Where We Left Off

by J. Alex Blane

  “Mom,” he cordially greeted her.

  Unknowingly, she was cautious in speaking and a bit standoffish. She had grown used to keeping her distance over the years, though, more so at the request of her son than her.

  “Mason, you …you look real good, son. How are you?” She asked, her voice pleading for a response with every word.

  He looked off, clearly agitated at just the sound of her voice.

  “Thank you,” he forced out, but was decidedly short. “Look I’m glad you came, and I know Jackson appreciates it, but–”

  “Mason, I was actually hoping we could maybe talk for a few minutes,” she cuts him off.

  He laughed.

  “About what?” he asked nonchalantly, but highly irritated. “Talk about what?

  “About …things.”

  “About things, huh,” he looked down at the ground scratching his head. “There’s nothing to talk about…I have nothing I honestly want to say to you.”

  “Mason––”

  He cut her off, “I’m going to respect the notion of Jackson inviting you and walk away without telling you how I really feel. But just so you know,” he shook his head, “him getting married doesn’t change one thing. And in no way should it have given you the idea that it would. Like I said, I have nothing to say to you.” He forced a smile. “But please, enjoy yourself, and don’t look so upset …people are watching.”

  He turned around and made his way to the bar.

  “That looked like a pretty heated conversation…”

  “You think?” He responded, still somewhat irritated.

  He hadn’t recognized the voice and didn’t care to, until he looked up and noticed it was the woman who was sitting next to Reign at the ceremony. Suddenly his mood shifted, and finally the day was looking up again. It took only a few short moments and smiles and he was right back to his normal self, as if the conversation with his mother had never happened.

  “What can I get you?” the bartender asked.

  “Let me have a glass of Moscato,” he requested.

  She laughed, easily forcing a smile to Masons face.

  “Interesting choice…I wouldn’t pick you as a Moscato man.”

  “I’m not. The drink is for you,” he said, sliding the glass towards her. “I’m Mason, by the way.”

  He put his hand out to greet her, but she was hesitant to respond. He couldn’t tell if her reluctance was due to a lack of interest in him, or if it was just her way of flirting with him. She appeared to be weighing her options, doing so with a smile. Only a few seconds later she returned the gesture and shook his hand.

  “I gathered that much,” she said without giving her name. “That was a very nice speech you gave earlier.”

  “Thank you,” he said, leaning against the bar.

  He signaled the bartender again to request a drink.

  “So I haven’t seen you at any of our functions or get-togethers before. Are you a friend of the bride or the groom?” he asked.

  “What makes you think I’m a friend of either?”

  “Well, you’re here, for starters,” he mentioned, intrigued by her response. “Unless you’re just some extremely beautiful wedding crasher.”

  She laughed.

  “Besides,” he continued, “in our line of work, there aren’t too many of Jacksons friends I haven’t had the privilege of meeting. And you I would have definitely remembered, which means you must be a friend of the bride.”

  “You don’t sound too enthused about that,” she laughed in wonder.

  “To be honest I don’t much care for her but my brother does, which means I have to, and thus” he throws his hands up in front of him, “here I am, the best man.”

  “Wow,” she said, shortening her sip of her drink. “Either you are extremely rude or blatantly honest.”

  “I see no reason to lie,” he confidently responded.

  She didn’t seem too bothered by that which, in a way, shocked him a little. Perhaps she was more interested than he thought. Perhaps this was about to go exactly as he was hoping. He nursed his drink, leaning next her, waiting for the right moment to seal the deal. He’d done this many times before and he knew exactly how to play the game. Talk them up at the bar, buy them a drink or two, and what follows from there. Their house or mine, he thought.

  “So, you mentioned your line of work. What is it that you do, Mr. Mason? Or do you spend all of your time attempting to charm women back to your hotel room?”

  He almost didn’t know how to respond.

  Clearing his throat, he said, “I am actually the Executive Vice President of J.D. Everett and Associates.”

  “And I’m assuming you expect me to know who that is?”

  “We” he laughed, “are a real-estate development firm. We specialize in commercial real estate and land development.”

  “So you don’t build residential homes?”

  “No, not really. Mostly commercial properties, shopping centers, and hotels.

  “That’s interesting. I’m actually surprised Keri didn’t opt to get married in a church, rather than this hotel.”

  “I don’t do churches,” he chimed in.

  She chuckled, “You aren’t the one getting married. What does you not ‘doing churches’ have to do with their wedding?”

  He laughed, avoiding the question. “Jackson would have never agreed to it. So,” he took a sip of his drink, “we’re here. I like it a lot better here anyway.”

  “Why do I feel like the next thing you are about to say is you built this hotel?”

  He laughed, “I did,” he arrogantly noted.

  She took a delicate sip of her Moscato and looked around the ballroom the reception was being held in.

  “At least you have pretty good taste,” she said.

  He looked at her with an obvious attraction in his gaze.

  “I’d like to think so,” he flirted.

  She picked up on it instantly, just as she had picked up on his intentions from the very beginning. Although she entertained the conversation, she was smart enough not to play fully into it. She clearly didn’t hide her bouts of flirtation, though, as she prepared to make her way back to her seat.

  “Can I get you another drink?” Mason offered, seeing she was just about finished with her first.

  Pondering his question, she smiled, giving him a peculiar look.

  “You know, I find that very interesting,” she mentioned.

