The Moment She Knew

by Christine Farrey

  This came on the radio twice today. Thought if you.

  She smiled and replied.

  It is a great song. The only song I really like by her.

  It’s a great song to dance to.

  I hope you are not texting and driving.

  Of course I’m not. I have my blue tooth hooked up in the car. I talk, it types. What are you doing?

  Waiting for my neighbor to come over and hang out. His new temp roommate is being a pain. You remember the new adjunct I ranted on about?

  Yes, I think I remember you saying something about him.

  He is in a bad mood and my neighbor wants no part of it, so he is coming to hang out over here.

  Ok. Have fun!

  Over the next couple weeks Connor and Callie talked on the phone at night and sent text messages during the day. The texts contained silly pictures and funny quotes. He flirted a lot and Callie flirted back. She enjoyed their banter. Connor was fun to talk to and she looked forward to their conversations. She had gotten to know a little about him. She wanted to ask Ryan about Connor, wondering if Ryan would know him. She decided it was pointless since Connor was in New York and this wasn’t going to turn into anything.

  Chapter 8

  It was here, graduation day. Callie had spent so much time making sure the venue, food, students and everything else was in order. The last order of detail was the guest speaker. Callie was running around looking for Ryan who was with Mr. Sterling. She was so consumed with work and Connor that she had yet to meet Mr. Sterling. As she was running around looking for caps and gowns that have been misplaced, she heard her phone go off. It was Connor calling her. She didn’t want to but had to ignore it. Then her text message went off, it was Connor again.

  I need to talk to you.

  Are you ok?

  It’s rather important.

  I can call you back in a little bit I just need to find missing gowns for graduation.

  Her phone went off again but she didn’t look, she needed to find the missing caps and gowns. She saw Ryan jogging towards her, “Ok the caps and gowns have been found. Turns out some of the students took them earlier and didn’t sign for them. Also Sterling is in a bad mood so I’m just warning you.” Callie was irritated, “Yea well he needs to put on his big boy panties and get over it. He needs go on stage in two minutes. The students are walking in, like now.” Pomp and Circumstance started playing, cuing the students to walk in. Callie rounded the corner and collided with a man. “Jesus, I’m sorry... holy shit! Connor, what are you doing here?” Callie was excited to see him but confused. He was dressed in a nice dark blue suit with a light blue tie. It complimented his eyes nicely.

  “I told you I needed to talk to you,” he said in a rush. He looked like he had been running around.

  Ryan walked up to Connor and Callie. “Where the hell have you been? You are going on stage to speak any minute, damn it Sterling!”

  Callie looked between Ryan and Connor. “Going on stage to speak? YOU’RE Mr. Sterling?!”

  Callie was furious and Connor could see the fire in her eyes. “Yes,” he responded as he stretched his hands and placed them in his pant pockets, “I was trying to tell you that,” he was stating his case.

  Callie threw her hands up. “You picked NOW to tell me? You had weeks to tell me and you want to pick the moment you go on stage, to tell ME who you are?!”

  Ryan was looking out of the loop and interjected, “Wait, you too met before?”

  They both looked at him and back at each other. “Yes, we met at the charity event. Clearly he knew who I was but kept who he was a secret,” she was turning to walk away.

