by Beth Rinyu
She pursed her lips. “Oh, I see how it goes. I can’t expect you to take time out of your schedule for me, but I’m supposed to drop whatever I’m doing when you call.” This was why I hadn’t been in a relationship since Alyssa and I had broken up. I didn’t have time and I didn’t need this extra aggravation in my life. “You know what, Gabe?” She stood up and snatched her purse. “You don’t worry about making time for me anymore, because I’m out.”
I guess this was the part where I was supposed to beg her not to leave, tell her I would change, pull her into a hug and tell her I didn’t mean it. I was pretty certain that was what she was expecting as she stormed off, but I didn’t have any intention of doing that. That wasn’t me. I had always been honest, sometimes to my own detriment. I didn’t sugarcoat stuff, and I didn’t intend to start doing it now, even if sex with her was some of the best I ever had.
I shook my head when she slammed the door extra hard behind her. Maybe this was for the best anyway. Clearly Phoebe wanted more than I could give. That was evident each time we were together. She would get upset with me because I’d get up right after we had sex instead of cuddling with her. It had nothing to do with her. In fact, that was always a major complaint of Alyssa too, and I had much more invested in that relationship. That was a hang-up I’d probably never get over. Sex to me was just physical. I never attached feelings to it, no matter how much I cared about the person I was with. Maybe that was why Alyssa cheated on me. Maybe she was looking for someone who would hold her in his arms after making love, as she called it. I never related to that term at all.
I got up and poured myself some scotch, wondering if I was the abnormal one with my way of thinking.
“I don’t have time for this shit,” I mumbled when I heard a knock, assuming it was Phoebe once again.
Relief washed over me when I flung the door open to find my father on the other side. “Hey, Dad, what brings you here?” I opened the door wider, and he stepped inside.
“I was visiting your grandmother earlier, and I thought I’d pay my favorite son a visit too.”
“That’s not saying much since I’m your only son.”
He chuckled.
“Scotch?” I held my glass up.
“Yeah, sure.”
I poured him a glass while he took a seat on the couch.
“Everything been going good?”
I handed him his drink and sat down next to him. “Yeah, just been working round-the-clock on the glitches in this latest software program.”
He gave me a nod, not even trying to pretend like he was interested in what I was talking about. My father and I had a decent relationship. He was there for me the best he could have been after my mother’s death. He had taken it just as hard as me. He tried his hardest to remain strong for my sake, but I knew he cried a lot over losing her. The few times I heard him late at night when he thought I was asleep ripped my heart to shreds. Another big blow came when I decided not to go the pre-med route in college. My father was a very successful cardiologist who’d always assumed I would follow in his footsteps. But I had no interest in the medical field, and when I finally worked up the nerve to tell him, I promised him I’d be just as successful in whatever career choice I decided on. So far, I think I proved myself to him.
“I met one of your new employees,” he said, taking a sip of his drink.
“Who?”
“Faith. She was at your grandmother’s when I stopped over there.”
“Oh.” I nodded.
“Do you know who she is? She said she worked for your company.”
“Yeah, actually, she’s my new assistant.”
He raised an eyebrow, rubbing the tips of his fingers down the side of his face like he was deep in thought. “Question for you. Does she know who your grandmother is?”
A lighthearted chuckle burst through my lips. “Not unless Grandma told her. Grandma told me she was applying for the job, and I had no intention of hiring her, especially after I’d seen her résumé. She had no experience for the job whatsoever.”
“So...what happened? Your grandmother talked you into it?”
I shook my head, wishing I knew the answer to that question myself. “I don’t know. When I met her in the interview…I just felt like there was something about her telling me to give her a chance.”
“Could it have been her pretty face?” He smirked.
I shook my head and smiled. “I know it was only her first day, but she really did great. She’s a good worker, and she has a great personality too. She’s not afraid to put her faults out there, and I admire her honesty over it. I think that’s what I need right now.”
“What’s that?”
“Someone to reel me in when I’m getting fanatical over perfection and coming down on others for their lack thereof.”
“Well, that sounds like a good fit. She seems to be a nice girl. She reminded me a lot of—” He paused, taking a deep breath.
“Of who?”
“Your mother when she was that age.” Pain radiated through his voice, the same way it always would when he’d mention her name.
I didn’t respond, but now that he mentioned it, she kind of did, not so much in looks, but personality-wise. I could tell just from our brief lunch meeting that she wore her heart on her sleeve, she didn’t take life too seriously except for what really mattered, and her child was the most important thing to her. All of these were traits I remembered my mother exhibiting so vividly. Part of me now wondered if that was what drew me to her and compelled me to hire her. I broke myself from my daydreaming and cleared my throat, trying to break up the somberness.
“So, how’s Charmaine doing?” Charmaine was my father’s girlfriend. They had been seeing each other for the past three years. She was good for him. My father vowed to never marry again, and she was fine with that, so their relationship worked out well.
“She’s doing great. We booked our trip to Italy.”
“Oh yeah? When are you going?”
“Not until April.”
I nodded. “That’s the perfect time to go.”
