Running From Noel

by Janae Keyes

  The elevator stopped at a few floors and fellow riders got off. I ached to know what floor the woman in front of me worked on. She was too hot to let walk out of my life without at least a taste. I’d let one girl walk away. She was the one I knew I could spend the rest of my life with and I’d be completely happy, but after my first taste, I never saw her again. I moved on but nothing was ever the same after a taste of her.

  Arriving at my floor, the sensual beauty in front of me strolled off the elevator and I followed with eager excitement to know she was going to be on the same floor as me. It made my job a lot easier.

  I knew I was to arrive at the conference room for a meeting and it seemed the lady strolling in front of me was going in the same direction. Yes.

  We both arrived at the door, and I rushed in front of her to open it for her. Her honey brown eyes glanced into mine and suddenly went wide. She gasped before rushing into the conference room with a muttered thank you. I shrugged and stepped inside as well.

  “Everly, late as usual,” the man who'd I’d interviewed with a month ago quipped snarkily in her direction. Everly, I knew a girl named … everything stopped for me. My entire world paused. It couldn’t be her. Not the girl I’d somehow let slip away.

  “Sorry, Mr. Carsen. I was at the restaurant the Christmas party is set to be at and the meeting went a little longer than planned,” she shyly excused herself. That voice, it had to be her. This wasn’t real life. I’d last seen her in Boston only a week or so before Christmas at school.

  “And Mr. Canali, the newest lawyer hired to our advertising firm. You found yourself here okay?” His tone far more welcoming than he’d addressed Everly with.

  “I did. Glad I could make it. The traffic here is made of nightmares,” I joked in my thick Boston accent, my eyes never leaving Everly, who looked as if she was trying her hardest to be invisible.

  “Take a seat anywhere. We are just getting started.” Mr. Carsen motioned to the room. I found the only seat left, which sadly was too far from Everly. “Ms. Anderson brought up the first subject of this morning’s meeting. The Christmas party to which she is the committee chair. Remember tomorrow is the last day to RSVP for yourself and a plus one, remind those in your units of this. Next, I’d like to formally welcome Mr. Canali to Wayfield Advertising as our newest staff lawyer.”

  I gave a confident wave to the room, my eyes refusing to leave Everly. She was still how I remembered her, but with a boost of maturity. Her body was banging before but now her shape was on fire. She had this perfect coke bottle shape I couldn’t wait to drink up. I had so many questions for her and I couldn’t wait to ask her.

  “I’m very excited to be here,” I added after my introduction. I saw the blonde who sat next to Mr. Carsen blush as her lustful eyes peered over me. I gave her a playful smirk in return. I couldn’t help it if girls found me attractive everywhere I went.

  As the meeting got underway, I noticed Everly avoiding my gaze. She kept her head low and eyes down. I wanted so much to see her deep honey eyes. The last time I saw them was outside the library at our university. She stood looking like a goddess after she’d given herself to me. Damn, it was impossible to forget that day.

  I hadn’t realized the meeting ended until I was shocked by the sound of chairs moving around and bumps on the large conference room table. I bolted from my seat determined to catch up with Everly who already had a head start at leaving.

  I spotted her slender legs in the shuffle of employees fighting to get out of the room, but I was caught up in a rush of others who were overly anxious to greet me and welcome me to the firm.

  Losing sight of her. I put on my trademark fake Canali smile and greeted everyone who came my way with a warm welcome. The last of them was the blonde I’d spotted across the table. She bit down onto her lip and leaned in just enough to show a pinch of cleavage. She was a pro and I could appreciate that.

  “It’s a pleasure to have you join the team,” she purred up at me as she leaned in a little more. “I’m Ashlee, if you need anything and I mean anything, I’m always a phone call away.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind, Ashlee,” I growled giving her a wink before she turned and walked away her hips swinging. I watched and licked my lips watching her only to glance up and spot Everly’s eyes on me from an office across the hall. The all glass conference room and office structure fucked me over.

