The Secretary and Her Boss

Chapter 1

Sitting in the Kentucky Fried Chicken drive-thru line wasn't what I had pictured for a sixth-month anniversary date night. 

Especially considering the look on the other customers' faces in line as we drove up in Liam's Rolls-Royce. The car screamed, 'I normally eat at places that sell five hundred dollar wine and don't sell food that you eat with your fingers.'

But here I was on a Thursday night, waiting for fried chicken. 

"Lily?" Liam asked, gesturing out the window toward the order box. I hadn't even realized it was our turn to order. In my momentary panic at not thinking through my order in advance and practicing in my mind, I blurted, "Bucket of chicken, please!" 

Liam put his window back up, and the car slowly rolled forward in line, waiting for our turn to pay. He let out an exasperated sigh. 

"What's wrong?"

"This isn't how it's supposed to be," he said to his steering wheel, ashy blond hair falling across his face and hiding his dark blue eyes.

"It's okay," I replied, picking up on his frustration. He probably felt guilty that he hadn't had time to do something bigger for our sixth-month anniversary, but when you were dating a lawyer who worked as hard as he did, I didn't want to push him to do things with me when he was already so stressed out.

"No. It's not okay."

His concern made me smile. It was sweet. 

"We need to end things."

The smile evaporated as Liam turned to look at me, face serious. 

My heart stopped. "What?"

"You and me... we don't fit."

I couldn't seem to find words. Is he breaking up with me... in a fast food drive-thru line?

Liam continued, fingers drumming on the steering wheel. "I get paid to travel all over the country for work events. I just closed a five-million-dollar deal last week."

He kept saying words. None of them explained why he wanted to break up. He just continued to list fancy things— cars, suits, a penthouse, two assistants, how he was on the verge of making partner at his firm. But eventually, in his long monologue, I came up again. 

"My life is big and exciting. And I want something more..."

"More exciting?" I asked, finding my first set of words in the conversation. I could do more exciting things with him. Plan vacations. Go to more places. This was fixable—

"Just more..." 

I felt something inside of me crack. Because that is what happens when you let someone get close to you. You gave them the power to take a sledgehammer and shatter your self-esteem with a few calloused words. 

You... well." He gestured to all of me like that was enough of an explanation. 

"I'm...?" I asked because, apparently, I wanted more details to add to his wonderful picture of me.

He took a deep breath like the words were a burden to him and not to the person he was smashing with his verbal sledgehammer. "You are boring Lily Autumns."

More smashing of my self-esteem ensued, and before I could even process what had just happened,  we were at the drive-thru window, greeted by a chipper woman who took my now ex-boyfriend's American Express Gold Card and handed me my bucket of fried chicken. 

Liam nodded, as we drove out of the drive-thru, turning on a classical music station— making it clear that he was quite satisfied by the way the breakup had gone— then proceeded to ride in content silence for three blocks before he dropped me off at the curb in front of my apartment building, eager to get back to work.