We spend the next few weeks deciding where we want to live, working, and adjusting to married life. I never would have thought there would be so much adjustment for someone I’ve already lived with practically all my life. The inconvenience is mostly for the woman—we have to change our names on all our IDs. I have to change my driver’s license, social security card, and even my bank account. It’s bullshit, but we’re making it work, and I look forward to our future.
8
Rigby
We put my house up for sale and I move in with Zach until we figure out where we want to live. It does make sense, since no woman other than me has lived in his house, and Mark lived in my house for a while.
I pack Mark’s things and send them to his mother's house, since I don't know where he's living. I don’t receive even a thank you note from his mother, or any communication from him. We were together for two years—you would think that he would send me a note or something. Whatever.
I walk into work, and of course there's a meeting first thing this morning. My boss is pacing back and forth nervously, waiting for everyone to arrive. He rolls his eyes at the last person who walks in, even though they are still a full five minutes early.
It takes another five minutes for everyone to get settled and seated, and he starts right in. "I have a possible new client who wants to put her designs in our stores. I would normally visit her myself, but she hates me, and she specifically asked for someone who's married. Although, I don’t know why? It’s probably to keep me away. Who here is married?"
I raise my hand, along with a couple of other people. He scans the table and his eyes land on me. "I thought you were left at the altar."
"I got married the Monday after to someone else."
"Really? Who?"
"Zach Hyde." How obtuse can he be? I have definitely been wearing my new ring every day for the past couple of months.
"Really? You've been married for how long?" he asks.
"About two and a half months." I hold up my hand with my ring on it, wiggling my fingers.
"Oh. You can go and see her next weekend, then. There will be a few couples there who you will be competing against for this account. You need to dazzle her. Don't fuck this up."
I nod. He hands me the paperwork before dismissing the meeting.
He walks out the door, and the rest of the people in the meeting congratulate me before heading back to their desks, or wherever they’re going. I send Zach a quick text when I get back to my desk, and get down to work. The event is on a weekend, which is both good and sucks. I won't miss out on any work, but I'll be working on a weekend. I'll take a couple of days off later to make up for it.
Zach texts me back letting me know that he's available and will be happy to go. I make our flight and hotel reservations, and I get a little excited because we'll be in New York in July! I can't wait to see Times Square!
Anita, a co-worker I'm friendly with, steps in front of my desk. "It's been busy, hasn't it?"
I nod. "Job security."
She smiles. "We really haven't had a girls’ night out in a while. How about we do one the week after next?"
"I'm so there. I need one. What do you want to do?"
"Since you're a married woman—nice ring by the way," she grabs my hand and inspects it, "I was thinking dinner and a movie, and a couple of drinks at the bar around the corner. Does that work for you?"
"Yep. That sounds so good. I love my husband, but I do need some girl time. I look forward to next week."
We talk for a little longer before she goes back to her desk. I finish my paperwork for the morning and have a small lunch in the lunchroom with some of the other people in my office before going out into the field.
By the end of the day, I'm worn out. I go home and change into some sweats. Heather has the table set for us and dinner in the oven, so I sit and read while waiting for Zach to come home. I must fall asleep, because I wake up to him kissing me on the forehead. He's changed into a pair of jeans and a black button-down shirt.
"Hi, sweetie," he says against my forehead.
"Hi. How long have you been here?" I sit up and stretch.
"Just long enough to change clothes. I was tired of the suit, so I changed as soon as I came in. You looked so peaceful, I didn't want to wake you. Ready to eat?"
I nod. He grabs my hand and pulls me into the kitchen, pulling our meal out of the oven and setting it on the table. We serve ourselves, and I enjoy the taste of the meatloaf. We talk about our days and the reason we’re going out of town next weekend. He tells me about a new project that he’s been assigned. He's getting a team under him, and since the company is starting a new internship program, he's getting one of them too.
I congratulate him, and we finish eating. We spend the rest of the evening in bed making each other very happy.
The week goes by very quickly, and before we know it, we’re on a plane to New York. I give him the itinerary, and we make plans to tour the city after my meetings. We check into the luxury hotel and enjoy the amenities before the meeting tomorrow.
We walk into the main offices of Valerie Designs and approach the front desk. There is a receptionist working this morning.
"Hi, how may I help you?" She looks Zach up and down.
"Rigby Hyde to see Valerie Summers," I respond.
Zach steps closer to me and puts his arm around my waist, fingers spread out over my stomach, showcasing his ring. He pulls me back against him.
The receptionist glances at his hand and blushes when she notices his ring. "I'll call her down right now. She's expecting you." She picks up the phone and makes the call, then waves us over to a waiting area.
A couple of minutes later, a blonde, well-dressed vision sweeps off the elevator and over to us.
She sticks out her hand. "I'm Valerie, and you must be Rigby. It's so nice to meet you."
I take her hand. "It's wonderful to meet you. This is my husband, Zach."
He reaches around me and shakes her hand. "Nice to meet you."
