My forehead scrunched. That was a very odd way of putting it.
He turned a tinge of red. “What can I do so you’ll rescind your resignation?” he corrected himself.
“Quit,” I said, with hope. Like a lot of hope. Like betting my last dollar kind.
His countenance dropped. “You can take that off the table.”
“A girl can try.”
“Kelli,” his hand inched forward across the table. “I don’t know if you remember or not, but we used to work well together. And I think if you gave this a chance, we could do great things for Chandler.”
Before I could respond, Jose brought our smothered burritos out to us. He greeted me with a kiss on the cheek after setting down our plates.
I figured I should be polite and make introductions. “Jose, this is the new Marketing Director for Chandler, Ian Greyson.” Those words tasted like one-hundred-year-old vinegar in my mouth. It was so bad it left an aftertaste.
Jose patted my cheeks, his eyes said how sorry he was.
Ian held out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Jose reluctantly held out his hand to shake Ian’s. He was polite but quick about it, only mumbling a hello. Jose turned his attention quickly back to me. “You can’t leave without dancing with me tonight, Bonita.”
Now that was something to smile about. Jose and Alicia had beenteaching me how to salsa. It was almost as fun as belly dancing. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“So, you salsa, too?” Ian asked after Jose left.
“On occasion.”
“I see you still enjoy life and learning new things.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Can you please try this?” he practically begged, which was so unlike him.
I tossed my head from side to side. “Ian, why are you here?”
He responded by taking a large bite of food and chewing very slowly. He didn’t verbally communicate, but his eyes were talking. They said he was in no hurry to answer me. Fine. I was starving, and the food smelled way too good to let it sit untouched any longer. Besides, I couldn’t stand looking into those warm chocolate eyes; it brought back too many memories. Like lazy Sunday afternoons watching old movies in his arms. Stop, I told myself. It was a long time ago.
We ate in silence for several minutes, but there was this electric current that zinged between us. It was always present whenever we were together. I wished there was a way to pull the plug on it. I thought for sure after all this time it would have fizzled. But it was as if my heartbeat had found its rhythm again. No. No. Ian and I were never going to be in sync again.
“The food is excellent,” he interrupted the silence.
I set my fork on my plate. “Tell me something I don’t know. Like why you’re here?”
He thought for a moment. “I’m here to find . . . success.”
“Because selling your own company for millions wasn’t enough?”
He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Kelli, the digital ad software you’ve helped develop is a very unique concept, and I believe, with the right feature enhancements and marketing, it could put Chandler Media on the map as the leader in digital marketing software.”
“I still don’t get it,” I said exasperated. “You could have just started something on your own again.”
“I like a challenge, and I have a feeling this will be my greatest challenge yet.”
The way he said that and looked at me, I couldn’t tell if he was only talking about my product. Okay, it wasn’t only mine. It was my idea, but it was Matt, our software developer, who made it into reality. I was just the architect and the one who made it look pretty after Matt worked his magic.
“Fine, then why didn’t you tell Gary you knew me?”
He wiped his mouth with his napkin before placing it back on his lap. “Why does that matter to you?”
