by Lee, Geneva
But when I finally conceded that I couldn’t be anymore ready, I found it was hard to sleep without him. Between that and the looming presentation, I tossed and turned all night. I decided I’d take him up on spending the night in the future.
The next morning I chose an ivory wrap dress that was polished, but not too professional, since I tended to feel overdressed in the office. I gave my reflection a pep talk as I finished my makeup. Dusting on the slightest bit of bronzer, I told myself, “You’ve got this. You’re a badass. No one is more prepared than you.”
I wished I believed any of it.
Danny, who remembered I had a presentation, ran out after me on my way to the building and handed me my coffee. “Good luck!”
I made it a few steps away before I remembered the last time I had seen him. “Did you ask her?” I called to him.
“She said yes!” He practically bounced back into Sound Coffee.
That was a promising omen.
The second good sign was waiting for me inside the lobby in a charcoal gray suit and a blue tie that brought out his eyes. I resisted the urge to walk over, grab hold of it and drag him into a dark corner.
George shot me a knowing look as Gavin greeted me. I hadn’t told my office friend about my romance, but it was clear he had guessed something was going on. I winked at him as Gavin and I walked toward the elevator, still carefully keeping a professional distance between us. I’d asked him to keep us hush-hush until I felt ready to share. With the presentation today and my intern status, now didn’t seem like a good time to let everyone know that we were romantically involved. No matter what his dad said. We’d deal with it later.
“Are you nervous?” he whispered as the elevator arrived. The doors slid open and we stepped inside.
“No,” I lied.
Gavin punched the button impatiently as we waited for the doors to close. Once they did, I was in his arms. It was a short elevator ride, which made the urgency of the kiss even more pronounced. I almost wished he’d hit the emergency stop. Gavin stepped away as a chime announced that we had arrived on our floor.
“I missed you,” he said with a quick squeeze of my hand before the doors reopened and deposited us onto a chaotic, office floor. Everyone who worked for the company seemed to be here. Some I’d never seen before.
“That’s the rest of the preservation committee,” Gavin said in a low voice as we walked toward our workspaces. I considered following him into his office, but the presentation was in less than an hour and while the distraction was tempting, I needed to focus. Gavin seemed to understand. He ducked down into my cubicle, where no one could see, and gave me one more swift kiss. “I’ll see you in there.”
The hour passed like someone had sped up the clocks. Before I knew it, I was standing in the conference room, which was packed full of people, and nervously preparing my PowerPoint. Gavin sat on one side of the table and Imogen on the other. I recognized most of the people sitting next to Gavin and the ones crowded behind him. Most of the people that were with Imogen were strangers. They had to be the rest of the preservation committee. It was like a really tense wedding where people were actually taking sides. Some of Imogen’s contingent looked a bit grouchy, but she gave me a bright smile. I wasn’t certain if that was to encourage me or because her parents had told her that the weekend had gone well. This weekend I would see if she wanted to go to Skee-Ball just the three of us. I assumed the presentation would go well enough that would be a good idea. I’d definitely be ready to blow off some steam either way.
Since both Trevor and I were preparing project proposals, all questions were saved until the end. I walked the audience through my carefully thought out proposal.
“The Majestic Theater is a Capitol Hill landmark,” I began. “NorthWest Investments wants it to continue to be for a long time.” I hadn’t bothered to go into the state of disrepair the building was in or the squatters who’d occupied it until we took possession. Instead, I focused on everything it had to offer the neighborhood already. “Our vision is a theater that will serve as a community gathering place, not just for classic films like Bringing Up Baby,” I couldn’t help but shoot Gavin a glance. He grinned, “but also for community events, concerts, graduations.” I clicked through a variety of stock images that I had gathered for the presentation before pausing on one of our architectural renderings of the restored space. “Concerns that the restoration process will be a burden on the community should be taken seriously. It’s our goal to work with the people who live in the surrounding areas during that time to make the process not only seamless but fun. We want the Capitol Hill community to know that we are part of their family.”
This part of the pitch had come to me late in the night, inspired by my time spent with the Sounds. “We’ll be hosting a variety of movie nights and community events. There will be fundraisers, which aren’t necessary to our budgets. Instead, they will foster a communal sense of ownership—that sense of unity is what we hope to achieve with the newly-restored Majestic Theater throughout are very long relationship with the theater and its patrons, past, present, and future.”
More than a few people clapped when I wrapped up. Since there were no questions, I grabbed my stuff to get out of the way so that Trevor could make his presentation. Gavin gave me a discreet thumbs up as I squeezed past him. I found a spot toward the back of the room, more than a few people scooting out of the way to give me some space.
“Great job,” the guy next to me said. A few others smiled. Until the question and answers portion allowed the preservation committee to respond, I wouldn’t know how everyone felt. Right now, I was soaring though. Not in a terrible, stomach-turning Cessna way, but rather I felt lighter than air. There had been a lot of great nonverbal feedback from the audience during the presentation. People were smiling and nodding. I had to take that as a good sign. Past any of that, it was over.