  Connor grabbed her arm, “now wait a minute. I had my reasons.” Callie turned to face him, “I’m sorry and those reasons are?” Callie asked challenging him. Connor spoke without missing a beat. “We danced Ryan, and called it a night. Relax, it wasn’t a big deal. I’m not stealing your girlfriend. Since she is your friend, and I have to work and live near her this summer, I wanted Callie to see me as Connor since she clearly has it out for Mr. Sterling; someone she seems to hate before she even met him. Oh and to clear of few things up, Caitlyn. I’m not a billionaire, the industry is and I do well for myself but I’m not flying around on my personal jet and if I was, it’s my business. You can keep your comments to yourself. I get money and ‘fancy’ makes you uncomfortable because you have this whole ‘poor me’ persona going on and life seems ‘oh so hard’ for you but suck it up. Life is hard. Also, I get that I don’t have a degree but what I do have is something books can’t teach you. I have real world experience. Something other teachers, even those who have degrees, may lack. There is a reason I got called to do these lectures. I’m not a professor and I wouldn’t claim to be one, this isn’t my dream job. I have my career and I love it.” Callie had told Connor about her frustrations with Mr. Sterling. She spent weeks talking to Connor; they couldn’t be the Masone person. She liked Connor but Mr. Sterling wasn’t what she wanted. She pulled her arm away from his grasp. “It’s time for you to go on stage, Mr. Sterling,” she said to Connor as she balled her hands into a fist and walked away.

  Connor stood there giving his speech, talking about life lessons and quoting some people Callie never heard of. She watched Connor, he kept his eyes on everyone, scanning the crowd but never looking over in her direction. Ryan came by after Connor’s speech trying to apologize on his cousin’s behalf but Callie wasn’t accepting it, Ryan did nothing wrong. She told Ryan how she and Connor have been texting for a couple weeks. Ryan said it ‘made sense to him’, whatever that meant.

  Graduation went over smoothly, if you don’t count the whole situation with Connor being Mr. Sterling. She couldn’t believe it but it was done. Connor left after the graduation ceremony and she hadn’t seen or heard from him after, honestly she didn’t expect to. There was the fact that she might see him around, he was living in her apartment building for the summer and he was also lecturing at the college, so there was a good chance she could run into him. She prayed she didn’t.

  She remembered to Google Mr. Sterling, Connor Sterling. She put on her glasses and started up her computer.

  What she found out was he was a big name in the technology industry as well as in New York. His company designed different software programs among other projects he was working on. There was no talking about his personal life other than he was a “most eligible bachelor”. Callie couldn’t find him on any social media sites which she found strange. He was on the cover of tons of magazines from technology to business, but nothing she ever read. Reading the articles she knew he was smart and good at what he did. There was talk of big name customers not only in the US but also overseas. Customers ranged from production studios to hospitals and colleges.

  She looked up images and saw him pictured with guys and girls. Friends, coworkers, maybe girlfriends, the captions didn’t offer much information but he did attend quite a few social events. She started to feel like she invading his privacy and shut the computer off. Lost in her thoughts she didn’t hear the knock at the door. She knew it wasn’t Ryan. She looked in the peephole and saw Connor standing on the other side.

  She tried to ignore him. “I know you’re in there Callie, I can see your shadow under the door,” he said with annoyance.

  “What do you want?” She asked from behind the closed door.

  “Can you open the door for a minute?” He asked politely.

  “No,” she didn’t feel like talking to him or rather him scolding her.

  “Oh come on. I’m asking nicely,” now he sounded like he was pleading.

  She opened the door and figured she should get this conversation over with. “Look you said what you had to say earlier and I got it.” He let himself in the apartment and walked past her.

  As he walked past her she could smell his cologne, the Masone cologne that he wore at the charity event. He walked around her apartment, looking at her bookcase and reading her quotes she had on her wall. He had his ha
nds in the pockets of his dark wash jeans; they looked plain but fit him in all the right places. She hadn’t seen him in anything other than a suit or tux, so seeing him in a dark blue polo shirt that revealed his muscles and a pair of gray converse sneakers was new. She felt less intimated when he wasn’t in a suit.

  “Your apartment is nice.” He could have been bullshitting but Callie loved her apartment. She had a lot of birds, trees and owls as décor. The colors were soft. She had pillows on the big comfy green couch and chair. She had a small faux fireplace and throw blankets all around. Her colors matched but her furniture pieces were unique. She had built her coffee table using a staple gun, wheels and a few crates from a hardware store. Her favorite part of her apartment were the bookcases she had going along one wall, she only owned a few books since it wasn’t in her budget to buy all the books she wanted. She read what was available at the local library.

