All for Love - Prequel

by Natalie Ann

  “So why haven’t you called me?” Isabel asked. She was a bold one for sure, and it was growing on him when he’d never liked that trait before.

  “I’ve been working,” he said.

  “I figured as much over the weekend. But not last night,” she said.

  “Did you want me to call you?”

  “I would think that tracking you down at your job is answer enough.”

  Good point. “How did you manage that?” he asked.

  She laughed. “You told me where you worked.”

  “Oh yeah.” He was sounding like a fool right now. He couldn’t remember the last time he sounded like this talking to a woman. He always thought he was a smooth one around the ladies. He needed to figure out how to get his groove back.

  “William. Do you want me to hang up and forget about you? I can do that, but I thought there was a connection there on Friday. If you’re not interested, then just tell me.”

  Very up front, and he found he liked that a lot. “I’m interested.”

  “Good. Then why don’t you ask me on a date?” she said.

  “It’d have to be a weeknight. I work most of the weekend.”

  “I know. What time do you start work in the morning?” she asked.

  “Whenever I get in the office. Normally between eight and nine. Depends on if I have a client meeting scheduled or not.”

  “How about we meet for breakfast tomorrow morning at seven then? Will that work for you? We’ll meet someplace between your office and my school.”

  “I can do that,” he said.

  They talked for a few more minutes, she told him where to meet her for breakfast, and they hung up. He realized he never even took his jacket off until he sat on his couch after disconnecting the call. He’d been standing there talking to her on the phone for ten minutes.

  Now he slid it off and loosened his tie, then pulled that off, too. A breakfast date. He’d never had one of them before. Couldn’t be much different than a dinner date, he assumed. And no pressure for anything else, since they both had somewhere to be.

  He wondered if that was her intention all along. Keep him at arm’s length while she made a decision on what she really wanted.

  Then he wondered why he was even worrying over it. He knew going in that nothing could happen between them anyway.

  Be That Way

  The next morning, he was just walking toward the diner when he saw a Cadillac pull in front of the building and Isabel get out of the passenger side. He might not have thought much of it if she didn’t walk around to the driver’s side when the window was rolled down, lean in, and give the guy driving a hug.

  He had seconds to make a decision, knowing the one he made would tick her off, but he was too annoyed to care about that. Instead, he turned and walked away.

  Hours later when he got to his office he wasn’t surprised to see two messages from Isabel left on his desk. He’d never done that before. Just stood someone up. It was wrong and he knew it, but he’d also known nothing could happen between them anyway, so why waste their time?

  When he was home that night, his phone rang again, and though he was tempted to answer it, he feared it was Isabel and let it go. Maybe she’d get the hint.

  Only she didn’t. Two days later he was returning from a meeting and there she was, sitting in one of the old chairs in the reception area chatting along with Sheryl like he hadn’t left her by herself at the diner. That he hadn’t been ignoring her. Like he hadn’t been thinking about her nonstop.

  “Isabel,” he said, nodding his head. “What brings you here?”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “I think you know, but obviously I need to spell it all out for you. Is there somewhere private we can talk?”

  He looked over at Sheryl, the receptionist. She smirked. “Jeff’s office is empty if you want to use that.”

  He bit the sarcasm back. “Thanks, Sheryl.”

  “So start talking,” Isabel said, once the office door had closed.

  He was kind of shocked at how pushy she was being, bordering on obnoxious. He supposed he had it coming if he was honest with himself. “What is it you want to know?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Why didn’t you show up for breakfast? Or return my calls? Even answer my call that night?”

  He shifted a bit and took his jacket off, draping it over his arm. “Sorry about that.”

  “That’s an apology, not an explanation.”

  His lips twitched, but if she was going to be brassy, so was he. “When I meet someone for a date, I make sure I’m not seeing someone else at the same time.”

  “Okay,” she said, looking confused.

  She obviously didn’t get it. “This isn’t going to work out. You should just stay with whoever you’re dating right now. I’m sure they’re a better fit than me.”

  “I’m not dating anyone right now. And how do you know what or who is a better fit for me?”

  She had her arms crossed in front of her jacket. He should offer to take it from her, but he really just wanted to end this rather than invite her to stay longer. It was hard to admit he wasn’t good enough. She’d guessed it the other night and made him feel like she was sincere. Now he knew otherwise.

  “Why do you keep trying to reach me?” he asked instead.

  “Beats the heck out of me.”

  “Yet you’re here.”

  She took a deep breath. “I guess that’s my mistake. I saw something that you didn’t, it seems. Have a nice life, William.”

  “Say hi to the man that dropped you off the other day for me.”

  She whirled around and eyed him hard. He had no clue what possessed him to say that. To give her the satisfaction that he saw her with someone else.

  When she burst out laughing, he felt his face fill with heat. “That’s what this is about? That my cousin gave me a lift to the diner because my car didn’t start? That I thought you could have driven me to work afterward, but instead I had to call a cab?”

  “Cousin?” he asked, adding embarrassment to the annoyance he was feeling.

