Chapter Ten

Troy

A week had gone by since Melinda got up and left after sex. I had to admit, I tried not to take it personally, but after such an amazing night, having her run out of the penthouse kind of made me feel like shit. It made me rethink all the times I had dipped out on women after a night of hot sex. Even so, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. At that moment I was sitting there in a meeting with the investors, completely ignoring whatever someone was saying, thinking about Melinda. I hadn’t heard a peep from her, but she was definitely on my mind.

At night I would replay that hot sex over in my mind, and during the day I would think about all the conversations we’d had. It was like everywhere I turned, she would pop into my mind. I was starting to get frustrated by all of it, not wanting her to be gone, but not wanting to sit around and obsess over her anymore. This was in no way like me at all, and the people around me were starting to notice.

“Troy,” the investor said, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry, Chuck, can you repeat that?”

“Do you have anything else that you would like to add before we wrap up this meeting? We’re nearing the end of the second quarter and your numbers are up; you’re bridging closer to Creative Nature, and all in all we’re very happy with your progress,” he repeated.

“Thank you, sir,” I said, standing up. “To answer your question, no, I don’t think I have anything to add. I think that our progress, our clients, and our bottom lines speak for themselves. I want to thank everyone for coming out for the meeting today. So, if there are no objections, I’ll go ahead and close this meeting out.”

I needed to get these guys out of here. I was in no frame of mind to be hosting the people that paid the bills. I needed to wrap up the meeting, knowing that they could see my mind was somewhere else. I waited until everyone had left the conference room and then made my way slowly back to my office. I went inside, closed the door, and pulled my email up. There were no new emails, so I picked up my phone and checked for messages. None. I was starting to get disappointed every single time I checked and there wasn’t a single thing from Melinda. I felt like the girls in those chick flicks, constantly checking their phones and going into full meltdowns where they ate a gallon of ice cream and drank a bottle of wine. Except she definitely wasn’t doing that, since she’d been the one who walked out on me. Damn, I hated being on this side of things!

I sighed and slammed my phone down on the table, starting to feel like I needed to get out of there or I was going to lose my mind. I stood up and thought about it for a second, thinking maybe a little yoga would clear my mind. However, before I could leave, my secretary came over the loud speaker.

“Mr. Wallace, Riley is here to see you,” she said.

“All right,” I replied. “Send him in.”

It was like he’d known that I needed something to get my mind straight. Riley had been there since the last relationship I had, in college. I walked back over and sat down, opening my laptop and making it look like I was actually doing some work. The door creaked open and Riley walked through the door, smiling from across the room.

“Dude,” I said, standing up and walking toward him. “It’s freaking good to see you, man.”

“You too,” he said, shaking my hand and then pulling me into a hug. “It feels like it’s been forever.”

“Man, tell me about it,” I said. “You definitely have been missed. Though, I’m glad you got to take some time away.”

“It was great,” he sighed. “We went out to Tahiti for a couple of weeks and man, the sun and the sand really put me in the right state of mind.”

“How’s Lizzy?”

“She is so good, man,” he smiled. “Though that morning sickness is really giving her a tough time.”

Right. His wife was pregnant. I’d forgotten that completely.

“How far along is she now?”

“Four months now,” he said, smiling. “She’s starting to get a little baby belly and it’s freaking adorable.”

“Man, that’s so crazy,” I said. “I still can’t believe you’re married, much less getting ready to be a father.”

“Me either, man. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were picking up chicks at the bar,” he laughed.

“It wasn’t that long ago,” I pointed out.

“Maybe for you,” he laughed. “But I’m happy. I couldn’t imagine my life being any different. Seriously, I know you scoff at relationships, but she is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Well, the best thing until I found out I was going to be a father. I was terrified at first, but now I can’t wait to meet the baby. I can’t wait to be a dad.”

It was crazy hearing these words out of Riley’s mouth, especially after everything we had been through over the years. We had known each other since we were about fifteen. From that point, on we never left each other’s sides. We went to Brown together and then started T&R Marketing together. We had risen from the bottom to the top, never disagreeing on anything, and always having each other’s backs. When he met Lizzy, though, his wild streak was over, and he never looked back. I had to admit, there was something about his relationship that made my bachelorhood feel exhausting.

I looked down at my lap as I thought about Melinda, wondering if she could have been my Lizzy. I mean, I wasn’t in any way looking for marriage, but neither was Riley when he met Lizzy. He’d banged this girl once, and Lizzy had turned out to be her best friend. When he saw her, he was done for. I’d heard the story repeatedly.

“Okay,” he said, leaning forward. “What’s going on? I can see something is up from the look on your face.”

“I met a woman,” I said, watching his face.