“Yes, I remembered you telling me that.” He gazed at me questionably. “You sure everything’s okay, buddy?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”
He shrugged. “It’s just that you’re burying yourself in your work ever since you and Alyssa broke up.”
“Dad, it’s nothing new. Have you forgotten that was part of the reason why we broke up in the first place?” I sighed. “That and the fact she cheated on me,” I grumbled. “After I finish rolling out the next two Red Death games, I plan on spending a whole week with just myself, my fishing pole, and an unlimited amount of alcohol down at Grandma’s house in Marathon.”
“I’m glad to hear that and I’d be even happier if you were taking someone special with you. Don’t let one bad relationship deter you from starting another. You’re way too young to be married to your job. Take if from someone who knows.”
“What are you talking about, Dad? You never put your job before Mom or me.”
He flashed a caring smile. “That’s because I always had your mother around to make sure I didn’t, and I’m thankful to her for that. I can proudly say I never missed any of your baseball games, school award programs, and always knew what was going on in your life when you were growing up. Not too many fathers can say that, and I have your mother to thank for that.” His eyes filled with tears. “You were her entire world.” He looked up at the ceiling and shook it off.
It finally dawned on me where all this was coming from. Next week was their anniversary. He would always get down around this time of year and then again on her birthday. Fifteen years later and some days it was still so hard to fathom she was gone.
I placed my hand on his shoulder. “How many years would it have been?”
“Thirty-two.” His voice cracked. “I’m just grateful for the time I was given with her.” He threw back the rest of the scotch and held his glass up for another.
He may have since moved on, but I knew he was still hurting badly every time he was reminded of her. The same way I always would whenever a certain song that reminded me of her would come on the radio or I’d pass a stranger wearing her favorite perfume. Those were all memories I wanted to keep forever so I would never forget her. Even though I’d never admit to anyone, part of me wondered if that was why I struggled so much with relationships and really getting close with anyone. I had lost the single most important person in my life and it hurt like hell. Maybe I was afraid of having the same thing happen again if I ever fell in love.
***
I started the workday earlier than usual once again, surprised when I looked down at my watch to find it was almost one. Faith had been keeping herself busy finishing up the project she’d started earlier while I was trying to finish up with the demo specs for the software I was going to be pitching this afternoon to three different European based companies.
Faith was sporting the same trademark smile that was always cast upon her face when I lifted my head. “Hey, I’m sorry to bother you, but Regina said she tried calling you and your phone is on do not disturb.”
“Oh yeah. What’s up?”
“There’s someone named Phoebe here to see you.”
“Ah, fuck!” I whispered, hoping she didn’t hear me. I realized she did when I looked up to her raised eyebrow. “Oh…umm. Can you tell Regina to send her back?”
“Sure.” She turned around and my eyes wandered down to her ass. What the hell was Phoebe doing showing up here? She knew how much I hated to be disturbed while I was working. I especially didn’t have time for this today of all days. I replied to the emails that had been waiting for a response from me all morning and was just hitting send on the last one when I looked up from my computer screen.
“Hey.” Phoebe stood in the doorway with a bag in her hand.
“What are you doing here?” I was speaking to Phoebe, but my attention was fully focused on Faith.
She giggled and threw her back head, moving her hair to one side. My body was reacting as I imagined sliding my tongue up that sexy neck of hers. She got up from her desk and walked out to lunch with Chad and Darius. Phoebe continued to ramble on while I continued to daydream about Faith.
Snap the fuck out of it! It was really starting to scare me how she had consumed my thoughts ever since that day I had first laid eyes on her.
“Gabe? Are you even paying attention to what I just said?”
“Umm…yeah...actually, no, I wasn’t. I was just thinking about this meeting I have to be at in a couple of hours.”
“Well then...” She closed my office door and locked it. “Let’s make the most with the time we have.”
Chapter 13
Faith
“Ugh!” I muttered under my breath, listening to the voicemail from my mother as I returned from lunch.
“Faith, what’s going on? Cole was just here to pick up Joelle’s costume. I thought you were taking her trick-or-treating in our neighborhood tonight. And he said you’re working full-time now? You need to call me, Faith! This little silent game you’re playing has gone far enough.”
“Silent game. I’ll give her silent game,” I whispered, throwing my phone into my purse.
“Everything okay?” Chad asked.
“Yeah, just an overbearing mother.”
“Ahh, say no more…I know all about that.”
I was so thankful to Chad these past two days. Gabe was always so busy and I didn’t want to interrupt him, so I found myself inundating Chad with questions. He didn’t seem to mind. He was so helpful and actually kind of cute. It was hard to believe he and Gabe were good friends outside of work. They seemed so opposite. Chad was so laid back. His shaggy sandy brown hair was a far cry from Gabe’s neat cropped cut. He always dressed casually in jeans or khakis, and had no qualms about telling people he was an advocate for legalizing marijuana. Whereas each time I had seen Gabe, he was wearing a perfectly pressed button-up shirt and tie. I was pretty certain his impeccably put together appearance was an extension of his personality and his lifestyle. Normally people like him would drive me crazy, because I was the complete opposite. But there was something about his anal personality I found somewhat endearing. It suited him well.
