Solving Us

by Susan Renee

  His breath tickles my ear, and my shoulder immediately comes up in defense. “Is that so, huh? Well I guess that means you’ll have plenty of time to um…wine and dine me then?”

  Finn cups my face in his hands. “It would be my pleasure, Olivia.” He leans down to kiss me, and I return his kiss, short and sweet, and then he takes my hand.

  “Come on. Let’s get you home; it’s not getting any warmer out here.”

  I’m not so sure about that. I smirk as we walk hand in hand back to my apartment.

  “Thank you,” Finn says prayerfully standing in front of my apartment door. He bends down to kiss my forehead and runs his hands up and down my arms to warm me up. He doesn’t know that I’m already plenty warm just from his touch. His contact always sends sparks of heat right through me, and I’m not about to tell him to stop.

  “For what?” I ask him.

  “For hearing me out, for believing me, for seeing me, for choosing me anyway.”

  “That goes both ways, Finn. You could’ve gone home thinking I was a total ungrateful bitch, so thanks for making me hear you out and for believing in me…and for choosing me anyway.”

  “Can I see you tomorrow?” he asks.

  “I’m counting on it. You still have lots to tell me about this job if it’s something you really think I’ll be perfect for.”

  “Okay then. How about brunch?”

  “How about lunch? I should catch up with Abby a little since we haven’t talked in a couple days. She’ll want to hear all about my first date with this guy I met yesterday.” I grin.

  “HA! First date, huh? I hope he didn’t take advantage of you.” Finn’s expression is playfully stern.

  “Never,” I shake my head trying to hide my smile, but I fail. “He was a perfect gentleman and, regardless, I kissed him first, so if anyone took advantage, it was me.”

  “Is that so? Well, I’m pretty sure he probably enjoyed every moment, so I imagine he’ll ask you out again soon.”

  “I hope he does, and I’ll look forward to it.”

  Finn smiles and embraces me in strong warm hug. “As do I,” he says kissing my hair.

  “How about I take you both out for lunch tomorrow and then for a tour of the Agency? That way Abby can learn all about your new job first hand.”

  “That sounds fun! Let’s do it.” I squeeze my arms tighter around him.

  “Great. I’ll contact you tomorrow then. Until then…” Finn kisses my temple while he slips his fingers into my hair, holding me to him. I feel him take a deep breath. God, he still smells so good. “Sleep well, Olivia.”

  “Thanks,” I whisper. My eyes do feel heavy, and I stand there imagining what it would feel like to fall asleep in Finn’s strong arms. I’m excited for the possibility of that day to come.

  I look up at Finn just in time for his lips to meet mine. His fingers still in my hair, he tugs slightly so that my head is at a better angle for him. He has no idea how much his hands in my hair turns me on. My lips part for him, and smoothly our tongues meet, tasting one another. It is the sweetest goodbye kiss that really feels like a promise for more. I let out a small whimper, which, to my surprise, must have a strong effect on Finn, according to the movement I feel near my waist. Finn is aroused. He opens his eyes and connects with mine just long enough to breathe in deeply, wrap his arms around my waist, and pick me up.

  Whoa!

  He quickly puts me down and holds me at arm's length, his hands holding my shoulders.

  What?

  “Whoa.” Finn says taking a few deep breaths and blowing them out slowly.

  “Yeah.” I agree feeling a bit flushed.

  Finn steps toward me and trails his fingers across my forehead, moving the stray hairs away from my eyes. “Good night, Olivia,” he whispers.

  Wow...he has more control than I do!

  “Good night, Finn.” I smile, turn the doorknob to the door that was right next to me, and slowly walk inside my apartment, never turning my back on Finn. He waits until I’m inside and have closed the door to walk away, but not before I peek through the peephole in my door to see him back up against the adjacent wall, put his hand on his chest above his heart, and sigh. He has the happiest, most satisfied smile on his face. So this is what guys do when girls aren’t looking. He is so cute standing there. I have to cover my mouth to stifle my giggles when I see him adjust himself before he goes. I guess I’ll just keep that little visual morsel to myself. My own little Finn secret.

