It Started in June
Page 16
Bradley’s phone dinged in his pocket, indicating a text message. He pulled it out and looked at it. “It’s from Rachel.”
Kevin waited while Bradley read the text. “And?”
Bradley put the phone back in his pocket. “She said she’s glad we had a connection last night and is looking forward to seeing me at work.”
Kevin looked at his watch. “Technically, she only has to wait thirty minutes.”
Bradley reached into his back pocket for his wallet. “I’ve got to get to the office,” he said, pulling out a twenty-dollar bill. “If we leave now, I can get there by nine thirty.”
“You can have the shower first,” said Kevin. “I’m working from home today.”
“Say what you want about your boss,” said Bradley. “At least you get to work from home once in a while.”
“Yeah,” said Kevin, pulling bills out of his wallet. “Even dicks have their good days.”
“That is true,” said Bradley, putting one arm into the sleeve of his coat and downing his last sip of coffee.
CHAPTER 31
When Bradley walked into Grace’s office, she grinned at him. “Oh, it looks like someone had a fun night.”
“I did,” said Bradley. “We watched TV, ate pizza, drank Cokes, and went to bed by ten.”
Grace laughed. “You are so hungover.”
Bradley, who had been grossed out in the car by the smell of his breath, still rancid after he had brushed his teeth three times, thought he had put himself together pretty nicely. “It’s that obvious?”
“Let’s see,” said Grace, getting up from her office chair and walking around the desk. “Slightly puffy face, suit that looks like you slept in it, and you’re sweating.” She put her hands on his hips and pecked his lips with hers. “And really, really bad breath.” Bradley opened his mouth to respond. “Oh, I’d keep that closed if I were you,” she said, putting her fingers over his mouth.
Bradley gave her a stern look. “You’re just jealous that I was out having a good time and you were stuck at home on the couch.”
Grace stroked her chin. “Oh, I am something,” she said, “but it’s definitely not jealous!” She laughed again. “I feel terrific this morning, and you look—and smell—like you don’t.”
Bradley ran his hands through his hair. “Maybe only you can tell?”
Grace walked back around her desk to her chair and sat down. “I don’t think so,” she said, grinning. “The stench coming from your mouth and out of your pores got to my office ten seconds before you walked in the door.”
“You’re hilarious,” said Bradley, turning to go, needing more Advil. “Hilarious.”
She said to his retreating back, “We have a meeting at two.”
Bradley offered Grace a limp wave in response and walked out of her office and down the short hallway to his work station. On his desk was a large Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and a bag holding a honey-dipped cruller, his favorite. Sitting underneath the bag was a pink Post-it note, on it a heart drawn in red, thin-lined marker. Bradley put half the doughnut in his mouth, holding onto it with his lips, so he could remove his suit coat. He draped it over the back of his chair, sat down, and finished the cruller while he opened his e-mail. The highlighted blue message on top was from Rachel: Are you free for lunch?
Bradley typed back: Sorry, no.
Her reply was instantaneous: We need to talk.
Bradley sat back in his chair and interlaced his fingers behind his head. What could he say to make her go away? She was a nice girl. She was a pretty girl. But he was with Grace. And he had to let Rachel know that her sexual advances from this moment forward would go unreturned. On this particular morning, however, he had zero interest in talking to her; he sought quiet. He leaned forward and reached into his desk drawer for his Advil. He swallowed three tablets with his coffee, and then shifted his gaze back to his computer screen. I’m slammed this week, he typed. Let’s have lunch next week.
When Bradley’s cell phone sounded, he knew immediately that it was Rachel, that she had changed communication vehicles from company e-mail to personal text: I need to see you today. Bradley switched gears, deciding to deal with this issue, to deal with Rachel right now.
Why do you need to see me today?
I need to talk to you about where we stand after last night.
I’m sorry about last night. But I want our relationship as casual friends to remain as it was before last night.
