  I just
didn’t know what to say. I didn’t even know how to feel about this news.  He
was with someone, but he made it sound like it was less than serious. But how
could I believe him?  Isn’t that what guys who cheated on their girlfriends
said to the fools that fell for them?  I thought back to all of the time that
we had spent talking to each other. We spent most nights talking to each other
late into the night, where was she then?
    “What’s her
name?” I asked quietly.  It fell out of my mouth before I could think better of
it.  Did I want to know the details of his relationship?  This conversation was
making it glaring obvious that I had started to see a future with Owen.  I had
started to give into my feelings.  As much as I’d been trying to deny it to
myself, this moment was laughing at me. 
    He sighed. 
“Her name is Anna,” he said.  Anna.  I tried to picture what she might look
like. But she was just a faceless image.  I needed some time to think about
this.  I wasn’t sure what to