  “I like those glasses too. You look scholarly,” he smiled and slightly licked his lips. She didn’t know if he was serious or just being an ass. “Yea thanks.” She wanted him to leave.

  “Listen I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I said; well I should have maybe worded it differently. In my defense you did verbally attack me without even knowing me. You don’t know what it’s like being me and you have no idea the distance I have to keep from people. It’s hard to trust anyone. Everyone thinks they know all about me and they don’t. I know how you felt about Mr. Sterling so I thought if you knew me as Connor for a bit you might, I don’t know,” he trailed off in silence.

  She waited a moment, their conversation had been on her mind all day and he was right. “I know. You’re right. I guess I can see why you didn’t say anything right away. And I shouldn’t have talked about you in that way, it’s just I really worked hard and it took me so long to get where I am. I just feel like something’s should be earned. I always bust my ass and people get shit handed to them. I never can catch a break but I don’t want to give off the ‘poor me’ persona.” She had some zest in her tone. She went and sat down on her couch, clutching a pillow to her body. He was right about how she judged him but he still could have gotten his point across without being condescending.

  “That was wrong of me. I was rude and being an asshole. I completely admit it. You are right to your opinion but just because I didn’t go to school, doesn’t mean I didn’t earn what I have. I gave up and went through more than most people know.” She was interested to know what exactly since the internet gave no information up. “That’s a story for another time,” he continued, “I just wanted to say that I was sorry for how I spoke to you. I was rude and shouldn’t have thrown your struggle in your face. I was annoyed with Ryan and with how other things were going in other areas of life. I knew I had to tell you who I was. I wasn’t lying to you, I was holding off. I enjoy talking to you and I wanted to keep our friendship going.” He took the seat on the couch next to her.

  Callie always owned up to her mistakes. She barely knew him and acted on a judgment. She was never one to do that. She nodded and offered her apologies. “And you are fully aware you were being a pompous asshole?”

  “Yes, I am fully aware I was.” Connor slightly smiled.

  “Ok. And you want to be friends?” Callie asked.

  “Yes.” Connor replied.

  “Ok, because the next time you think you can talk to me like that, I will coldcock you right in the throat. As your friend, I’m giving you fair warning.” Connor looked at her and started to laugh. “I’m being serious.” Callie was smiling, trying her best not to bust out laughing at how silly her comment sounded. “I know you are. And if I ever talk to you like that again, I fully expect you to because I will deserve it.” Connor was laughing, but deep down knew Callie would deliver on her warning.

  “Ok now that that is put aside. I wanted to ask you if you were busy this weekend. I wanted to explore more of New Haven. Find essential places: gas stations, grocery stores, that kind of thing. Ryan says you happen to be a born and raised New Haven girl and I should ask you.” She figured this was Ryan trying to get them to play nice. She was going to take the bait. She loved New Haven; the city had so much to offer and couldn’t wait to show it off. “Of course, just let me know when you’re free.”

  He turned, walking towards the door. “Ok. Thanks. Oh and don’t tell anyone I apologized because it’s not really my thing,” he walked out her door and stopped. He turned to face her, she thought he was going to say something but he turned and walked across the hall.

  Chapter 9

  Summer was officially in swing. Classes had begun and life wasn’t too bad. Callie hadn’t seen much of Ryan; he was teaching a bunch of classes this summer and had other engagements with the school when he wasn’t teaching. Connor on the other hand was always around. They spoke throughout the day, and went either for walks down the beach at night or went for a drive up the coastline. Callie showed Connor what New Haven had to offer. He compared it to New York City, with similarities in shopping and food.

  They spent time talking. She talked about her love for Justin Timberlake, fairytales, super heroes and the ninja turtles. She loved to read and found out that Connor liked to read when he could fit it in. He mentioned there were a few bookstores in the city that were renowned places to visit. Callie had a list of things she one day wanted and on the top was a library in her house.