I don’t know if I can do that.
Try typed Bradley before he put his phone back into his pocket.
A minute later, she was standing next to his desk, hovering over him. “Come outside with me,” she said to his face. When Bradley said nothing, she said, “I’m going to grab my coat. I’ll meet you out back.” As soon as she was done speaking, she walked toward the coat closet. Bradley watched her go, and then slowly lifted himself out of his chair. He grabbed his suit coat from the back of his chair and followed her out the door. Rachel was standing next to the Dumpster, rubbing her biceps against the cold. The thirty-degree air felt good to Bradley; he had been perspiring since he had opened his eyes on Kevin’s couch. Bradley approached her but said nothing. She had called the meeting. He looked at her face. “You can’t do to me what you did to me last night and just ignore me this morning,” she said. “You can’t treat me that way.”
“Treat you what way?”
“Use me and then discard me like a piece of trash.” She had moved her hands to her hips.
“Rachel,” he said. “We kissed. That’s what we did last night. We kissed. You came on to me. I had too many beers and responded by kissing you.”
“You felt me up.”
“For a second!” said Bradley. “I felt you up for a second because you were begging me to!”
“Oh, so it’s my fault?”
“Jesus, Rachel, it’s no one’s fault,” said Bradley, hands raised, palms up between them. “It just happened.”
“So, what do we do about it now? Am I supposed to forget about it? Pretend it never happened?”
“How about not making a huge deal out of nothing?”
“It was nothing, then, to you? Is this what you’re telling me in the light of day, that it was nothing? Because it wasn’t nothing to you last night! I meant something to you last night, Bradley.” She started crying.
“Rachel,” said Bradley. “Hey, look, I’m sorry about this. I’m sorry if I did something to hurt you.”
She took a step toward him and put her hands on his arms. “I know you’re involved with Grace,” she said. “I just think, if given the chance, you and I could be something special. We’re both young, with our whole lives ahead of us.”
Bradley took a step back. “I don’t know what you want me to do, Rachel. My girlfriend is eight months pregnant, and you are hitting on me. What do you want? Do you want me to leave Grace and start a relationship with you? Is this what you’re asking me to do?”
Rachel looked at the sidewalk beneath her feet. “I’m asking you to think about what you want to do with your life,” she said. “I think this pregnancy wasn’t planned. I think Grace wants the baby because she is running out of time to have one. And I think that you have very reluctantly accepted her invitation to join her in parenthood.” Even though Bradley wasn’t a smoker, he wished, right then, that he had a cigarette. “You are a nice guy, Bradley. That’s why you said yes to Grace. It’s also why I’m attracted to you. You’re not like the other guys out there.” Bradley disagreed with Rachel’s hopeful, uneducated description of his personality but said nothing. “You have a month, maybe less, to back out of this relationship, this trap that you are ensnared in. This is what I am trying to make you see. You don’t need Grace and this baby. You need someone your own age, someone who can love you and grow with you and help you plan your very bright future.”
Here was another voice chiming in on Bradley’s imminent fatherhood status, another voice echoing what everyone else had said.
Rachel smiled at him, a peace offering, Bradley hoped. “I take no pleasure in your throbbing head, and I apologize if our discussion right now has made it worse. I can be pretty compulsive when I have something to say.”
Bradley nodded. “Let’s head in, okay?”
“Okay,” said Rachel, walking with Bradley toward the door.
When they reached it, he opened it for her. Relieved their conversation had come to an end, he decided to reward Rachel for allowing its conclusion. “Thanks for talking with me, Rachel.”
She looked back at him over her shoulder. “Anytime, Bradley. I’m happy to talk to you anytime.”
Bradley didn’t see the satisfied smile that spread across her face as she turned and walked inside.