She nods and leads us back to the elevator and to her office. I look around and notice that there are no other couples here with us, or anyone else at all for that matter. She gestures for us to sit on the couch, and she sits in a chair beside us.
"Where are all the other couples?" I ask.
She laughs, handing me a stack of papers. "There's no one else. I'm signing with you all. It’s the best move for me. I just don't like your boss. He's an idiot, so I decided to ask for someone who's married so he couldn’t come. I figured that you and your husband could have a nice weekend on your company. You are here on business, after all."
I smile and look down at the papers in my hands. "These are all the contracts, signed and ready to go. Congratulations, you got the account. Also, here's a couple of tickets to Hamilton. Enjoy your weekend."
She stands up, and we follow suit, too stunned to say anything. Before we know it, we’re standing on the sidewalk outside the building, wondering what just happened.
“That was easy. Do you want to call your boss?” Zach asks.
I shake my head. “He’ll try to get me to come back early, and he’ll also get mad at me because he covets his weekends. I don’t know what he does, but it would take a lot for him to work one.” We walk in the direction of the hotel. “Let’s go change clothes and do some sightseeing. It’ll be a little weekend getaway for the newly married couple.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go!” He grabs my hand, and I hold on tight as my heels click quickly down the street. When we reach the hotel, I’m ready to put on a pair of flats. He practically ran me six blocks.
We change into comfortable clothes and head back out into the city. We visit all Zach's favorite places, and end the day at Times Square in front of the camera board, trying to find ourselves in the large crowd.
"I think I see us over there!" I point up into the top right corner of the large screen.
I feel Zach's chin move on top of my head as he looks in
the direction I’m pointing. "I think you're right. Don't we look like an awesome couple?" He waves his hand, and I bounce a little because I see him in the corner where I pointed.
"It is us!" I turn around, putting my arms around his shoulders, pulling him down to me. He leans down and places his lips on mine in a searing, much too short kiss. He takes my hand, and we tour Times Square for a little longer before retiring to the hotel for the night.
We sleep in on Sunday and have a late brunch before finding the Staten Island Ferry to ride across and see the Statue of Liberty. We've visited it a couple of times, but this view of it is my favorite, along with the chugging of the boat and the hot chocolate. Sitting snuggled up to the love of my life makes the experience more significant.
The plane ride home is relaxing, but I’m still not looking forward to work tomorrow. We walk through the front door, and I immediately draw a hot bath and get in to soak. Zach follows me, and we enjoy a very energetic, relaxing bath together.
***Zach
I walk into work and my boss calls me into his office right away. A young woman is sitting in front of his desk.
"Zach, this is Catherine, your new intern. She'll be working with your team and learning the ropes. I'm going to have her follow you today so you can show her what you do. You'll be handing out assignments to the team today, right?"
I nod. "Yes. Our meeting is in an hour. Are you coming?"
"I am. I look forward to seeing how you handle this project." He stands and puts out his hand.
I put my hand in his, shaking it, and turn to Catherine. "It's nice to meet you. Come with me and I'll get you started."
"Thank you so much. Don has told me so much about you that I can't wait to get started!"
I open the door and let her walk outside first. I tell Don that I'll see him in an hour, and lead her to my office. She puts her things down, and I give her a short tour of the office, introducing her to a few people. I find her a chair and make a small space on my desk for her to use until I find a workspace for her.
I then give her an overview of the project and where she fits into it. She takes notes and helps me get the papers together for the meeting before we make our way to the meeting room.
I greet everyone and introduce them to Catherine before we get down to work. We get organized and start throwing ideas around on getting started and what we want to accomplish with this project. Before I know it, lunchtime has arrived. We decide that since we're on a roll, we'll just order in. We decide where we want to eat and call in the order. I send Catherine to pick it up with the company card.
After we eat lunch, Don pulls me off to the side, telling me that we’re off to a good start, and he's going to another meeting but he'll talk to me later. I thank him and shake his hand. We spend the rest of the day finding vendors and setting up our timeline.
By the time we leave for the day, I realize it's almost seven p.m. and I've forgotten to call my wife. I stop what I'm doing and pick up my phone. I click on her name, but the call goes to voicemail. I hope she's not mad at me. I'll just go home and talk to her.
"Are you okay, Zach?" I look up, and Catherine is standing in the doorway.
"I'm fine. I forgot to call my wife and now I can't get hold of her." I put my phone in my pocket and start gathering my things. "What are you doing back here?"
"I forgot my purse. I thought I had it, since I was carrying things." She walks over to the couch and picks up her purse. She walks back to the door. "Do you want to have a drink before you go home? If your wife's mad..." She shrugs.
"No. She's not mad. She may still be at work. I'll meet her at home." I pick up my briefcase and walk toward the door. I try to walk out of it, but she's blocking the way. "Excuse me."
"Oh! I'm sorry." She moves out of the way, and I close the door, locking it behind me.
"Have a good night." I walk away.
