Chapter 30: Propositions

Gwen heard when the door of her apartment slammed behind her. Finn had left. And then she started to sob once more, her tears falling unchecked. There was no way she could tell him the whole truth, because it would cause him too much pain. And she didn’t want to toss that on his lap. So she would continue to suffer alone, instead of seeing him hurt. More than he already seemed to be anyway.
Gwen ended up sleeping on the couch, with her dress and make up on. She could barely distinguish Cody’s voice calling her, her head feeling as though someone had taken a hammer to her skull.
“Mommy! Wake up! I need to go to school. Daddy is already outside,” Cody said by her side, poking her arm incessantly.
She woke up startled. She had never overslept before, and Cody was confused to see her so disheveled.
“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry,” she said, getting up in a hurry and searching for Cody’s uniform.
She was still trying to make sense of everything, since her brain was still numb. Her hangover was killing her, but she couldn’t do anything about it for now. She had to prepare Cody for school, and Finn was already waiting. She didn’t even have the choice of not looking at him that morning, out of all mornings. He had left without saying goodbye last night, and unfortunately, today was his day to take Cody to school.
After helping the little boy to put his uniform on, and giving him a bowl of cereal, she wrapped herself in a robe and went downstairs to drop Cody off. She didn’t care that she was a mess, wearing the same clothes from the previous night and with a face probably looking like a panda because of the uncleaned make up.
But the truth was that she barely looked at Finn. She simply took Cody to him and apologized for being late.
“It's okay. I can pick him up later today if you want. I don’t mind,” Finn suggested, probably seeing how miserable she looked.
“Daddy, can I sleep with you tonight?” Cody asked inside the car, and Gwen had to look up. Finn seemed just as surprised as her. Cody never showed any intention of wanting to sleep away from her, but apparently his dad had earned his trust.
“Are you sure, baby?” she asked Cody, coming closer to the car window.
“Yes, mommy. Daddy’s house is very cool and we can play video games,” Cody explained, shaking his head.
“Well, but you can’t sleep late because you have school tomorrow as well,” Finn replied. “Can he go? I can drop him at school tomorrow morning and you pick him up, what do you say?” Finn asked, looking at her.
She gulped. She wasn’t very sure about that, but she knew she couldn’t forbid him either.
“Okay, fine,” she replied, a little reluctant inside. “Just ask your dad to call me if you want to come home or talk to mommy, okay? I love you,” she said, kissing Cody’s cheeks right after.
“Take care,” Finn said before circling the car and getting into the driver’s seat.
They set off, leaving Gwen behind, her heart aching as she watched them disappear from view. She got back inside her apartment, boiled some water to prepare a strong coffee to treat her headache, took a nice shower and ate some scrambled eggs.
Her phone didn’t stop ringing with messages from Stephanie asking what had happened last night. Her friend was dying to know what Finn wanted to talk to her, but Gwen didn’t feel like talking about that yet. Especially not over the phone anyway, so she simply said that she would tell Stephanie at some other time.
When she was just outside the company, her phone buzzed one more time. But it wasn’t Stephanie. It was Clyde. She had forgotten about him in the chaos of last night’s argument with Finn.
“Clyde, hi,” she said, answering the phone. “I'm so sorry for not calling you and for leaving that way last night. I overslept today and had to rush to prepare Cody for school, so I didn’t have time to call you and apologize,” she said, parking her car at the garage of the company.
“Hey, calm down. Why are you so energetic so early in the morning? I didn’t call you to get an apology. You don’t have to apologize to anything, alright?” he said with a very lively voice. He was so nice. Why couldn’t she simply feel the same way about him as she did about Finn? Things would be much easier.
“Anyway, I feel I should, so… Please forgive me for being such a mess. My life changed completely lately, so I’m still trying to adjust to it. It’s not fair to you, I know that.”
The parking lot was already filled with cars and the lobby from the building was packed with employees arriving for work.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m calling to propose an idea. I know you’re probably busy now, with work and everything, so I wanted to know if we could have lunch together today? I have something to offer you,” Clyde asked, sounding very mysterious.
“To offer me? Related to what?” Gwen asked, stopping to walk to pay more attention.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” Clyde joked, and Gwen grimaced.
“Come on, just tell me what it is about. I won’t be able to focus on my job until lunch if you don’t tell me at least what it is about,” she insisted, basically begging him to say anything.
“Okay, fine,” he replied, and she could tell he was smiling. “I want to offer you a position in my company, but I can’t tell you more now. You’ll have to wait. Tell me when you’re free. I’ll pick you up,” he concluded, hanging up.
And Gwen almost dropped her phone, speechless. It made no sense that Clyde would offer a job to her all of a sudden, he didn’t even know her or what was her expertise. Suddenly, Finn’s voice started to echo like a mantra inside her mind.
“He’s using you to get to me.”
No, it was not possible. She refused to believe that Clyde was acting in an scheming manner. She wasn’t going to restrict herself because of Finn’s craziness. She was more than capable of making her own choices and she wouldn’t allow Finn to mess with her head.
And maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to work for Clyde. At least she wouldn’t have to face Finn more than it was necessary. So whatever it was Clyde had to offer her, she would listen.