I had arranged a team meeting for us all to discuss the final stages of the assignment. The large conference room had been booked, so Elizabeth, Travis, Marissa, and I were stuck meeting in the small, windowless conference room that afternoon. It was sparsely furnished, with a round table that seated four and a mostly empty bookshelf shoved up against the wall. Travis was the only one there when I arrived. He was leaning back in his chair, drumming his fingers on the table. The sleeves of his evergreen shirt were pushed up, revealing his muscular forearms. He glanced up as soon as I opened the door, and his dark eyes met mine, but it seemed like they narrowed slightly as he realized that it was me. The tension was evident on his face, his jaw taught. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else right then.
“Hi,” I said shortly, watching him as he sat there staring at me.
“Maddy,” he said, nodding slightly.
“I don’t think the meeting should take too long,” I said, balancing my stack of documents in one arm as I pushed the door open further with the other. He moved slightly as if he were about to get up and help me, but by then I’d already walked in, and he remained seated.
“All right.” He turned away and looked down at his legal pad, suddenly intent on studying his notes.
I shook my head slightly and let out a small sigh as I maneuvered around the table so that I was sitting opposite of him. I dropped my stack of papers on the table, listening as they landed with a loud thud. I sat down and frowned, agitated that something about me was still bothering him. This was going to be an uncomfortable meeting if he only spoke in one or two-word sentences the entire time. I started to divide the copies into four piles to hand out, when I realized that Travis was staring at me. He looked away when I met his eyes, but before I could say anything the door opened as Marissa and Elizabeth walked in.
“Hey guys!” Marissa said lightly, a hint of laughter in her voice. She bounded over, heels clicking across the floor, with a big smile on her face. I could tell she was amused at the idea of Travis and me sitting alone together in the little room with the strange way he had been acting lately. “Did you start the meeting without us?”
“Of course not,” I said, smiling sweetly. “It wouldn’t be the same without you here.”
“I don’t know; I’m sure you two had plenty to discuss.” Elizabeth said knowingly. I wanted to glare at her for saying anything but decided it was best to just ignore her comment. Travis did the same.
“Well, you could have started,” Marissa said as she pulled out a chair. “I’ve got a date tonight, so come 5:00, I’m outta here.”
“Rob again?” Travis asked. Marissa had gone out to dinner and a movie with Rob (the coffee shop guy) over the weekend. She had given us the play-by-play earlier this week—the Italian restaurant they ate at, how funny he was all throughout dinner, and finally their indecision over which movie to go see. Rob had wanted to see an action movie, but she’d somehow talked him into the latest chick flick. Apparently there had only been two other men in the theater, and Rob had spent the rest of the night teasing her about it. But given that they already had a second date planned for tonight, he obviously hadn’t been too upset about the situation.
“Yes, of course with Rob.” She playfully rolled her eyes at Travis.
“The second date in less than a week, huh? Must be serious,” Travis joked with a smile.
Elizabeth suddenly looked amused. “Marissa, too bad you and Rob don’t have anyone to double date with.”
I thought I saw Travis cast a sidelong glance at her, but I was listening to Marissa eagerly explain their plans for the evening, so I couldn’t be sure. When she realized that we were all waiting on her, she trailed off mid-story.
“Should we get started?” Marissa asked, brightly. She seemed all too enthusiastic, but I knew it was only because she was excited about her date and in a hurry to leave. We spent the next hour coming up with a list of the tasks that were still incomplete and dividing up the remaining workload. I passed around the publication mock-ups showing them the layouts that I had created based on the previous things we’d done. I’d already included the draft text that was ready and had left blank areas for the sections that we still needed. The overall concept was similar to what we’d done in the past, and Marissa and Elizabeth nodded in agreement as they looked it over.
“This looks good,” Marissa said. “This will make it really easy for me next week when I compile the entire document.”
“Yeah, this is good,” Elizabeth agreed. “Travis?”
“Hmmm…” was his only reply.
Our manager Jennifer poked her head in the door then. She was wearing a sleek grey suit and carrying a stack of papers, probably heading to another meeting. “How’s everything going?”
“Good,” I replied. “We were just finishing up. Here’s what we have so far.” I handed her a copy of the layout and she flipped through a few pages. “After we finish editing the last of the reviews, we’ll just drop the remaining text and photos into the appropriate place,” I explained. “I’ll add some more things this afternoon. We can—”
“Do you really think that’s the best approach?” Travis suddenly interrupted.
I stopped, looking at him in surprise. He’d barely said a word since the actual meeting had started. Now that our boss was standing here, he decided to speak up? And only to disagree with me?
“What do you mean?” I asked politely, a firm smile on my face.
“It doesn’t make sense to use this layout. I think it’s a bad idea.”
My mouth dropped open slightly at his harsh statement. Marissa and I glanced at each other, and she raised her eyes slightly, knowing how well Travis and I had been getting along lately. “This has worked in the past,” I said tightly. “We don’t exactly have time to start from scratch.”
“I don’t think we need to waste time finalizing the layout now,” he argued.
“Wh—?” I started to ask before he cut me off.
