by Aiden Frost
Carter had a look on his face like Amanda had just told him he needed to figure out the world’s debt problem.
“Okay,” said Amanda, shooing Carter away from his own computer. “Google will be our friend. If you want to find a great date night, you need something different, and something unexpected. Which means it’s nothing you could do on any random Wednesday.”
Carter peered over her shoulder, silent.
“Nope. Nope. Nope,” Amanda said as she scrolled through local events. “Holiday wine tastings, more plays... Next town!” she exclaimed as she closed out of the local offerings. More country?” she asked Carter.
“Can we choose in between? Not too city, but not too quiet?”
“Your wish is my command,” said Amanda with a dramatic wave of her arm at the computer. “Local happenings for Marches Peak.”
“Ooh,” said Carter, leaning forward, “that’s a nice town.”
“Yup! And look, they have an event running this week. A train!” she squealed.
Carter chuckled, his voice rolling down the halls. Shandra peered out of her office, then strolled over to them. “What fun are you guys having without me?”
She peered over their shoulders as Carter scrolled through the pictures on the screen.
“Aww, that’s so pretty. Where’s that?” Shandra asked.
“Marches Peak,” said Carter. “Look, the entire town is decorated. The shops are set up to sell on the street, the train has a ride and dine event...” He leaned back in his seat. “This would be perfect.”
“Do it!” said Amanda. “Right this minute. Go get your wife.” She started pulling Carter to his feet.
“I can’t just leave,” he said. “My wife would think I was nuts storming into house in the middle of the day to drag the family off...” He looked at Amanda. “That’s the point, isn’t it?”
“Yes!” said Amanda. “Surprise her. Go!” Still Carter resisted her. “Are you in charge while Max is gone?” Amanda asked Shandra.
Shandra shrugged. “Maybe,” she said with a sly grin.
“So Mr Williams here has completed his work for the day and it would be in the best interest of the company that he took the rest of the day off, yes?”
Shandra rubbed her chin, thoughtful. “Yes. I decree that Mr Williams shall take the rest of the day off under my command.” Shandra waved her hand like she was waving a magic wand.
Carter looked them, his face a mixture of confusion and excitement. “Really?” he asked them. “I should do this?”
“Go!” they both hollered at him in unison.
Carter turned, blustered, grabbing his coat. “I’ll get my wife... and my kids right? That’ll make her happy, yes? To see everybody happy for the holidays?”
“Yes, now go!”
“I’ll order the tickets,” hollered Amanda when he finally moved away from his desk.
Shandra turned to her, laughing. “This family business seems like it’s hard work.”
Amanda just shook her head as she quickly ordered Carter tickets and sent the confirmation to his email. She shut down his computer before turning to Shandra.
“Did you hear I spoke to Max about building one of those rooftop escapes here?”
Shandra nodded, smiling. “So you actually decided to keep to our pact?”
Amanda nodded. “Of course.”
“Good,” said Shandra. “We still going out for Christmas?”
“Oh sure. I am most definitely not going out to troll the bars looking for lonely men.” She shook her head in disgust. “I’m done with that.”
Shandra’s lip curled and she moved closer to Amanda, lowering her voice. “Would that have anything to do with a certain boss?”
Amanda looked at her, her gaze steely. “It does not. I am not giving up lonely men just to jump on my boss. I’d need to leave the company and... well, I don’t want to.”
“Why would you need to leave?”
“He’s not exactly going to be the one to leave!” Amanda lowered her voice. “When things go bad, I’ll have to start all over again.”
Shandra shook her head at her. “I think your next task needs to be to work on your pessimism.”
“I believe I’m appropriately pessimistic,” said Amanda.
“Okay,” said Shandra with a shrug. “I guess that means you wouldn’t want to go to a massive party at Andrew Avery’s residence then?”
Amanda’s head tipped down and she looked at Shandra through her lashes. “What did you cook up?”
“Nothing! I had nothing to do with this.” She looked around, then leaned forward. “It’s not much of a secret anymore that Mr Avery was ill. And...” Shandra swallowed hard, “and that he’s sick again.”
“Did you tell everybody?” Amanda asked.
Shandra shook her head. She reached into Amanda’s inbox slot and pulled out a green envelope. She handed it to Amanda, who stared at it a moment before opening it.
“I assumed it was just a Christmas card,” she said as she looked down at the invitation. “The Avery’s are really having a huge party when Mr Avery is so ill...” Amanda stopped mid-sentence, looking back up to Shandra. “Does this mean...” she didn’t want to say it. She hadn’t personally known Andrew Avery, but still, his mortality wasn’t something she wanted to think about.
“I don’t think so,” said Shandra, “but I think it’s too soon to really know how well he’s responding to the new treatment. From what I heard from the senior office-staff though, the Avery’s used to hold massive Christmas parties at their house. And on Christmas too. It was almost like this ruse for people who didn’t have anywhere else to go or people who didn’t cook or just wanted something different to do. So, are you game?”
Amanda looked at Shandra like she’d just asked her if she’d like to jump off the top of the building with her. “You want me to spend Christmas day with Max?”
“Not just Max, but with me. With other human beings.”
