Chapter 3
They both stood outside Eric’s office a while later, Christina had her head held high, and she was exuding confidence. Esmeralda, on the other hand, was fidgeting nervously from one foot to the next.
She had just received an email from the client, and her boss was in the CC. The client had liked the story so much, he was ordering a whole other batch, but he requested more words which meant more time to think things out, and Esmeralda didn’t want to do that just now. She wanted to go to Egypt and enjoy the sun.
She was hoping her boss would agree, and she was pretty sure he would, but the idea of having work to finish and jetting off anyway didn’t sit right with her. She was a real stickler for the rules, and she liked to keep her deadlines.
Esmeralda gave a start as she felt Christina elbow her in the side. “Ouch.” She rubbed her sore arm. “What was that for?”
“Stop fidgeting so much. We’re going to get those days off, and it won’t affect your deadline. You’re going to make it.”
Esmeralda gave her a rueful grin. “Am I really that obvious?”
Christina snorted. “Honey, you couldn’t be more obvious if you had a thought bubble over your head screaming nerd.”
“I’m not a nerd.”
Christina eyed her. “You’re definitely a nerd, but that by the way, is meant as a compliment. I mean that in the best possible way.”
“Thanks?” she questioned as the secretary, a petite blonde woman, smiled and signaled for them to go right in.
“You’re welcome,” Christina affirmed as she took the first step forward, Esmeralda following in her wake. Esmeralda had been here a lot longer, but it was Christina who was a natural born leader. It something in the way she carried herself, her magnetic presence, her charm, and her complete and total lack of indifference regarding what people thought of her that drew people to her. She was like a magnet especially for men.
Christina gave a brief knock. “Here we go.” She swung the door open and walked in with a dazzling smile while Esmeralda followed with a small smile of her own. Esmeralda quietly shut the door behind her as she turned around and faced Eric who had his brow furrowed in concentration. He was listening intently to the person on the other end of the line while he jotted down some things on a notepad.
He waved at them to sit down while he leaned back in his chair and sighed inaudibly.
Christina and Esmeralda sat opposite each other in plush mahogany chairs while Esmeralda secretly admired the interior decoration of the room. It was done in soft undertones of brown and green oozing a subtle kind of masculine charm that was subtle enough to draw attention, but doesn’t scream patriarchal otherwise it would drive their female clients away.
Eric made a noise of assent in the back of his throat before he bid the other person on the line a quick goodbye, and he turned around to face us with a smile on his face.
“Christina, Esmeralda, good afternoon ladies. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“We’d like a few days off Mr. Lovat,” Christina said, getting straight to the point.
One eyebrow went up. “Oh? And when would you like to take the time off?”
“Well, I know the office will be closing for three days because of the renovation next week, so we’d figured we’d bridge the gap, and have a whole week off.”
“Very shrewd of you, Christina. Well —” He leaned back in his chair and stroked his beard thoughtfully. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt anyone. You ladies are keeping up anyway, and a vacation might be just what you need to come back with fresh ideas for our clients.”
A knock interrupted their meeting, and Eric Lovat turned to face the door, a slightly annoyed smile on his face. “Yes?”
His secretary poked her head in. “Mr. Lovat, I’m so sorry to interrupt the meeting, but Mr. Austin is here, and he says it’s important.”
“Alright, send him in, please.”
All the blood drained from Esmeralda’s voice as she heard the name. Christina grabbed her hand and squeezed. She turned to her and mouthed ‘are you ok?’
Esmeralda shrugged as she wondered what kind of excuse she could come up with to get out of here. She didn’t want to see the face attached to the name.
The face of her ex.
“Mr. Lovat, should we go, or do you want us to wait?” Christina asked.
Eric looked distracted as he arranged things on his desk. “What? Oh, no, no stay. This won’t take long. Mr. Austin is simply here to pick up a few papers, and he’ll be on his way.”
Christina gave her a weak smile knowing how much she wanted to be out of there.
A knock followed a while later, and Esmeralda briefly closed her eyes as she took a deep breath.
“Mr. Austin, welcome. I’m sorry I don’t have much time to spare, but I didn’t know you were coming in today.”
“I’m sorry to drop in on you like this, Mr. Lovat, but my company insisted it was urgent.”
“Yes, they emailed me.” He went over to his desk. “Oh, where are my manners? Mr. Austin surely you remember Christina and Esmeralda? I believe you guys have met before.”
Christina gave him a venomous smile when Eric wasn’t looking as she icily shook his hand. Esmeralda tried not to notice the way his black hair had gotten longer, the way his brown eyes sparkled, or the way he looked in that suit. Eric turned his gaze to hers, and for a moment, Esmeralda debated ignoring it, but that would cause more problems than solutions, so she hesitantly placed her hand in his.
She tried to ignore the way it felt to have him touch her like that after so long apart. Eric and Daniel stood off to the side discussing something related to business, but Esmeralda could feel his eyes on the back of her head.