  “Well I take it from the shit-eating grin and look of infatuation all over your face that you two must’ve worked things out just fine, eh?” Abby asks amused as she walks into the living room to see me standing at the door.

  “Uh, yeah…” I sigh. “Abby, I don’t know what wrongs I righted to deserve him, but if the Finn I was with today is the same Finn I’m with, in a few weeks, months, or years…” I shake my head in disbelief. “Abs, I could fall for him. Hard. Oh, and before I forget, he’s taking us to lunch tomorrow and to the Kellan Agency to tell us more about this job.”

  “Perfect! I can’t wait, now get your ass over here and tell me every damn detail of the last two days!”

  “Ha! Gladly!”

  6

  Olivia I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you.

  Please allow me to explain.

  Did you get home safely?

  Olivia…please at least tell me you’re ok.

  Liv, I know u don’t want to talk now but

  I NEED to know you’re ok.

  If I don’t hear from you in 30 minutes

  I’m coming over to check on you.

  Finn was right. He did send a lot of texts last night. Scrolling through them all this morning for the first time, I have to swallow my guilt at keeping him hanging and worrying about my safety. I can tell after our conversation last night that he really does care about me, and truth be told, I think I’m beginning to care about him, too. I really don’t want to jump in too soon, but it’s just been so damn long since a guy has showed sincere interest in me. I know things may change, but I’m excited to spend the day with Finn and Abby. If they’re both going to be in my life, I’m happy to get to see them interact with each other. I send Finn a quick text so he knows I’m thinking about him.

  Me: Just looked at my phone. Sorry to scare you last night.

  See you soon!

  Finn obviously keeps his phone with him at all times for work because he replies immediately.

  Finn: Don’t mention it. Gave me a good excuse to see you again.

  Can’t wait for today. See you soon Beautiful.

  Lunch was a lot of fun. Finn took us to an old fashioned diner in town that served just about whatever we could imagine. I had fish and chips, Abby ordered a cheeseburger, but Finn chose a spectacular pancake and bacon brunch. We were like little kids giggling over just about everything we talked about. Finn told us about some of his travels with his father, and at times, he and Abby were able to share travel experiences. Abby used to travel a lot during the summers with her parents, but my family really didn’t travel much and certainly never out of the mainland USA. Part of that was my fault I think. After my accident, I never really wanted to venture out far from home. College was the biggest step I had taken, and getting to know Abby over those four years was the best thing that could’ve happened to me.

  After lunch, Finn takes us on a tour of The Kellan Agency. Taking up the fiftieth through the fifty-fifth floor, the Agency is housed in one of Boston’s most popular skyscrapers: the sixty-story Hancock Place. Luckily for Abby and I, the Stark Firm, where Abby works, is only a block away which means we can meet each other frequently for lunches during the week.

  We enter the lobby of The Kellan Agency on the fifty-fifth floor and immediately meet the receptionist and personal assistant to Finn’s office. She greets Finn with a huge knowing smile and professional, “Good afternoon, Mr. Kellan.” Obviously she’s working on a Sunday because Finn asked her to come in for me. She seems to
be the only one in the building besides us.

  “Hello dear, you must be Olivia.” She addresses me.

  Probably in her late fifties, early sixties, she looks like she could be my mom. She is very pleasant in appearance wearing a grey sleeveless dress shirt with ruffles down the front. Her smile is very welcoming, and I immediately feel like I could confess my biggest secrets to her. The sign on her desk reads Mrs. Grace Hoover.

  Ah! We share a name. Shouldn’t have any problems remembering hers.

  “Yes,” I shake her hand and return her smile. “Olivia McGuire. It’s a pleasure to meet you. This is my roommate, Abby Sheridan.” I clear my throat, not knowing what to say next. This is a little awkward given that it’s Sunday, not a typical work day.

  “Finn.” I shake my head correcting myself. “I mean - Mr. Kellan - is giving me a tour of the building and telling me more about the commercial photographer position. I suppose if I may be working here I would hate to be lost on my first day,” I joke. When I say Finn’s name, I feel his hand on the small of my back.