  “Yep. Were you jealous?” she asked, smirking at him.

  He’d only look like more of a fool if he denied it. “It doesn’t matter. I still think this can’t go anywhere.”

  She sighed. “One date, William. Just one date. That’s all. Then we can cross this off as a waste of our time. But I’ve got the time to spare and it seems to me all you do is work. Are you afraid that maybe I’m what you really want?”

  Deathly afraid, but he’d never admit it. “I guess one date wouldn’t hurt,” he said. What did he have to lose other than his self-confidence, when she realized what he’d been trying to tell her all along? That nothing could ever work between them.

  ***

  “I didn’t get to tell you how different you look in a suit and tie the other day,” she said when William walked over to the booth she was sitting at and slid his jacket off. “I was too ticked off that you stood me up. Then too elated that you were a fool.”

  “A fool?” he asked.

  “Come on. Admit it. It was silly. You could have just asked me rather than running away. And now I’ve annoyed you and that wasn’t my intent.” She sighed and then took a deep breath. “Sorry. I really like you. Maybe I’m being pushy and forward, and I’ll stop. But I really do you think you look handsome in your suit and tie. Can we start over now?” It might be better to dial it back some and start fresh. She was shocked he’d actually agreed to this date after she all but attacked then insulted him yesterday.

  “Sure. Thanks, I think, about the suit and tie comment.”

  “It’s definitely a compliment.” She finally realized that she was going to have to keep taking the first step with William for the time being. It was fine with her. It gave her a little challenge she’d been missing in life, but she was going to have to be more tactful.

  “You look very nice too,” he said back. She’d stood when he came in and then sat back down. She was hoping he’d sit
next to her in the booth, but instead he slid onto the bench across from her. Oh well. She reminded herself to take baby steps.

  She lifted her arm to the waitress who rushed over with a pot of coffee and two cups. “Do you drink coffee?” she asked.

  “By the gallon,” he said.

  “Me too. Sometimes I’m up late grading papers. If I stare at the work too long, my eyes start to cross and the coffee helps me.”

  “Do you both know what you want to order?” the waitress asked once their cups were filled.

  “I’ll have the pancakes with strawberries on top,” she said.

  “Same.”

  “Do you really like pancakes with strawberries?” she asked him when the waitress walked away. “Or are you trying to be accommodating?”

  “Since you aren’t the one cooking, I wasn’t worried about being accommodating.” He grinned when he said that and her heart went pitter patter. He hadn’t really smiled at her yet. Not like this. Not one that reached his eyes. “It was more that it sounded really good. Better than boring old eggs that I eat all the time.”

  “Why do you eat so many eggs?” she asked. The way he said it was odd. Like he wasn’t happy about it, and was being forced.

  “It’s one of the few things I know how to make.”

  “Oh. Well, maybe you need someone to teach you how to cook more than eggs.”

  “Maybe I do,” he said.

  She poured cream in her coffee and picked it up to take a sip. He picked up his cup too, only he drank it black. “Tell me what you’ve got planned for your day.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “You’re just no fun. I’m trying to make conversation here. It’s either that, or I’m going to ask you to tell me more about your life. Your personal life.”

  He smiled and winked at her. This couldn’t be the same person who kissed her senseless in his car on Friday night. The same man where she had to make the move for him to do it in the first place, then ditched her over a silly misunderstanding. Oh yeah, let’s not forget how she all but rolled over him because he stood her up. Yet he didn’t seem to be holding it against her and now was smiling and winking. She liked this side of him much better.

  “I’ve got a few phone calls to make. A few appointments where I go and do my normal sales pitch, and then I’ll go back to my office and make some calls and try to find some more companies to set up appointments with.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Does it get frustrating?”

  “Very.”

  “But you’re going to be successful. I can just tell.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Because it’s your attitude. You know what you need to do and you just go do it. You’ve probably been that way your whole life and always will be. Even when you make it big, I bet you’re still going to be that way.”

  He laughed. No grin. No smile, but a booming laugh. “You’re good for my ego. I hope to make it big. And if—when—I do, I’ll still be this way. I won’t forget what it took to get there and I won’t slack off.”

  That was a funny way to phrase it, she thought. “Slack off?”

  “I come from a family of slackers, for the most part. I’m trying to distance myself from that.”

  “Slackers, how?” She wasn’t sure if he would answer but was hoping he did. She wanted a little bit of insight into what made him tick.

  “I’m the youngest of three boys. My brothers, they all work, but manual labor jobs…when they hold onto a job. My father is the same way. No one really wants to work, but they know they need to to survive. No one has ever tried to find something they like to do. Maybe if they did, they’d want to do it more. I don’t know if I’m making sense or not.”

  “You are. I get it. If you love—or even like—what you do, then you’re more likely to get up each morning wanting to start your day. What about your mother? Does she work?” she asked.

  “My mother passed away when I was ten. My father held it together the best he could, but it was a hard life. I ended up moving in with my grandparents. My mother’s parents. They weren’t slackers by any sense of the word. Hard workers, busting their butt day in and day out. I’m the first in the family to get an education higher than a high school diploma.”

