Chapter Fifteen

Brenna

“So,” Riley said, smiling from underneath her eyelashes as she leaned over my desk. “How was it?”

Red spread across my face again, the flaming hot embarrassment overwhelming me. I wasn’t about to tell her what had happened – at least, not about the sex. But part of me was dying to gush about my actual date with Rhett, even though I knew I should probably keep my big fat mouth shut. After all, I didn’t know where we stood because I hadn’t heard from him. Part of me wanted to lean back and let him come to me, but the big, scary part knew I’d probably been ghosted. The last thing I wanted to do was talk for ages about how much I liked him only to learn that he’d assumed I was just a one-night-stand.

“We had fun,” I said. “He took me to the Russian Tea Room.”

Riley’s jaw dropped. “Shit, that’s a nice place. I can’t believe Rhett Bradshaw would have thought of that. It’s not his typical haunt. He must really like you.”

I burst out laughing. “Oh my god, Riley, it’s like the most famous restaurant in New York. Come on, don’t you think it was a little cheesy and stereotypical? He didn’t really have to dig deep. He has money, and he has connections. A last minute reservation is nothing for someone like him.”

Riley shook her head. “I wish the star pitcher of the Yankees would take me to that restaurant,” she said, her voice laced with envy. I could almost imagine her plain features turning an olive shade of green. “Or anyone, really.”

I wrinkled my nose. The latest issue of Sport Taste sat on my desk in front of me, and Rhett didn’t seem all that much like a star. At least, not with the way he’d been pitching lately. It had to be a slump because someone who didn’t get the job done got traded immediately or demoted to a farm club to fix it.

“Well, it was nice,” I said, leaning back in my chair and grabbing my insulated water bottle. I almost wished it had straight vodka inside. I wasn’t sure what it was, but Riley just rubbed me the wrong way. I couldn’t trust her, and I knew it in my gut. I’d keep the details vague. But one part of my confusion she could allay. “But he obviously hated it. He was a total fish out of water. And then he kept checking out this attractive older woman named Janet McCall. She came over to our table, and I nearly died. I couldn’t remember her, but she said we’d worked together for years.”

Riley nodded, the smile fading from her lips at that news. “You didn’t recognize her?”

I turned my face into a grimace of frustration. “No,” I whispered. “Not once. And I really, really tried. I’m starting to wonder if I’m ever going to get all my memories back.”

Riley frowned. She reached across my lap and plucked a framed photo off the far corner of my desk. It showed me and an older woman with dark hair – Janet – smiling into the camera.

“This was only taken last year,” Riley said. “See?” She pointed toward the date in the corner of the frame. “Brenna, I’m getting worried about you. When’s your next appointment with the neurologist?”

I groaned. “I told you,” I said in exasperation. “I’ve been worried all along. I think it’s next week, by the way. It’s in my planner.”

Riley grinned, suddenly smug again. “Good, the doctors will know what to do. Well, enough negative talk. Tell me about the rest of your date with Rhett. The doctors did say that talking about recent memories might help.”

I didn’t like her digging but indulged her for a moment. What if she was right about talking about it? The doctors had said as much. “Well, we left the restaurant and went to a bar. We’d only had a few sips of our first drink when this massive fight broke out. Oh, god, Riley – you should’ve seen it. It was crazy. It was like the whole bar went nuts.”

Riley nodded. “That’s not why you’re blushing though,” she said, giving me a saucy wink as if she could see into my private thoughts and already knew every minute detail of my night with Rhett. “Did you…you know?”

I bit my lip and glanced down at my hands, twisting in my lap. “That’s none of your business.”

“Brenna,” Riley whined. “I’m your best friend. Come on!” She pouted. “Remember all of the stuff I do for you? The least you can do is give me some hot gossip about Rhett Bradshaw. His bedroom prowess is the stuff of legends all over New York City. I have to know if it’s true.”

“I’m not going to discuss my personal life until my memory returns,” I said. “And that’s all you’re going to hear about it.”

Riley opened her mouth and frowned, but before she could start rebuking me, the office intercom buzzed.

“All Sport Taste writers and editors, to the conference room. Emergency meeting.”

A pit formed in my stomach and my hands trembled as I looked at Riley. “What’s going on?”

Riley looked just as uncomfortable. “I don’t know,” she said. “Nina sounded pissed, though.” When she saw the confused look on my face, she leaned closer and hissed, “Nina is our editor, remember?”

I nodded and jumped to my feet, grabbing my phone and a notepad. Everyone with a cubicle had already moved toward the big, windowless conference room in the back.

Whispers and buzzes of human electricity bounced off every corner of the dark room. The frantic vibe didn’t make me feel any better – if anything, it just made me feel worse, almost like there was an inside joke amongst my colleagues at my expense.

