Ava
I didn’t wait for Caleb to find me in the lobby and take me back to the hotel. I was fuming. I was so angry I could barely contain it. I walked through the glass front doors into the bustle of the city and flagged a cab. The driver took me to the hotel and I stormed through the lobby and to my room.
I pushed my anger away. The hotel was beautiful, a stunning mix of historic and modern designs and my room was fit for a queen. Light gray carpets and white walls made it feel chic, with white minimalistic furniture. The bathroom was the size of my bedroom back home with a large tub, a shower like a waterfall. The bedroom was three times the size with a white bed against the wall with an aerial shot of Tampa downtown on the wall in black and white.
My phone rang. It was Caleb.
“I’m sorry,” I said without even saying hello.
“Don’t be,” Caleb said. “This is one big mix-up. Where are you?”
“I’m at the hotel,” I said.
“Stay there,” Caleb said and hung up. He was coming to talk to me – no doubt to tell me I had to do this because I’d said I would. He’d paid so much for the ticket and for this hotel. I would never have chosen this place for myself if it had been up to me to book the hotel and tickets.
It was one of the reasons I had agreed to listen to what James and Caleb had wanted to say. I felt obliged to at least hear them out after Caleb had gone through so much effort to get me here. It may not have been a lot of money for him, but it was a lot of money and I wasn’t going to waste it.
At least, that was what I’d thought. It turned out that working with James would be impossible and that money would have to go to waste after all.
God, seeing James again… he had been like a dream. Or a nightmare. He had stood in that office, a king in his kingdom, and he’d looked at me like I’d had no business being there. His eyes had traveled up and down my body like he’d remembered who I used to be. It had made me self-conscious.
I had no idea how Caleb knew James. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Tampa shouldn’t have been this small. James shouldn’t have been there. None of it made sense.
And then I’d gone and thrown so much double meaning into our conversation and he’d been right there with me until we’d had a fight in front of Caleb about something different, entirely.
He had looked good, though. James had looked as good as he always had. He had that sheen about him that rich people had, a haircut that probably cost about as much as I earned in a day and a suit that made him look like he belonged in a GQ magazine. I was irritated with myself for thinking that way about him. He was an asshole that had screwed me over, not eye candy.
Seeing him again, though, I hadn’t been able to help but notice his good looks and his charming smile. Even though he’d been just as upset and caught off-guard as I’d been.
And those eyes, God, those eyes. Evergreen and drowning deep. I could fall into those eyes forever and never come up for air.
The hotel phone rang and I walked to the nightstand to pick it up.
“A Mr. Caleb Thompson is downstairs for you,” a female voice said.
“You can send him up,” I said.
The line when dead. I waited a while before a knock sounded at the door. I walked and opened for Caleb who waited until I invited him into my room.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said, standing in the middle of the room like he was uncomfortable. “I had no idea…”
“I know,” I said, cutting him off. “And I don’t blame you. You couldn’t have known. I just don’t know how well James and I would be able to work together.”
Caleb nodded without answering. No doubt he’d picked up on the tension between us. My stomach turned just thinking about it.
“Is there no way I can ask you to stay and take care of it? I’m really worried about James. I don’t trust Amanda and I think he’s an idiot to believe she has nothing to do with it.”
I shook my head and sat down on the edge of the bed. Caleb sat down on the chair by the desk.
“Why is he so sure about it?” I asked. “Are they involved?”
It was a good way to know if James had someone else in his life. Of course, it would make sense if he did. A man like James would no doubt be very popular among women in his circles.
“No,” Caleb said. “They’re not dating or anything. Their relationship is strictly professional, but she can be charming if she wants to and she’s very good at what she does. She has a very strong business mind and that’s attractive in a lot of ways.”
I nodded, looking at my hands.
“Okay… so he’s blinded by a woman. I guess it’s not the first time this has happened.”
Caleb chuckled. “That’s not insulting at all.”
I shrugged.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I said. “We don’t really see eye to eye”
Caleb was quiet for a moment.
“Do you mind me asking what happened?” he asked.
I took a deep breath. “Honestly, I don’t think I can do this without a drink.”
“There’s a really good cocktail bar downstairs,” Caleb said.
