Chapter 25
Ian
It was Wednesday. I hadn’t seen Adalyn since Friday night when we fell asleep on the couch. It was hard not to contact her over the weekend, but knowing I would see her Monday kept me going. I wasn’t going to give her as much time away from me this time. I was going to go to her and we were going to work this out.
Only she didn’t come to work on Monday. I know, because I worked in her office all day so I wouldn’t miss her. Finally, around 2 a.m. I headed out. It wasn’t entirely unusual for employees not to come in to work one day since we didn’t have set hours. So as I tossed and turned all night, I decided to get to work extra early to make sure I beat her there and wait for her in her office again.
Only she didn’t show up again. By 10 p.m. Tuesday night, with no sign of Adalyn and no word from her about why she wasn’t at work, I called her. It went straight to voicemail. I sent her several text messages but got no response. I debated going to her apartment but didn’t know if my showing up there would only make things worse, so I tried Stacy’s phone. I didn’t even give Stacy time to greet me when she picked up.
“Stacy where is Adalyn? Is she okay?”
“Hello to you too, dick.”
“Seriously, Stacy, she hasn’t been to work and I can’t get through to her. I’m worried. Is she home? Is she sick?”
“She’s fine Ian, she just took a couple days off. Leave her alone.”
“What? Why would you tell me to leave her alone? I’m her friend and her boss. I’m not bothering her, I’m concerned.”
“Well you’re bothering me. I can’t talk right now. I’ll call you later.”
She hung up before I could say anything else. I immediately dialed her again but she must have hit ignore because after three rings it went to voicemail. What was going on? Why was everyone ignoring me? I must have been missing something.
I wanted so badly to just drive over to her apartment, demand to see her. My self control was dwindling and it was getting too hard to give her space. I had no idea what was going on with her. Why she reacted the way she had in my office, why she had cried in my arms, and then disappeared before I woke up. She was obviously avoiding me, no matter what anyone said, that was obvious. I needed to understand what I had done wrong. I needed to fix it.
Deciding I needed to calm down and compose myself before I showed up at her door and said or did something to make it worse, I headed home. My mind was on fire, not slowing long enough for me to fall asleep. But eventually my body started to shut down anyway, too worn down from my lack of sleep over the last two weeks. As I drifted off to sleep, Adalyn’s face filled my thoughts. How her whole body lit up when she smiled. How her lip puffed out adorably when she was pouting. How she would chew her lip and fidget with her hands when she was nervous. And then the last thing I saw before sleep took me was the sad look in her eyes when I held her just a few days ago, and I worried it would be the last time I would ever feel her in my arms.
I must have forgotten to set my alarm because when I woke in a groggy haze it was already sunny out. I glanced at my clock and saw that it was already 9 a.m. Shit! I never slept this late. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gotten to work after 7 a.m.
I quickly showered, and needing the confidence today, I decided to wear a suit. I knew I looked good in them and the first time I’d met Adalyn I’d been wearing this very one. So much had happened since that first meeting and I had a hard time remembering what my life was like before Adalyn. Had I even really been living? Or was I still just pretending? Going through the motions of what I thought needed to be done, still hiding who I truly was.
These thoughts still plagued me as I pulled into the parking lot at work. I couldn’t get upstairs fast enough. If she wasn’t at work today, that was it, I was going to go look for her. Enough of these games and avoidance, it was time for me to lay it all out there and tell her how I felt and hope she could find it in herself to love me back.
I could tell she wasn’t there as soon as I stepped off the elevator. The place just felt…empty. It wasn’t, of course. There were people everywhere, playing games, chatting. There was loud music playing but I could barely hear it over the pounding in my ears. I just had a feeling…a horrible, sinking feeling…that today was not going to be a good day.
I was right. As I approached her office, I saw her desk first. It had been completely cleared of all personal belongings and the only thing sitting on it was her cell phone and an envelope. I knew what was in it. I didn’t need to open it, but I did anyway. And my heart sank when I realized I was right about what was inside.
Dear Mr. Drake,
I am writing this letter to regretfully inform you of my resignation from Drake Designs effective immediately.
You will find I have returned the “company phone” and have also left a check for the amount of my sign-on bonus. Taking into consideration the fact that I did not earn this money and it is not really “company policy” to issue sign-on bonuses to each of it’s employees, I did not feel comfortable keeping it.
I wish you and your company the best of luck in future endeavors.
Dearest Regards,
Adalyn Montgomery
Nope. She wasn’t getting away that easily. I tore up the check, shoved her phone in my pocket and started toward the door. I was brought to an abrupt halt at the sight of Carrie standing in the doorway, looking guilty of something.
“What did you do, Carrie,” I growled as I stalked toward her.
“I…I-I just…I was helping you, Ian!” She was pleading and tugging on my arm as I tried to pass her. “Please understand, Ian. She wasn’t good for you. She was going to hurt you just like Maggie did. You’ve been a mess the past few weeks and I…”
“You know nothing!” I whipped around and yanked my arm free of her grasp. Carrie gasped and took a step back, looking a little fearful of how angry I was in that moment. “You don’t know her, Carrie. You have no idea what you’ve done. What did you do to make her quit? To make her hide from me? Tell me now so I can fix it.” She hesitated, looking around like she was trying to find an excuse. “NOW, Carrie! Don’t lie to me. Tell me right now or this will only get worse.”
“I told her the truth, okay?” She yelled, finding her courage to speak. “I told her about everything you’ve done for her since she started here, and how it wasn’t how you normally did things. That you’d given her special treatment. That you wanted to fix her and that she was going to end up destroying you because you are too blind to see how bad she is for you.”
I looked away, not able to even face my sister in that moment. Deep down I knew she thought she was helping. She thought she was doing what was best for me, but I was tired of her interfering. I had let her get away with these types of things our whole lives because of how rough everything had been for her, but now she had managed to push away the one woman I’d ever truly loved and I couldn’t bear to forgive her for that right in that moment.
“It’s time to grow up, Carrie. Stop trying to use my life as an excuse to avoid yours.” I knew my words were harsh, but she needed to hear them. Without another word I walked out the door, leaving Carrie quietly crying behind me.