The Encounter
1124 Words
That evening, the company hosted a welcome dinner in the grand ballroom. Every other board member had a plus one except me. The wait staff moved around, offering wine, their white shirts clearly displaying the Sweet Surprise logo. Fate just loved messing with me. I left town to get away from women problems, for Christs’ sakes.
And then I saw her. Sofia. Or Anita. My anger at her disappeared for a moment. The woman was stunning even when she didn’t try. She was standing near the dessert table, her back to me, talking to one of her staff. She wore a simple black dress, her hair held in a bun. She looked determined. This must be a big contract for her.
For a moment, I considered walking away, pretending I hadn’t seen her. But I had never run away from anything in my life.
“Sofia.”
She turned, and for a split second, I saw the surprise in her face. “Damian. Are you stalking me now?”
“No… just a coincidence.” I replied, my tone sharp and non chalant.
She raised an eyebrow. “then I take it you’re here for the retreat?”
“Obviously,” I said, folding my arms. “And you’re here to serve pastries?” Okay, I didn’t mean to mock her but I was still quite bitter.
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m here to run a business, Damian.”
“Are you? Or maybe fishing around for the next billionaire to cheat on,”
Her expression hardened. “I don’t have time for this.” She said and walked away. I looked around for familiar faces and spent the rest of the evening listening to speeches and having small talk with other board members.
*****
The next few days was a flutter of activities, some I indulged in and some I didn’t. It was nice to socialise with other board members and discuss the new oil in the business market. I got a few business pitches in between. After an afternoon on treasure hunting for a Domaine de la Romanee bottle of wine, which I lost at, I was feeling a bit sour when I saw Sofia by the pool supervising her team setting up for a cocktail event. She always took her time to look good and it kept me wondering if she was actually here for business as she said or to hook another billionaire. She must have grown bored of the simple life in Clearwater and the simple men. I gave her the world and spoilt her when she was with me, there was no way she would be satisfied with being the small town baker.
Feeling in the mood for trouble, I strolled over. “I’m beginning to wonder if you aren’t actually here to try to get me back,”
She turned to look at me, her expression blank, “Damian, if I wanted to get you back, I wouldn’t put so much effort into it,”
Before I could reply, one of her staff carrying a tray of drinks and walking past, slipped. In trying to regain her balance, she shoved me into the pool.
Sofia clapped a hand over her mouth stifling her laughter as I struggled to the surface for air, “Well, look at that. You’re not so powerful now, are you?”
The waitress who had shoved me, hurried to get a towel. She was so frightened and kept apologising. I climbed out the pool and grabbed the towel from her, my shorts and t shirt dripping. I shot a stern look in Sofia’s direction “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“Well, I deserve it. I was with you for two years and this is the first time I have had a pretty good laugh around you. Doesn’t that say something to you Damian?”
“I guess you didn’t need me to make you laugh. How many men were you keeping on the side for that job only?”
“f**k you, Damian!”
I deserved it.
*****
The final night of the retreat, there was a stargazing dinner at the beach. Most of the guests were in pairs or small groups, but I wanted to enjoy this night before I go back to the craziness that is my life. I sat alone, sipping a drink and staring at the sky. In the background, Alan Jackson’s ‘its five o clock somewhere’ was playing. The night was perfect.
I felt a shuffling behind me and saw Sofia sit down beside me.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“A truce,” she said looking at the sky.
“I don’t know… its not so simple.”
“I know it hurt your pride when I said I was sleeping with someone else when we were together…”
“You think this is about my pride?” I scoffed cutting her off. “You were right, I was emotionally unavailable when we started seeing each other. I put rules in place to protect myself not because I was ashamed of you but because I couldn’t go through what I went through with Genevieve,”
“I…,”
“I’m still speaking… I fell in love with you but I wanted to tell you properly, I wanted to make you feel like a queen. I bought you a ring, I planned a trip to Paris and then you disappear without so much as a goodbye. I mourned you for three years, Sofiat. I was stuck on you all that time, not moving on. And I regretted everything I left unsaid. I should have told you that I love you, I shouldn’t have made you feel like you were disposable because you weren’t. I just didn’t think you’d leave.”
“Damian,”
“I knew how you felt about me, but I couldn’t risk it. I guess the mistake I made was starting something with you before I fully healed from Genevieve,” I felt light getting all of these off my chest.
“You should have told me,” she said.
“would that have stopped you from cheating?” I chuckled.
“I didn’t…,”
“Damian! There you are!!!!” a familiar voice shrieked from behind. Oh God!
I didn’t bother turning around but Sofia jerked away instantly, knowing who it was also. She came over and planted a kiss on my lips like we were passionately in love. I stole a glance at Sofia who was getting ready to leave.
“I have been looking for you all over!”
“What are you doing here Genevieve?”
“I have great news! I’m pregnant,”
- Writer
