Undeserved Devotion

Chapter 5

By the time Thursday came around, Chris and Claire were super tense around each other. Thankfully, the only one that noticed was Pat, and that was just because he knew about their past relationship.

“Team, gather round. It pains me to say this but we’re almost finished with our time together. I anticipate that the final product will be submitted shortly after lunch, but there is no rush. You are all welcome to stay, but can leave anytime after submission. Thank you for being an amazing group and I hope to see you all again in the future.”

The morning session goes by quickly, as most everyone is anxious to finish so they can get home tonight and have a long weekend. Claire works through lunch to help speed things along. At about 2:30 pm, Claire stands up, and all eyes turn to her, “And… we’re done! Great job everyone!” Everyone claps and starts to clean up their stuff.

It seemed that Pat was the only one not rushing to hit the road. A couple of people had already left, and everyone but Pat and Claire were upstairs packing. Chris walks over to Claire thinking this is his only chance to talk to her before she leaves with everyone else.

“Did you enjoy the retreat?” Chris asked her. Claire retorts with, “Are you just looking for confirmation that you’re the best or something?” Chris just looks at her hurt for a moment before he walks away without saying anything else.

“Claire, what the heck? Where did that come from?” Pat scolds her. “You know he didn’t deserve that and you should apologize.” Claire sighs and goes after Chris, knowing that Pat was right.

Claire finds him outside the back door leaning against one of the pillars supporting the deck above. Chris hears her come out after him, but doesn’t turn. “I’m sorry Chris, that was really uncalled for. I really did enjoy the retreat and think you are very good at this.” Claire paused, waiting for a response from Chris. When she doesn’t get one, she turns to go back inside. Right before she goes in, Chris asked, “And that’s it?”

Claire turns around and Chris is still in the same position. “What else is there?”

Chris finally turns to face her and in a couple of quick steps he is standing right in front of her. Claire notices the tears that haven’t quite left his eyes yet. “What else? Really? You have nothing else to say to me?” His tone came out harsher than he intended, but he was still frustrated by her lack of emotion. He then suddenly grabs both sides of her face in his large hands and brings her face to his. All of the frustration pours out in his passionate kiss. Claire, caught totally off guard, had no chance to prepare herself. Her body reacts to such passion and she closes her eyes and lets out a soft moan. When she hears herself, her eyes fly open and she grabs his muscular arms to pull away. Chris stops the kiss but doesn’t completely let go. He moves his hands from her face and down her arms to grab her hands. Claire shivered in response to his touch. Claire starts to pull away and say something, but Chris holds her hands tighter and cuts her off, “Will you stay for dinner? Before you get the wrong idea, I just want to talk. There are things left unsaid between us, at least by me.” Chris shakes his head and shyly adds “I had a better pitch prepared, but it’s not coming out right now.” Claire searches the emotions on Chris’s face. She'd always known that he deserved better than a Dear John letter and this was the opportunity to do that. She finally nods and Chris pulls her into a tight hug.