  “That’s a big accomplishment,” she said. He was trying to break away from everything he knew. That took strength and a steel will to be the odd one out in his family. She was glad she’d pushed him now. Maybe she was a challenge to him, and she’d take whatever she could get.

  “It is. It was. My grandparents are getting up there in age. They’ve got health issues. Both of them ended up in a nursing home last year. I was able to stay in their house for a few more months until I graduated and could get a job, thanks to my aunt. She held off putting the house up for sale. I just don’t want to go down that road. Work my fingers to the bone to have nothing to show for it toward the end of my life.”

  “I don’t think that will happen with you.”

  “Tell me about your life. Mine’s a little too dismal for morning conversation.”

  She laughed. The waitress brought over their breakfasts and they both dug in. “Well, you know where I grew up and where I went to school. My mother doesn’t work, she never did. My father runs Emma Willard. He’s not in the school, not interacting with the students. That’s below him, though he’d never admit it publicly. You could say he is the superintendent, though that title is beneath him in his eyes, too. He runs a school that helps girls prepare for the world. Get a higher level education. Compete with men. But he wants his own wife at home taking care of the house and him.”

  “Seems like an odd contradiction.”

  “Very. He puts a good front on for everyone, donors and parents alike.” She paused for a minute. “I shouldn’t be saying this now that I’m hearing it come out of my mouth.”

  “I won’t tell a soul,” he said. His smile was gone and he was dead serious. “So are you looking to be like your mother?”

  “Meaning do I want to be a housewife and stay-at-home mom? Not at all. I love her to death. She’d never say anything to my father. She’d never stand up to him. He gave her a nice and easy life, but she wants me to have what I want.”

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “A life. A life separate from a spouse. I’d like to get married some day. Have kids. I love kids. But I want to have a purpose to my life other than that.”

  “Yet you ended up where your father works,” he said. “If you don’t mind me saying, it seems strange considering what you just said.”

  “I know. It was the first job offered to me and I took it. I took it for all the wrong reasons.”

  “And what wrong reasons are those?”

  She liked that he was listening to her. Not judging her at all. Not saying she was crazy. Not doing anything else but asking questions and eating his breakfast.

  “I just wanted out from under my father’s thumb. Which is stupid considering he is pretty much my boss. Though I don’t directly report to him, I kind of do. But it was a job and money and enough for me to move out. Not on my own, but to just leave.”

  “It takes a lot of courage to step off the path you’ve been groomed for.”

  She laughed. She had to. “That’s a good way of saying it. Groomed. He still thinks the way he does. Thinks I’m out having a little fun until I find someone to marry and take care of me. At least I don’t have to hear about it daily. I very rarely see him at school, nor do I go home much anymore…or at least when he is there.”

  “From someone who has had to scrape by as much as I have, I can tell you it’s not fun. But it also means you aren’t answerable to anyone, and that alone is always worth it.”

  “I’m finding that out myself. So are you going to ask me out next, or do I have to keep chasing you?”

  He almost spit his coffee out when she said that. He ended up coughing for a minute. She’d been accused of being blunt before and she wasn’t going to change that. It was the
one trait she enjoyed shocking people with, and was glad she didn’t have to hide it anymore. Though she had to acknowledge she’d never been this pushy before and wondered what it truly meant.

  “Do you want to go out with me again?”

  “Really, William. This is getting old. What do you want me to say? I’m not going to beg.” At least she hoped she wouldn’t and prayed she wouldn’t be put to the test.

  “I didn’t think you would,” he said, smiling again. The waitress came over and placed the bill in front of him. She reached for it and he slapped her hand playfully. “Don’t even think about it.”

  “I asked you to breakfast,” she pointed out.

  “You did. But I’m paying. That doesn’t mean I want to support you. That doesn’t mean I want a woman to stay home and cook and clean for me. Though I really do like to eat and if you like to cook that’d be a big bonus.” She laughed again. He had such a great personality and she was glad he was finally showing it to her. “What it means is a gentleman always pays for a date.”

  “How about I make you dinner next then? We can go back and forth. You can take me out since I’m not a big fan of eggs. And I’ll bring food to your place and cook for you?” When he hesitated, she said, “I don’t care what your apartment looks like, William. I don’t care what you have, or don’t have. All I care about is that you’re the first guy who listened to what I just said and didn’t tell me I was nuts.”

  “Then dinner sounds good.”

  To the Point

  Two days later, William stood at the reception area of his client’s office. He could hear someone moving around in the back, but no one was up front.

  “Hi. I’m sorry,” a young woman said, rushing forward. “I was out back getting coffee ready for the day. Can I help you?”

  “William Harper. I’ve got a nine o’clock appointment.”

  She looked down at her desk—he couldn’t see due to the counter in his way—then said, “Yes, I see it right here. You’re a little early. Why don’t you have a seat over there and I’ll come get you when everyone arrives.”