“We don’t know how long each section is going to be. Remember they mentioned possibly adding another category? Outdoor activities or something? I think we should focus on writing the content. We might have to rearrange the entire layout if you didn’t correctly estimate the length of the text for each section. You could be completely wasting our time.”
Travis’s brow was furrowed as he finished speaking, his jaw tightly clenched. I felt the heat of embarrassment wash over my face. His words stung more than they should have. I wasn’t sure if it was because Jennifer was standing there, listening to our conversation, or if it was the fact that Travis was saying them. We had been so close before. He still joked around with Marissa and Elizabeth. Why was he so mad at me?
I took a deep breath, trying to stay composed so that he couldn’t see that he’d upset me. “This is just the mock-up,” I said carefully. “We need an idea of how the final product will look.”
“I just think—”
“We don’t have time to rework the entire process right now,” Marissa explained to him, hastily looking back at me. “I think Maddy is right about this. We’re not going to have time to just pull this together next week without a concept of how the layout should look.”
Elizabeth spoke up in agreement. “Travis, trust me. It gets so crazy around deadlines. We can’t come up with new procedures right now.”
Jennifer glanced down at her watch. “I’ve got to get to another meeting. We can certainly talk about new procedures for the next publication. For now, let’s just stick with Maddy’s plan. I’m here until 7:00 tonight, so let me know if you need anything else later on.” She turned, and before I could say anything, was on her way back out the door again. The room was silent after she left, the tension still thick in the air. I pursed my lips together, unsure of what to say. How could Travis have just embarrassed me like that in front of everyone? He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, propping his elbows on the table and resting his clasped hands against his mouth, like he was forcing himself to rem
ain silent.
“So, we’re all on the same page then?” Elizabeth asked carefully when no one else spoke. She looked at each of us, but her eyes came to a rest on Travis.
He lifted his head up from his hands, but he didn’t turn to look at Elizabeth. His body remained stiff, and as his dark eyes met mine, I noticed that his lips were pressed together in a tight line.
I felt the fury rising inside of me as he stared at me from across the table. “Do you mind telling me what that was about?” I asked angrily, glaring at him.
“Jennifer asked how things were going with the project,” he said firmly, as if I had no reason to question his behavior.
“And?” I stared at him incredulously.
“I was just expressing my opinion.”
I practically spit out the next words as I spoke. “And you thought trashing my plan in front of our boss was the best way to do so? Telling her that I was wasting everyone’s time?”
Anger flashed in Travis’s eyes. “That’s right, why should I have any say in this? What do I know?”
“You had plenty of time to speak up before Jennifer walked in—we’ve been in here for over an hour. You had all week in fact, but instead you’ve decided to ignore me for some reason.” I felt my voice catch as I spoke, but at that moment I didn’t care. I didn’t care if Travis saw that I was upset or if the rest of them heard our argument. I was so frustrated with Travis and hurt by his actions that I was tired of pretending that everything was all right.
“I’m sure my opinion doesn’t matter to you,” he said coolly. “After all, I’m just a dumb jock.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, bewildered.
“It means exactly what it sounds like. You know, you should really be more careful what you say, Maddy.” His voice was bitter, yet somehow matter-of-fact. I felt the pinpricks of tears starting to form in the corners of my eyes, and I prayed that I didn’t start to cry in front of everyone. Travis sat there, stone-faced, seeming to assess me. I willed myself to hold back my tears and swallowed, not saying anything.
“Okay, guys,” Marissa said hastily, trying to change the subject. “Can we just focus on the project for now? Let’s wrap this up and get going.”
I glanced over at her, relieved to finally be looking away from Travis’s harsh gaze, but it was Elizabeth’s alarmed expression that caught my attention. I stared at her, confused, but then gathered my thoughts and turned back to Marissa. “Fine. Let’s meet on Monday to finalize this.” I stood up and began to hurriedly collect my things. Marissa and Elizabeth rose as well, but Travis remained seated, still looking grim. Finally, he slowly pushed back his chair. Silently, I wondered to myself what Travis’s problem was. What on earth was he talking about? He’d been acting so strange all week, like he was furious at me, and yet I’d done nothing wrong. What did he mean I should watch what I say? Marissa ushered me out the door, but Elizabeth hovered behind, waiting to walk out with Travis. As I headed back to my office, I wondered if she found his behavior as odd as I did.
***
The rest of the day passed quickly. I had a pile of reviews to insert into the publication mock-up, and that kept me occupied for most of the afternoon. I had so much work to do that I barely had time to think about anything else, much less Travis’s strange behavior earlier. At least if I was stuck at my desk I wouldn’t need to worry about running into him. He was probably in his office, complaining to Elizabeth about me.
Later that evening, I dropped some copy for the website off with one of the web designers before I got ready to leave. Most people had already gone home for the day, and as I got ready to shut down my computer, I checked my email one last time, clicking through the new messages that I’d gotten over the afternoon and deleting a few that I didn’t need. Marissa had sent me a quick note when I’d been away from my desk.
I’m headed out…call me later tonight!