***
Esmeralda frowned as she looked up Egypt weather online. She stared back and forth between the laptop and her closet trying to decide what to do. The weather report said that it would be hot and or warm during the day, but particularly cold during the night, so Esmeralda couldn’t decide whether to pack heavy or light clothing.
She shrugged a few minutes later and decided to pack a little bit of both. She took out a medium sized suitcase that was also a backpack and began to pack hoodies, t-shirts, shorts and sweatpants deciding that she had done the best she could to accommodate both sides of the weather.
She nodded to herself as she zipped up her bag and placed it next to her closet.
Christina burst in a while later with a wild look in her eye. “I have no idea what to pack.”
Esmeralda gave a quick laugh. “I had the same problem till I looked up the weather online.”
“Oh? What does it say?”
“Well, don’t laugh, but you should probably have both summer and winter clothes because it’s going to be hot during the day and cold at night, and you know we’re going to be camping in the desert, so you’d better pack those thermal underclothes we bought that one time.”
Christina looked thoughtful for a moment before snapping her fingers. “Okay, I think I know what to pack. Thanks.” She froze in her tracks and pivoted till she was facing Esmeralda. “By the way, there’s a phone call for you. I came in to say that, but when I saw the suitcase, I got distracted.”
Esmeralda looked surprised. “For me? Nobody ever calls me on the house phone.”
Christina grimaced. “It’s Daniel. I’ve been hanging up on him a few times, but he keeps calling back, and honestly I can’t disconnect the phone in case we get an important call from work.”
“Oh,” Esmeralda said quietly. “Yeah, no you’re right. About the work thing.”
“Do you want me to unleash my inner monster and tell him to go screw himself then maybe I can go to his house and kick him where the sun don’t shine?”
Esmeralda gave her a small smile. “Sweetie, you are literally the greatest friend ever, and as much as I would love to, you know that we can’t because Panda Publishing does a lot of business with the company he works at, and he’s their top manager, so I was going to end up seeing him sooner or later.”
“I think we both would’ve preferred the latter option.”
“Doesn’t everyone?” Esmeralda headed towards the phone and stood there staring at it as if it was a snake that would bite if she took one step closer. Christina crossed the room in two strides and squeezed her hand quietly. “I’m here if you need me. You can do this. Just be cool and detached.”
Esmeralda nodded once and touched the cool handle of the phone. She clicked on the button that would let the call through and took a deep breath before she answered. “Hello?”
“Esmeralda? It’s me, Daniel.”
The sound of his voice had a million memories assault her at once. Nights spent listening to him playing the guitar while they sang together. Him trying to teach her to play the guitar, but getting distracted. Her trying to teach him about mainstream music and movies. Throwing pillows at each other that one day neither of them had any work to do at all.
She gritted her teeth against the onslaught of memories and pushed them to the back of her mind. “Yes. Hello.”
There was a pause. “How are you?”
“I’m well.” She felt her manners struggle to get the best of her, so she managed to bite out a “You?” before she clamped her mouth shut.
“I’m okay, I guess.”
There was silence on the other hand, and Esmeralda could see him standing clearly as if he was right there in front of her. The phone cradled between his ear and shoulder. His black hair sticking up at all ends as he stroked his beard and moustache which is what he tended to do when he was in deep thought. His brown eyes would probably be twinkling, the way they usually did.
She shook her head. “Why are you calling me?”
“I don’t know, to be honest. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
Esmeralda closed her eyes. “Daniel, we agreed that we can’t talk anymore.”
“I know that we said it’s for the best, but I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to lose that connection we have, and when I didn’t expect to see you, and when I did, it was like something inside me just shifted. I know that I had to call you, and get you to talk to me.”
“You don’t want to lose me, yet you don’t want to fight for me.” She pointed out hotly. “That’s hardly fair, now is it? I’m trying to move on, Daniel, and you should be too.”
“And how’s that working out for you?” he asked quietly, and she could picture his brown eyes boring into hers.
“Don’t you dare!” she responded, tartly. “Don’t you dare play that card with me. You’re the one who chose to end things for no good reason.”
“You know it wasn’t like that!” he shouted, the frustration evident in his voice. “I told you my reasons.”
“You mean your bullshit? Yeah, I’m not buying it.”
“It’s not bullshit,” he said tensely. “You know that I was doing it more for your sake than mine.”
“If that’s the lie you need to tell yourself to appease your conscience then that’s up to you, but like hell it’s for me.” She took a deep breath and tried to get her anger in check, remembering the sentiments Christina echoed earlier, but for some reason, she couldn’t stop the torrent of emotions that was struggling to burst forth. “Okay, you know what, douche bag? You’ve made it perfectly clear that you want nothing more to do with me, and outside of a business setting, we don’t have to see each other, we don’t have talk to each other. You know what? We don’t even have to talk to each other in a business setting which is probably for the best because I don’t think you want anyone to know what a coward you really are.”