  She simply shook her head before sitting down at her computer. I couldn’t help flirting came easy to me. It was this extra ability I really couldn’t turn off.

  Everly was only one girl, one out of hundreds, but she was different. I’d never been able to pin down exactly how. Maybe it was her fierce determination to be someone and accomplish something or the plumpness of her lips. Over the years, no matter how much I banished her, she came right back to the front of my mind and now I had my chance to stake my claim officially. Hell, she still had her maiden name and I didn’t see a ring on her finger.

  “Mr. Canali let me show you to your new office and your new team,” Mr. Carsen approached me with a shit-eating grin. I smiled back to appease the man and followed him from the conference room. Passing Everly’s office, I peeked in to see her conducting a small meeting with two other women.

  Everly’s eyes rose and glanced over me. She seemed a bit panicked at the sight of me. As if maybe she’d hoped my presence was a dream but here I was, in the flesh, almost eleven years to the day.

  “Everly Anderson, she’s one of my top Ad Executives here. She never takes a break and has a knack for perfection,” Mr. Carsen noted as he’d spotted me watching Everly. “She even heads up the holiday party committee. Make sure to get your RSVP in with her for the company Christmas party.”

  “Will do,” I noted with a reason to make sure I got to see Everly.

  I literally hit the ground running and the work felt like it was non-stop from the moment I was settled into my office. It wasn’t a bad spot though. I had a view of the downtown streets below and the other tall buildings around.

  No matter what, I still had one goal in mind—get to Everly.

  It was around four and for once it was quiet. I didn’t have someone coming into my office with yet another file to go over, signature needed, or client demand that only I could approve. Peering through the glass into other offices, everyone seemed content and at work.

  I stood from my chair and casually strolled from my office in hopes of not catching the attention of anyone who wanted to bring me more work to add to my pile. Luckily the only attention I got was from Ashlee who sat at her desk outside Mr. Carsen’s office and she gave me a wave. I waved back before I continued back toward the conference room and Everly’s office.

  I spotted her easily as she sat deeply concentrated on a document and not paying attention to anything around her. She wore black framed glasses as she read hunched over her desk.

  I didn’t knock, but just allowed myself inside and cleared my throat as I stood over her desk.

  Everly let out a loud gasp and grabbed her chest as her eyes jolted in my direction.

  “Fuck,” she hissed. “You scared me.”

  “Sorry. I’ve been trying to get over here all day. I can’t believe it’s you. I haven’t seen you since school. How are you?” I was anxious to know how the last eleven years had been for the beauty that still lingered on my mind after all these years.

  Everly took her glasses off and placed them on her desk.

  “I’m good,” she answered plainly.

  “Just good?” I questioned as I sat in one of the two empty chairs across from her desk. “You were at the top of our class and just disappeared.”

  “Things were not good at home so after that semester I decided to not return,” she explained but something about her answer only felt as if it was half the truth. There was more to her fragmented story.

  Glancing down at her desk there was a photo of her holding a small brown sugar skinned girl in her arms. Everly looked as beautiful as alwa
ys and glowed as she peered at the grinning little girl.

  “Is she yours?” I noted the features on the girl’s face that were so reminiscent of Everly.

  “She is,” she beamed. “It’s an old picture but one of my favorites.”

  “Look at you. You’re a badass in the advertising world and a mom,” I complimented her. She’d always been someone to be in awe of, but I couldn’t help but to have more awe of her. “What’s her name?”

  “Madison,” Everly answered.

  “So, you ended up in advertising and not a lawyer?” I noted Everly’s degrees hanging proudly, but none of them the law degree she’d been working so hard for when I’d last set eyes on her.

  Everly shrugged. “It wasn’t in the cards. After I finished my second master’s degree, I ended up here and this has been home ever since. I like advertising. I head the Toys and Children’s based advertising unit.”