  “It’s okay, Olivia,” Finn says kissing the back of my head and smiling at Mrs. Hoover. “Grace here practically helped raise me because I was around this building so much. She knows all about you and our date yesterday; and if she doesn’t hear it from me, she hears it from my mother so there are no secrets between us. I asked Grace to come in today in case you wanted to, you know, sign paperwork and all that stuff. And she keeps my important messages for me. I couldn’t run this place without her.” Finn speaks as if the relationship between CEO and Executive Assistant is always so relaxed. I can’t help but smile in awe a bit at the atmosphere in this office. I can tell immediately that Finn loves and appreciates Mrs. Hoover very much. I blush anyway knowing that someone in the office knows I went out on a date with Finn.

  How is this going to work exactly?

  “Have fun looking around, Olivia, and please feel free to call my desk or ask me any questions you may have as you get situated. Finn, I have a few messages here for you.”

  “Thank you very much, Mrs. Hoover. I appreciate the warm welcome!” I say, smiling as confidently as possible at Grace. While Finn goes through his messages with Mrs. Hoover, Abby and I take a quick moment to look around the lobby of the reception area. The walls are a warm cream color and filled with several large posters of advertisements for several different companies. I see an advertisement for a local college, one for the Boston Aquarium, one for a local brewery, and on the far wall closest to the window with a view, there is one of a cover print for National Geographic Magazine that I practically drool over! It’s a beautiful landscape photo of the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. It’s a crystal clear picture with the brightest green cliffs I have ever seen. The picture is breathtaking, and I stand and study it for minutes.

  “My pride and joy and one of the best trips I’ve ever taken,” Finn says quietly from behind me. His voice is warm and gentle and sexy and mmmm yummy. I turn with a knowing smile to look right into his brilliant blue eyes.

  “You took this picture?” I don’t know why I’m flabbergasted.

  “Yep. That was a couple years ago on a trip with my father,” he says with pride. “Why don’t you guys follow me, I’ll take you to my office, and we can talk more about the job there. It’s much more comfortable.”

  Abby and I follow Finn through the double doors and down the hallway to his palatial corner office. From fifty-five floors up, both corner walls of Finn’s office are floor to ceiling windows providing a breathtaking view of the Charles River leading into the Boston Harbor. It looks like you can see for miles. The rest of the office has a modern feel to it. With clean lines and straight edges, the room is painted completely white, taking in all of the natural color from outdoors. The beams from the building structure that show through the windows are a light grey that actually compliment the color palate of the room quite well.

  I wonder if he planned that.

  There is a conference table to the left of Finn’s desk that sits atop a natural tan colored rug. Around the room are a few green plants, and along the walls are pictures of more landscapes. Waterfalls, mountains, sunsets, ocean; I’m guessing each picture is a souvenir taken on one of Finn’s expeditions. The room as a whole looks like it lives outdoors. It’s peaceful and open and makes me smile.

  “Holy Hell!” Abby exclaims. “This place is like a peaceful nature walk and a trip to Ikea all wrapped up in one room!”

  I turn my head and look at Abby, my eyes growing wider to remind her why we’re here and that I don’t want her to mess this up for me. She just laughs at my expression, and I shake my head.

  “Yeah I guess it does,” Finn answers. “There was a time that I lived in my office, or so it seemed, and I’m an outdoors kind of guy, so this space is one that I can work in all day and still feel like I’m not shut up in the corner of a skyscraper for hours at a time.”

  I notice the block of colors sitting on Finn’s desk that looks almost like it doesn’t belong. It certainly isn’t something I would expect to see in the office of a CEO; but then again, I have a strong feeling I understand why it’s there. I ask anyway to make conversation.

  “What’s with the Rubik's Cube?” I say nodding my head in its direction and smirking at Finn. “Do you play with it during recess?”

  “Ya like it?” he laughs. “Puzzles are sort of a thing for my family, or at least they used to be. It’s a stress reliever sometimes to just sit back and figure out someone else’s puzzle instead of solving my own day to day issues. And what’s cool about those things,” he says pointing to the Rubik’s Cube, “is that you can mess them up however you want, but if you can find the patience, there’s always an answer...the right solution. At some point it all just clicks.”