I nodded. “You go down. I’m going to change and then I’ll join you. I need to get out of these clothes.”
Caleb left the room and I opened my suitcase. I got changed into black suit pants and a white blouse. I put on black ballet flats and ran a brush through my hair. When I looked in the mirror I still looked classy and professional but I was more relaxed, now.
Caleb was at the bar when I walked in. The place had the same modern feel, with marble floors and a dark wood bar with red stools. Caleb looked up and smiled at me when I walked toward him.
“You look really nice,” he said.
I blushed and climbed onto a stool.
“Thanks,” I said. To the bartender, I said, “I’ll have a Martini.”
“And a Hennessey,” Caleb said.
“That’s a stiff drink,” I pointed out. It was expensive whiskey.
“It’s been a rough day,” he said. I nodded; it had been unpredictable and crazy.
“So, I’m guessing your relationship with James wasn’t platonic,” Caleb said.
I shook my head. “No. It wasn’t. When I met him, he was the dream guy every girl wishes for. He was rich and funny and charming and I was a girl in a small town with a yearning to see the world. He brought all of that to me.”
Caleb raised his eyebrows. “He had quite a lot going for himself then.”
Our drinks arrived and I took a sip of mine. It was bitter and had a kick, just the way I needed it.
“We spent the whole summer together. I was convinced he was my everything. I wanted to join him in Tampa – here – as soon as I graduated. When he left we said we would keep in contact with each other. It was only a short time before I could join him. We could make it.”
“And then?” Caleb sipped his whiskey, hanging from my lips as I told my story.
“He left after the summer. I wrote him and tried to phone him but I couldn’t get through to him. When I finally did manage to speak to him he told me that I was just a summer fling, that I wasn’t in the same class as he was and that it would never work out long term.”
Caleb winced as if it physically hurt him.
I shrugged. “So, I changed my plans from studying in Tampa to studying in Chicago instead and that was what I did.”
“You never told me why you decided on Chicago,” Caleb said. “I remembered you wanted to come here, first.”
I shrugged, taking more sips of my drink. The alcohol made me feel light and airy. It was a welcome change from the heavy feeling I’d been battling with all day.
“I should have known that it was going to work out like that, though,” I said. “I mean, his dad hated me. And I didn’t want to tell anyone why I wanted to go to Tampa. I didn’t want to tell them because I was scared that it wouldn’t happen the way I needed it to. I guess somewhere deep down I knew it was going to happen.”
Caleb shook his head and put his empty glass on the bar. The bartender replaced it with another.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I saw him not long after that summer and he didn’t say anything to me. James is a lot of things but it doesn’t sound like him to do something like that.”
I finished my Martini.
“Well, he did it,” I said. “I don’t know if I will be able to work with him. I can keep it professional if I have to but I don’t know if he can, and if he doesn’t…”
Caleb nodded. “I understand how this could be hard. You’re the only person I can trust with this, though. I don’t want a stranger to get involved with this.”
I frowned. “You care a lot about what happens with his business,” I said.
Caleb shrugged and nodded. “James worked hard to break away from his dad. You don’t understand how hard the old man was on him. If he loses the company everything his dad had always told him would happen to him would come true and it wouldn’t be fair. If he’s going to tank it should at least be his own fault and not someone else’s.”
I hadn’t known Mr. Weber at all. I remembered him as an asshole who didn’t like me. Other than that, I hadn’t spoken to him and his name was just something mentioned around town from time to time.
“I’ll have to think about it,” I said. “I can’t give you an answer straight away.”
Caleb nodded. “That’s all I ask of you.”
He ordered me another Martini and we sat together and talked about other things, about the small things in life we didn’t share with each other when we sent emails or spoke on the phone.
Being with Caleb again after so many years was more fun than I’d expected it to. Maybe it was the fact that it was a welcome distraction after seeing James. Maybe it was the alcohol putting me in a better mood since I’d gotten back from the offices of Quad Corp. I wasn’t drunk, just tipsy.
I didn’t know what I would end up deciding but I did know that seeing James again was the last thing I’d ever thought would happen.
And I didn’t know exactly how I felt about that, anymore. Beneath all the rage, loosened by the alcohol I was drinking, was still something akin to affection for James.
Go figure.
Maybe I was drunk, after all.