“Yeah, I heard that.” He turned a little red. It was adorable.
A girl from billing walked by and gave them a knowing smile. Chase took a step back and crossed his arms, obviously not wanting her to get the wrong impression about them.
“I should let you get in there.” Ashely walked to the driver’s side of her car, but Chase followed, pulling something crinkly out of his pocket. “I saw these and thought of you. It’s probably stupid.” He dropped them into her hands and retreated before she could even look at his gift.
“Thank you,” Ashley called after him. She held one up, looking at the layers of color making a perfect little candy hamburger. The other was a tiny slice of pepperoni pizza. “Because I’m a hamburger and pizza kind of girl,” she muttered to herself.
She stared at them as she got in and pulled out of the Autobest parking lot for the last time. It was just as thoughtful as any gift from her secret admirer, a guy she’d now never get to meet. No new gift had been there this morning to greet her. No one came forward as she was packing up her things. For a second her heart leaped at the thought that it had to be Chase, but if so, why give her a necklace and then announce he was trying online dating? It didn’t make sense. It had to be someone else. Maybe someone too shy to talk to her in person. She felt a small twinge of pain at never knowing, but mostly she felt sympathy for the guy who went to all that work for nothing. As sweet and kind as the gifts were, she wanted someone real. She wanted Chase.
***
Mr. Davidson kept him busy all day with everything from shifting desks around to writing up an explanatory memo for the remaining employees. Yolanda glared at him every time he passed her desk, and he couldn’t blame her. She was one of the few people who liked Flynn, and he wasn’t the only friend she wouldn’t be seeing again.
“I can’t believe you can just keep working like that after they fired Ashley,” she hissed as she passed him on her way to lunch.
Allen approached him a few minutes later, wanting to know if Ashley would consider coming back to customer service. Chase promised to mention it to her.
Dean went so far as to ask for Ashley’s number, which Chase pretended not to have. No wonder Ashley hadn’t figured out the secret admirer thing. He wasn’t the only one pining from afar in that office.
Chase was just about to send her a text as he was walking out at the end of the day, when he spied a familiar-looking guy creeping up and down the parking lot, studying the cars. Chase had pictured a moment like this. It was the reason he’d started walking Ashley out to her car in the first place. Now, a year and a half later, it had finally happened.
“Need some help?” Chase called out.
Reid smiled, as if it was normal to be prowling the parking lot. “Is Ashley done for the day yet? I wanted to surprise her with a nice dinner.”
“I might have a problem with you asking out my girlfriend. I’m sure you understand.”
Reid only smirked, in a way that said he saw right through that ruse. “She told me it’s not serious.”
Chase tucked his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t turn them into fists. “When was that?”
“When was what?” Reid asked, walking down another row of cars. He probably wanted to stay out of grabbing distance. Chase had definitely considered physically removing him from the premises.
“When did Ashley tell you that?”
“Oh, we’ve been texting. Catching up.”
Chase clung to the knowledge that with all their ‘catching up,’ Reid didn’t know she’d been let go that morning. Reid could be lying. About everything. But it was hard to tell. The guy had an excellent poker face. Chase warred with whether to tell Reid she didn’t work there anymore or to keep that a secret as well. It was hard to know what to do when he didn’t know how Ashley felt about Reid right now or if they’d actually reconciled. She’d said she was ‘flustered’ at seeing him again. Flustered was not the same as repulsed or fearful.
And if the plan had been to make Reid jealous, it certainly worked. Here Reid was trying to find her, not two days after seeing her with Chase. The thought had acid rising in his throat. But until he knew the truth, he had to trust his instincts and not his fears.
“She had an appointment and left early. But I’m sure you could call her and find that out yourself.” Chase raised an eyebrow, challenging Reid to prove his claims.
“I’ll do that. Thanks.” Reid casually walked back to his own car and drove off.
Chase waited a few minutes to make sure Reid wasn’t planning to double back and try again. Ashley wasn’t there, but that didn’t mean Reid going in and asking someone else wasn’t a possibility. When he was sure Reid wasn’t coming back, Chase headed home as well, throwing himself into catching up on laundry and bathroom cleaning so he could stop staring at his phone, willing Ashley to call and let him know everything was okay. She’d said she’d call after her interview. Maybe she was distracted with someone else.
He hated this uncertainty. After dinner, he looked over his connection messages from the online dating account, picked a girl who seemed the least aggressive, and set up a date for that Saturday.
***
The dispatch company offered Ashley a job on the spot, and she knew in that moment she’d truly gotten her hopes up about working with Lina. She didn’t want to say yes until she knew she didn’t have the front office job.
Feeling terrible, she told them she would call with her answer by Friday. They didn’t look pleased. It was possible she’d burned a bridge she’d only just built.
Instead of heading to her apartment, Ashley drove straight to her parents’ house. They lived in the same house she’d grown up in, and though her mom had turned her old bedroom into craft storage, she somehow needed the comfort of something familiar. Just looking at the old neighborhood where she used to play tag in the street lifted a weight from her chest.
Aunt Terrie answered the door and gave her a hug. “I thought you were the pizza delivery guy. Your mom and I are making wedding favors, and we’ve driven the men away with all the tulle and sparkles.” Aunt Terrie’s hair was a deep burgundy color today, matching her nail polish.