  I nod my head in agreement with Finn and continue to look around. “It really is breathtaking in here.”

  “Thanks. I’m really glad you like it.” Finn looks at me adoringly. I could stare back at him all day, but off to the side of the room I hear Abby clear her throat to break us out of our trance.

  “So,” I say, “tell me about this job I’m perfect for.”

  “Well, the job entails work in both advertising and commercial photography, which means you would shoot on location whenever warranted, edit your digital images, and then you would lead a team when needed to use those images in the development of promotional material to meet the needs of our clients. You would also work with our marketing teams to help rebrand existing products for our clients.”

  I shake my head. “Sounds interesting. So ,for example, the whale photos I took the other day could be used in creating a new marketing campaign for the Boston Harbor Cruises?” I remember looking through one of their brochures on the catamaran and thinking it looked a little outdated.

  Finn smiles at me. “Spoken like you’ve been working here for years. Yes, absolutely; and it just so happens that the Boston Harbor Cruise line is already a client of ours. I’m sure with your passion and obvious creativity you may be the perfect person to spark a renewed interest for an old client.”

  Okay, I like what I’m hearing. This could be an outstanding opportunity for me.

  “Olivia, this business that you would be stepping into can be an extremely lucrative business, and I’m not just talking about money, though yes, the money is great. I won’t lie about that. Some of our clients are major businesses that willingly drop millions of dollars on their marketing campaigns if it means their business stays on top. Take Mass. General Hospital for example. They’re the leading hospital in Boston, so they take great strides to stay ahead of the others, even in their promotional materials. They’ve been huge clients of ours since my Dad got sick and was in their care. He had a ton of respect for how that hospital is run.”

  “It’s not about the money, Finn. I’m content in the way I live, but I would be lying if I said the ideas now running through my head and the opportunity to unleash my creativity didn’t excite me a great deal.”


  “Good. I like that your wheels are already turning. Our commercial photographers are constantly helping our marketing teams come up with the best way to present our client’s products in the best light. It’s stressful at times because there’s always a deadline, and for creative people sometimes deadlines are frustrating and a bit imprisoning; but Olivia, when you’re driving down the road and you see the billboard you designed, or you open a magazine and see the promotional spread that you developed…”

  “Or you see a picture of the Cliffs of Moher on the cover of National Geographic...” I finish Finn’s sentence for him.

  Finn sighs and smiles so large his smile touches his eyes. I return his smile in total understanding of the euphoria he must’ve felt seeing his work published.

  “It’s every photographer’s dream,” I say in awe, “to be published in National Geographic.”

  “Yeah.” Finn raises his eyebrows and nods his head at me, his eyes never leaving mine.

  “You could have that, Olivia. All of it,” he whispers.

  Abby nudges me in my side and whispers in my ear. “Liv, don’t you fucking think about walking out of this room without your name on a contract. This job is your dream job.”

  I whisper back at her still never taking my eyes off of Finn’s. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

  “So, um,” I clear my throat “My boss. You said you wouldn’t be my boss?”

  “Correct. Well, yes, technically I suppose I would be your boss; but Karen Elena, my Advertising Account Coordinator, sort of oversees all of the marketing photographers since your projects go through her in the end anyway. You have to remember, though, that we’re not a huge advertising agency. My father believed in keeping us small and united, and it’s worked for us very well for many years. As long as everyone is completing their projects and keeping the workplace drama free, I don’t have to get involved. I’ll introduce you to Karen tomorrow; you’ll like her. She’s intuitive and creative and always open to ideas outside the box, but she doesn’t have your talent or education. Like I said before, she’s more the principal of your department and you’re the “special art” teacher. She’s always had an interest in photography and can do Photoshop edits like you wouldn’t believe, but her job isn’t as exciting as yours. It doesn’t come with travel perks or the reward of seeing your work in someone’s advertising. Like me now, she gets paid the big bucks to be the office administrator, to make sure your department and your collaboration with the marketing staff runs smoothly, and helps with questions or problems with clients as they arise. She’s a good friend of my mom’s, as well; I told you the staff around here are like family. We’ve all been together for a long time.”