by Linda Wright
“Hey girl! How was your meeting with Jeremy?”
“How did you know it was over?”
“I figure you didn’t have much to talk about.”
“He’s not much of a talker.”
“Nope. Never has been. He’s a man of few words. But girl, isn’t he beautiful?”
“Why didn’t you prepare me?”
“There is no preparing for him.”
“What’s his deal?”
“RJ said he’s always been like that. Apparently he’s been through a lot in his life. RJ said he doesn’t really know a lot about him himself.”
“Well I guess I’ll find out more soon”
“You hired him?”
“Yeah. He’s qualified and he doesn’t charge a ridiculous amount. He’s actually giving me a deal.”
“That’s good. Well if you need me to come by I will. You know, for support.”
“Whatever girl, you are married.”
“Married, but not blind.”
“Bye Deanna”
“Bye girl”
Following this conversation, Paige called Leo and asked him to come over. He said that it was short notice, but he would be there later. Leo showed up, an hour later than he was supposed to. Thankfully, Paige had gone ahead and eaten. After greeting him and sitting on the couch pretending to watch TV for a while, Paige began to kiss him, at first softly and then passionately. Before long they were in her bedroom tearing at each other’s clothes. As they fell over on her bed, Paige realized that she was thinking about Jeremy. Imagining it was his strong hands caressing her body. His lips that she was kissing. She had not called Leo over out of longing for him. She had done so out of longing for Jeremy.
She felt a sense of guilt and yet she told herself that they were only thoughts. She would never cheat on Leo, no matter how incredibly gorgeous and sexy Jeremy was. It was just her imagination. She was particularly energetic that night and made love to Leo like she couldn’t remember making love to him before. She kept hearing Jeremy’s voice in her head. Leo did not seem to notice. Afterwards he rolled over into blissful sleep and Paige lie there awake wondering what it would be like to see Jeremy again. She told herself that she would be fine.
The next day, Jeremy showed up exactly when he was supposed to. This time he was in a suit, though he remained tieless. The women in the office almost swooned when he walked in. Paige had to bat them away. One of her gossip bloggers, Chris, was also popping up with questions, giving Jeremy the eye, so she had to tell her assistant to keep everyone away from the conference room.
Once again Jeremy was direct. They went over the terms of their contract and he sat there and typed it up as they spoke. Afterwards he printed it on the laser printer and actually signed it on the spot. Paige looked at the signature and it indeed said Jeremy. Once Paige had added her own signature, they got to business. She began to detail what she would like to see and Jeremy made a rough drawing on paper. After they got down the basic aesthetic, he began doing the actual programing on his laptop.
They had been working nonstop for nearly an hour and a half when Paige received a call that Leo was there to see her. Paige immediately felt guilty, like she was caught. She reminded herself that she had done nothing wrong and left Jeremy in the conference room to go see Leo. She was surprised because Leo rarely came to her office, even less without telling her. She noticed that when she walked up he looked beside her as if he expected her not to be alone. After giving him a hug and kiss on the cheek she asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you. I missed you.”
“Oh that’s sweet.”
“I thought you were supposed to be working with the web designer today.”
“I am.”
“Oh, he’s still here? Oh, well intJohnuce me. I was thinking maybe I could do some business with him as well.”
Paige was suspicious about his motives, but guided him back to the conference room all the same. They walked in, but Jeremy’s back was to the door, so they had to walk around to face him. As soon as they did, Jeremy looked up. Paige looked at Leo and could immediately detect hostility in him. She couldn’t really blame him. If she walked into Leo’ job and saw a woman this beautiful working with him, she would probably be upset too. Jeremy just sat there, not saying a word. Paige broke in, “Um, Jeremy, this is my boyfriend Leo. He’s an executive at Champion. You know the record and management company. Leo, this is Jeremy.”
Jeremy got up from his seat and put his hand out to shake Leo’. He said nothing. Leo sized him up with tight lips. Although Paige was never really able to read Jeremy’s expressions and it hadn’t truly changed, she still felt somehow that he did not like Leo. After taking another moment to look Jeremy over, Leo said, “So, Paige tells me that you are a freelance web designer.” Jeremy simply nodded. Leo went on, “Well, I was thinking perhaps you could do some work for my company. There are artists who need sites and the company is going through some ideas for apps. It could be very profitable for you.”
Jeremy took a moment, apparently thinking over Leo’ words. After taking a beat he said, “Maybe. I’d have to check my work load.” Leo was clearly stunned by this response. He chuckled and said, “You do realize how large a company Champion is, right?” Staring him right in the eyes, Jeremy answered, “Yep”. There was an awkward silence following this single word. Leo did not seem to know how to respond to that. He was used to getting his way, particularly when throwing around the possibility of a lot of money. Yet here was Jeremy, unmoved. Following this strike out, Leo took a different approach. He pulled Paige close to him and said, “We are thankful for your service. Paige and I have been talking about this for quite some time. If you do a really good job, there may be a nice bonus in it for you.”
