Tyler stared at him as if he had grown a second head. “Like what?”
“Like time.”
“We were living together. She saw me all the time.”
“And attention.”
His pacing became more aggressive. “I devoted every free second I had to her!”
“They want to be complimented.”
“I always noticed when she cut her hair.”
Matthew rolled his eyes, clearly fed up that his best friend was simply not getting the point. “Have you ever told her you love her, Ty?”
He froze on the spot. “Well…um…you know…not in so many words.”
“It’sthreewords!”
He resumed his pacing and did not spare Matthew another look. “She knew how I felt about her,” he said after some time. “Besides, you’re missing the point. She’s not in love with this guy, she’s still in love with me. I just have to make her see it. All she needs is a little persuasion.”
Stacey took Trisha’s hand once again and ogled her ring. “So I guess there’s nothing that can persuade you to not go through with this?” she asked.
“Nope,” Trisha replied adamantly.
“Well, if this is what you really want, you have my support. You’re my sister and whatever makes you happy, makes me happy.” She gave Trisha a tight hug and smiled with bittersweet sadness in her eyes. “So when’s the big day?”
“December, twenty-third.”
Stacey’s eye’s widened. “Then we better start planning. We only have six months to plan the wedding of the century.”
Trisha stared down at her left hand, her gleefulness faltering for only a second. A smile slowly curved on her lips and her excitement made its way through the hurt she felt. “That’s right! Six months ’til my blissful ever after.”
“What kind of persuasion?” Matthew asked.
Tyler’s pacing began to slow, becoming more purposeful as his mind toyed with ideas. “We need a plan,” he said eventually.
“What are you talking about, Ty? She’s getting married in six months.”
“Correct.” He nodded and smiled. “Do you know what that means? That means we have six months to break them up.”
*****
Jordan Shepard sat in front of her computer, trying to drown out the almost haunting sound of Barbara’s laughter. It wasn’t really a laugh. It was more of a cackle that echoed through the open-plan area. Barbara was the boisterous, redheaded creditor’s clerk. She was sweet, endearingly so, but she could only be handled in moderation. The rumor around the office was that she was partially deaf, seemingly because she had lost any and all ability to use her inside voice. If she whispered, Tyler could hear it in his office. The volume on her voice box was set attoo fucking loudfor humans andpossibly painfulfor dogs.
Her laugh, however, reached decibels that eardrums could not sustain without exploding. It was screechy, high-pitched hoooohs followed by brain-searing haw-haw-haws, like a donkey in the midst of an orgasm. It was the type of laugh that once it was heard, it could never be unheard, the type of laugh that could provoke multiple stab wounds if she wasn’t careful, the type of laugh that stopped everyone around her from telling jokes. Well, everyone except Mervin over there. Asshole!
The sadistic bastard took pleasure in seeing the rest of them suffer. Either that or he had a seriously sick fetish for donkeys. He didn’t even work on this floor. He was in the maintenance department two floors down, yet every morning he’d come up to get his costs approved, stay long enough to mess up everyone’s day and then he’d disappear to his office where he was safe from the excited aftermath that usually followed their flirtatious encounter.
Jordan wasn’t sure if he was really interested in Barbara, or if he just did it to piss her the hell off.
“Fuck you, Mervin,” Jordan jeered, her blue eyes narrowing to a death stare as he walked past her desk to the elevator.
“You have a good day too, Jordan,” he replied with a smug smile.
She sighed as Barbara’s squeals finally died down and turned her attention back to her computer. Pretending to work wasn’t as easy as people made it look. She had completed her first set of draft financial statements a week too early, which now left her with nothing to do to occupy her mind. Damn her efficiency!
In this environment, though, efficiency was key. It was the second week of June and the auditors had already taken up residence at the other end of the finance department. From one nerd to another, she respected them, but God, were they irritating. This was why she always tried to ensure that things were done ahead of schedule.