“Screw you, Esmeralda! I don’t have to listen to this.”
“You’re the one who called, and by the way up yours, jackass.” She cut off the connection before he could say another word, and she began to pace the room and curse under her breath.
She felt the anger simmer there beneath the surface at his audacity. The nerve of him calling and saying those things when he was the one who broke her heart!
She picked up the picture she had of them that she had turned upside down, and she hurled it across the wall where it hit the wall with a loud thud and fell to the floor in pieces.
Still feeling like she needed to get a handle on her anger, she picked up the pillow and wrenched it off of her bed. She eventually hurled it across the room, and it hit the mirror with a resounding crack causing glass small pieces of glass to shatter and break. She stood there fuming.
She growled as she felt a scream tear its way through her chest. She let out an ear-piercing scream when she heard the phone ring, and she yanked the chord out of its socket viciously.
She picked up the necklace he got her and was about to hurl it across the room when Christina rushed in, and the door banged open.
Confused, she took in the state of the room, and she gingerly stepped across the broken glass as she made her way towards Esmeralda cautiously as if she was approaching a deer caught in the headlights.
“Esmeralda, what happened?”
Esmeralda shook with barely contained fury and sadness. “That jackass! He called to say he didn’t want to lose me, didn’t want to lose the connection we had. Can you believe the nerve of that guy?”
“It’s because he knows he made a mistake, but his pride won’t let him come back.”
“I don’t frigging care!” she yelled. “I’m trying to move on with my life. I’ve finally stopped dreaming about him, and now he decides to waltz back in simply because it’s convenient.”
Christina stood in front of her and eyed her warily. “Esmeralda, I think you want to let go of that necklace now.”
With wild and unfocused eyes, she stared down at her hand and realized that she had been gripping the necklace so tight, it had dug into her flesh, and little droplets of blood began to make their way down her hand. She blinked as the metallic smell of blood hit her nostrils, and she immediately released the necklace.
Christina stepped forward and gathered Esmeralda in her arms. “Shh. It’s okay.” She patted her hair, softly and consolingly.
Esmeralda took a deep shuddering breath, and she felt it vibrate throughout every inch of her body. “It’s not fair,” she mumbled. “I was in love with him. I pictured a future with him.”
Christina continued to pat her hair in slow, soothing gestures. “I know, honey. I know, but you don’t deserve this torture you keep putting yourself through over him. He isn’t worth it. He’s not worth one single tear.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “He was supposed to be, Chris. He was everything I ever wanted.” Her voice grew shaky towards the end. “But he still didn’t stay.”
“That isn’t your fault. It’s his loss. You deserve someone who will stay and fight even when things get hard, and I know you know this. Somewhere deep down inside of you, you know this as well as I do, and you will get through this because you are strong, so much stronger than you think you are. You have gotten through things you never thought you’d survive, and you’re still standing here, still kicking.”
Esmeralda hiccoughed. “I don’t know, Chris. I mean, I know I did everything I could, but I can’t help but feel like I lost the man I was supposed to end up with. We were so good together, and for the first time in my life, it was a normal relationship. No drama. No exes. No lying or cheating or manipulating. I mean, you were there. You saw him. You saw us together.”
Christina pulled back to look at her. “I know I did, and I know it’s hard for you to accept. I couldn’t believe it when you told me especially when I saw the way he looked at you, but you can’t make someone stay. You can’t make them want to fight, and you definitely can’t save them from themselves.”
A sob tore itself from her throat. “I wish I could.”
Esmeralda slid to the floor, and the tears poured down her face as Christina sat next to her and let her cry on her shoulder. She patted her back every few minutes and ran her hands through her hair in soothing gestures that made Esmeralda feel less sad.
She let her cry until finally the sound of Esmeralda’s sobs were reduced to nothing more than quiet hiccoughs every few minutes, and quiet sniffling.
“There you go, hon. Just cry. Let it all out, don’t hold it back. You need to let it out of your system because if you keep holding it in, it’ll eat you up on the inside.”
“Can we get ice cream and order sushi?” Esmeralda asked quietly, her tear strained voice sounding hopeful.
“Of course, we can. We can even watch one of your favorite movies.”
“The notebook?”
“Not that chick flick again.” Christina pretended to groan as Esmeralda elbowed her. “Hey, for a girl who’s supposed to be sad, you sure can pack a mean jabbing.”
“Upset or not, I can still kick your ass when you make fun of Ryan Gosling.”
Christina stood up and held out her hand for Esmeralda, who took it and yanked herself up “I never complained about Ryan Gosling. That man is so fine. No, I was talking about the plot of the movie.”
“What’s wrong with the plot?” Esmeralda picked up the sushi menu and began to scan it as her stomach began to grumble.
“It’s just not realistic, in my opinion. The things we do for the people we love.” She sighed melodramatically as a pillow hit her square in the face.
“You know you love it. Now, what do you want to get?”