Amanda wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know, Shandra. Christmas is such an intimate holiday—”
“Yeah,” Shandra interrupted. “An intimate holiday that you usually spend with strangers.”
“I... can I think about it at least?”
“Sure,” said Shandra. “But don’t think about it too hard. Max will be one of probably hundreds of people that will be there that day. And from the talk going around the office, most everyone who worked here when Mr Avery was the boss is planning to at least stop by and see him. You won’t stand out if you go.”
Amanda nodded. “I’ll think about it,” she said in a quiet voice. It was getting harder and harder for her to avoid Max Avery. She could handle seeing him at the office, as long as she steered free of being alone with him in his office. But Christmas...
Chapter Twenty-One
AMANDA PACED HER LIVING room. She hoped Carter was having a nice evening with his family. She had to admit, she was a bit jealous. The events at Marches Peak sounded like a good time. For a moment, she wished she had someone to take her.
Her computer rang. She ran to the couch, sitting down and fluffing her hair before she clicked the video button. A handsome, fifty-something man popped onto her screen. She found herself smiling genuinely at him. “Hi,” she said, waving. Then she thought a moment. “Please tell me you’re Mr Landin from the roof project?”
The man laughed. “Yes, I’m John Landin. And yes, I oversaw the roof retreat construction at Regions Realty.”
Amanda blew out a relieved breath. She placed her notebook in her lap. “We’re considering a roof construction over at Avery Enterprises. Although, ours will be used in a bit of a different manner, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?”
Mr Landin nodded. He adjusted his computer screen and leaned back in his chair. A woman walked across the screen behind him. She handed him a drink, before leaning down toward the computer. “Hi,” she said, waving.
“My wife,” said John.
Amanda smiled and waved ba
ck. “I won’t keep him too long,” she said. Amanda opened her notebook and began asking John Landin questions about the construction. He was an amiable man, and she couldn’t help thinking that her boldness may have finally paid off.
After Amanda asked him a fair share of questions, John Landin had given Amanda his home number, telling her to call him if any other questions arose. Amanda closed her computer screen and leaned back against the couch. While John had given her a lot of answers, he’d also raised a lot of concerns too. Amanda may need to modify her original plan. Things like row covers over the vegetables in the winter just may not fare well on a windy roof. But, she had the number to a local permaculture company, and the name of an engineer that he had recommended.
Amanda was just about ready to stand and walk away, when her computer rang again. She flipped open the screen, her computer’s automatic response set to answer the call. “Hi!” she said, then stopped. There was no video on her end of the call. She waited, thinking maybe Mr Landin had just forgotten to turn his on. “Hello?” she asked when no sound came through the computer.
“I recognize that couch,” came a cocky voice.
Amanda’s chest warmed. She knew that voice. “Umm, Max?”
The voice chuckled. “You going behind my back and researching the roof top without me, James?”
He’d never called her by her last name before. She kind of liked the odd-sense of intimacy it brought by him knowing her full name. Then a thought hit her. “Wait! Are you stalking me? How do you know I talked with Mr Landin?”
Max chuckled. “John and my father go way back. When he got a message to call someone from my office, obviously he called me first.”
Amanda growled to herself. She was never going to one-up Max Avery. Was that really what she was trying to do? He’d given her permission to be involved in the rooftop, yet she still felt the need to go behind his back. “Why isn’t your video on?” she asked him.
“Why is yours on?” he countered.
“I thought you were Mr Landin again,” Amanda said, defensive. Amanda could hear Max shuffling papers around.
“Would it make you feel better if I turned my video on too?”
“It’s not fair that you get to see my house and I don’t get to see yours.”
“I’ve seen your house before, Amanda.”
“You’ve seen my couch,” she countered. “I don’t allow men to see my house.”
“Oh,” said Max, his voice low, throaty. “So I was different?”
Amanda wanted to growl at him but she held her tongue. She didn’t ever bring other men back to her house. She wasn’t sure why she thought Max Avery should be any different. “Turn on your video or hang up,” she commanded. “I want to see your house too.” For Amanda, her house was as private to her as was her most intimate secrets. She didn’t share it with people, and the fact that Max Avery was staring through the computer at it right now, infuriated her.
“Amanda?” said Max, trying to get her attention. “I’m not at my house.”
Amanda’s heart restarted that irregular beat that overtook it when she’d first heard his voice come through her computer. If Max wasn’t at his house...
“Amanda?” he asked again. “Are you still there?” The video flashed on on her computer. She was looking at Max, sitting in an office in someone’s home.
“Are you—” Amanda started to ask. “Are you at your dad’s?”
“Yeah,” said Max. He leaned back from the computer screen and Amanda realized for the first time that he wasn’t wearing a suit. His hair was damp, and he wore a plain t-shirt.
He looked sexy, and it was all Amanda could do not to tell him as much.
“Why are you still in your office clothes?” he asked. “Or is that what you consider casual attire?”
Amanda looked down at herself. “I didn’t want to miss Mr Landin’s call by going to change.”
They were both silent. There really wasn’t anything else left to discuss. He’d called her out on researching behind his back. They should both just hang up. But they didn’t want to.
