Sea Legs

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

We sat across from each other at the dining tables in the café on the ground level of our office building.

"The worst part was when he turned to look back at me and got in his van." I chewed on the cob salad Carol Lynne had treated me to for lunch. I'd bought us more than a few cookies, because I needed them.

Her features were bird-like, and she had a sympathetic expression. She wore a white blazer over her black satin blouse. Her shoulder-length blond hair was combed in a clean, low ponytail. "I'm sorry. That'll teach me to ask favors from guitarists."

That stung my pride. Please find a date for my loser friend. She hadn't said that, but that was probably how he took it. Maybe that's why Carter wasn't interested. Perhaps he thought I might have been desperate. Sigh.

"Well, we tried. No more dates."

"Not even one?" Her tone was cajoling.

"No! That wasn't the agreement—one month. I've lived up to my end. Live up to yours and leave me alone about my life choices. It wasn't like I bugged you about yours. You haven't had a date in eons."

People who were sitting at the other tables stopped what they were doing and looked over at me.

My cheeks heated.

"Okay, okay. Don't bite my head off." She threw up both her hands in a surrender gesture.

Her reaction made me feel a little lighter, but I shouldn't have snapped. I bit my lip and lowered my voice, "Sorry."

She gave me a small smile that let me know that I was forgiven.

"So who's Keith? Not that I'm interested in dating him," I clarified and squinted at her.

Her lips quirked to one side. "He's in a band called McRiff that plays around the city on the weekends, and he's my neighbor. I usually see him in passing."

There was something in her tone. It was like she wanted to gush but held it back.

"You like him, don't you?"

The blush that appeared on her face told me what I wanted to know.

"So, why don't you ask him out?" I pushed.

She shrugged. "The parade of women going to and fro. How do I know he doesn't have some kind of disease?"

"Well, you have a point there, I guess. Better be sure of the guy first. I'll never understand how some women can just jump into bed with a guy who they just met."

Her lips quirked in a wry expression. "Bless your romantic heart."

Time went by quickly as we dissected the motivations for relationships between men and women. By the time I realized it, our lunchtime was over.

I brought the brown paper bag full of cookies and a cup of coffee to my desk.

While I was on the phone taking a message from a client who'd canceled their meeting, Brandy Fleming marched up to me like she was on a mission. The glee radiating from her while she performed evil acts was more akin to the wicked witch.

She stopped in front of my desk and leaned on one leg, like a runway model. Her emerald green skirt suit was a bold choice since it amplified her dyed red hair. If the Wizard of Oz ever had a rude daughter, it would be her.

I rolled my eyes, pursed my lips and entered the meeting status into the inter-office messaging system.

"Stacy. Get me coffee." Brandy's voice was shrill.

I continued typing. It was crap like this that reminded me of my alternate future where I would have been running our restaurant. But that dream had died with Jason.

"Well?" Brandy pressed.

After hanging up the phone, I picked up the nameplate on my desk, mouthed my name, then set it back down and sent a message about the meeting to the marketing department. Maybe then she'd stop mispronouncing my name.

"Get. Me. Coffee." She pivoted and strutted away.

"What are you gonna do about that?" Gerald Bertrand said from his end of the cubicle.

"Report it to HR? I've no clue how to handle this. She can't stand by my desk and scream at me all the time. Plus, it's not my job to bring her coffee. She's not even from this dang department. What the heck does she have against me?"

His grunt was his only response as his fingers went back to typing.

After I filled out a complaint form in HR on the second floor, I went to the café on the ground floor to buy another bag of cookies. As I turned to leave, I saw Carter, standing with a woman with long black hair and a puffy black jacket that did not conceal her rounded figure. He wore the same jacket as he had on our almost-date. His attention was straight ahead, and his brows were furrowed while she gabbed. She didn't notice or didn't care that he wasn't interested in what she was saying.

She caught my stare first and glared back. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight. Carter followed the line of her stare until our eyes met. His wince was slight before he wiped his expression clean and returned to face the front. I tore my eyes away from them and walked through the exit.

After putting my stuff on my desk, I stopped by the employee cafeteria and made Brandy's coffee. I conveniently forgot to add the sugar. After placing it on her desk and receiving a stink eye, nothing was more satisfying than the sound of her spewing it out as I walked back to my desk.

Later that evening, I climbed the flight of stairs that led to Carol Lynne's apartment. Two men were standing by the apartment at the far end of the hall. A tall, skinny one with dark hair opened the door while another guy who had his back to me waited.

I knocked on Carol Lynne's door, and they both turned at the noise. Carter glanced over his shoulder at me. My stomach fell. Sweet Jesus, I was having one of those days where I couldn't catch a break.

It didn't take long for her to open the door. Thank God.

Her face fell when she saw mine, and she opened the door wider to let me pass.

I hung up my coat and bag in her closet, and slipped out of my boots while she stepped out and said a polite hello to Keith.

Carter would dish or have dished to his buddy about what happened at the café.

