The Waiter by Bradleigh Collins (bill gates books recommendations .txt) 📕

had no intention of answering. Then I snuggled up under a blanket on the couch and looked around the room. This is my apartment.

The next morning I enjoyed a completely different commute. I took the 1 train, which is only a half-block from my new apartment. It was just nine stops from 125th Street to the 59th Street station. A lot faster than my east-side commute.

I got to work really early, so I made myself a cappuccino and called Dana. She and Simon were flying up tomorrow, and I needed to tell her what happened. I sat down at my desk and took my phone out. I turned it on to find several messages from Dalton, which I promptly deleted without listening to. Then I dialed Dana.

“So, I’ve got good news and bad news,” I said when she picked up. “Which do you want to hear first?”

“Oh god, give me the bad news.”

“I broke up with Dalton last night.”

“That’s good news,” she responded. “What happened?”

“He kicked me out of the apartment.”

“What? Why?”

“I found out he was cheating on me.”

“No way! With who?”

“Fucking Rhonda. Literally, he was fucking Rhonda.”

“Oh, Sam. I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Where are you?”

“I’m at work. I went to Josh’s last night. Here’s the good news. Josh is moving in with Katie and he gave me his apartment.”

“Oh my god! That’s perfect! So you’re done. You’re really done with Dalton this time?”

“Beyond done. We’ll celebrate tomorrow. Call me when you get to the hotel and I’ll come meet you guys.”

“Can’t wait. I’m so proud of you, Sam.”

I turned off my phone and put it back in my bag. Then I heard George arrive. I went over to his desk and told him what was going on. I asked if I could forward my phone to him because I knew Dalton would be calling. He seemed to relish the responsibility.

“Nobody fucks with Ginger Spice today,” he said, causing me to laugh out loud. “You don’t seem that upset.”

“Actually, I’m not. It’s something I should have done a long time ago.”

He got up and hugged me. “You can tell me all about it at happy hour tonight.”

I threw myself into my latest article, which was about what to wear for Thanksgiving. One of our in-house stylists was helping me to put together looks for various scenarios: traveling home for Thanksgiving, spending Thanksgiving at the beach, spending Thanksgiving on the slopes, and attending the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Macy’s was sponsoring the article, so they had sent over tons of clothes and accessories they wanted featured.

I couldn’t help but think about the fact that this would be the first time I wouldn’t be traveling home for Thanksgiving. I’d tried to get my family to come up for the parade, but I got the same response from my mom and sisters: “too cold.”

Later, as George and I were heading out for happy hour, the decorators for the Halloween party were coming in.

“I hope your costume survived being tossed out onto the street last night,” George joked. “We are going to be the best Spice Girls ever.”

“It survived. Just like I survived.”

That prompted George to sing Gloria Gaynor as we exited the elevator. He was still singing and I was laughing hysterically when we walked out of the building. Suddenly, someone grabbed me violently by the arm. It was Dalton.

“We need to talk.” His grip on my arm was tight, like a blood pressure cuff right before release.

“Let go of me, Dalton. You’re hurting me.”

“Yeah, let go of her Tarzan!” George yelled loudly.

His grip tightened as he pulled me into the courtyard next to the building. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he said as he shoved me up against the metal handrail. I’d never seen him so mad, and for the first time in my life, I was afraid of him. “You think you can just sneak out and leave me in the middle of the night? What the fuck, Sam?”

By now I was terrified. And I was crying. “Dalton, please let go of me.”

“You ran straight to him, didn’t you?”

“No!” I could no longer feel any circulation in my arm, and I was starting to hyperventilate. Then George came around the side of the building with Jackie, cell phone in hand.

“Hey, jackass! Take your hands off of her,” she demanded.

“This is none of your business,” Dalton yelled back without even looking at her.

“Sam works for me. And this is my building, so yeah, it kind of is my business. And if you don’t let go of her, I’m going to call my brother, who happens to be NYPD.”

Dalton let go of me. I stood there frozen. My arm was completely numb.

“This isn’t over, Sam,” he said. And then walked away. I was shaking. I sat down on the steps and continued crying. George kneeled in front of me and Jackie sat next to me.

“Are you okay?” George asked. I nodded.

“Who the hell was that?” Jackie asked.

I was so embarrassed. I didn’t want to admit that Dalton was my boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend. I didn’t want her to think less of me. But I wasn’t about to lie to my boss.

“My ex. I’m so sorry, Jackie. This is beyond humiliating.”

“Oh honey,” she said. “I’ve been there. You’ve got nothing to be sorry or embarrassed about.”

She gave me a long hug. Then she stood up and extended her hand. “Let’s go hit that happy hour, shall we? You look like you need a drink.”

I laughed and nodded and took her hand. She noticed how badly I was shaking and put her arm around me. We walked over to Amsterdam where she hailed a cab uptown. The three of us got in the backseat.

“Columbus and 78th,” Jackie instructed the driver.

“Okay, I don’t know if I should say this or not,” George said, looking over at me.

“Say what?”

“Your ex is obviously a jerk, but he’s like really hot.”

“Yeah, he is. And I put up with his shit for a decade because I liked the