“Wow,” I said. “I don’t even know what to say to that. I don’t think I’ve ever dealt with a person as dense as you.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” he asked.
“I’m not stupid, Kevin.”
“Baby, I just want to talk… I heard about what happened.”
“I swear, if you call me baby one more time, I’ll throw up in my mouth. Stay out of my goddamned business and lose my phone number.”
“Fine,” he said. “You’re on your way to work, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Perfect, then I’ll come see you this afternoon.”
“You absolutely will not,” I yelled, but it was too late. He had hung up the phone.
Great. This is exactly what I needed. My loser of an ex showing up at my job. What’s worse is that he is friends with most of the people there. He’ll get right in and they’ll tell him where I am with no questions asked.
Screw it. It’s not like there’s anything I can do about it now. He’s probably just testing me anyway. If I had to bet on it, I would say he probably won’t show. This is just his way to get under my skin. He knows how seriously I take my work so he’s taking a cheap shot.
I pulled into the parking garage and decided to forget about it.
The morning air was cold and combined with my coffee, which was just starting to take effect, I was starting to feel a bit better.
I shoved my way through the revolving doors, determined to make it through this day.
“Hey Bri… how ya doin’ this mornin’, hun?”
It was Clara. She’d been working the front desk for as long as the firm had been around and was a sweet old lady.
“Hi Clara,” I said, putting on my happiest face. “What’s up?”
“You sure are popular this morning, dear. First of all, you got these…”
She pulled a huge bouquet of red roses from behind her desk and handed it to me. They were bundled neatly in a beautiful glass vase that looked like one my mother would have had in the house years ago.
“Oh,” I said with genuine surprise.
“There’s a note too,” said Clara.
She handed it to me over the tall counter.
“You didn’t read it, did you Clara?” I asked, with a knowing smile.
“Of course not, dear. I would never do anything like that.”
Anytime one of the girls got flowers Clara would read the note. We all grew to accept it as a cost of doing business.
“Who’s it from?” she asked.
“I’m sure you already know, Clara,” I said, pulling the note from the unsealed envelope.
Welcome home.
People say roses are cheesy, but I don’t know a damn thing about flowers, so here you go.
Can’t wait to see you again,
-Luke
For a brief moment the fatigue and the frustration went away and it was replaced with warmth. I absolutely could not believe he sent me flowers. It seemed like the most out of character thing in the world.
“That’s sweet, isn’t it hun?”
“Yeah, it is… thanks for hanging on to them for me, Clara.”
“Oh but wait, don’t go yet. There’s something else.”
I beamed, thinking Luke had left another surprise for me.
“Here ya go,” she said, handing another piece of paper over the counter.
“It’s from Kevin,” she said as I opened the folded sheet.
All the wind went out of my sails.
“He’s already called for you three times this morning. I wrote the times down on that paper. It sounded awfully important.”
“Thanks Clara,” I said, absentmindedly. “I’m gonna head up now.”
“Well, aren’t you gonna call him? I can’t have him tying up my phone lines all morning.”
“I’ll take care of it,” I said.
I glanced at my phone and realized I had about five minutes to make it up to the conference room where the partners were meeting. With the way the morning was going, I’m sure the elevator was about to be slower than it had ever been.
I waited patiently. The elevator Gods smiled on me and I made it to my floor with two minutes to spare.
As I stepped out and let the elevator doors close behind me, Tim Schreiber happened to be passing by.
“Hey kiddo, do you have your meeting notes, we’re just about to meet in the conference room to discuss the case?”
He always called me kiddo. He started on my first day and never stopped. I hated him for it a little more each time.
“Right here Mr. Schreiber,” I said, waving my folder.
“That a way, let’s go.”
He threw his arm over my shoulders and led the way. That annoyed the hell out of me too. Not because I thought he was being creepy, because he wasn’t. It was just his way of trying to relate to one of the bottom feeders. He felt like calling people kiddo and giving random pats on the back made him relatable to the rest of us. In reality, it was just an awkward way of going about things. Just about everyone else saw right through it. I guess when you have your name on a building long enough you start to lose touch with reality.