I went to sit on Carol Lynne's couch, in what one might describe as her bohemian living room, and waited while she wrapped up her pleasantries.

After she closed the door, she went straight to her stove to spoon our vegetarian chili into bowls. Her kitchen consisted of cupboards with one countertop that flanked the fridge, a sink on one side, and a stove. All of it was against the back wall.

"There's a rumor that Brandy Fleming from finance spat out her coffee because the secretary forgot the sugar."

What?

"How did you hear?"

She switched the channel on TV from the evening news to Wheel. She knew me well enough to know that I hated the news because of the reports on violence.

"Maureen told me. She saw when you put the cup on her desk," my friend told me while she grabbed two bowls from the counter and brought them to the coffee table. She pulled the table a bit closer.

I got up and grabbed a stack of meditation pillows from the corner of the room. Carol Lynne came back with two glasses of wine and placed them next to our bowls, then took the pillows and set them down on the floor.

We got comfortable and dug into our chili—the smell of patchouli incense interfered with my dinner enjoyment. She'd probably burned some right before I came over.

"Why does Brandy have to demand things from me? Why couldn't she ask someone in her own department? Leaving your desk just to demand coffee is a waste of time. Ever since she got that promotion, she's been a diva."

She shrugged. "Corporate asshole bullies for you. Power corrupts. They're all the same to me. My pie offer still stands if you want to take me up on it."

On days like today, when I had to file an HR complaint because someone was yelling at me about coffee, the pie offer, which was code for setting up a pie-baking business, was more attractive.

I sighed and asked, "So, how was your day? Is Jackie still trying to steal your work?"

She rolled her eyes while taking a sip of wine. "Up to the same nonsense. If I knew that I'd resort to hiding my files on my personal cloud so that someone from work doesn't steal my ideas, I don't know if I would have gotten into this job."

"Maybe this is the nudge you need in the pie direction, or at least pie equivalent."

She chuckled. "Don't know if my baking prowess is good enough to match yours or my mother's, for that matter, so I'll stick to PR."

The lights and TV went out suddenly, causing everything in the apartment to go dark. A drawer slid open, and I heard Carol Lynne rifling through it. The scrape of a lighter was followed by the warm glow of a flame. Carol Lynne held it to the wick of a candle until it caught. She quickly set the candle in the candleholder on the side table and lit a few more, placing them around her apartment.

Someone knocked on the door, and she went to check out who it was. A beam of light illuminated the hallway when she opened it. "Hey, I don't know how long this blackout will last. Do you have candles to spare?" a male voice said.

She said, "Sure," and came back in, going for the drawer where she stashed her candles. The man followed behind her and paused as we made eye contact. His hair was parted in the center and was chin length. It looked a little greasy. He was wearing all black, and his t-shirt had a band logo that said McRiff.

Keith.

He gave me a chin lift and said, “ey."

I returned his greeting in the same fashion.

When she handed over the candles, the lights came back on.

"Thanks a lot. I guess I won't need them," he said.

"No, take them. This reprieve might only be temporary."

He chuffed, "Guess you're right. That usually happens. I'm gonna have to look into stocking up on some of my own." He took them, thanked her, and left.

The clock that hung high on the opposite wall said that it was 7:30. A chill ran down my spine. "Damn! The time."

I shoveled the chili in my mouth, doing my best to ignore the burning. After helping my friend wash the dishes, I replaced the dishtowel on the oven handle and hurried to the coat closet. I grabbed my coat and bag from the hanger and slipped into my boots.

"The lights may go out again. Why don't you stay the night?" she asked.

I pulled open her front door while buttoning my coat. "I can't. Bri is coming over tomorrow. I have to go with her to a dress fitting since I missed her dress choosing party."

The door opened across the hall, and Carter stepped out. I turned back to Carol Lynne.

"Sweetie, do you really want to be stuck on the train if the power goes out again? Plus, the roads are still a mess from the snowstorm."

I took a few steps down the stairs. "I'll be fine. Gotta go. Thanks for dinner. See you Monday." Then I rushed down the stairs and through the metal doors. I stomp-walked down the street—the snow crunching with each step.

She was right. Maybe I should have called a cab because it would really blow to be stuck in the subway car while the power went out. But I couldn't let Bri down again. So I took my chances and went down the stairs to the subway, digging into my coat pocket for my MetroCard.

After swiping the card through the reader, I stepped past the turnstile. The train pulled to a stop in the station, so I ran for it, slipping through the closest set of double doors.

There were only a handful of people in the car. I walked to the middle of the car and sat by the handrail. I took out my phone to find my k****e app. The side door slid open, and someone walked up the aisle, but I didn't pay attention until he sat next to me. My head whipped to the side.

Carter.

His spiky blond hair and lean jaw gave me an unexpected tingle that I hated. Since the café incident, I'd tried to imagine him with warts all over his stupid, chiseled jaw—the handsome bastard. I got up to leave.

"I need to apologize," he said in a low, conciliatory tone.