  They talked about Callie’s family and how they were crazy but each person was special in their own way. She talked about her first job at a coffee house and her academic journey. Connor didn’t offer up much information about himself but if she asked a question, he answered it. She told him about her favorite website called Buzzfeed and how she took all of their quizzes. She had based some of her life decisions on her results from the quizzes. Connor laughed until she showed him some tattoos she had gotten based her outcomes to a quiz or an article she had read.

  “Wait so how many tattoos do you have?” He asked curiously because he hadn’t noticed any.

  “Well let’s see. I have 3 dots on my wrist, it’s a reading thing,” she moved her bracelets aside to show him.

  “I have paw prints on my rib cage, kind of under my boob, an arrow on the side of my foot, a small bird under my collar bone, an anchor on my pelvis, a feather behind my ear and the roman numerals for thirteen on the back of my neck. I also want to get the infinity symbol, I just want to get it for a reason that is worth eternity.” She finished as she pointed to each spot on her body that held a tattoo.

  “I didn’t pin you for a tattooed person, but do I get to see, oh I don’t know the anchor or maybe the paw prints?” He asked with a wink.

  “I told you it was all the quizzes,” she said with laughter. She convinced him to take a couple quizzes in exchange she would show him her ‘hidden’ tattoos. She read the question and choices, he gave her an answer. She didn’t know if he realized it, but every time he gave an answer, he revealed a little piece of himself.

  Callie got a deeper look into what Connor did back in New York City. He, along with his team, designed, created and installed software and hardware for companies. He talked about customize databases or at least that’s what she think he said. The software was security type of software so not only did the company’s information need to be protected but their consumer’s information needed protection as well. He talked about other projects he had going on as well, something government related. He talked about work a lot, like he didn’t do much of anything else.

  So far on the personal side, she was aware that he was adopted, as were his two sisters, Devin and Quinn and his older brother Parker. Devin and Connor were the Masone age, 27 years old and they were the closet out of the siblings. Connor was a “fucking pain in the ass” teenager but out grew it and developed a liking in technology. He was quite smart and one thing lead to another and Sterling Technologies was born. His mother was a nurse but now taught nursing at Yale. His father was a man of the law and now taught Law at Yale.


  “So both of your parents are professors are Yale?” She asked as they walked along their usual path near the beach.

  “Yes. They like it. Ryan was talking to them about the business department at the college. He said he needed adjuncts and I promised my mother I would take the summer and lecture here. She gave me a look and well, I always will feel in her debt so I obliged. I needed some time away anyway. I can get too wrapped up in my work and it’s not healthy as Amelia puts it.” He sometimes called his mother Amelia.

  “Do you like teaching?” She asked while wrapping her sweater around her more tightly. The breeze was picking up. It was a bit chilly for a walk tonight.

  “It’s different than I’m used to and I have such a reliable staff that I can work remotely so I like it because it’s different but I’m not sure it’s for me. I just hope the students are getting something out of it,” he sounded concerned.

  “I’m sure they are. Business is one of our most popular departments. That department has the highest number of student enrollments. You also seem to know about technology and how to run a thriving business so I’m sure your lectures are informative.” Connor noticed she was hugging her body to keep warm.

  “I thought about offering an internship at my company to some students. It would look great on a resume,” he took off his jacket and put it around her.

  “I think that would be awesome of you. They can definitely benefit from that. It’s just how would they travel to the city for this? Most of the students get grants and aid because they don’t make enough money to pay for college.”

  She was going to figure out how to implement his internship program out. It would be an amazing opportunity for some of the students. She liked how he didn’t just lecture but wanted to make sure the students were benefiting from it. Too many adjuncts walked in and just spit words at students, not caring what they absorbed. She also liked how he often walked with his hands in his pockets. She wondered if it was an insecure thing. She tended to pull her sleeves over her hands when she was feeling insecure but couldn’t imagine how this man could be insecure about anything.