CHAPTER 32
That night, Grace and Bradley ate leftovers for dinner. This was the third go-around on Grace’s butternut squash lasagna, which they had also eaten at work, heated in glass containers in the office kitchen microwave. Grace was a creative and innovative vegetarian cook, but Bradley missed meat. He had planned on scooting out at lunch for a burger when Grace had announced that she had packed him lasagna. And here they were, eating it again. The good news was there were only two squares left in the Pyrex dish. After dinner, Grace changed into her nightgown, bathrobe, and slippers, and then sat on the couch with a book while Bradley did the dishes. As soon as he was done, he joined her.
She turned to him and said, “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” he said. “There is nothing like the passage of time and a handful of Advil to cure a hangover.”
She reached over and touched his cheek. “Well, you look better,” she said. “Though there was no way to go but up.”
He kissed the fingers of her hand. “You look so cute in your jammies,” he said. “It must feel good to get out of your clothes and let your tummy just hang out.”
“It’s so big,” she said, moving her hand to her stomach. “Oh, Bradley, feel this—the baby’s kicking!” Bradley moved his hand to her stomach, as he did every time she asked him to. There seemed to be no end to her excitement about just about everything related to her pregnancy, her imminent motherhood. While Bradley didn’t understand her infatuation with her stomach, he did think the kicking was pretty cool.
“You’re almost there, Grace,” he said, removing his hand when the baby had stopped moving. “Are you ready?”
Grace nodded. “It’s hard to get any relief right now,” she said. “It’s hard to get comfortable.”
“Well, you look fantastic,” said Bradley, telling her what he knew she wanted to hear. “And it will all be behind you soon enough.”
“Tell me about last night. What did you and the boys do to get you in so much trouble?”
Bradley told her about the sports bar, about the public world of large TV screen viewing, about the burger and fries, about the multitude of beers, and about waking up on Kevin’s couch. He didn’t mention Rachel or her friends. “I have no idea when I decided to go apeshit,” he said. “It was not my intention to get plastered, especially with work today.”
“Maybe it’s because you’ve been so unplastered lately.”
“I have been well behaved.”
“Very,” said Grace. “And I hope you know how much I appreciate it, appreciate everything you are doing for me.”
Bradley hesitated a moment before saying, “And not doing for you.”
Grace gave him a quick smile. “I know that it’s hard for you to not have sex,” she said. “After the scare with the accident, I’ve lost interest in anything that could potentially hurt the baby.”
Bradley looked at his hands in his lap. “The doctor didn’t tell you not to have sex, did she?” He hated himself for asking her this question. Because he had been at the appointment, he knew the answer, knew that Grace was advised to be very careful, but also knew that she could have sex if she felt like it. But she hadn’t felt like it. She was afraid she would lose the baby.
“As you know, Bradley, this is more about what I’m comfortable with than it is about what the doctor said. This is why we’ve been limited—why I’ve limited us—to other methods of expressing our passion. You haven’t exactly been on a starvation diet.”
“I know,” said Bradley, feeling like a schmuck for bringing it up, for, lately, being perpetually horny. “And you’ve been really good about that, Grace. I just miss being inside you.”
“And I miss it, too,” she said. “As soon as the baby is out, you can get back in.” She leaned over the kissed him on the lips and then picked up her book and continued reading.
Bradley turned to his phone for entertainment. Halfway through an article in Men’s Health about nine extremely hot sex positions, Bradley announced he was going to take a shower. He shut the door to their bedroom and started to undress, to release the erection that was trapped by his boxer shorts. His phone buzzed in the pocket of the pants that were puddled around his ankles. He reached into the back pocket and looked at what appeared to be a picture of Rachel in a low-cut, tight-fitting tank top. Bradley hurriedly typed in his passcode, swearing when he made a mistake and had to do it again. He could see a larger version of the picture now, along with the caption that read: Hi baby—do you want to see more?
Bradley looked at his penis and typed: yes
The next photo showed Rachel in a push-up bra. The shirt was gone. More, Bradley?