"Save it. I don't want anything from you except for you to leave me alone," I said with as much venom as I could muster.

"I f****d up. And I'm sorry. Look-please-stay and hear me out."

If I moved to sit anywhere else, he'd follow. I pressed my lips together and settled back in my seat. "Okay…what do you have to say?"

His legs were parted, and he rested his hands on them. "When I walked into the café, I wasn't expecting you."

What the hell did that mean? We'd texted, and he'd seen my picture before we'd agreed to go on the meetup. I made a face, and he chuckled.

"No, I mean - from what Keith told me - I was expecting..." He struggled for the words. "Someone lookin' for a hookup. Not a nice lady like yourself."

It took a second for his words to sink in. Well, now. What the hell could I say to that?

"I broke up with my girl a few months before we met," he said.

Was that the same lady I saw him with earlier today? That was probably why she gave me the death stare.

"It was a f****d-up relationship. She messed with my head, and it took a while to get away from her. Keith talked me into going on random hookups but not getting involved with anyone. So when we met at the café, I thought you were there to get some play. But then you didn't look like the type to be into that. And…I panicked. I'd only f**k up your life if we got involved…so…I left."

"You ran like a b***h! You could have just told me you weren't interested, and I would have understood."

His mouth fell open before he quickly closed it.

"Carter, I went out with some serious weirdos. One guy was really in love with his pet tarantulas, and I wanted to run out too. But I didn't. Know why?"

Well, not entirely true. I faked a headache and left. But hey, that was still not the same as upping and leaving someone without an explanation.

With a wrinkled forehead and quirked lips, he answered, "No."

"I see things through. It would have been rude to just leave. And because I am NOT a bitch."

"You're right. Woulda been rude to walk out on him. But don't underestimate the power of panic. And my name isn't Carter. It's Reese. Reese Malone. Carter is my middle name."

My eyes moved up to the overhead posters that advertised dentists and English as a second language programs. I shut my eyes. Wow. I felt like a damn fool. He'd been playing me from the very beginning.

"Why are you even here?" I said after a while.

"Because I want to say sorry. And I heard you arguing with your friend about leaving."

"Why are you even bothering? Aren't we past apologies?"

The white blur outside the window slowed into solid tiles with the name of my stop. "Okay, you've said what you had to. Now we don't have to speak any further." I got up and stood by the doors, waiting for them to open when the train stopped moving.

"Wait." He got up to walk out with me.

I groaned.

"You told me what you had to. Now please leave me alone and stop following me." Even though this guy was aggravating, deep down, I knew that I was safe with him. Maybe it was because he'd rejected me so thoroughly before, that I felt like no harm would come to me. At least physically, anyway.

The doors opened, and I shot out of the car.

"I'm not following you; I'm walking beside you." He smirked like he thought he was cute.

I rolled my eyes.

Seriously?!

"What. Is. Your. Problem?!" I growled as we walked up a set of staircases to the street level. He walked with his hands in his jacket pockets while I huddled in my jacket with my arms wrapped around me.

"No problem." His smirk turned into a genuine smile. "I just figured I owed you an apology and safety."

What?

"Safety?" I asked.

"Yeah. It's late, and you shouldn't be walking alone in NYC at night. Especially when a blackout is possible. And...I felt bad that I left you during a storm. That's not something I usually do, and it's been bugging me. I worried after I left that you got home okay."

Well, at least he had a conscience and wasn't a complete d**k.

"Thanks," I said stiffly, which made him laugh. Its deep timber coiled around my stomach, and a begrudging smile broke out on my face. Ugh..the i***t.

"Keith told me you were a chef."

"No. I studied culinary arts, but I'm not a cook. Far from actually." Why would Carol Lynne say that? I bet it was because she thought it was more appealing.

"No kidding? What do you do?"

"A secretary."

He nodded. "So, you studied culinary arts? You wanted to work in a restaurant?"

"Yes…things didn't turn out that way." I swallowed past the tightness in my throat. "What about you?"

His eyes narrowed, then smoothed out again. "I own a catering company, but I'm a delivery guy, so it's off to the races, most days," he shared. "You a secretary? Where?"

"A PR firm."

His brows hiked. "That's a far step away from cookery."

Cookery? I giggled, and his lips curved attractively in a smile. I had to turn away because it was so sexy, I could stare at it for a long time.

I stopped walking in front of a little door beside a convenience store.

"Well, this is me." It was weird that he now knew where I lived. But he didn't strike me as the stalker type, so I guess it was okay.

Reese said, "It was nice talking to you," while subtly taking in his surroundings.

"Thanks for walking me home."

He winked at me, and I swear, butterflies fluttered in my stomach.

With a quick chin lift, he said, "take care." He was backing away.

I smiled politely at him and said, "You too."

I dug the keys out of my pocket and unlocked the door. When I turned back, Carter…Reese had already made it halfway down the block, blending in with the pedestrians who were trudging down the snowy sidewalk. I went in, closed the door, then made my way up to my apartment, relieved that I'd made it home safe.