“That’s the thing,” Keira replied. “It’s a last-minute change of staff. Josh broke his leg. It’s a whole long story.”
Zach just glared as she rambled, looking at her expectantly for the punch line.
Keira hunkered down into the couch, trying to make herself seem as small as possible. “I leave tomorrow.”
Zachary’s expression turned as quickly as a flash storm. If he’d been rain clouds before, he was now thunder and lightning.
“But the wedding is tomorrow,” he said.
Keira grabbed both his hands in hers. “The timing sucks, I’ll be the first to admit it. But I swear Ruth won’t mind.”
“Won’t mind?” Zach snapped, yanking his hands back. “You’re in the wedding party!”
Suddenly he was on his feet, pacing away, running his hands through his hair. Keira leapt up and rushed to him, attempting to placate him with affection. But Zach was having none of it this time.
“I can’t believe this,” he gasped. “I spend all day hosting a brunch with your family, listening to Bryn going on and on about how hot her new meditation teacher is and all her vacuous opinions – ”
“Hey!” Keira said, angry now. Criticizing her big sister was not okay.
“And instead of thanking me,” Zach continued, “you drop this on me! How the hell am I supposed to tell Ruth?”
“I’ll tell her,” Keira suggested. “Let me be the bad guy, I don’t mind.”
“You are the bad guy!” Zach exclaimed.
He stomped out of the living room. Keira followed helplessly. They’d been together for two years and she’d never seen him this angry before.
She followed him into the bedroom and watched as he pulled her suitcase out from under the bed.
“What are you doing?” she asked, exasperated.
“Taking this out,” he snapped back. “You can’t go without a suitcase, can you?”
Keira shook her head. “I know you’re angry but you’re taking things a bit far.”
She took the suitcase from his hands and slung it on the bed. It fell open as if inviting her to start packing it. Keira had to fight the urge inside of her to start filling it up.
Zach seemed to momentarily lose his strength. He deflated, sitting on the end of the bed with his head in his hands.
“You always choose work over me.”
“I’m sorry,” Keira said, not looking at him as she grabbed her favorite sweater from the floor and flung it discreetly into the case. “But this is an opportunity of a lifetime.” She went over to the dresser and rummaged through her bottles of moisturizers and perfumes. “Ruth hates me anyway. She only put me in the bridal party because you asked her to.”
“Because that’s what you’re supposed to do,” Zach said sadly. “You’re supposed to do family stuff together.”
She turned and quickly added the items to her case. But Zach noticed what she was doing and his ever darkening expression grew darker still.
“Are you packing?”
Keira froze and chewed her bottom lip. “Sorry.”
“No you’re not,” he said in a cold, measured way. Then he looked up and said, “If you go, I don’t know if we can stay together.”
Keira raised an eyebrow, nonplussed by his threat. “Oh really?” She folded her arms. Now he’d gotten her attention. “You’re going to give me an ultimatum?”
Zachary threw his arms up in frustration. “Don’t act like you’re not forcing my hand! Can’t you see how embarrassing it will be for me to turn up tomorrow at Ruth’s wedding without you?”
Keira sighed, equally frustrated. “I don’t understand why you can’t just tell them that I’ve landed an awesome opportunity at work. Something that I couldn’t miss.”
“My sister’s wedding should be something you can’t miss. It should be a priority!”
Ah. There it was again. That word. Priority. The thing that Keira would never admit to Zach wasn’t him but her career.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated, feeling her resolve finally weaken. “But it’s just not possible. My career has to come first.”
She hung her head, not from shame but from sadness. It didn’t have to be this way. Zach should never have pitted their relationship against her career. It was a battle he would inevitably lose.
Keira didn’t know what else to say. She looked at Zachary’s enraged face. No more words passed between them. There were none left to say. Then Zach got up from the bed, headed out of the room and down the corridor, and grabbed his keys from the bowl by the door before pulling the door open and slamming it shut behind him. As Keira listened to the sound of his car driving away, she knew he wouldn’t be back tonight; he’d sleep on Ruth’s fold-out couch to prove his point.
Keira had won the fight but there was no pleasure in her victory. She slumped onto the bed beside her open case and felt a hard lump form in her throat.
In need of some TLC, she grabbed her cell and called her mom.
“Hello, darling,” the woman said, picking up right away, as if the sight of her youngest daughter’s name on the caller ID had propelled her into immediate action. “Is everything okay?”
Keira sighed. “I was calling to tell you about an assignment I was given today at work. It’s a cover story. I get to fly out to Ireland.”
“Darling, that’s wonderful news. How exciting! Congratulations. But why do you sound so glum?”
Keira rolled onto her stomach. “Zach. He’s annoyed. He basically said if I went it would be over between us.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t mean it,” her mom said kindly. “You know what men can be like. You’ve just bruised his ego by putting your own priorities above his.”
Keira plucked the corner of a pillow case absentmindedly. “It’s more to do with Ruth’s wedding tomorrow,” she explained. “He thinks I’m ditching him, leaving him in the lurch. Like if he turns up without a date his whole world will implode.” She laughed wryly, but was met with silence on the other end of the line.
“Oh,” her mother said.
“Oh what?” Keira asked, frowning.
Her mom’s voice had lost some of its warmth. There was an edge to it that Keira recognized well enough, since she’d heard it a thousand times as a kid. Disapproval.
“Well, I didn’t realize you’d be missing his sister’s wedding,” she said.
“And does that change things in your opinion?” Keira said, growing a little terse.
Her mom replied in the voice Keira recognized as “diplomatic.” “If you had prior engagements already. And it is his sister. Turning up at weddings alone is really the worst. Everyone stares and whispers. He’ll be quite uncomfortable.”
“Mom!” Keira wailed. “This isn’t the 1950s anymore. A man’s comfort isn’t more important than a woman’s career!”
“That’s not what I mean, darling,” her mom said. “I just mean that Zachary is a lovely young man and there’s nothing wrong with prioritizing the wedding. You don’t want to be like your sister, always on those dating websites, having those terrible evenings with men who say they’re six foot but then turn out to be barely five!”
“Mom!” Keira yelled again, cutting an end to her rambling. “I need you to be supportive right now.”
Her mom sighed. “I am. I’m very pleased for you. And I love your …