Chapter 5
Edward’s phone buzzed and he picked it up like it was second nature. When he looked at Joseph’s name on the text message he realized it was almost the end of the day. He had been staring at his computer screen for the past half hour without seeing it. He hit the button and read the text.
Got a few minutes? What was his idea this time?
Sure. Come on in.
A few minutes later, he walked in and sat on the other side of Edward’s desk, putting his fingertips together.
“I have an idea.”
Edward just smiled. “I figured. What is your idea?”
“No, no, no. Now hear me out. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. Been working on the strategy and the details.”
“I’m listening.” Edward knew Joseph was full of ideas and even though most of them were good ones, they were usually virtually impossible to follow through with only because he liked to change his mind and interests often, or he expected Edward to be fully on board with it to which he usually wasn’t. Needless to say, he always listened to what he had to offer.
“I want to start another company.”
“Another company,” Edward repeated, raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah, a lot like this one. New name, new offices, new everything. Put one up against the other and double our profits.”
“You don’t think we work enough now?”
“We hire new people to help do what we do now and we just overlook the two companies.”
“I don’t know, Joseph.”
“Come on, think about it. We can’t lose, man. We have the capital from this company for the initial investment so we won’t owe anything. We’ll just set it up as a loan with interest. It will work.”
“I don’t know.” He searched Joseph’s face for a reason to say yes but he had a hard time with it.
“Look at how long it took us to profit from Caldwell & Johnson. It has been an easy ten years and we are beyond successful.”
“I’m not saying it’s a bad idea. You just have to give me a couple of days to think about it. Let me absorb your ideas.”
“Well it’s Friday and the weekend is here. Take all the time you need. Just let me know by Monday mornin’.” He grinned sheepishly when Edward looked up at him. “Any plans?”
“No.” He leaned back in his chair and fiddled with a pencil from his desk. “I think I’m just going to veg out this weekend. Be alone for a couple of days. I’m sort of burned out from the week.”
Joseph calmed down and gave Edward a sympathy grin. “Talita call you at all?”
Edward shook his head. “I don’t expect her to. Did I tell you I went to see her?”
“No. You did? You took my advice?”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“Her husband answered the door.”
“Naw! She’s married?”
“Apparently so.”
“Awe, shit. Sorry, man.”
“Why? It’s not like we had any sort of relationship. She was a good time,” he shrugged. He didn’t even buy it. He wasn’t sure why he expected his best friend to. Even if she was a one-nighter, he wouldn’t have talked like that about a woman. He had the utmost respect for the female species and their beauty.
“I know how much you liked her.”
“It’s no big deal. Really. She did to me what we do to most women. I guess I had it coming.”
The rest of what Joseph said was background noise to Edward as he began to wonder if he would ever find a woman who was willing to settle down with him.
“…so I’ll see you Monday.”
“Absolutely. Have a good weekend,” he nonchalantly said as his partner disappeared from his office.
He shut down his computer knowing he wasn’t going to get anything done and left his office. Instead of driving home, he walked up the block toward the beach that he was able to admire from his window every day. There was a small park up ahead within a good walking distance so he took his shoes and socks off and walked up the beach in that direction. The sand was warm under his feet and he let his toes dig in as he walked slowly along the coast line. When his feet hit the soft grass, he went to the first bench he saw and sat down, looking out toward the ocean.
The water was calm, serene, much like he was at the time. If only he were happy. His success was one thing but it wasn’t everything. His track record with women was only impressive to young guys who aspired to be like him. But in all honesty, he was embarrassed to admit to it to the woman he would hope to settle down with someday. It seemed as though every woman he got to know saw him as good looking and when they learned of his success, they automatically labeled him a player. He shook his head and wondered how he was supposed to change that. He hated labels and judgments.
A young couple walked toward him, their arms intertwined and their eyes locked on each other. Something about them made him want to watch them. They had that real love aura about them. He leaned back and smiled as the young man pointed out toward the ocean. The woman on his arm jumped up and down as if he had personally given her the beauty of the water for her to keep in her pocket. She was beautiful, simple and unadorned. She wore no makeup, no flashy clothes that revealed too much and she seemed genuinely happy with whatever life had offered her. Edward couldn’t help but feel a jealousy toward this man. Yes, he was rich and extremely successful and yes, he could pretty much have any woman he wanted but he wanted that. He wanted the genuine love of a woman the way this woman loved this man. To Edward, this man was richer beyond imagination than Edward had ever been.
