by Kaylee, Katy
Melissa’s eyes grew big. “Oh boy, he’s talking about kids again.”
Lisa laughed. “You just watch, you’ll have a football team.”
Logan listened to them talk about Bradley, wishing he had met him. “Is Amber coming today?”
Lisa sighed. “No, I called this morning and Amber said she didn’t want to bring him out because he had the sniffles. Probably picked up something at the studio, since it was jammed full of people yesterday. They went to see Amber’s best friend on set. She’s on that law show I can’t ever remember the name of.”
“In the Name of Justice,” Jordan replied.
Lisa pointed at him. “That’s it. But yeah, she won’t be coming. I feel like you haven’t seen her in years.”
Jordan nodded. “He hasn’t. He has never met Bradley, either. Amber is always busy when he’s in town.”
Lisa glanced up at Logan. “I think you might have scared her away.”
Everyone laughed, including Logan, who forced it out even though he knew she was right on point. Lisa lifted her hand and waved at an older couple coming through the patio doors. She leaned in and whispered. “The Greys are here. I better go occupy them before she starts gossiping too much. You kids have fun and eat food.”
Lisa went scurrying off and Logan turned to Jordan and Melissa. “You guys have the wedding plans nailed down yet?”
Melissa just looked at him. “It’s like the house building; a never ending pile of problems. It was so much fun at first, but now I just want to hand it off.”
Jordan lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t let her fool you, I offered that. She said she was too invested in it and could never let anyone take over at this point. She likes to torture me with different types of paper and samples of terrible hors-d'oeuvre.”
Melissa pouted. “You liked the mousse and the crab balls.”
Jordan nodded. “Yes, I did. I also liked the whole cake tasting thing the first time, but by the fourth one, I was about to order you pies for the wedding.”
Melissa furrowed her brow. “I would kill you. We would be married for an hour, and I would murder you at the reception. I would do it dramatically, too, so that my face would be all over the newspapers. Crazy Bridezilla kills husband at reception with a pie plate.”
Jordan coughed, swallowing his beer. “Lord, could you at least make sure there’s a pie still in it? I want to have a tasty death, if I get to choose. Lick the apple filling off my cold dead hand as I take my last breath. It would be poetic. I would become a cult hero of men all over the world.”
Melissa chuckled. “Yeah, probably not. Women would understand, though. I would get off. All I would have to say is, ‘he ordered pies for the wedding cake.’ Done, innocent.”
Logan laughed and emptied his beer. “I’m gonna go grab another beer and use the bathroom. I’ll be back.”
Jordan nodded. “That’s cool. I’ve gotta introduce this woman to all the old people.”
Logan wrinkled his nose. “Better you than me, Melissa.”
Logan walked back up onto the deck and into the house, crossing into the kitchen and tossing his bottle in the trash. He leaned against the counter for a second, flashes of the hot sex he had with Amber right there on the countertop flashing through his head. At the same time, he could also remember looking back at the notes he had left everyone that early morning when he had packed his bags and left. The house just didn’t feel like home anymore. It felt like a tomb of heartbreak and lost love. He was glad he had decided to rent a condo while he was there. He didn’t think he could live every day with Amber’s ghost.
He grabbed another beer from the fridge and headed down the hall and up the stairs. Partway down the hallway he paused, and glanced over at Amber’s old room, knowing she didn’t live there anymore. Standing in the doorway of the room he had spent so many years in, he smiled at the same bed spread still on the bed. He walked over to the closet and opened up the door, reaching up and pulling out an old box. He set it on the bed and took off the lid. Inside were pictures, token, movie stubs, and everything else he kept from growing up.
He picked up a stack of the pictures and flipped through. The ones on top were his baby pictures, ones with his mom that made him smile. Below that were pictures of fishing with his dad in upstate New York. It was one of those memories that made him chuckle. He had not been the camping kind of kid, and the whole ordeal had been basically miserable since it rained. From the picture, though, holding a huge fish and smiling hugely, you could never tell.
He put the picture down and looked at the next one, a tightness flowing through his chest. It was him, Jordan, and Amber as kids, their arms over each other’s shoulders with big smiles on their faces. He missed those days. Things were so much less complicated. At the same time, he did not regret loving Amber, no matter how it had ended. He wished she had come to the barbecue, and every time he figured it was to get away from him, he reminded himself it was a long time ago and she was probably over it.
At the same time, though, he had broken her heart, so the fact that she was avoiding him didn’t sound that crazy at all. Whatever the reason, the house wasn’t as bright with her not in it.
Amber
“Please come in, Amber. Have a seat,” the interviewer said, leading her into a large conference room.
“Thank you,” she replied, feeling the nerves surging through her.
“My name is Rachel, and I am the hiring manager for the company. I will be working here out of this office permanently, so if you come to work with us you will see me often. I will also be heading up the HR Department.”
Amber was surprised. “Wow, that’s quite the undertaking. You are going to be a busy woman.”
Rachel scoffed. “Going to be? I haven’t stopped running in two weeks.”