“Don’t worry,” Riley whispered as we sat down in two neighboring chairs. “I’m sure things are fine.”

Thirty seconds later, Nina stalked into the room, and the whispers immediately died down. Nina was a stylish woman in her early fifties with a cloud of black hair, dark eyes, and an intense scowl. Today, she wore a bright red suit. The color of power. In the cheerless conference room, she practically glowed with staunch authority.

“I am very unhappy,” Nina said. She glared right at me and nausea bubbled up the back of my throat. What had I done? “What is the meaning of this?”

Before anyone could respond, Nina held up a bunch of loose papers fastened together with clips. I stared, feeling like I should recognize them. But I didn’t. Not at all.

“Brenna,” Nina barked. “Where’s your involvement on the schedule? What do we have going right now for July? Your doctor’s cleared you for work, so this is no time to get lazy on me. Your doctor did clear you, correct?”

“Yes.” And he had. Physically, I was fine, but I hadn’t shared with Nina exactly how much of my memory was gone. I needed this job and had hoped some natural instinct would allow me to write as I’d written before. Now…I wasn’t so sure.

“Um, right, for July,” I said, stammering nervously and trying in vain to understand her anger. “I don’t–”

“Excuse me, Nina,” Riley said. She jumped up from her seat. “I’m working on Brenna’s piece for July. It’s almost finished. Brenna just wanted a second pair of eyes.”

“And what is this magical piece about?” Nina’s voice dripped venom now, even harsher than before. “Don’t tell me I have to play guessing games, Brenna.”

I shrank down in my seat. God, would she just go away if I clamped my eyes shut against the image of her killing me with her steely glare?

“It’s about the influx of Latino and Hispanic players, and how that is a symbol of our country’s political union,” Riley said. “Brenna did a lot of great research for the piece, Nina. You’re really going to like it.”

Nina narrowed her eyes at me as if she were contemplating whether or not to cut off my head at the shoulders and cheer as my lifeless mug rolled across the boardroom table. “I’d better,” she said stiffly. “Because right now, Brenna, I have to say that I’m not impressed. I don’t know if you suffered some kind of lasting effects from your recent head injury or what, but your quality of work has not been what I’m used to. Here at Sport Taste, we have very high standards. I thought you knew as much when I hired you.”

“I do,” I said in a rush, anxious to calm her down. Everyone in the room stared at me, and I felt awful. I wanted to melt right into the ugly carpet and disappear.

“Prove it,” Nina said with razor sharp precision. “And please – ask someone more talented than Riley to help you. She’s only a junior reporter. She shouldn’t be your second set of eyes on anything.”

I winced both for me and the younger girl.

When Nina turned to someone else with another urgent complaint, I sank down in my chair. My cheeks burned flaming hot with shame, and if it wouldn’t have drawn more unwelcome attention, I would have put my head between my legs.

Riley sat down. She reached under the table and squeezed my hand.

“Thanks,” I mouthed toward her.

Riley nodded. I could tell she was upset, too – she had every reason to be, considering that she’d been doing most of my duties in addition to her own. But more than ever, I was nervous that my memory would never come back. How was I going to keep my job if I had to keep up this charade for much longer?

I felt completely ill by the time Nina dismissed us. Everyone silently filed out of the conference room and filtered back into the main office – I wasn’t the only one who had been a target of Nina’s wrath. But from the way everyone but Riley avoided me, I could tell that what had just happened wasn’t the status quo.

“Is she always like that?” I whispered to Riley as we made our way back to my desk. “She seemed like she’s running a dictatorship.”

Riley sighed. “She’s not, usually,” she said in a hushed tone. “But she’s never yelled at you like that, Brenna. She’s never called you out in front of everyone. She was probably trying to prove something. I can’t believe she’s being so heartless so soon after your accident. What a bitch.”

I slumped down in my chair. “Does she think that I’m a terrible journalist?” I buried my face in my hands. “This sucks, Riley. I can’t remember anything! It’s so frustrating. Why hasn’t my memory come back before now?”

Riley shrugged. “You’ll be fine.” I noticed her voice didn’t sound as confident as usual. “Tell me more about Rhett,” she said in an encouraging tone. “Maybe that will help.”

“He hasn’t called me since our date,” I admitted. Talking about Rhett’s lack of communication made me feel even more wretched. “I tried texting him a few times, but I guess he was busy or working or something.”

“Duh, Riley mocked. “They’ve been on road trip; did you not even look at their schedule?” Riley raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, I actually did look at their schedule, Riley. When I was doing additional research on Rhett. I was actually pretty surprised at how little is out there on Rhett. And why don’t we have an online magazine for people to access?”

Riley blanched. “Well, I’ve heard they’re working on it. Technical glitch or something.”

