A Second Chance

Chapter 10

The day went by in a blur. Her office was comfortable and spacious. She could tell it was a conference room they retrofitted to make an office space. Built in storage was lacking. The desk and the rest of the furniture was well placed, but it seemed to be too small for the room. It was minimalistic. A cherry wood desk with a return, a comfy office chair, a couple file cabinets along the wall and a table for meeting with guests were spread out to make the room look less sparse. There were floor to ceiling windows on the wall facing the open space filled with cubicles and collaborative spaces.

E-mails came in with details on each team member. As she read each file she took notes and then scheduled a one on one with each person. She read the details of the project and reviewed the timeline. Maybe if Ally kept telling herself this was just another contract, and kept to her usual routine, she might believe her own words.

Evan hadn’t changed. His shaggy hair cut was replaced by a clean short cut. His business causal attire was instead a pressed suit. However, the same grey blue eyes and muscular physique remained. At 6”1’ he stood nearly a foot taller than her. As they spoke, his eyes kept drifting away from her gaze. There was regret and even some pain reflected back at her when their eyes did connect. Regret she could understand. The pain confused her.

Evan made the decision to walk away. Granted, it hadn’t all been rainbow and unicorns for him, but this was the life he chose. Their time together was brief, but Ally had fallen hard for the handsome man that lived in the in-law suite. She thought they really had something special.

When he left, Ally blamed herself. She wondered if she had been too clingy. Had she been disappointing in bed? Yes she was less experienced than he, but he always seemed eager to get her naked. He knew all the right places to touch, lick and kiss, and he seemed to be satisfied. Did he really believe and think the awful and hateful things his mother said about her not being worthy of him? She had moved on, but the question of what went wrong nagged at the back of her mind. Her heart still had so many questions, but that ship had sailed.

He had a new life without her. He had his daughter and he was fighting for custody with his ex best friend. He was seriously dating the beautiful daughter of a CEO. Ally never once made eye contact with his mother, but she at least was civil. Now was not the time to go on a quest for answers. She just needed to keep her head down and her heart out of the equation.