by Jordan Bates
“What?” I sounded more confused than I intended to, but I didn’t understand what he was trying to say.
“We were about to head to lunch when I told him you had started and he wanted to meet you. I haven’t seen him smile that much in the last few days, so hopefully his good mood stays.”
Instead of responding to Greg, I dove into the book. I tried not to think about what he said about Max being happy to see me. I didn’t even fully know him yet. By the time food was delivered to the office, I had finished the book once and was gearing to start it a second time, and maybe a third. It was one of those books that you could devour over and over again and never get tired of it.
By eight that night, everyone had left, even the janitors who came in at six. Papers were spread all across the floor, and Greg had ordered us pizza for dinner. I had already finished the book multiple times. My notes were next to me, Greg’s spreadsheets were printed out, and an argument had been going on for the past hour.
“If you think it should be that low, then you need to actually read the book like I did.” I had made a decently sized offer to Greg for the pitch, but he thought it was too much. All he had read were the first and last chapters of the book.
“We may be a high-end publishing company, but they shouldn’t expect so much from us, especially since we aren’t even sure who this actually is. This could be a complete flop.” He started to get some of the papers gathered back together. “Maybe I just need time to think about this and talk it over with Max and create a last-minute chart for him in the morning.”
“Fine, but I’m just letting you know that if this is some big-shot author, they aren’t going to settle for less than double your $50,000 quote. I’m telling you, at least $100,000 would be best to pitch.” I finished helping Greg reorganize everything back onto his desk. I went to grab my things, but before I left for the night, I wanted to thank Greg for letting me help him on this project. I realized in our haste of arguing, I hadn’t been grateful enough for the opportunity. As I reached his office, someone else had already made themselves comfortable.
“Alexa.” Max sat up straight in the chair I had just been in. He sounded surprised to see me. I remembered the bookmark in my bag and felt it burning a hole in there. “What are you doing here?”
“She was just helping me with the numbers for the pitch tomorrow, but we had a little disagreement, which is why I wanted to talk to you about it.” I couldn’t help but stand in the doorframe as both men watched me. “If you’re ready to leave, Alexa, go ahead. I think we can handle it from here.”
“Thank you, Greg, for the opportunity. Have a good night, you two.” I turned to leave. I heard footsteps behind me, as I stood waiting for the elevator. I turned to see Max stop in front of my desk. There was a smirk on his face. I knew he could see that the bookmark wasn’t there anymore. He didn’t know where it was. Actually, no one did. But I knew that he was thinking I had it with me. And he was right.
I tried to get home quick, not liking that I was leaving work alone and at night. I may have been in Atlanta for a week, but I still wasn’t as comfortable being on my own as I would’ve liked to be. I looked behind me, almost hoping that Max would follow me again, but frowned as I saw no one around when I crossed the street to Lilly’s apartment.
“How did tonight go?” Lilly questioned me when I entered the dark apartment. She paused her action movie, moving all of her attention to me.
“It was really good. I got to see a different side to the business.” I moved to the couch next to her, then plopped my feet onto her lap as I lay down. “I mean, Greg and I didn’t agree on anything, but I liked to see his side of things.”
“Did you get to see Max today?”
I raised my eyebrows at Lilly. Her question threw me off. “Actually, I did. Why do you ask?”
“Greg and Max are best friends, so he comes down usually when Greg stays late.” A blush crept across her face. We hadn’t talked more about Lilly’s crush on Greg, so I pretended not to notice.
“Yeah, he was shocked to see me, and then I left, that was it. But Greg mentioned that he had been having a rough last few weeks, and apparently I had made Max smile again finally.” I laughed off my statement because as ridiculous as it sounded when Greg told me, it was worse to hear it coming from my mouth. It wasn’t like it was something I was proud of, or even wanted, but I didn’t know what else to say.
“Now that you mention it, he has been a little on edge, but I thought that was just because he hadn’t gotten laid.” If I would have had a drink in my hand, I probably would have spit everywhere. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him show interest in someone like he has you.”
I didn’t respond to Lilly’s comment. She unpaused the movie when awkward silence started to fill the room. I tried not to think about Max and what Lilly had said. I checked my phone multiple times, wanting more than anything for Adam to call or text me. I hadn’t talked to him since last night, and having been crazy with work today, I hadn’t gotten to text him. I knew he would be at work, so I didn’t want to disturb him. I laid my phone across my chest in case it vibrated; this was becoming a bad habit, One I didn’t know if I was going to be bale to break.
Lilly and I watched movies till we fell asleep, both of us slumped awkwardly on the couch. The next thing I knew, I was rolling over onto the floor in front of the couch. I shot up to see Lilly in the kitchen with a coffee cup.
“We have about ten minutes before work. You still have time to change.” My head was throbbing. I turned to the coffee table to see a cup of tea there for me.
“Thanks.” By the way my headache was already forming, I knew today was going to be a long day.
“No problem. Now go get ready.” Lilly shooed me away, and I hurried to the bedroom, tea in hand. The best vice a girl could have.