This was Leo’ way of establishing dominance. He was basically telling Jeremy that he was his boss. Leo often used this tactic when he felt the person he was dealing with was not aware of his power. Again, Jeremy seemed unmoved and did not even acknowledge the remark with a reply. The only response he gave was taking his seat again and going back to what he had been doing before. Apparently, this was him dismissing Leo. It seemed for a moment that Leo was going to press him, but instead he steered Paige from the room. Before exiting, Leo threw back over his shoulder, “I’ll be seeing you again, Jeremy.” There seemed to be a threat in the statement. Jeremy carried on as if he had not heard.
Leo and Paige walked back to the elevator in silence. Once they got there and Leo had pushed the button, he turned to Paige and asked, “What’s his deal?”
“I don’t know. This is only the second day I’ve known him. Deanna says he’s just quiet.”
“Well, watch out for him. I don’t trust him.”
“I’ll be fine. So you’re going back to work?”
“Well I have a lunch meeting to get to. Oh and I won’t be seeing you for the rest of the week. I have to go on a business trip.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m telling you now.”
“But look at how you’re telling me.”
“What do you want me to do? You know what my job is.”
“You could at least give me notice.”
“I didn’t find out until this morning. Look, its fine. I’ll see you when I get back.”
Leo went to kiss her on the lips, but she pulled away. He recovered with a kiss to her cheek. The elevator came and he stepped in. Before the doors closed he said, “I’ll text you when I land.” Paige just turned and walked away. She hated when he acted like that. He could be so arrogant and inconsiderate. Times like this she had to remind herself of why she loved him. He could be truly sweet and romantic. He showered her with gifts and took her on amazing trips. He was good-looking, smart, funny, charming, and successful and he loved her. Still, he could really push her buttons.
She re-entered the conference room and Jeremy turned towards her. He beckoned her closer saying, “Take a look at this.” On the screen
was a beautiful markup for her new and improved website. It was sleek, appealing, with a great layout. He showed her some of the functions that he had installed along with new menus, a site map, social media integration, interactive graphics, and even a better looking comment section. She was incredibly impressed and could not believe how quickly he had gotten it all done. She suddenly felt that she had gotten him extremely cheap. He handed her a detailed instruction manual, complete with all of his contact information in case she needed IT assistance.
Jeremy then shut down his computer and began to pack up. Paige just watched him for a moment before asking the obvious question, “You’re leaving?”
“Yes. I have other work. I’ll have to do the app another day.”
“When are you next available?”
“Not during the day anymore this week.”
“Oh really? I was hoping it could be up as soon as possible.”
Jeremy hesitated. He made direct eye contact with her again and then said, “Well, I will be available at my place after 6 as soon as tomorrow, if you don’t mind coming there.”
“Do you live far?”
“Not at all. Less than 20 minutes from here.”
“Well that’s fine with me.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll send you the details. See ya!”
“Goodbye.”
Before she could catch herself, Paige had gone in for a hug. She tried to draw back once she realized, but Jeremy had closed the gap and hugged her back. She was immediately aware of how muscular his body was. Enclosed in his scent, she was surprised by how cuddly he actually felt. She did not have long to contemplate this before he was withdrawing and exiting the room. Paige stepped out of the conference room behind him and watched as most of the office followed him with their eyes to the elevator, which opened as soon as he approached. He stepped inside and was gone. The office became alive with sound as soon as the doors closed. Paige went into her office.
As she sat down she realized that she was going to be in his home the following evening. She wondered what his place would be like. She contemplated through to the next day and barely paid attention in the office at all. At 5:30, she got up and headed out to the address Jeremy had given her. She was indeed in front of the building in less than 20 minutes. She worried that he might not be there, but spotted his car out front. After debating whether to stay in the car for a while, she decided to just get out and buzz up. No sooner than she had rung, the door was opening before her. She took the lift up to Jeremy’s loft and was immediately shocked by the warmth and beauty of the place.
True, the space was dim, but it had a great deal of character. It was well decorated, with muted dark aqua walls and varying shades of blue all around. There was artwork on the walls and it smelled as great as he did. There a beautiful painting of a blue girl hanging on the wall opposite his couch. While surveying the loft she barely realized that he was there. She finally spotted him in the kitchen standing behind the counter. It appeared that he was preparing food. She walked over, standing on the opposing side of the island. She said, “Hey. I didn’t interrupt your dinner did I?”
“I actually prepared this for us both. I tried to keep it general to make sure you’d like it”
“Oh wow! Thank you.”