Amber laughed, watching the thirty something woman brush the piece of brown bobbed hair out of her eyes. She was stylish, much more so than Amber, with a tight black pencil skirt, a white blouse, black shiny stilettos, and a fresh short bobbed, long banged haircut. It made Amber think about changing up her look.
Rachel pulled out Amber’s resume and ran over it quickly. “You did online school, but through UCLA. That’s very impressive. I love their online program. Small classes, expert instructors, and it fits some people perfectly.”
Amber nodded. “Yeah, I was apprehensive at first, but once I got into it I was very impressed. It was definitely challenging, but I was ready for it.”
Rachel nodded. “I can see that. You graduated number two in the whole graduating class, including the on campus students. Very impressive. So, tell me, what do you hope to accomplish here with us?”
Amber took in a deep breath and folded her hands on the table in front of her. “Well, I grew up with one of the most brilliant businessmen I’ve ever met; my father. I always knew one day that would be me. Production and the movies aren’t my thing, but I wanted a strong company, with good goals, and somewhere I could grow and learn. Like so many others, my dream is to own my own business one day, though I know I probably shouldn’t tell you that.”
She laughed. “Actually, the owner of this company built this place from the ground up and he got his foot down through working for other companies. We don’t discourage it. Obviously, if you are good at what you do, we want to keep you as long as we can, but we encourage personal and professional growth here.”
Amber smiled. “That is fantastic. I mean, really refreshing.”
Rachel pulled out another sheet. “I called all your references and I have to say, Amber, you have quite the fan club. People love you, your ethics, your determination, and how you overcome obstacles. I’ll be honest, I had already almost completely decided to hire you just based on this information, but meeting you absolutely cements that for me.”
Amber’s mouth dropped open slightly. “Really?”
Rachel nodded sticking out her hand. “Yep. I would like to make you an offer, if you feel comfortable here.”
Amber shoo
k her head. “Yes, absolutely.”
Rachel clapped her hands. “This is great. I’ll have my girl finish up the contracts while I show you around and have you meet the CEO. He likes to meet every person we hire, down to the mail clerk. He is very hands on with the employees, and will be here until we are ready and settled.”
Amber was excited, but also nervous as hell, as she followed Rachel out of the room and down the hall. Everything she had ever imagined about CEO’s of huge companies usually revolved around a business suit, an attitude, and someone who barely listened. What if he didn’t like her and decided not to hire her? She really wanted this job, with this company, it just seemed like a perfect fit for what she was looking to get into.
They headed through halls that smelled like fresh paint and new carpet. All of the offices were super modern, but comfortable at the same time. A huge wall art of lettering showcased the front page spreads of their online magazine. Beautiful and brave faces staring back at her as she slunk by. Rachel stopped outside of a set of double doors and put her finger up. “Hold on right here for just a second. I want to give the boss the run down, so he knows about you before you walk in.”
Amber nodded and clutched her hands in front of her. Rachel went inside and closed the door behind her. Amber had no idea what to expect from the man. The only CEO of a company she had ever met was her father, and he wasn’t the typical stereotype of a boss. He cared about his people, never looked uppity, and remembered every single employee’s name after meeting them only once. He made everyone feel like family, which garnered a lot of respect from his employees. Amber actually found it quite brilliant; people worked harder for him because they cared for him.
When she was growing up, she always pictured herself being the same kind of boss that her father was. Caring, kind, family oriented, and the kind of person with an open door policy at all times. She never wanted people to feel as uncomfortable around her as she was feeling in that exact moment, standing in the hallway of the new office. To her right, a monitor was playing, going through all the apps that the company had. Amber didn’t really pay much attention; her nerves were way to high at that moment.
Suddenly, Rachel poked her head out. “You ready?”
Amber nodded, her teeth clamped together, not wanting to open. She followed Rachel inside and through a receptionist area, though there was no one at the desk. She looked around as she entered the big office, noticing that it also had a sitting area and three large screen televisions.
Rachel put her hand out. “This is Amber, our new Business Analyst.”
Amber looked up and froze in her shoes, her mouth dropping wide open. It’s freaking Logan! Her lips parted, but not a single sound came out. She could not believe that she had just been interviewed by Logan’s company and hired. From the look on Logan’s face and how quickly he opened her file, she could tell he was just as shocked as she was.
Rachel cleared her throat, looking as if she could tell she had just gotten caught in the middle of something. “I’ll let you two get to know each other. I’ll be back in a few.”
Amber gathered herself enough to nod at Rachel, but didn’t take her eyes off of Logan for even a second. When she closed the door, he rubbed his face, chuckling. He leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs. Immediately, for some reason, his reaction enraged Amber. How dare he laugh like it was some silly misunderstanding?
She took a deep breath, no longer afraid to lose the chance she had been given. “You. You are the CEO of this company. For fucks sake, no wonder I got a call back that fast. And to think that I thought it was actually because I worked really hard to get here.”