I threw on a simple pair of black slacks with a black dress shirt. It may have been June, but as a girl from California, I could stand to wear black in 100-degree weather. I also didn’t feel like trying to be fancy today. Jeans and a shirt were my go-to, and this was the closest I could do. I was so used to Adam picking out my clothes for me in the morning, that it was sometimes odd to have to take out the extra few minutes to put together an outfit.
Lilly and I headed out together and met Erica in the lobby of The Ink Well. We made our way up to the office, and when I got to my desk, I had yet another gift waiting for me, but this time I wasn’t sure who it was from. I was staring at a rough hardbound copy of the book I had helped Greg with last night. I was surprised to see it bound so fast.
“You were right about the offer. Thank you.” I stared at Lilly as she read the note that was attached. “I guess you made a good impression on Greg.”
“Good job, rookie.” Erica gave me an approving hip nudge before heading to her desk. Today wasn’t going as bad as I had thought, and it seemed to go by fast. So did the rest of the week. Greg had to give me a new client list almost every day, and I had gotten to know Erica a lot more with our daily lunch visits to Baker’s. She wasn’t as shy as I thought, but she most certainly didn’t talk as much as Lilly and me.
When Lilly, Erica, and I came back to Lilly’s apartment Friday night, I couldn’t help but want to go out and clear my head. This week wasn’t as stressful as I had thought it was going to be, but a lot had happened that I just wasn’t prepared for. I hadn’t spoken to Adam in days, and my nerves were starting to get the best of me. I tried calling and texting, but all I ever got back were emails or late-night texts.
“I’m thinking going to a club would be fun.” Erica dove onto the couch, taking up the whole space. She had lived in Atlanta longer than Lilly had, and she seemed to know the greatest spots.
“Maybe we could do that tomorrow night. I was thinking dinner and drinks. Something simple after a long week.” My suggestion seemed to resonate with the girls, so we decided on a restaurant four blocks away. Erica said that it was a huge tourist hot spot and she knew one of the seaters the
re who would be able to get us on the seating list for the night.
By nine o’clock we were seated on the terrace of a five-star restaurant in our best dresses. Lilly had on a ruby-red dress with a slit along the side that stopped mid-thigh. Erica had on a simple blue dress with a large ruffle skirt. She looked so dainty outside of work, I wouldn’t have recognized her if I hadn’t myself seen her change. I was in a short black dress that was strapless and came down to about mid-thigh. The best part of the outfit, though, was the bright red pumps that matched my red clutch. Lilly had done a few whistles at me when I had come out of my room earlier, but I ignored her. It was my first night out in a long time and I wanted to feel pretty, just this once.
I sent Adam a picture text of me once I was ready, but I hadn’t heard anything back from him. We ordered calamari appetizers as our entrée and paired that with blue raspberry martinis. I finished my first drink in ten minutes, with hope that Adam would text me back.
“Am I going to need to take that phone away?” Lilly’s question popped me out of the sadness I knew was about to overcome me. I put it back in-between my thighs instead of answering her. Alcohol slid down my throat while both Erica and Lilly stared me down. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say to her. Everything was okay, but with not having heard from Adam, all I felt was thinking sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Right before I moved out here, there had been some tension between us, but we had always tried to figure it out., We had never gone so long without talking to each other, and I didn’t know what to do.
“I feel like you’re lying.” Erica’s soft voice filled the loud patio. I look over to her and smiled. She was intuitive and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get off this subject for long.
“Maybe I just don’t want to ruin the night and how amazing this week has been.” I raised my drink to the girls, hoping that they would take the bait. They did, and our glasses clinked together, the sound merging with our laughter. We were there for an hour, three drinks apiece, when the waiter came back to us with three glasses of pink martinis.
“Courtesy of the gentleman over there.” We all turned around to the table the waiter was pointing out to see a group of businessmen sitting there enjoying some food and wine. It wasn’t until I caught Max’s eyes that I realized the drinks were from him. He winked at me and I blushed, not able to control it.
“We don’t want them.” I finally looked away and made sure to put all of the drinks back onto the waiter’s serving tray before I shooed him away. It was one thing to come on to someone at work, but outside was something else. You couldn’t misconstrue flirting outside the office, because that was exactly what this was, flirting.
“What did you do that for? It was free alcohol!” Lilly complained. Disappointment shone on both her and Erica’s face.
“It was from Max.” The women straightened themselves up and searched the table that the waiter had previously pointed to. They found him immediately, concern forming across both of their faces.
“Now that’s a first.” Erica’s statement bothered me, not because it sounded odd, but because I thought that she was lying. Lilly had basically said the same thing earlier this week, and I was trying to understand why Max had such a fascination with me. I wasn’t having it though. I needed to make sure he knew that I wasn’t interested in him in that way.
“Then it will also be the last.” I pulled out cash to pay for our food and drinks. Erica and Lilly protested, but I promised they could pay next time. “Let’s go.”
We made our way out of the restaurant but were stopped outside by a man in a black suit.
“Thank you, Rick.” Max’s voice filled the night air. “I’ll take it from here.”
