Nothing had changed.
"Will you stop this nonsense?"
Toby dropped onto the sofa, equal parts exasperated and furious, and stabbed a finger at the luggage scattered across the floor. "Even if you won't think of yourself, think of the company! You can't go pulling something this reckless!"
"If the IPO gets held up because of this, can you carry that on your shoulders?"
Years of cutthroat business had made this hypocritical face second nature to him.
I just never imagined the day would come when he'd turn it on me.
How absurd it all was.
"Didn't I give you five hundred thousand? What can't that money buy?"
The more he talked, the angrier he got. "If you've really got that much pride, then go ahead, don't cash the check!"
"Toby."
I sat across from him and spoke, my voice gone rough. "Wipe the lipstick off your face first."
"I—"
The word caught in his throat. He raised a flustered hand and swiped at his cheek. "Stop making a scene over nothing. Once this busy stretch is behind us, I'll marry you, and we'll have a child who carries your surname. Of course we will."
"That's what I promised you. I've never forgotten it."
"And how long is this busy stretch?" I pressed.
Toby's eyes changed, as if he were looking at a stranger.
"You know the IPO process as well as anyone! This dream is finally within reach. After all these years of grinding, all the way to now—do you have any idea how hard that was?"
I'd lost count of how many times he'd steered the subject away like this.
"My father called yesterday. In six months it'll be the anniversary of my mother's passing—"
"Shut up! Alison Lambert, let me make this clear. There's no marriage now, not a chance! Not until the company goes public!"
Toby got to his feet and headed for the stairs. "And I've changed my mind. Even if we do have a child someday, I won't let it take your surname! You brought every bit of this on yourself. Don't go blaming anyone else!"
The next morning Toby left early, and I called back yesterday's courier.
He hesitated a little. "These valuables won't end up in some dispute, will they?"
I smiled and showed him my property deed, along with a few purchase receipts.
He packed up everything that could be boxed and shipped it back to my hometown.
Then I phoned the real estate agency and told them to offload the house as fast as they could.
When we graduated from college, Toby wanted to start a company.
I'd told my father back home all about it. "Toby's an orphan. He says after we marry he'll live with our family, and our children will take my surname."
Delighted, my father wired over a million. He said to use half for a house and the other half to launch the business.
"Ms. Lambert, the market's slow right now. This place will fetch two million at most. Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
My father had meant for it to be our safety net.
But now there wouldn't even be a marriage. What was the point of keeping the house?
By noon someone came to look at it. We didn't settle on a price, and they said they'd think it over.
I cooked myself a bowl of noodles. Then came a knock at the door.
It was Marianne Whitney.
She stood there with a black plastic bag, not stepping inside.
"Allie, I owe my spot at the company to you. Now that you're leaving, I came to see you off."
She opened the bag. Inside sat a potted pine, lush and green.
"I always admired your eye, you know. To land someone like Mr. Gilbert, the golden boy himself, as a husband."
"From now on, I'll take good care of him for you. So go in peace."
I looked at Marianne, that flower-bright smile of hers. The old me would have slapped it off her face long ago.
But now, there hardly seemed to be any point.
"Thank you. That's very thoughtful of you."
