“I ’m sorry, sir,” Mary muttered as she flipped through the file. “I don’t seem to have any payment information on record for Ms. Morgan. I think we should reschedule until I get this resolved .”

I barely looked up at her. Two calls to Tabitha from my personal number had gone to voicemail. Tabitha had called the office though two days ago to confirm her appointment, so I knew she was okay. It was infuriating to know that she was dodging me socially. All I needed was a few minutes of her time to tell her how sorry I was. It wasn’t going to happen today even though I would see her. It had to wait until tomorrow when she was healing and awake .

“Don’t worry about the payment information, it’s been taken care of privately .”

“Huh?” stammered Mary. “I didn’t see anything about that in the charity logs .”

“I said not to worry about it, okay?” I snapped. “Just let me know when she arrives and I will start my prep .”

“Yes, sir,” she muttered. “Well her appointment is for eleven, so if she’s not here in the next twenty minutes we’ll have to bump the appointment .”

“Why?” I asked her. “I didn’t schedule any others for today .”

“Well,” Mary stammered. “That’s policy, sir. The patient has fifteen minutes from their scheduled time to arrive .”

“Just tell me when she gets here, that will be all,” I grumbled .

I wasn’t in the mood to deal with Mary’s jealousy and bad attitude. I was well aware of the policy and knew that Tabitha had four more minutes to get here before I would start to worry. I folded my hands in my lap as Mary closed the door. It was hard enough to stay focused, but now I was wondering if she was still going to show up. The hands on the clock seemed to slow down, adding to the torture of my wait. I watched it closely, waiting for the knock that would announce Tabitha’s arrival .

It never came .

I sat there like a fool for an hour after her appointment. Finally, I had to let the staff go for the weekend. With no other appointments, it was pointless for me to keep them there. Each time Mary would come in to check on me I’d pretend to be working diligently on paperwork. I gave up the game once she was gone after assuring her for the tenth time that everything was fine .

When I was alone at last, I texted Selina. She didn’t answer and after a few minutes I gave up on being patient and called her. She would at least know where Tabitha was at. I strummed my fingers impatiently against the desk. Why was I acting like such a child ?

“Hello?” Selina said softly .

“Hey, Selina. It’s Earl,” I said, trying to sound casual .

“Hey,” she whispered. “Is everything okay with Mom and Gary ?”

“What?” I stammered. “Oh yeah, sure. Yeah this isn’t like an emergency or anything. I was actually just wondering if you knew where Tabitha was at .”

“Oh,” she said quickly. “Let me call you back, I’m in class .”

“Okay sure, that would be—” I started to say .

She hung up before I could finish. I ground my teeth, trying to keep my wild temper under control. Tabitha at this point was being a little childish. I knew that Selina could have shared the information with me even in class. Again, I sat tapping my fingers until finally, after what felt like an eternity, my phone lit up as Selina called me .

“Sorry about that,” she said. “I had to step out of the room. Tabitha had a job interview this morning. I know she was pretty confident about getting it. I haven’t heard from her yet, though, so I don’t know if she’s back at her place or not .”

Her honesty was surprising. I thought she would be helping Tabitha dodge me. “Do you know where her interview was at ?”

She hesitated. “I do, but listen she doesn’t want to talk to you, okay? I don’t know what happened with the two of you, but you really got to her. She doesn’t let people in often and you screwed the pooch on that one .”

I groaned, “I know that, Selina. I am trying to find her so I can tell her how sorry I am. I know I screwed up and I don’t want to lose her .”

Selina sighed, “You do make a convincing argument .”

“Tell me or don’t tell me, but I’m not going to give up. I made a mistake, I’m only human .”

“I’m not the one you should be telling.” She sighed. “It was with the Fink Group. They want her as an entry level associate to head up a new charity .”

“Wow,” I stammered. “That would be a great fit for her. She’s so generous as it is .”

“Well her interview was an hour ago. So unless it went terribly wrong I would think she’d just be finishing up .”

“Thanks, Selina, you’re a lifesaver,” I told her quickly as I grabbed my keys .

“Just don’t screw this up again, okay? She needs you and you need her. If I didn’t think it was meant to be, I wouldn’t be helping you at all .”

“I promise I won’t screw it up again,” I told her as I ran out to my car. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go try and get my girlfriend back .”

* * *

I tried to call Tabitha again, but she didn’t answer. I was parked outside of the Fink Group main office waiting for her. I wished I knew if she was even in there or if I was just wasting time. Either way, I would do what it took to get her back. It was a mantra that I told myself over and over again as I waited .