“You meet a lot of women,” he pointed out.

“No, I met a woman,” I repeated. “As in met her. It was seriously supposed to be me picking her up at a party and taking her home like I did every other girl. Then … she rejected me.” Saying it out loud made it sting even more.

“Uh oh.” Riley raised his eyebrows and waited.

“Well, I ended up getting her on a date and sleeping with her,” I explained.

“Predictable …”

“Again, no. It was honestly the best sex that I had ever had. I thought when I had finally gotten her, when I had slept with her, I wouldn’t want to be with her anymore.”

“But that isn’t how it happened,” he said, shaking his head and giving me an annoyingly knowing look. “So why don’t you call her?”

“Because she blew me off,” I replied. “She just got this big promotion and works super hard and feels that she doesn’t have time for anything but that in her life. The thing is, this was more than just sex, and I know that she felt that way too.”

“Then you need to pull out all the stops,” Riley said bluntly. “You need to make the big gesture. Do that thing you know will get her, no matter how hard she tries to fight it.”

“You’re right,” I sighed, realizing as I spoke that I was in even deeper than I’d originally believed myself to be. Great as the sex was, what I really wanted was to see Melinda again, clothes on or off, didn’t matter. Just the two of us talking again. Maybe kissing. “That just might be the only way I can actually get her to pay attention. She’s the most stubborn woman I have ever met. At the same time though, when she lets down her guard, she’s amazing.”

“I really like hearing you talk about someone like that,” he smiled.

“I like it too, even though I’ve been fighting it tooth and nail,” I admitted.

“Well, buddy, good luck,” he said, standing up. “I gotta head over to the doctors to meet Lizzy there; it’s sonogram day.”

“Congrats. Thanks for coming by,” I said, coming around and giving him a hug. “You’ll be back to work soon, right?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve got a few more days at home and then I’ll be back to harassing you constantly.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” I laughed.

I watched him leave the office and walked over, sitting down again. If I was going to make this happen, if I was going to show Melinda some kind of big gesture, then I couldn’t sit around thinking about forever. I knew myself. I knew that I would talk myself out of it if I waited much longer.

Screw it. I needed to do this now. I jumped up from the chair and grabbed my wallet, making my way to the door. I told the secretary to cancel the rest of my day and headed out of the building, jumping into one of our cars waiting out front.

He raced over to Creative Nature and I took the elevator up to Melinda’s floor, trying to keep the adrenaline running through my body long enough to get through this. When the doors opened up, I walked to the desk and waited impatiently for the secretary to get off the phone. When she did, she looked up at me and smiled.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, I’m here to see Melinda Phase,” I said. “It’s really important.

“All right,” she replied. “Wait here just one moment.”

The secretary dialed the extension to Melinda’s office, but there was apparently no answer.

“Let me try her again,” she said. “She doesn’t have a secretary yet, so if she’s away from her office she won’t hear the phone.”

I walked forward, looking down at the floor and pacing, waiting to hear the secretary connect. Glancing around aimlessly, my eyes suddenly landed on Melinda. Immediately my heart started pounding as she stood there, talking to another employee. I looked at the secretary, who wasn’t paying attention, and started forward.

I made my way down into the pit, taking a shortcut through the cubicles. I had been there several times, meeting with Anthony, so the office layout was somewhat familiar to me. I smiled big as Melinda finished with the employee and glanced up at me. Her mouth dropped slightly open and she crossed her arms in front of her as I jogged up the stairs and finally got to her. At first, she looked irritated. Yeah, I got it. If any woman I’d ever been with had showed up at my workplace, I’d have freaked.

But this was different, even if she didn’t see it yet. I didn’t let my smile drop. And slowly, her arms relaxed.

“What are you doing here?”

“I know what you’re doing,” I said. “You’re running. I recognize the signs because I’m king of the sprint. And quite frankly, I’m not going to put up with it.”

“What?”

She looked really uncomfortable since we were standing in the middle of the office. One by one people started to look over at us, most of them already knowing who I was. She shifted uncomfortably in her stance and looked back at her office like a cornered badger. I chuckled to myself, thinking of how adorable she was when she was caught off guard.

“If you agree to go out with me again, I’ll stop embarrassing you,” I said, trying to keep a straight face.

She stared at me for several moments and then slowly she started to smile. Finally, she nodded, turned, and walked back into her office. She left me standing in the middle of the hallway looking like a fool, but it was fine. Because I knew it. I knew for sure now that she had more feelings for me than she was letting on. I knew that if I offered her my pride and my dignity, that she would fold in a heartbeat.

Though I hadn’t gotten exactly what I wanted, it was actually way more than that. I had gotten a possible shot at a future that a few weeks ago hadn’t even been on my radar.