She was probably having dinner with Rob right now. I wondered if she wanted me to call her to find out about her date or if she wanted to talk about my argument with Travis earlier. I also wondered about Elizabeth’s strange look at the end of our meeting, like she had just figured something out. I doubted she really knew what was going on either, though. After all, she was the one who had insisted the other morning that Travis really liked me. His recent behavior made it clear that wasn’t the case.
I sighed, deciding that I would never really understand what had happened. I finally shut down my computer and turned out the light in my office. Walking down the hallway, feeling slightly defeated, I was relieved that almost everyone had left for the night. I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone right now. At least tomorrow was Friday. I waved goodbye to Jennifer, who was talking on the phone, as I went by her office. As I rounded the corner into our reception area, I was surprised to see that Elizabeth was still here. She was standing at the entrance, holding the door open.
“He just needs to get his keys,” she said, laughing a little as I walked closer, and I wondered what she meant and why it was funny. As I approached, I started to thank her for holding the door for me, when Travis suddenly walked in. I came to a complete stop, taken aback. Travis seemed just as startled to see me. He stopped in his tracks and stared down at me, his large frame filling the doorway. As I stared at him, the realization of what was happening slowly clicked into place. Elizabeth had been waiting for him to walk back in, not holding the door open for me. He’d forgotten his keys. She’d been laughing because she knew we were about to run into each other. I stood there, momentarily bewildered, and instantly felt the hurt well up in me again. In that moment I didn’t even notice if Elizabeth was still there, because as my heart beat faster and my body froze, the only thing I was aware of was him, standing just a few feet away.
He neither said anything nor moved out of the way.
I felt a surge of panic rising in me and wondered if he could see that I was visibly upset. Why wasn’t he moving? Why hadn’t he spoken? My breathing became shallow as I struggled to maintain my composure. I thought for sure everyone was gone for the evening by now, and I certainly didn’t expect to see Travis again tonight. Why did I have to run into him?
It felt like an eternity passed, like time had just completely stopped, but at last I managed to find my voice.
“Excuse me,” I finally mumbled, turning sideways to get past him.
He turned slightly to let me by.
As I stepped forward, I finally cast my eyes up toward his face, and as his eyes met mine, I wondered why his looked so sad.
He didn’t say a word to me as I slid past him.
I didn’t look back.
Chapter 13
The sound of my alarm did nothing to improve my mood the next morning. I hadn’t slept very well, both from the stress of the deadline looming and the strange confrontation that I’d had with Travis yesterday. I groaned as the memories came flooding back. Too bad it wasn’t just a bad dream. At least it was Friday, and then I’d have the weekend to distract me. I took a quick shower and searched through my closet, trying to figure out what I should wear.
Settling on dark jeans, a white v-neck tee shirt, and a black cardigan, I walked back into the bathroom to finish drying my hair. Taking one last glance in the mirror, I was relieved that at least I didn’t look as exhausted as I felt. I quickly ate half a bagel and gathered my things before rushing out the door. I hurriedly walked to the metro and luckily caught a train just before it pulled away from the station. The ride to work was peaceful at least. The metro wasn’t crowded this morning—I guess that was to be expected on a nice spring day, and a Friday at that. All the lucky people had already taken off for the weekend.
The bright sunlight and clear blue sky greeted me as I rode up the escalator that exited the station. Office workers crowded the streets, holding briefcases and laptop bags, cups of coffee in hand. Maybe Marissa and I could sneak out for a quick coffee break this morning—sit outside, enjoy the nice weather. My phone buzzed just t
hen, and I realized she had just texted me.
Date was awesome last night. Get up here soon!
I must not have gotten any reception in the tunnel, I realized, as I walked down the block. That would have been too random if she had sent that text just as I was thinking about her. At least her date with Rob had gone well yesterday. Maybe her good mood could cheer me up. I paused for a second to quickly text her back.
Be right up!
Tucking my phone back into my purse, I hurried across the street and stepped onto the sidewalk in front of my office building. As I looked up, I caught a glimpse of someone coming out of the doors and felt a flush of anger wash over me. Of course he was here, practically blocking my path, walking directly toward me. Just what I needed after our disastrous meeting yesterday afternoon.
He was dressed down even for a Friday, wearing a faded blue-grey tee shirt that was just tight enough to show off his muscular chest and jeans that hung perfectly from his hips. I raised my eyes toward his face and noticed for the first time that his brown hair had a few strands of blond mixed in, gleaming in the sunlight. His head was turned down slightly, his brown eyes gazing at me, I realized. He did not appear happy to see me. But then why were his eyes focused so intently on my face?
I suddenly heard tires screeching in the street behind me, followed seconds later by a loud crash. I jumped at the sudden noise, stumbling forward, vaguely aware of the shouts of alarm from people around me. The deafening sound of crunching metal echoed off my building and down the street of the city block. Travis was suddenly right in front of me, his tall body towering over mine. He reached out, as if to steady me, and inexplicably pulled me into his arms. I gasped in surprise as I fell against him, but as his arms tightened around me, I noticed only that I fit perfectly against him, my body pressed to his chest, my head tucked just beneath his chin.
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