He watched as they ran to a small wooden fence that bordered the beach line close to the water. She leaned against it as he imprisoned her to it with his arms on either side of her. She beamed with a smile Edward has never seen on a woman. He leaned toward her and kissed her deeply. They lost themselves in each other, their arms wrapping around the other, intertwining themselves and morphing as one, living in the moment, not caring about the world around them. She wrapped her legs around him and he lifted her to the top of the fence, burying his face into her long, naturally flowing hair. Her fingers fed up into his hair as her head slowly moved backwards. Edward was completely entranced with the couple. He was no longer on a bench on the beach overlooking the ocean. He was surrounded by their lives and their love. The way they touched each other seemed drenched in the endorphins given off by a first touch or a first kiss, but it had the existence of long lasting love. Of a love that lasted forever. Edward envisioned this couple fifty years into the future, still holding hands, implanting small kisses on each other’s face or walking slowly along a stone path, still shoulder to shoulder and as in love as they were just a small distance away from him.
“Amelia, I love you.”
She cupped his face and smiled at him. “I know.” She closed her eyes and pulled his face to her chest. “I love you, too. So very much.”
“How can we do this?”
She pulled him back from her and looked at him for a long time. “Seth,” she said, shaking her head. “I love you so much that it aches deep down inside. I don’t want you to worry about things you have no control over. We can get married tomorrow if you want to. I don’t care about the money. We don’t need it.”
“Things cost money. Money I don’t have. How can I possibly provide for you and give you a life of happiness?”
“If you think money will make me happy, you don’t know me at all.” She dropped her arms from him and let them hang at her sides.
“It’s just…. I’m supposed to be able to give you anything you want.”
“And you do,” she said, cupping his face again. “Seth, what I want is what is in here.” She pressed her fingertip into his chest. “No one can love me the way you do. I can pick some wild flowers for my bouquet. We can get married right here in this little park overlooking the ocean. It’s perfect. All we need is a minister.”
“But your dreams. I want to give you what you dream of.”
“A big wedding is not what I want anymore.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I want you. Only you. Maybe in five or ten years we can get remarried again, have that big wedding you want to give me. But right now,” she pulled him closer “I just want to be yours.”
Edward swallowed the lump in his throat and looked away for the first time. He got up from the bench and walked closer to the beach, following the shoreline where the water met the sand. His heart ached for someone that special in his life. When he looked back toward the couple, they had moved from the wooden fence to the very spot he sat on the bench where he experienced the sort of love he wanted in his life. Seth sat almost exactly where Edward did and Amelia was on his lap, her legs on either side of him. Their kisses became more intimate, more in depth of each other and their bodies moved in tune with each other’s. Edward took a few steps closer, drawn to their raw emotions for each other, he needed to see more.
Her arms pulled him closer to her as his hands were underneath her jacket caressing her breasts through her thin dress. He watched her body as her hips moved back and forth on his lap, her head going back momentarily, her hair falling behind her and cascading across his knees before being thrown forward again as she returned her lips back to his. Her fingers disappeared underneath his jacket as the heat grew between them. Edward quickly looked around to be sure they had the privacy he wished they had. He wanted to be a part of their involvement, to watch from a distance and experience their love as if reading their story in a romance novel impossible to put down. Anyone else privileged to catch them in such an act would only see it as live pornography they were able to witness then get off to later on. He could see it and take it for the beauty it represented.
He stepped closer, careful to keep his distance and keep out of sight. They fumbled as if they forgot what to do. She leaned back then they came together again, their bodies moving in unison. Edward parted his lips, lost in the events that were taking place before him. They were fucking each other on that bench, oblivious to their surroundings and unconscious of the eyes upon them. He felt his own cock stir and he immediately turned away, leaving them alone to create their own memories he hoped they would reminisce in years to come.
He walked back toward his car with a newfound determination and an idea of what he wanted in life. How he was going to get it was something he needed to work on, but he had some ideas and he wasn’t going to let anyone, including Joseph, hold him back.