She catches up with me. "I'm walking to my car as well, so I’ll just walk with you. Thanks for today. I feel like I've really learned a lot. I really look forward to working on the project with you."
"I'm glad you're learning. You did a really good job today. I think we have a good team and we'll do great on this project." We round the corner to the parking garage. "My car is over here." I point in the direction I'm going.
"Mine is over there. Thanks again, and have a good evening." She heads in the opposite direction.
"Good night." I walk around the parking garage to my car, and Rigby is standing in front of it. I walk over and fold her in my arms. "I'm happy to see you, but what are you doing here?"
"When I got home and you weren't there and then you didn't answer your phone, I figured that you were working late on the project already, so I had Robert give me a ride down here. I thought we could have a late dinner. What do you say?"
"I say definitely." I open the car door for her and put my briefcase in the car before walking around and getting in the driver’s seat.
"You look tired. Are you sure you want to go out to eat? I can make us a quick dinner." Her hand brushes my hair, tucking it behind my ear.
"I want to have dinner with you. I missed you today."
"I missed you too." She grabs my hand with hers, lacing our fingers together.
We arrive at the restaurant and are seated immediately. We spend dinner talking about our days, and I don't know how she does it, but she relaxes me quicker than anyone or anything I can think of. After dinner, we head home and watch a little television before going to bed.
9
Rigby
The week goes by quickly, and the next thing I know, it’s Friday. I know that Zach has planned a guys’ night since he knows about my girls’ night.
Anita, Lindsey and I walk into the restaurant, looking forward to this evening. We're seated and our drinks are ordered and the waiter walks away.
"I'm glad we have a guy instead of a girl waiting on us. I need something nice to look at while I eat." Lindsey looks after our waiter with a smile on her face.
"Don't you have a husband at home?" I ask.
"I do. But it's always nice to look at some fresh candy.” She sighs.
"I'm with you there," Anita says. They exchange a high-five.
I shake my head.
"With the eye-candy you have at home, I can understand why you don't look at any men. Yours is yummy! But I need you to explain to me how you were left at the altar on Saturday by one guy and married to your best friend by Monday night. Explain, please," Anita asks, and they both lean toward me, expecting an answer. The waiter arrives, saving me a few precious minutes to get my answer together while we're ordering dinner.
He walks away to put in our order, and they give me their full attention once again. "We're waiting."
“You were at the wedding, so you know that part already.” I explain the time from after the reception until now. It doesn't sound as bad as I thought it would, putting it into words. I'm glad they made me explain. It put things into perspective for me.
"So all you felt was relief?" Anita questions.
I nod. "I felt ashamed for feeling that for a short time, but I got to thinking that if I felt relieved, then he did us both a favor. I haven't spoken to him since the day before the wedding. He didn't answer any of my calls, and when I sent his things to his mother's house, he didn’t respond to that either."
"What I'm hearing is that even though you're happy that he walked out on you, you still need closure?" Lindsey says.
I consider what she’s just said, and it's true. "I do need closure. Thanks. Hopefully I'll get it one day."
"I still think you got the better man," Anita says. "I mean, Mark was handsome, but Zach…" She licks her lips. "Zach is hot. He makes Mark look like an amateur."
"I know I got the better man. This is between us three only, right?"
"Right," Lindsey says.
"Definitely." Anita adds, "You’re one of my two closest friends."
Our server brings over our food, and we spend the r
est of dinner making small talk.
We picked a sappy love story for our movie tonight, and it does not disappoint. I love it, and I’m glad that I brought enough tissues for everyone, because both of them definitely forgot theirs.
We walk into the bar after the movie, and it's crowded. I volunteer to get our first round while Anita and Lindsey find us a table. I approach the bar and wave down the bartender, giving him our order. I see a group of women to the left of me, out of the corner of my eye. A blonde is talking, and I can't help hearing what she's saying.
"My new boss is hot! He's married, but he's going to be mine."
"Aren't you scared that you'll lose your job trying to snag a man?" one of the other women asks.
"Not at all. I'm going to slide in under the radar. He won't know what’s happened to him. Not only is he the boss, he's rich in his own right. I Googled him, and his parents are loaded. He will definitely be mine," she brags.
"I hope you're right," one of the other girls says.
"I am. Just you wait and see."
The bartender hands me our drinks, and I pay for them. I carry them back to the table and set them in front of the girls before taking a sip of mine. I tell them about what I heard at the bar. "Should I say something to Zach? I know that he has a new intern, but I don't know if it's a girl or a guy." I run my hand through my hair.
Lindsey puts her drink down. "Warn him just in case. He may not be paying attention to the intern, and it may be a female. If it's her, he needs to be warned to keep an eye out. If not, no harm, no foul."
Anita nods in agreement.
"Okay. I'll tell him."
We spend the rest of the evening dancing and drinking, and all of us end up taking a cab home.
I walk inside and kick off my shoes, and the stench of cigars assaults my senses. I walk around the corner to see Zach and three guys he works with playing poker. He looks up and sees me.
Married. Wait! What? Page 44