Bradley’s right hand was now working his erection, so he used his left thumb to type: yes
He leaned back, stroking, stroking, holding his phone and waiting. A moment later, Rachel’s glorious breasts that he had all too briefly fondled the night before lit up the screen, and Bradley came all over his abdomen. “Jesus,” he said, breathing hard.
CHAPTER 33
From her cubicle, Rachel could see both Bradley’s work station and Grace’s office. She had to stand to see them, which she did several times a day to stretch her legs and arms. Rachel was also able to check Grace’s and Bradley’s schedules on Outlook, so she knew when Grace might be away from her desk or busy in a meeting. What this meant was that Rachel could time her seemingly happenstance drop-ins at Bradley’s desk with Grace’s absence. When Grace and the other VPs were in an executive meeting with Paul and Dana the next day, Rachel meandered over to Bradley’s desk. “Hi, Bradley,” she said. He had the same name as her favorite movie star.
“Good morning, Rachel,” he said, eyes still on his screen.
She leaned her head in closer to his. “I never heard back from you last night,” she whispered. “But I have a feeling my final photo got through to you. It did, right?”
Rachel could hear Bradley’s swallow before he replied, “Yes.”
“Great,” she said. “I didn’t want that one to go to the wrong number!” Bradley didn’t look at her and didn’t say anything. “Let’s have coffee later.”
“I’m not sure I have the time today.”
“Sure you do,” said Rachel. “Or, I could send our conversation to Grace, and we can all have coffee together?”
Bradley turned his head and looked at Rachel, his face cool, his eyes holding no light. “Three thirty?” he said.
“That’s perfect,” said Rachel. “I’ll meet you at the place down the street that you took me on my first day.”
* * *
Five minutes after she left, Bradley walked out the back door and called Kevin. As soon as Kevin picked up, Bradley said, “I’m in trouble.”
“Work trouble or woman trouble?”
“Definitely woman. I did something really stupid last night.”
“Give me a minute,” said Kevi
n. “I have a feeling I need to take this one outside.”
As soon as Kevin called back, Bradley told him the story and that he promised to meet Rachel for coffee that afternoon.
Kevin laughed at him. “Oh my God!”
“This is not funny.”
“Oh yes, it is,” said Kevin. “I think it’s crazy funny that you can’t get your shit together.”
“It’s that bad?”
“Yes, it’s that bad. Your make-out session outside the bar the other night was understandable. But this, Bradley? You were in the home you share with Grace. She was in the other room, while you were jerking off to pictures Rachel was sending you. Seriously? What were you thinking?”
“Well, shit, Kev, obviously I wasn’t thinking. Are you going to help me out of this or lecture me on my stupidity?”
“Some lecturing appears warranted.”
“You think I haven’t been doing that to myself already?”
“I don’t know,” said Kevin. “Have you? You just asked me how bad it was to jerk off to a photo of Rachel’s breasts.”
“I’m convinced,” said Bradley. “I’m convinced it was a very bad move. Now what the hell do I do?”
“We’ve had this discussion,” said Kevin. “Knowing I’ll be repeating what I’ve already said to you, I’ll say it again. You have to figure out what you want. Do you want to be with Grace, or do you want to be with Rachel? If you want to be with Grace, then leave Rachel alone, once and for all. And if you want to be with Rachel, then you need to tell Grace that you changed your mind about raising the baby with her and move the hell out of her house.”
Bradley ran his fingers through his hair. “You’re being pretty harsh, Kev.”
“What did you call me for, to tell you that what you did was cool?”
“No, no,” said Bradley. “No, I didn’t call you for that. It just happened, man. She caught me at a bad time, and it just happened.”
“I have to go,” said Kevin. “Decide what you want and execute.”
* * *
Bradley and Grace finished discussing their next steps for the Maritime Museum account at 3:20 that afternoon. “What do you have going on for the rest of the day?” Grace asked, standing and stretching her arms out in front of her.