  “I bet having a kid at home is useful,” I’d be terrible at kid stuff. I didn’t know what kind of shit kids liked these days.

  “A little bit,” I spotted a smile on the edge of her lips. I think she enjoyed being a mom, but she was clearly a single mom as there didn’t seem to be the slightest trace of a man in her life from the outside but maybe I was wrong.

  “And what does your husband do?” I was eager to find out about any men in her life.

  “There’s none. Not married,” she answered plainly and directly. She’d made it perfectly clear she was doing it on her own and she was handling it pretty fucking well. I always liked that about her. Everly didn’t need anyone and she made it clear at all times. “It’s been nice catching up and all, but I do have some work to finish before heading home.”

  “Yeah, I wanted to RSVP for the holiday party. Guess I joined the firm just in time,” I offered a light chuckle to thin the mood but Everly was not entertained.

  “Okay,” she only gave me a simple nod before jotting down a quick note on a notepad and instantly put her glasses back on before picking her document back up. I stood in disbelief. I’d held onto the memory of this girl for years only for her to treat me like some regular Joe when I sure as fuck wasn’t. I heard the way she moaned that night and saw the look in her eyes when she saw me this morning, she wanted me too. I fucking knew it.

  Not moving, I watched her until she sat her document down with a sigh.

  “Is there anything else?” She snapped at me in frustration.

  “Yeah, I haven’t seen you in fucking years and you aren’t nearly as shocked as I am. I want to take you to dinner. Maybe play catchup on the last eleven years.” A look of pure panic seemed to jolt across her face at my words.

  Instead of looking up at me, Everly continued to glance over her document and took a breath as if the compose herself.

  “That would be nice,” her words came out of her in a robotic fashion. “How about after the new year though, I’m swamped with work and with Christmas coming up. After the holidays would work. We can...umm...catch up.”

  She was playing me, and only telling me what I wanted to hear. Fuck that, I wasn’t going to just let her slide by. She’d slid out of my life all those years ago and disappeared without a trace. It was fucking fate that we’d even crossed paths again.

  “Seriously, Everly!” I stood from my chair. “You act like I’m a fucking stranger.”

  “You may as well be,” she sneered before a throat cleared from behind me. I sharply turned to find Ashlee standing in the doorway to Everly’s office and the eyes of other office dwellers upon us from their perspective places. “Yes, Ashlee?”

  “Mr. Carsen would like to see you in his office,” she announced as her eyes remained on me, devouring me from head to toe. Ashlee was a thirsty one and as much as I wanted to quench that thirst, I was focused on Everly.

  “I’m on my way,” Everly asserted as she stood at once. She rounded her desk and gave me a final look before she left me alone with Ashlee.

  “What was that with you and Everly? Is she an old flame or something?” Ashlee inquired with pure intrigue.

  “We went to college together,” I mentioned easily as I leaned on the chair behind me and relaxed into my stance. “How long have you been working here?”

  “A couple years but you’re the sexiest thing to come through those doors in a long time,” she cooed as she took a few steps forward and stood in front of me. I was able to get a hint of her floral scent.

  If Everly was going to play hard ball, I’d play but I still had to get my jollies somewhere. She was going to be a hard one to crack but Ashlee not so much.

  “How about we get out of here and grab a drink? Know any good bars?” I saw Ashlee’s eyes light up with the prospect of going out anywhere with me. We’d have a few drinks before I took her back to my new penthouse apartment and gave her the fuck of her dreams. She had no idea whom she was dealing with, but she’d definitely find out. She would also be the perfect person to get some intel on Everly and what was public knowledge of her life in the past eleven years.

  Chapter 2

  Everly

  Holy Shit!

  I couldn’t think straight. I never in a million years expected to see Noel Canali again and there he was in my office, working with me. We were over three thousand miles from the last place I saw him. It was like fate decided to jump in and toy with my life again. I fucking hated that bitch.