Finally, I saw her emerge from the building and I quickly jumped out of the car. She saw me right away and froze, but she didn’t turn away, which was a small victory for me. I reached her in a few short seconds and resisted the urge to wrap her into my arms and cover her with kisses .

“What are you doing here?” she hissed. “It was Selina, wasn’t it? I swear that girl can’t keep a secret to save her life .”

I laughed, “Don’t blame her, she just wants to see you happy. Can we please talk? Just for a few minutes ?”

She bit her lip and looked down at her watch. “I guess so .”

I struggled to keep from jumping up and down like a little kid. “Coffee ?”

Tabitha nodded and we started walking slowly over to a coffee cart across the grass covered pavilion. It was elating just to be in her presence .

“Sorry I missed the appointment this morning. I meant to call, but it just slipped my mind .”

“Oh, it’s no big deal. I’m happy you decided not to go through with it. What changed your mind ?”

Tabitha blushed. “It was what you said actually .”

“Oh?” I said excitedly .

“Yeah, I went to a career advisor and they talked with me. We found a field that I was qualified in, but still gave back to the community. Then I let Selina help me pick out a few new outfits and then I came here. This was my first interview since everything changed .”

“Wow!” I stammered. “That’s amazing! I mean that is really great to hear. So how did the interview go ?”

“Great! I got the job. I start first thing on Monday. They even gave me a housing allowance to move closer to the main office .”

“Well it sounds like things have really turned around for you. I wanted to talk to you about the way things ended between us,” I said quickly .

We were almost to the coffee stand and I didn’t want the trance to be broken. She had a glow about her that radiated happiness. I wanted to sweep her off her feet and take her back to my apartment and show her just how proud I was of her achievements. The fact that she wasn’t going to alter her perfect body was just icing on the cake .

She shook her head. “Listen, I hate how things went down too. I wanted to call you, but then I got sucked into everything else that was happening. I didn’t have time and to be honest, I wasn’t sure that you would even want to talk to me .”

“Why wouldn’t I want to talk to you? I’ve tried to call you a few times now .”

“I thought it was just about the surgery.” She shrugged. “I know that my mother has complicated things. She has always been good at doing that .”

“I don’t care about your mother. You are the one that I want to be with,” I told her softly .

She shifted and looked at the coffee cup now in her hands. “I was going to see if you wanted to have dinner with me tonight. A sort of ‘thank you’ for suggesting that I go to a career advisor first. You saved me a lot of pain. I was about to make a big mistake in getting that surgery .”

“That was all you. You are the one who wanted to change and put in the legwork instead of taking the easy way out like so many others. It’s another amazing quality that you have .”

Her cheeks blushed a bright red, sending a thrill down my body. She cleared her throat. “So what do you think? Would you want to have dinner with me ?”

“Absolutely. I would love to talk more about us,” I said .

“Just one more thing,” she said quickly. “Did you talk to your dad about my mother? I haven’t had any angry phone calls since she left. It’s a little strange for her. I’m normally the first person she lashes out at when things go wrong .”

“Yeah I did, we don’t need to worry about it though. And if she calls you then tell her to shove it. You don’t need that kind of drama in your life .”

“But I need you, right?” she asked sarcastically .

“Tabitha,” I said .

She shook her head. “Let’s not get into that right now. You said ‘yes’ to dinner and I’m going to hold you to that okay? Why don’t we meet at The Lounge around seven ?”

“I could pick you up if you’d like. If it would make things easier .”

Tabitha shook her head, looking away from me for a moment. I took a step closer to her and gently squeezed her arm. She looked back at me and I could see she was fighting back tears .

“What’s wrong ?”

“Nothing, I just don’t want you to make my life easier okay? Can we please just meet at the restaurant ?”

“Sure, I was just—” I let my words trail off .

Tabitha was right. I was always trying to make things easier for her, but it was only because I cared so much. I hated it when she struggled. Right now, it was easy to see that I was the one pushing her away. I had to find a way to let her be her own person and not constantly take control of the situation .

“I can meet you there, no problem,” I told her quickly .

She smiled and her tears dissipated immediately. “Great, I can’t wait .”

I stepped closer to her and lightly kissed her cheek, taking in her enchanting scent. I didn’t want to pull away from her, but I knew I had no choice. With one final breath of her sweet perfume I stepped away from her and headed for my car. I didn’t trust myself to linger any longer. She was my kryptonite .