ROBYN
By Monday morning it had been two days since I’d seen Aaron. I was beginning to think that he was avoiding me. The up and down of this relationship had started to make me feel like I was riding on an out of control rollercoaster and I wasn’t certain how much longer I could do it. I cared for him deeply, but at some point I was going to have to start thinking of myself.
He’d called me on Sunday night and said he was still “working on” my surprise. I couldn’t imagine what it could be, and I couldn’t want anything less. Anything that kept his attention away from me this long really wasn’t something that I wanted.
I was ready to go back to work Monday morning. I was tired of laying around. I got up and showered and dressed, feeling good enough for the first time in several days to not take any pain medications. When I got to work, Max greeted me first. He hugged me and told me how happy he was that I was okay. Then Gary came in not long after that. He hugged me too and looked so upset that I felt bad for him. I felt bad for me too…the man that I wanted to care that much about me just didn’t seem to.
I tried to shake the weekend off and get right to work. I had some website things to work on, but since I hadn’t been in the office for a while, I decided to check my email first. I had about fifty of them, but the only one that caught my eye was from Aaron. It had been sent early this morning and simply said,
“Robyn, when you have a moment, can I see you in my office?”
I was suddenly excited again, and a little mad at myself for doubting him. I had it in my head all of a sudden that he was going to tell me that we’re announcing that we’re dating. Later, I’ll wonder where I got that idea, but right at that moment I was excited and sure that’s what it was. Maybe sometimes my positive outlook on things crossed a line into fantasy….
I poked my head in Max’s office and told him I had to run upstairs and would be right back and then I took the elevator up to the tenth floor with anticipation building with each light of the button. When the elevator stopped and the doors slid open I stepped off to see Aaron’s assistant, Janice at her desk. She looked at me and said,
“Good morning, can I help you?” She didn’t know who I was. I guess she saw hundreds of faces a day, hoping to get in and see the Wizard. Hopefully, today he would be ready to go public with our relationship and she would get to know me well.
“Hi, I’m Robyn Hurst. I’m here to see Mr. Winters. I think he’s expecting me.”
Janice didn’t look convinced, Aaron obviously didn’t tell her that he’d asked me to come up. She picked up her intercom and I heard her say,
“Mr. Winters, there’s a Miss Hurst here to see you.” After a beat she said, “Yes, sir.” She looked up at me then and smiling, she said, “Go ahead in.”
I thanked her and went in to find Aaron sitting behind his desk looking as amazing as ever. He waited for me to close the door and then he stood up. I thought he was going to come around the desk and hug me or kiss me….I felt really foolish when he laid a photograph of a mug shot down on his desk and said, “Look!”
I looked at the photo and then back at him. He was smiling broadly, obviously proud of himself. “That’s the man who mugged me.” I was confused. What was Aaron doing with a photo of the man who mugged me?
“Good!” he said, ecstatic. “All they needed was your positive identification. I’ll take you down there right away….”
“Wait!” he stopped talking but looked at me, shocked. I’d never used such a stern tone with him…but I was suddenly very angry. “Just wait…I’m trying to process this. Is this…? Oh my goodness…This is what you’ve been doing? This is my surprise?”
He smiled again, but it was a confused smile. He had no idea why I seemed upset. Hesitantly he said, “Yes, they’ve caught him, with the help of Winter’s security detail. He’s going to be brought to justice. I wanted to make sure that happened…for you.”
“Did you bother to ask me what it was that I wanted, Aaron? Because if you had, the answer wouldn’t have been bringing this petty thief to justice. It would have been spending time with you. That’s all I want…that, and for you to not be embarrassed to be seen with me in public. If you don’t get that, then maybe this relationship is just not going to happen.”
“Seriously? I did this for you. How could you not want this guy in jail?”
“No Aaron, you did this to assuage some sense of guilt that you felt for being so rude to me on New Year’s Eve, and you’re missing the point…I don’t care if he’s in jail or not. I care about you. If you were in an accident I couldn’t have been pried away from your side. The accident was not your fault, but choosing not to spend time with me when I need you, that is. You are so focused on closing your business deals…and that’s what you treated this as, a business deal that needed to be closed. I wish that just once you’d be that focused on being with me…I wish you would have at least just talked to me about it….I think we both need to take some time to think about this before someone ends up getting hurt.”
I turned around quickly then so he didn’t see the tears in my eyes. I opened the office door and hurried past Joanne and I cursed inwardly that the elevator took so long to get there. Once inside, I leaned against the wall and let the tears fall. I was sure he was the one….I’d let myself believe it. I’d let myself forget that he’d have to know that as well for this to work.