Chad snickered as the redheaded girl who came to visit Gabe before lunch exited his office with her hair a bit disheveled. I looked past her at Gabe. His tie was missing and his perfectly pressed shirt was now wrinkled and loosely tucked into his pants.
Gabe’s eyes widened at Chad and me. “I thought you guys went to lunch,” he muttered.
“We grabbed a quick bite, but when I asked Faith about the PowerPoint presentation and she told me she didn’t receive anything from you…we decided to come back to work on that.” Chad raised his eyebrow.
“Ah, shit. I got so caught up in the software design I forgot—”
“I’ll see ya, babe.” The redheaded girl stood on her tippy-toes and planted a kiss on his cheek.
Gabe’s total lack of regard for her goodbye proved he was less than pleased by her little sign of PDA.
“Hey, Chad,” the girl greeted as if he were beneath her, giving us both an annoyed glare before making her exit.
“I’ll get it done now.” Gabe didn’t seem himself.
“It’s fine. We can do it,” I chimed in. “You go and get yourself together before your meeting.” Did I really just say that to him? I quickly lowered my head in embarrassment.
“Yeah, you go get yourself together, lover boy!” Chad teased.
“Thanks,” Gabe responded, casting an intense gaze upon me. So intense I had to look away.
“Welcome,” I whispered.
“Of all the times for him to be gettin’ it on,” Chad mumbled as Gabe walked out of the office.
My eyes widened. “Was that really what they were doing?” Heat radiated up my face from my embarrassment.
Chad shook his head, letting out a boisterous laugh. “Oh, Faith, you have so much to learn.”
“I guess I do.” I smiled, playing off my gullibility.
Chad pulled a chair up next to me and directed me where to go in the computer. “Okay, go into this folder here.” He tapped on the monitor, and I clicked where he directed. I began to get right to work as he read the information from his phone for each slide. By the time Gabe returned we were almost done. All he had to do was give everything the once-over. Chad let out a few groans when Gabe wanted some things changed, and I wasted no time making those adjustments.
“Mr. Samuels?” Regina interrupted. “Your two thirty meeting is here. I put them in the conference room.”
“Okay, thanks,” Gabe replied in a dismissive manner.
“There’s just one problem,” Regina continued.
“What?” Gabe snapped.
“Mr. Clemente, the president of Dolce Electronics, got called back to Italy this morning on a family emergency. So his cousin, the VP, is the one you’ll be dealing with.”
“Okay, so what’s the problem?” Gabe asked.
“His cousin only speaks Italian. He doesn’t understand a word of English,” Regina clarified.
“Ah! Fuckin’ great, man!” Chad shouted. “His company is the one we really need to pitch this software to. The others are all pretty much on board.”
“No one else in that room speaks Italian who can translate for him?” Gabe asked.
Regina shook her head.
“Fuck!” Gabe whispered, throwing his head back in defeat.
I cleared my throat, ignoring the inner voice inside of me telling me to keep quiet. But I was fairly certain this was a very important meeting for the company, and since I was part of this company now, I may as well offer to help out when I could.
“I can speak Italian,” I said rather meekly. “I’m a little rusty, but I can get what needs to be said out.” My tone perked up.
Both Gabe and Chad looked at me, each with widened eyes.
“Are you serious?” Chad ask
ed with his smile growing by the second.
I nodded. “My nona only spoke Italian, so it was the only way we could talk to her.”
“I think I might love you,” Gabe said. Even though I knew he was joking, my stomach flipped ever so slightly.
“Haha!” Chad cheered. “Faith, if you could pull this off, I’ll buy you a beer.”
“I don’t like beer,” I teased.
“A glass of wine?”
“Hmm…how about a Moscow mule?”
“Anything you want, girl! I’m just gonna head down to the conference room and let them know we have this all under control.” Chad stood up and sauntered out of the office like a little kid who had just hit it out of the park at a little league game.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Gabe asked.
“Yeah…I’ll be fine.” I pushed my hair behind my ear and smiled up into his hazel eyes. “As long as everyone talks really slow and doesn’t mind a mix-up of words here and there, I’ll be perfectly fine.”
***
“Ciao, bella.” Mr. Clemente took my hand and pulled it up to his lips.
I nodded and smiled, breathing a sigh of relief as the last of the businessmen filed out of the conference room. I couldn’t believe I had actually pulled it off. Once I started getting into it, my Italian came back to me and I even impressed myself.
“Shit!” I whispered when I looked at my watch and realized it was after five. Rushing off to my office, I shut down my computer and gathered my things. Tonight of all nights, I couldn’t be late. I still had to pick up Joey, try my hardest to get her to eat some dinner, and then take her our trick-or-treating. My anxiousness was kicking in big time. When I pulled my phone from my purse to find a text message from Cole telling me to call him right away and a missed call, that anxiety began to grow. I cradled the phone on my shoulder while I ran around and locked the file cabinets.
“Hey! What’s going on?” I asked once he answered, straining my ears to hear him over the background noise.
