I laughed at her. “Really? This coming from the woman who thought Sam’s soccer coach was only being friendly.”
“Hey, how was I supposed to know? The guy knew I was married.”
“Thanks for proving my point, sis.”
“You are such a brat, Kelli Jelly. And you’re naïve if you think this guy doesn’t have ulterior motives that involveyou.”
I was really getting tired of her saying that. “That doesn’t make any sense at all. I haven’t seen the guy in almost thirteen years, and the last time I did see him, he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with me ever again.” I started to cry. It was such a stupid thing to do over such a stupid man.
“Honey, don’t cry.”
“Why did he have to come back into my life? Everything was going so well.”
“I don’t know, but I know it wasn’t by accident. Just be careful.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t think you’ve ever really gotten over this guy.”
“That’s ridiculous, Amanda. Of course, I have. Don’t you remember? I almost got married.”
“Kelli,” she sighed. “You didn’t almost get married. Yes, Luke asked you, but there was never any chance of you saying yes.”
“That had nothing to do with Ian.”
“No one’s saying Luke didn’t have issues, but you didn’t love him or anyone else that’s come your way.”
“I’ve tried. I really have.”
“I know you have.”
“And I don’t love Ian.” I don’t know why, but I needed to say that out loud.
“Maybe not, but you’ve got to admit, that relationship has affected all others.”
“That makes me sound pathetic.”
“No, it makes you sound human. Kelli, look at your life, it’s not like you’ve closed yourself off. You’re successful, beautiful, and no one puts their heart into anything the way you do. You are the best aunt, sister, friend, employee, coworker—you name it. I’m not saying you’ve sat around and pined for this guy. I’m just saying there may be some underlying feelings that have never been resolved. And he obviously has the same issue.”
“Amanda, you know I love you more than my cat, and you’re hands down the best sister and friend ever, but Ian’s here for business. Period.”
“Okay. Keep telling yourself that.” She was trying to placate me. “Good night.”
“Good night, sis.”
She was killing me. She was supposed to make me feel better. Now I was more confused, and my head hurt. I wasn’t going to lie, I was still physically attracted to Ian, but any woman would be. He had the whole tall, dark, and handsome thing going for him, and to top it off, he had this mysterious, brooding air to him. But the attraction meant nothing, because I was attracted to him before, so why would that change? His attitude and mannerisms were mostly the same, too, except I seemed to frustrate him more, and not in the fun, cute way I used to. Like tonight, he seemed legitimately upset by my refusal to acknowledge our previous relationship, which was weird. I could also tell at dinner he was expecting more from me, and he was bothered when I didn’t rise to the occasion. Then he stormed off without a word after I told him I remembered everything. I still couldn’t believe I agreed to work with him. I had a feeling there was going to be lots of turbulence and frequent warnings to put my seatbelt on.
Typically, I reveled in the weekend, but I was happy to have this one over and done. I needed to get away from myself and my thoughts. I needed to work, even though working meant seeing Ian. Hopefully our contact would be limited. I mean it wasn’t like Boss and I worked together constantly. In fact, he ran his accounts and I ran mine. In addition, I took care of the running of the office. Boss and I met weekly, and sometimes we collaborated, but it wasn’t an everyday thing. I was sure Ian would want to collaborate even less. He was the type who hated group projects. That thought made me feel much better.
I got up super early on Monday and dressed with a purpose. My sister was right; I was going to show him what he’d missed out on. I wore a nude pencil skirt that left no question I was a woman, a very feminine yet chic red wrap-around blouse, and beige suede peep-toe pumps. I may not have been the new boss, but I was going to do my best to look like it. The red lipstick was even coming out again. If I had been one to take selfies, this would’ve been the morning for it. I pulled my hair up in a messy yet sexy bun, made my lunch, and was out the door with a spring in my step.
I was hoping to be the first one there, but I was disappointed when I saw the Infiniti with Colorado license plates.Dang it. Delfia wasn’t even there. No matter, I was a big girl. I just needed to remember to treat him like I had never known him before. I was going to be professional. I proudly walked into the empty foyer and made my way up the stairs. I took a deep breath before I opened the door. It felt right. I belonged here, no matter who the director was. I smiled to myself as I opened the door to the executive level.
I heard Ian before I saw him. It sounded like he was still using the conference room, which made sense. Boss was still going to be working here this week while he turned everything over to Ian. I think he also wanted to be here just in case he needed to referee. But I planned to be on my best behavior, or basically employ a simple strategy of avoidance, if I could get away with it. That plan didn’t work so well when I tried to scoot past the conference room unnoticed.
It was as if he was waiting for me, like a cheetah ready to pounce on its prey. Ian met me at the conference room door as I passed. “Good morning,” he said.
I wanted to say itwasa good morning until that moment, but I acted professionally. “Good morning. Did you have a nice weekend?” That was professional, right?