I turned around to see him standing in front of us in a three-piece suit. It was dressier than anything I had ever seen him in at the office, but it suited him well. He moved his attention from Rick to me. The girls stood behind me, waiting, as I was, to see what Max wanted.
“Nice to see you, ladies. I was wondering if I could steal Alexa from you for the night. I promise to return her safely back home later.”
Both women stepped in front of me, blocking my line of vision to Max. Lilly chimed in to my rescue. “We were just heading home, so I think the answer will be a no, Max.”
“If Alexa doesn’t want to come with me, I want to hear it come from her mouth, not yours.” The words reverberated from him, sending a shiver through me. He didn’t say another word but waited for my response. I could feel the agitation emanating from Max, but he wasn’t the only one. I took a deep breath and pushed Lilly to the side so that I could make eye contact with him.
He stood there confidently, with his hands in his pockets, just like he had on the first day I had met him. He didn’t just own the room, he seemed to own the world as the people passing by looked him up and down. This man could have any woman he wanted, so then why was he so focused on me? I was the new girl at work. I shouldn’t matter this much to him.
“Max, I have no interest in seeing you outside of work.” The words didn’t seem to faze him. He took a step towards me. His hand reached out to grab mine and I stepped back quickly. If Max was oblivious to why I couldn’t see him, then it was finally time to shine the light. Going after a married woman wasn’t good form.
“Alexa—”
“I’m married.” My words stopped him as he tried to take another step closer. His eyes widened in panic and he took a step backward. Lilly and Erica moved back to their positions, blocking me from Max’s view.
“I didn’t know. I’m sorry, Alexa.” The apology seemed sincere as he went to the town car down the road from us. He didn’t say another word. This situation was over just as quickly as it had started. I stared at his back and Rick opened the door for him. He took one more look back at me, catching my eye before dipping inside.
Erica hailed a cab for us to head back home. Lilly stood with me, both of us staring into the distance as Max’s car drove away from us. No one said a word when we entered our cab. We parted ways once back at Lilly’s apartment, with an understanding that tonight had never happened.
Chapter 3
I looked up the mountain, terrified about what this day was about to bring. For some crazy reason, Lilly thought it would be a good idea to go out and exercise in the middle of the summer at Stone Mountain.
“We’re taking the cable car up, so don’t worry.” I could hear the laughter in Erica’s voice as she reassured me. She and Lilly had been coming here every weekend to do their workouts, rather than going to the gym. Something about the fresh air and how it was good for you. Crazy people.
I did have to say, this was a sight to see, me in gym clothes. Adam would be proud. I had tried to give him a call this morning but ended up texting him that I wouldn’t have service for a while. I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes. Maybe they weren’t all that crazy about this fresh air thing, and luckily it didn’t take long for the cable car to transport us to the top of the mountain. At almost 1,000 feet from the bottom, I was glad I had my notebook in my pack. This was the perfect environment to get some words written down.
“You look calm today.” Erica’s words made me smile. She always seemed to know exactly what to say, and after last night, I was happy she didn’t try to pry more about Adam.
“I feel calm today.” We made our way out onto the mountain and I found myself closing my eyes again and just breathing. I tried to center myself as I thought about this mountain and the last time I was here.
“Did you even talk to him today?” Lilly’s words put a sour taste in my mouth, but I knew what she was talking about, and I didn’t want to start it.
“It’s fine.” My words had no conviction, they were empty. Erica gave me a sympathetic look. No matter how much I pretended, they knew. Adam and I hadn’t been talking as much, which was why they recommended that I come with them today.
“Do you need me to call him?” Lilly didn’t break
eye contact with me and her question fueled an anger inside of me, that I hadn’t known was there.
“No!” I yelled, my hands fisted around the straps of my bag. A few people looked over at us. I moved closer to the girls, lowering my voice. “Don’t.”
I was stern with my words, not because I was scared Lilly would say something wrong, but I just didn’t know how Adam would react. Every time I talked to him, it felt like things were changing, and all I wanted to do was get back to normal. I backed away from the girls, leaving them alone as I found a spot off to the side.
Both girls made themselves comfortable, Erica getting out her camera and Lilly stretching. We were all just a little different, but I think that’s what made us work together. I got lost in myself as I wrote. I needed a distraction, and this was the most welcome one. Time was no longer a concern. I was living in a world of infinite possibilities in my mind. I didn’t even hear the footsteps coming from behind, or see the shadow cast over me.
“Your handwriting is immaculate.” Max startled me as he knelt down next to me. I shifted myself away from him, without trying to seem rude. I still wasn’t over the fact that he had been so forthright with his intentions of taking me out the other night. I made sure there was enough space between us for him to get the message.
“Look.” I tried to start writing again, but Max continued to speak. “I’m sorry for the way I acted. I didn’t mean to come on so strong. There’s just something about you. Something that drew me to you.”
I ignored him and kept writing. He didn’t move. We sat in silence while everyone else moved around us. I came to the end of the chapter I was plotting out and put my pen down. Max wasn’t going anywhere, so why not get everything worked out?
“Thank you for the apology.” I said it to my paper, not wanting to look at Max. I didn’t think I could handle another smug smile from him.