I rolled my eyes. “We should have had something more substantial online years ago. I’ll talk to Nina about it…” I groaned, thinking of the anger in my boss’s eyes a little while ago, “someday soon.”

“Uh yeah. You should do that.” Riley brightened. “Why not try calling Rhett again, right now?”

“And say what?” I snapped. “That I almost just got fired from my job?” I rolled my eyes. “How the hell did you even come up with that story, anyway?”

Riley blushed. “I saw a headline about it this morning. It would make for a good story, though. Nina always like political things tied into our summer issue because it plays off all the other bikini magazines and makes us look more legit.”

“Of course she does,” I countered. “Thank you, though. I really mean it. I would’ve been dead in there without you.”

Riley smiled like the cat that got the cream. “I know.”

My phone buzzed loudly on my desk, making me jump with surprise. I frowned when I picked it up – Rhett’s name flashed across the screen.

“Oh my god,” I said. “He’s calling. He’s calling, Riley!”

“Well, pick it up, silly.” Riley rolled her eyes. “I swear, Brenna. That guy makes you act like such a teenager. You’re in your late twenties for Christ’s sake.”

Ignoring Riley, I grabbed my phone and quickly walked out of the office and into the lobby.

“Hello?” I wiped my sweaty palms against my thighs, balancing the phone between my cheek and my shoulder.

“Hey, Brenna,” Rhett said. “Sorry, it took me a while to get back to you. I’ve been a little busy.”

“Yeah. Congratulations on the successful road trip,” I answered, thankful to Riley for cluing me on about the Yankee’s schedule. “So how are you? Are you feeling okay? What’s up?”

Rhett chuckled. “Easy, tiger. I actually just got off the phone with my mother, if you can believe that. I told her about you.”

My heart skipped a beat, then thudded against my ribs. He told his mother about me? That could only mean one thing in womanville. “Oh my god, you did? What did you say?”

“Well, she asked if I was seeing anyone special.” Rhett yawned as if it happened all the time and the whole subject matter bored him to tears. When actually, the subject matter could mean the rest of our lives. “I told her maybe, yeah, that I’d just started dating someone new. My parents are coming into the city from New Jersey this Saturday, I thought I’d take them out to dinner.”

“Oh, wow, that’s so nice of you,” I said, swallowing the trepidation in my throat as my heart galloped in my chest. He hadn’t invited me to meet her. He’d just told her about me. Defcon Five abated. My eyes fluttered shut with embarrassment as I kneaded my skirt, bunching cotton fabric in my fist. I hated talking on the phone. Not being able to gesture and communicate with my eyes felt so awkward.

“Well, sweetheart, I’m a nice guy.” He paused for so long that I actually looked at the screen to see if the call had dropped. “Look, I was actually wondering if you’re free on Saturday night. My parents are always bugging me to bring a date. You feel like having dinner with me and a couple of geriatrics? I promise my mom doesn’t bite. At least not at the first meeting.”

“Well, that sounds like so much fun,” I said in a rush on the wings of my relief. He’d just asked me to meet his parents. Inwardly, I groaned at my enthusiasm. God, Brenna, be a little more desperate, why don’t you.

To my relief, Rhett chuckled at my strong reaction. “I’m glad you’re free. To tell the truth, my folks are nice people. But I really don’t feel like entertaining them by myself. It’s a little exhausting, you know, to have that kind of attention on you. My mom’s like some warped female version of Tom Brokaw with her probing questions.”

I laughed. “I think you’d be used to it,” I teased. “Being the star pitcher that you are and all. But I know the feeling. My mom oozes inappropriateness from every pore in her body.”

Rhett snickered. “Not so star lately,” he said. “But who knows…maybe my luck is changing.”

“Who knows,” I agreed, my voice growing softer. “Maybe it is.”

There was a long pause, and I wondered what he wanted to say but held back.

“So, I’ll be in touch soon with plans for Saturday. We have another early game, so it shouldn’t be too late. Get ready to meet the biggest Rhett Bradshaw fans of all time. Maybe they’ll tell you something about me that only the parents would know. For a journalist like you, isn’t that the Holy Grail?”

I laughed at his admission. “I can’t wait. See you then.”

“Bye, Brenna.”

The way Rhett said my name made me shiver. “Bye, Rhett. See you soon.”

After Rhett hung up, I stood in the lobby, gathering my thoughts and my breath. A smile spread across my face as I closed my eyes. The meeting with Nina had been terrible, but maybe a date with Rhett Bradshaw and his parents would serve as medicine for what ailed me. And I hadn’t been ghosted after giving it up on the first date.

Crisis averted.

And hell, maybe even having dinner with Rhett and his parents would jog some memories. You never can tell, I thought happily as I strode back into the bustling office. You never can tell.