The room fell silent as Trevor began his presentation. He hadn’t opted for a simple PowerPoint like me. Instead, he had come up with some type of strange, movie-style trailer. It flashed images of the theater in its current state of disrepair while playing ominous music.
“The restoration of the Majestic Theater shouldn’t be seen as a blight on the community,” he said, and I cringed. He already sounded hostile. “Instead, it should be seen as what it is: the gentrification of a dying landmark. NorthWest Investments is its savior.”
Even from the back of the room, I saw Gavin’s shoulders go rigid. I was going to have to give him a back rub later. He might have to give me one, too. This was getting intense.
Trevor’s presentation didn’t get better from there. Somehow, he managed to insult our company, the preservation committee, the neighborhood, even the historic trust that oversaw many of the nation’s landmarks. He ended with, “This isn’t a question of if, but when. Without us, the Majestic Theater will be nothing more than a memory.”
So, he wasn’t wrong exactly, he’d just missed the point about soothing the preservation committee’s anxieties—the public relations part.
When Trevor was finished, Gavin got to his feet, with a blank expression on his face.
“Thank you for that.” He didn’t sound grateful at all, but he kept his opinions to himself. “As we said earlier, we’re now going to open the floor to questions. Please address your questions to the entire group, and whoever is best suited to answer them will jump in.”
He looked to Imogen, who still seemed confused by the final presentation. That didn’t stop a flurry of questions from erupting from her entire group. Some of them were easy to answer. What did our timeline look like? One year. Others were a little harder. How could it be a restoration if we were gutting the building? Answer: we didn’t have a choice given its condition. I jumped in whenever possible to answer questions, but more often than not, Trevor beat me to the punch, displaying his keen lack of tact. We weren’t the experts here, but that was PR, organizing all the concerns of an entire company and succinctly comi
ng up with a response on the spot. A few of the engineers I’d consulted, nodded enthusiastically whenever I spoke about the construction process. They weren’t the types to speak publicly, I was their mouthpiece. For the first time, I felt like I really knew what I was doing. All those years in classes had paid off.
When it was all finished, everyone looked to Imogen, the spearhead of the organization, for her comments. “First, I’d like to thank you all for taking our concerns so seriously.” Her eyes flashed to Trevor as if to warn him to stay silent. “We see the Majestic Theater as a historical landmark and we want it to continue to be a point of pride for the neighborhood. I think I speak for all of us in saying that Cassie’s plan understands the spirit of what this theater means to the community. With open communication and a clear vision, we're excited to see what NorthWest Investments can do for our neighborhood.”
This time it wasn’t a smattering of claps, everyone around me broke into applause. The people standing next to me congratulated me and patted me on the back. Trevor had pushed himself farther back into the corner, as though he was trying to fade from sight. It felt good to have it over with and even better that I managed to build a bridge between these two organizations.
Gavin stood and waited for the applause and chatter to die down. “Amazing job. Let’s hope that we don’t screw up Cassie’s plan while she’s off finishing college.” Almost everyone laughed. A few of the preservation committee members looked around in surprise. “I wanted to take a moment to speak with you, because it’s pretty hard to get us all in one place at the same time in the summer.”
From the back someone yelled, “We need a bigger office.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Gavin said dryly. “This actually isn’t about the restoration, so my apologies to our guests. Although, it somewhat concerns them, too.” He cleared his throat as if needing a second to collect his thoughts. What was he up to? “I unexpectedly spent the weekend with my father.”
“Did he finally convince you to take over his company?” Agnes called from the end of the table.
There was a round of nervous laughter and some shifty-eyed glances. No one wanted to lose Gavin to Sound Coffee, but they seemed to realize that it was a possibility. I hadn’t known until then, how many people knew about his dad, but Gavin believed in transparency. He might have taken his mom’s name to put on a business card, but he hadn’t hidden who he was. That would have been impossible.
“No, but he did remind me of a few things.” The seriousness of his voice instantly quieted the room again. “He reminded me that a good boss is transparent. Honest.”
Gavin looked directly at me in the same moment that I realized what he was about to do. It was like the seconds before a crash. I could see it coming, but I was powerless to stop it from happening. All I could do was watch.
“So, in the spirit of that, I wanted to tell you that I’m seeing someone in the office.”
This was met with a buzz of conversation, people began whispering under their breath and scouting the room as if they were looking for a suspect. No one looked upset. I didn’t expect anyone to get out the pitchforks and form a lynching mob. Still, silently I prayed that he didn’t name me. I thought he’d understood that I wasn’t ready to be in the spotlight in that way.
“It’s serious,” he continued.
Oh no. No. No.
“How long have you been seeing her?” someone asked before quickly adding, “or him.”
Either things weren’t as transparent as Gavin thought, or he really dated so little that no one knew for sure if he was straight.
Gavin only smiled. “Her. Not that long. I wanted to be sure before I said anything. Because I think there’s an office pool going around about whether or not I would die a bachelor. I didn’t want to screw up the stakes.”
“It’s up to $200!” Agnes quipped from the back.
