“Good afternoon, can I help you?” The lady behind the reception desk gives me a brief smile, the kind of smile that’s expected and not given freely.
“Oh, yes, I have an interview at 3:30 with El Airlines.” She flips through a large appointment book on her desk and then starts to click the mouse of her computer.
“What did you say your name was?” I hadn’t given her my name and she knew full well that I hadn’t.
“Gainsborough, Melissa Gainsborough.” The woman turns back to her computer screen and clicks furiously at her mouse for a few more minutes.
“And you’re sure it’s with El Airlines?” I nod. “I didn’t even know they were hiring.” I smile and shrug. “Hmm, I don’t see anything in here, I’ll have to go and ask Mr. Lambert about it, fortunately he’s in the office this afternoon, he’s hardly ever here.” My heart stops still as she says his name. Surely there had to be more than one Lambert in this city. The receptionist gets up from her desk with a tired sigh. “Help yourself to something to drink from the mini fridge over there, I’ll just go and check with him for you and see what’s going on.” I want to ask her then and there, find out ‘Mr. Lambert’s’ first name, surely it wasn’t Gideon. I couldn’t possibly be that unlucky. My mouth goes dry and I take a look inside the small mini fridge that sits by the window overlooking the tarmac. Sprite or ginger ale is all there is to offer so I grab a Sprite and crack it open while watching a small plane circling on the tarmac. I wonder if these are the types of planes that I will be working on, they’re a far cry from the big airliners I’d expected. I’d been so excited about the possibility of a new job that I hadn’t researched the company at all and now come to find out it’s a small plane company AND the owner of the company could well be the very man I’m trying to run away from to start over.
“Miss. Gainsborough?” the receptionist stands in a door off to the side.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Lambert would like to see you in his office. I’m sorry for the mix up.” Shit, each time she says his name I feel my stomach turn over but as I walk towards her I still hold on to the smallest hope that Mr. Lambert is actually Mr. Lampert or possibly Mr. Herbert Lambert or… anything but Gideon. The secretary holds open the door for me and once I step inside the small office she shuts the door behind me and I’m left in the small room face to face with Gideon Lambert.#p#分页标题#e#
“Well what a pleasant surprise Miss. Gainsborough.” I can tell from the look on his face that he’d been expecting me. He, unlike me, had known exactly who was walking in the door and I hated him for not giving me any chance to prepare like he had had the opportunity to do. “Please sit” he gestures to a chair in front of his desk but I don’t sit down, I can’t sit down. I can’t even begin to formulate the words that my mouth wants me to throw at him. “Please?”
“No, thank you. I think I should go.” I turn and head for the door again but his voice stops me in my tracks.
“Melissa.” I want so badly to walk away, to close this chapter and move on, that’s what I’d been trying to do with this damn interview but here he was again, trampling through my life like an elephant in a patch of daisies.
“What, Gideon? What? What do you want from me? You tell me that I’m more than just a fuck to you, you open up to me and then I don’t hear from you for a week. You can’t have it both ways, you can’t be the handsome billionaire who fucks the pretty girls and then walks away, no strings attached while telling me that I’m more than just a fuck.” I can feel the tears welling in my eyes and all I can think of is the hours of time that Allison put in to my makeup. I wipe at my eye liner in a fruitless effort to stop it from streaming down my face when the tears spill over.
“Melissa…” I interrupt him, my tired tirade not quite complete.
“This was supposed to be something big for me, Gideon. This was supposed to be a change, something to help me forget what an asshole you’ve been and then… poof! Here you are again! I’m sick of you trampling all over my life, Gideon. I just can’t do this anymore.” With these final words I leave his office, breeze past the receptionist and head out to my car.
“For fuck’s sake, Melissa! Would you just listen to me?” Gideon comes storming out of the building as I fumble for my keys.