“It’s cool.”
Paige was immediately impressed by what she saw. It was no rudimentary meal. There was stuffed chicken breast, twice baked potatoes, a very colorful salad, and some cheesy bread. It all smelled as good as it looked. She couldn’t believe he had made this. She slightly thought that he may have ordered out, but there were the dishes in the drain. If he were faking he was going through a lot of trouble to pull it off. He didn’t strike her as the type to do that. He went on, “You can help yourself. I figured we could eat and go over the app again.”
And so they did. Once again she told him what she wanted as he sketched it out on a sheet of paper. He then took out his laptop and began programming it right then and there. Meanwhile, Paige ate happily and sipped at the wine he had poured for her. She felt like a pig, but she just had to have seconds, it was so good. He worked on, having eaten his food already. When she was through, she began to look around his place. She started with the artwork, working her way over to his bookshelf. There were books and collectibles from all over the world. She looked through his DVD collection and was fascinated to see he had a record player complete with a grand collection of vinyl. She began asking him questions. She was surprised to find that he actually answered her.
Perhaps it was because he was at home, but somehow Jeremy seemed more relaxed and comfortable. She went through the vinyl and books asking about his preferences until he motioned her over to the computer screen. He pulled up a preview of the app and lo and behold there it was, just as she had imagined it. Even better than she had imagined it. She was so happy to see it laid out before her like that. He said that it could be up as soon as he uploaded it to the cloud. She encouraged him to get it up and running ASAP. As the app uploaded, perhaps out of the joy of the moment, she fumbled out, “So what is your name, really?”
She had not meant to ask him that, but the comfort and joy of the moment, along with their conversation had emboldened her. Before she got the chance to apologize he said, “It’s Jerimiah. I just prefer Jeremy. Not necessarily because it’s a simple name, just because I don’t enjoy it. It was my father’s name and that’s a whole other thing.”
Paige was very surprised he had answered her question. She felt somehow that that was not something he told to just anybody. It would seem that they had bonded and were on the way towards a friendship. Just as she began contemplating this, her phone beeped. It was a message from Leo. As soon as she read it, she realized that there was something wrong. First of all it was not the beginning of a conversation, it was in answer to another one. Yet it was something that she couldn’t understand him sending to anybody else. Or even her for that matter.
The text read, “We’re going to my sister’s on Thursday, relax.” This text was particularly odd because she was under the belief that Leo’ sister lived in St. Louis and Leo was supposed to be in New York. The second issue was who was he going to his sister’s with? She doubted a friend, so who else could it be? It had to be a woman. She was completely shocked. For a moment she forgot where she was. She was reawakened, by the sound of Jeremy’s voice asking her, “Are you okay?”
She didn’t know how to answer that. A few minutes ago she had thought that she was in love with the man of her dreams and yet now she didn’t know what she was. There were so many emotions tumbling through her at the moment. Before she could stop herself she blurted out, “What is wrong with men?” As soon as she said it she blushed and wished she could take it back. Yet once again, unbothered Jeremy came back, “Some people are just insatiable.”
Per usual, Jeremy had struck Paige with his answer. He always seemed to know the right thing to say. He continued, “I take it that’s bad news about your boyfriend. I didn’t like him.” Paige felt a rush of gratitude towards Jeremy for that statement. She also felt a rush of tears. In one motion she was putting her face in her hands, in the next she was falling forward into Jeremy. He immediately put his arms around her and held her as she cried. After allowing herself to let go for a short while, Paige collected herself and her things and headed for the lift. She said a clumsy thank you and goodbye before rushing out. On her way down and to her car, she realized that she had just broken down on an assumption. She did not know for sure that Leo was cheating on her. It was probably a misunderstanding. She would ask him about it when he got back.
She spent the rest of the week in a sort of troubled limbo. She experienced bittersweet emotions. She was happy for her site upgrade and new app, but troubled about Leo. He had texted and called her a few times and she had not mentioned anything. She was simply short and dry with him. Still he didn’t seem to detect a problem. She was waiting for the day he came back in town.
Friday afternoon Paige receive
d confirmation from Leo that he would be back that night and would order out from their favorite restaurant. Paige had simply accepted and said she’d see him that night. She went blindly through her workday in anticipation. She told herself it was nothing, but she had a strong sense of foreboding. Part of her had wanted to contact Jeremy, but to say what? Following the night at his place they had exchanged very little contact. She had been embarrassed about her breakdown and he had said that he was busy. He had, however, checked on her, which was very nice.
After work Paige rushed home. Once she got there she realized that there was nothing for her to do, so she simply sat around for a while. Her place was clean so there was nothing to do there. She got in the shower and put on something comfortable. She was in no mood for vanity. She turned on the TV and flipped mindlessly through the channels.