  Well, I didn’t exactly hate fate that much. Fate did provide me with the best gift I could ever have. My daughter, Madison.

  I weaved through the afterwork traffic and toward my destination as quickly as possible. The day was a whirlwind of trying to avoid Noel only to come face to face with him in my office. His green eyes watched over me as they would those late nights in the library. I could never forget those eyes.

  My only solace was going home and hoping to get in a glass of wine and a bath to calm my nerves at some point. First, I had to pick up Madison and get some dinner into her. My picky ten-year-old would likely eat her usual; pasta with red sauce and a couple meatballs. I swear she picked up her knack for Italian food from her father.

  Her father. I sighed. It was a long time ago and I’d done my best to raise Madison on my own. Facing loss, and managing to get myself through school, while raising a daughter on my own wasn’t easy but I faced the music and got to it.

  Exiting the freeway, I rolled through my old neighborhood. I was almost always hit with flashbacks of getting bubblegum tape at the corner liquor store with my friends, waiting at the bus stop at five in the morning to take me to school in another district because my mom wanted to give me the best chance of success, and leaving it all behind when I was eighteen with the dream of being a lawyer.

  I didn’t realize that dream. Instead, I dropped out of law school because Mom had taken a turn for the worst. I had to be home and not across the country. Plus, those last days at school in Boston changed my life.

  As I pulled up to the seafoam green with white trim house in South Central Los Angeles a little girl bounded from the iron screen door. Her large ring curls bounced with her as she approached my car. Those bright green eyes stared back at me with so much excitement and love as they did every single day.

  “Lil’ girl, don’t you be running your tail out of this house like that,” a loud, boisterous voice yelled after Madison.

  “But my mom is here, Auntie Gracie!” Madison called back as I opened the door to receive the tightest hug from my daughter before I could even get out of the car. “We showed our science projects at school today.”

  “And how’d yours work out?” I asked honestly intrigued to how the precipitation model I’d worked on with her half the night worked out.

  I’d ended up late to work after going to Starbucks for the biggest coffee I could find. I had to come up with a little white lie for my boss, but I had in fact spoken to the restaurant on the phone while on my way to work.

  “I got second place,” she beamed proudly as she produced her ribbon. I let out a
n excited scream as I wrapped my arms around her tightly. I was so incredibly proud of my little scientist. I had high hopes for her in the future and I hoped she could get much further than me and really reach for her dreams.

  “Let’s go inside. I hear Auntie Gracie fussing.” Getting out of the car, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. She was so innocent still with her hair in pigtails and a hopeful grin. I prayed that part of her would stay even through her teenage years which were quickly approaching.

  Entering the house that smelled like a mix of collard greens, moth balls, and Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door perfume I could hear my aunt fussing from the kitchen.

  “Lord Jesus, this child just running out this house,” she fussed away.

  “Go watch some TV. Let me talk to Auntie Gracie,” I told my daughter who peered up at me with those green eyes that made my stomach pang with a deep sense of guilt.

  Stepping into the kitchen, I rounded the corner to find my aunt standing over a pot at the stove, stirring away as she fussed.

  “Hey Auntie,” I greeted her as I stole a roll from the basket on the counter. I hummed when I felt they were still warm.

  I didn’t know what I’d do without my mother’s older sister. Mom only lived six more months after I’d come home. I’d lost my biggest supporter and best friend but instantly I had my Aunt at my side helping me navigate life after losing my mother.

  I wished I had my dad but during mom’s illness, he turned to alcohol and eventually disappeared after Mom died. A few years later I got a call from the Denver police he’d been found dead in an alley outside a bar, apparently it was an accident and he’d fallen while he was drunk, knocking his head on the ground. No one found him until the next morning and he had frozen to death by then.

  “Hey baby, how was work?” She shook her head at me while I stuffed my face with the warm bread roll. “You see your baby won second place.”

  “She showed me her ribbon,” I mentioned after swallowing the large bite I’d taken.