Logan shook his head. “I had zero idea that you even applied to my company. I won’t be working from this office forever, and it think it’s important to put faith in the people that work for me to do the job they were hired for. I gave Rachel full authority of hiring, interviewing, the whole nine yards. I didn’t mean to laugh, Amber. It’s just so… so… I don’t know, like some movie. Of all the people.”
Amber crossed her arms over her chest. She had no idea how to react to Logan. On the one hand, she had butterflies, but on the other, she wanted to jump over the desk and choke him out. After all the excitement she had over this job, and she applies to the one and only person in the world she went out of her way to avoid. She knew he was in town, but she had purposely not gone to the barbecue because for the last almost five years she hadn’t wanted to see him, and that hadn’t changed.
Logan looked at her knowingly. “Listen, you won’t have to be around me long. I promise. I’m glad that Rachel picked you, I think you will do great. If you have the same dedication and motivation that you had before, you will rock this job. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re running the show out here eventually. If I had known you were looking, I would have offered it to you sooner, out of respect for your resume, not out of our past or our connection at all. You look like you want to storm off.”
“I’m trying to decide,” she replied through clenched teeth.
“Don’t do that. You are really going to do great at this,” he said, dropping the smile since it was only making her angrier.
She dropped her arms by her sides and clenched her fists. “How would you know? It’s not like we know each other anymore.”
Amber was doing everything she could think of not to blow up. She couldn’t help but be bitter about what had happened between them. It had changed her entire life, and it had changed who she was. It had hardened her in so many ways, and there were times after he left when she didn’t know if she could ever be happy again. Then Bradley had come, and he filled that hole inside of her. Standing in front of him, though, that hole seemed to be opening up.
She glanced down at his tight fitting blue button up and rolled sleeves. Amber quickly diverted her eyes, surprised at the intense desire that suddenly popped up inside of her. Her whole body felt warm, and she shifted in her stance, feeling a bit uncomfortable. She just hoped like hell her cheeks weren’t turning red at that point. She shook her head and reached down, bracing herself nonchalantly on the chair in front of her. She pushed back the desire, the want, the need, and the emotion. She was still incredibly hurt by what he had done to her.
Amber had planned out everything in her life from the time she was a little girl. When she had started seeing Logan, she was on the fast track to the life she had worked so damn hard to have. He changed everything, and she changed her entire world. Then, out of nowhere he just up and left her, like nothing they had mattered. Not only did he make her feel amazing on the inside but the things he did to her body made her weak in the knees even five years later. He was everything she always wanted in a man; sexy, smart, driven, kind, and handsome. They were like magnets, pulled together struggling to hold onto each other… until he left.
Her eyes met his, and he tilted his head at her. “I may not know you personally anymore, but I know what kind of person you have always been deep down. That is the kind of person we want here, working for the company. Your talent and brains will be an incredible asset to us, and I hope that this meeting doesn’t make you change your mind.”
Amber shook her head. “I don’t know. I need to think about whether this is what I want or not. The job sounds incredible, but this is a bit much for me to process. I…”
“Hey guys,” Rachel chirped behind them. “You ready to see the rest of the building?”
Amber stared at Logan for another moment, then forced a smile on her face, turning around. “Sure, I think we’re done here anyway. I don’t want to tie up his time like that.”
Logan nodded at Rachel and Amber followed her out of the room, not even looking back at him.
Logan
Logan went the entire rest of Monday and into Tuesday thinking about Amber and what had happened. He had been genuinely almost knocked out of his seat when she walked into his office. He hadn’t bothered to look down at her resume before she came in. From the look on her face, though, h
e could tell that she still harbored the same anger and same hurt from him that she had when she had read his journal, two nights before he left for New York. Nothing had changed, and he knew for sure that she hadn’t come to the barbecue because she was avoiding him at all costs.
Logan had wanted to reach out to her again before he even left the building after the interview, but he knew that she would need some space. If she was still as stubborn as she used to be, he knew calling her that same day, or hunting her down in the office, would only make the situation worse and might even get him a good chewing out. That was definitely the last thing that he wanted to happen. Pressing the matter was not the route to take with a girl like Amber.
He leaned back in his office chair and pulled out her resume. She had graduated top of her class, early, with an MBA. Not to mention the fact that she did all of that while working an internship and taking care of a child. She was determined, and he could see that through what she had done since he had left. Logan shook his head. She had impressed him beyond belief, and everyone in the office too. In his line of work, they were always looking for people like Amber. People with the grit and motivation to get things done, not to impress their boss, but because they wanted to better their own lives. They wanted people willing to sacrifice the golden things to push themselves to their potential. Amber was the kind of girl that pushed herself beyond the potential she even knew she had.
The job needed someone that would latch on and not let it go for even a second. In the world they lived in, things changed from minute to minute. Fads faded, people went from hero to villain, and technology flipped at the drop of a hat. He knew that Amber would not let her position fail if she could help it. Besides wanting her for the position, he knew that he had to have her. He just wasn’t positive on going about convincing her to work for the company. He had thought about sending Rachel to do it, to woo her and stalk her into the job, but he knew that wouldn’t work on Amber. She would see right through it and know he was too much of a coward to do it himself.