Imogen was trying to hide a smirk as all this unfolded. She dared a peek at me and it fell from her face. Her lips parted like she might leap in and stop this runaway train before he wrecked everything, but she didn’t speak. Her eyes closed as if bracing herself as he continued.
At least, someone in the room was on my side when Gavin looked directly at me and ended the suspense. “I know that we all respect each other’s personal lives here and that this isn’t a big deal, but I wanted to be honest about it, and tell you that I’m dating Cassie Hart.”
Every eye in the room swiveled around to stare at me.
Chapter 22
I made it to my desk before I started to cry. I’d left my cell phone there, afraid it would ring in the middle of my presentation. Picking it up now, I saw that my best friends had texted me a half-dozen good luck messages and inquiries about the weekend. I couldn’t bring myself to respond. It had taken all of my strength to keep a smile on my face as I maneuvered my way out of that conference room. Most people wanted to congratulate me on a job well done. Only a few mentioned my new relationship with Gavin. To his credit, no one seemed angry. He’d told me that no one would mind.
That wasn’t the point.
I felt a presence looming behind me and I spun around in my chair ready to face him. But it was only Trevor.
“Come to gloat?” I asked him.
“I came to tell you that your presentation was great.” He shoved his hands in his pant pockets and leaned against the cubicle opening.
“Sure,” I said flatly.
“No!” He shook his head with earnest sincerity. “You really seem to know what they want. You’re really special, Cassie. I should have told you that before.”
I blinked, trying to help my brain process what was happening. Trevor was complimenting me. This couldn’t be good.
“I know what Gavin said back there. But you can’t have been seeing each other that long.” He straightened up and took a step closer to me. “What we had was special. I didn’t see that before.”
We’d bypassed not good and headed directly for very, very bad.
“Because you weren’t looking.” This was unbelievable. Another man had just laid claim to me. Now my ex-boyfriend had decided that we should get back together. Apparently, they’d missed the memo that this vagina was owned by no man. I didn’t let him continue. “If you think you can just decide what’s best for me— for our relationship, which is soooo over—then you’re wrong. I’m not just sitting around here waiting for you to come around. I have plans and hopes and goals. I deserve someone who respects me all the time. Not just when it’s convenient for him.”
“Cassie, I—”
I cut him off. “Goodbye, Trevor.”
He stalked away, muttering under his breath. Gavin had been standing behind him, watching the whole thing.
“Can I talk to you?” he asked softly. He’d overheard. He knew that my rant hadn’t been directed entirely at Trevor.
“Do I have a choice?” I shot back.
“My office?”
I wanted to say no—that whatever he had to say to me he could say in front of the entire office, because apparently, we had no secrets from them. But I still had a measure of dignity left inside me. It was getting smaller by the second and probably couldn’t handle a very public argument, so I stood up and marched towards his office. He followed me inside and shut the door. I cringed, wondering what everyone would make out of that.
“Did Trevor—” he began.
“I don’t care about Trevor,” I interrupted.
“You’re upset,” he said.
“Hell yes, I am. You made a promise to me.” He needed to know how bad it hurt me that he’d made such an important announcement without my consent. “This was a big decision. It took me a long time to convince myself that there wasn’t anything wrong with seeing you. I needed a little longer to prepare to face everyone in the office every day as not just their colleague but your girlfriend.”
“I understand that,” he said, spreading his hands in surrender.
“Obviously, you don’t, or you wouldn�
��t have told everyone, including the preservation committee that you were banging your intern.”
Gavin winced as though I’d thrown a rock at him. “That’s not what this is between us. We both know that. You think I would have told them about you if it was just about sex?”
“I think that if it was more—like you claim it is–-you would’ve respected me enough to give me the time I needed before we told the world. I mean, first your parents and now the office.”
“I thought you had a good time with my parents.” His voice was so quiet that it sent a shiver rippling through me.
I’d hit my mark. I wanted to wound him, throw him off balance, like he had done to me. I didn’t mean half of what I was saying, but that was the thing about fighting. It was dirty and there were no rules. Somewhere a small voice warned me that I was taking things too far. Still, I continued, “I didn’t really have a choice, did I? It seems like I don’t have a lot of choices around you. I mean, are we going to move in together? Are we getting married? When would you like your first baby? Just give me a timeline.”
“That’s not fair.” The words rumbled through him like the first roll of thunder before the rain began. I’d pushed us past heated discussion into our first real argument.
There was a knock on the door. We both glared at it as though the significance of it being closed had been ignored.
“Give me a few minutes,” Gavin yelled out.
“I understand that I blindsided you,” he started, keeping his voice low enough that whoever was standing outside the door wouldn’t hear us fighting. “I have to think not only about our relationship but my relationship with all of these people as well. I didn’t want to hide my feelings for you. I’m not ashamed of them.”
“You think I’m ashamed?”
“I don’t know what’s up with you,” he admitted.
Oh, that was the final straw. I exploded, like an undetonated landmine that he’d accidentally stepped on. “I told you I wasn’t seeing anyone, and you finagled your way into a date! I mentioned that I had a habit of moving too fast, and you step on the gas! I’ve barely processed how I feel about you and you’re shouting it from the rooftops.”