Max’s eyes suddenly went wide and he leaned closer to the computer. “What is that?” he said, pointing.
Amanda looked behind herself, startled. Her bunny was hopping into the room, but she didn’t see anything else. “What did you see?” she asked Max.
“That,” he said. “Right there behind you. What is that?”
Amanda turned again. She went to collect Bunny and carried him back to the computer. She held him up toward the camera. “You mean this?”
“What is it?” asked Max again.
Amanda chuckled as she snuggled Bunny into her lap. “It’s a bunny,” she said.
“That’s not like a bunny I’ve ever seen,” said Max. His fright over seeing her rabbit kind of amused her.
“He’s a Lionhead. He’s supposed to be white and fluffy. Promise,” she said when Max still didn’t look convinced.
“He’s... nice?” he asked.
“Of course he’s nice.” Amanda lifted him up in front of the computer screen again.
“He’s kind of... cute.”
“Of course he’s cute,” she said. She set Bunny down onto the floor, and he flopped out lazily onto her toes. “Now what do you want with me, Max Avery?”
Max smirked and Amanda immediately regretted her wording. But then she thought, what better time to find out what his motives were when he couldn’t reach out and touch her?
She leaned forward. “What do you want with me?”
Max smiled, amused. “What do you think I want with you?”
“I think you like teasing me,” said Amanda. “I think you have an agenda. I just haven’t figured out what.”
“It couldn’t just be that I desire you?”
Hearing him say that aloud churned a warmth through Amanda’s center. She sat back, crossing her arms. “You’re up to something more than that.”
Max leaned forward, resting his arms on the desk. The soft waves of his hair fell forward, and Amanda almost found herself reaching forward to brush them out of his eyes. When he finally caught her gaze, he said, “I want you to be mine.”
Amanda blinked, long and slow.
“Go out with me, Amanda. Take me away from here for a night. Let’s just go have some fun and forget about everything else.”
His proposition didn’t sound dangerous, but Amanda knew the weight it carried. He wasn’t asking her out to have fun before they carried on a casual affair. He was asking her out on a date. He was asking her to distract him from the stresses of life.
“I...” started Amanda. She swallowed, her voice no longer cooperating with her. She heard a door open through the computer and Max’s eyes turned away from the screen. He smiled and she heard the voice of a woman.
“Lasagna,” the woman said as she set a plate down in front of Max. “If I can’t cook like this for your father, I’m going to need to cook like this for you.”
Max chuckled and folded a napkin next to his plate. Amanda wanted to close the computer, to close off this intimate interaction she was viewing.
“Ana,” said Max, reaching for her arm and steering her toward the computer, “this is Amanda.”
Amanda smiled, or at least tried to smile as the woman came in to view. She was a busty blonde with a warm smile. She patted her hair, as if it wasn’t already perfectly styled. “Oh!” she said when she caught sight of Amanda in the computer screen. “Hello.” She turned to Max. “She’s even prettier than you described.”
Amanda blushed, her chest warming. Max had spoken to his step-mother about her.
“Hi,” Amanda said, waving. “Nice to meet you, Mrs Avery.”
“Oh, baby, you can call me Ana. But it’s a pleasure.” She turned back to Max, and whispered, “Did you ask her about the play yet?”
Max balked at Ana’s statement. “She can hear you,” he said to her. He gave Amanda an apologetic smile.
“Good,” said Ana. “Then it
means now you have to ask her.” She stood silently behind Max, waiting.
Max turned from her to Amanda. Max thought how Amanda looked terrified, like she was about to be asked out on her first date. “I have two tickets,” Max said. “They’re putting on A Christmas Carol at Tinsdale Theatre tomorrow night. I was wondering if you’d like to join me?”
“I...” Ana leaned back down so Amanda could see her on the screen. “Tomorrow?” she asked.
Ana nodded at her. “You’d love to go out with my Max tomorrow night, wouldn’t you?” Ana smiled at her, and Amanda wanted to disappear.
Amanda’s voice came out soft, uncertain. “Yes.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
AMANDA’ HANDS SHOOK as she tried to place her earrings in her ears. She looked at the reflection in the mirror, not recognizing the woman who stared back at her. The woman looked afraid.
Amanda wanted to throw up, she wanted to run away. She thought all she had to consider was going to a massive Christmas party at Max’s house, but now there was this. Now she was going on a date with him. Amanda and Max. There was no one to hide behind, no one to save her from herself. Her bedroom looked like a tornado had ripped through it. There were currently more clothes on her bed than there was in her closet. She turned from the mirror, tripping over a pair of boots as she stumbled toward the bed. She sat down, oblivious of the piles of clothes, oblivious of the tears leaking from her eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself.
“This is stupid,” she whispered to herself. She’d been out with men, alone, a million times before. This wasn’t any different. This was so different. Max made her feel things she didn’t want to feel. He made her think things she didn’t want to think. But what would Shandra say? If they wanted to change, they would need to do things different. Amanda stood up. She could do this. It was just a date. She was ready.
She wasn’t ready in the slightest.
Chapter-Twenty-Three
