Through the window

A Surprise Visit

I wake up to a thud on my porch. “The f**k was that??” I utter sleepily. I grab some sweats and a t shirt and slip them on. I peek through my window and don’t see anything or anyone so I open my door. And at my feet is a note at my door. It’s typed. “Dear woman in the window, last night was, beyond words. Although, I’d love to take the mask off, and step away from the trees. It’s probably best you don’t know who I am. If that’s a deal breaker for you. I understand. And I will give you two days to decide. If the chair is still in your yard when I come back, I’ll tell you a secret.” He’s playing hard to get? My STALKER is playing hard to get? Amazing. I’m so intrigued by this man though. I don’t think I’m ready to stop the fun. And now I know he’s definitely not going to snatch me up or anything. He doesn’t want me to see him. I decide to brush it off for the day and get dressed into something more appropriate. Even though Skylar gave me the okay to stay home, I need to run into my office and fax over some papers I forgot and grab a few things.

As I walk in the door of Blake Industry Terry rushes up to me and keeps apologizing “I’m sorry Tara I really am. I told him you weren’t in today but there’s only so much I can do.” I’m pretty confused and just play it off “Don’t worry about it Terry, I’ll handle whatever it is.” Assuming it’s the dean wondering why Skylar is out of town when they’re supposed to be having dinner, I head up to my office. To my surprise Jacob is sitting at my desk. “Why the hell are you here?” I blurt out. “ I. Tara. Look. Can we just talk please?” He sounds like a puppy whining. “Talk. You have until I’m done with what I came to do.” I say motioning him to get out of my chair. “I know I’m not anyones favorite by all means. But, I went too far yesterday. I misread the situation. I thought you had flashed me and. I don’t know what I was thinking. And I wanted to start off by just apologizing. I’m so sorry Tara.” That. Definitely caught me off guard. Jacob doesn’t seem like the type to care? I turn my chair to him and look up “I did flash you. You were right about all of it, except I did it to keep you from being an asshole to Skylar. I teased you, I flashed you, and then yeah I played innocent.” I didn’t need him to tell me he was shocked, I could see it on his face. “I’m tired of how you treat Skylar. And how he feels when you’re around. Maybe if you weren’t such an ass, I wouldn’t have had to tease you like that” I shrug and turn back. “You’re right.” Jacob mumbles. “I do treat Skylar bad. I despise him. He’s who our parents were always proud of. And now I’m more successful. And he’s who they called this weekend. He’s still the favorite. And I hate him for that.” I look up again, actually surprised “you know, Skylar only wants your approval. He looks up to you while you always look down. While you hate him for something he can’t control, he’s miserable trying to be good enough for you.” He takes a second to process that and I see the tears forming “I.. I’m the worst..” he swallows hard “again Tara, I’m so sorry. I won’t bother you again, and I swear to never look down on Skylar like that.” He starts to leave, and I start to feel bad. It’s not his fault either. He just wanted daddy’s approval. I think we all did. I roll my eyes at that thought. “Jacob wait. I can’t believe you hit my soft spot. You can stay and keep me company while I work on this if you’d like.” He again looks at me like a puppy and smiles and sits beside me. “I’d hit any spot you asked me to” ah. There it is. There’s the asshole. “Sorry, that maybe wasn’t so funny given the conversation” I smile at him “Jacob, I don’t know if you know this but you’re a mess” I chuckle at him. I don’t know if it’s because he just broke down and had a whole epiphany in my office, or the fact that he reminds me so much of Skylar, but I’m so attracted to Jacob right now. I think he noticed me watching him. “Will you come to dinner with me tonight?” It’s very silent as I process what he just asked me. “You want to take me out?” “Yes.. show you I’m not all bad?” I take another moment to think. You know. It’s probably crazy that I’m crushing on my boss and fantasizing about a man in a window. “Uhm. Okay. I suppose one night won’t hurt.” “Great! I’m gonna go ahead and set some things set up if that’s okay, I’ll leave my number and you text me when you get home?” He writes his number on a post it on my desk. “Yeah Jacob. That’s fine. I’ll see you tonight.”