  “What, that I offered you another drink?”

  “No,” she paused, “that I now know your name, what you do for a living, and even where you work. And all you could think to ask me was if you could get me another drink. Not what I do for a living, or where I’m from, or anything that makes me appealing apart from the way I sip from this glass.”

  Shocked, he didn’t know what to say. She looked at him and smiled, seemingly without offense.

  “It’s okay, I’m not holding it against you… not yet, anyway.”

  Is she flirting with me now? he asked himself. This entire conversation had taken a dramatic turn and he was just about clueless as to what to say next. All he could do was lean back and smile.

  “Well, Mason, I’m going to head back to my table, which happens to be full of the bride’s friends” she laughed. “It was a real pleasure to meet you. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

  “The pleasure was all mine,” he insisted. “You still didn’t tell me your name.”

  “Oh…so I’m that interesting that you actually want to know my name now?” she smiled. “Sydney. My name is Sydney.”

  “Sydney…” He repeated, waiting for her last name.

  “Just Sydney,” she clarified as she walked away.

  Chapter 5

  Okay ‘just Sydney’, he said to himself. He watched her as she walked back to the table. He couldn’t recall a time he’d seen anyone more beautiful. But she was just that: more beautiful. Her petite model-size shape caused his eyes to travel her body as if they were c
oasting the curves of a roller coaster. She was only a few inches shorter than him. Her hair, a rich shade of dark mahogany, flowed like silk just past the brim of her shoulders, falling against a light caramel complexion and a body that looked soft to the touch. Her lips were full and inviting, and her eyes a deep brown melted you the very moment they made contact.

  Something about this girl was different, and although she wasn’t as easy as most, he was attracted to her. Perhaps for that very reason. Maybe it was the challenge, maybe it was how different she was from Erika. Whatever it was, he was just now realizing he hadn’t given her his card for her to call him something he always did. The girls always seemed to like it, and to be honest, so did he. He loved making himself look more official and appealing by ending the conversation with, here’s my card, give me a call. Not this time, though; she seemed to have the drop on him from the very beginning. ‘Just Sydney’, he laughed to himself, walking back to the head table.

  The day was finally coming to an end. The bouquet had been thrown, the garter had been tossed, and all of the photos had been taken. Jackson and Keri were standing near the doors hugging guests and shaking their hands as they were leaving. Mason honestly couldn’t wait to get home. As much as he may have enjoyed being there for his brother as his best man, he hated weddings, and since he wasn’t leaving with anyone this time he hated them even more. Looking around with not much else to do, he spotted Erika and her boyfriend Chris walking out of the hotel.

  “Chris,” Mason shook his hand as they walked towards him. “I’m glad the two of you made it out.”

  “The wedding was so beautiful,” Erika mentioned. “I really had a great time.”

  If Chris didn’t pick up on her underlying tone, Mason surely did.

  Chris knew the two of them had been friends for a long time, but he was entirely oblivious to anything else going on between them. To some, the quirky comments, quick glances, and both of them disappearing at the same time would have been enough to put two and two together, but not with Chris. He kissed Erika on the cheek and went to get the car, leaving the two of them in conversation.

  “You’re really bold to pull that in front of him,” Mason said.

  She looked off at Chris walking to the car,

  “Chris is in love with me. You and I could be fully naked in the same room and he’d think it was an accident,” she laughed. “I’ll see you later?” she asked, preparing to walk to the car.

  She waited for a response, but Mason gave none. In the midst of their conversation, he had toned out without her knowing, without him even knowing, and fixed his focus elsewhere.

  Erika followed his eyes, looking off behind her, past the crowd of people, over to the taxi station. The woman she saw was pretty, petite, and extremely well put together; she almost even admired her outfit. She knew how Mason was, so she didn’t get upset at all. She leaned in and gave him a hug as Chris pulled the car around.

  “Good luck with that one,” Erika whispered, lightly kissing him on his cheek.

  By the look of her, Erika could tell she wasn’t his type. She was too put together, too neat. Mason was all about the one night experience; it was clear to her that this girl wasn’t. She bit the corner of her lip searching for something to say that wouldn’t make her seem jealous but enough to pull his attention back but it was too late. He had already made his way in the other direction.

  Mason walked over to the taxi station before a cab arrived, thinking he still had a chance to close the deal with her. He enjoyed the ease of conversation at the bar, but he wasn’t going to lie to himself. She was sexy and he wanted to see and to know more of her.

  “Sydney, right?” he called out.

  She looked down at her watch without making eye contact with him. She had a smile on her face that was warm and inviting. What he wasn’t sure of was whether she was smiling for him or if she just smiled to smile. He tried to be his usual self, as he would with any other girl he intended to take back home with him.

  “What, you’re not staying for the after party?” he joked.

  She laughed.

  “I have an early morning meeting tomorrow, so no, no after party for me.”

  “You know, I have a car not too far from here. If you don’t mind I can take you wherever you need to go,” Mason offered.

  “And knowing that, where I need to go is home. I don’t think that would be a good idea at all. Besides, we just met a few hours ago and technically you are still a stranger who knows very little about me.”

  Mason laughed, feeling his chances dwindling by the second. He had never worked so hard to get a woman’s attention, but this one was giving him a run for his money.

  “Well, tell you what,” Mason said, pulling out one of his business cards, attempting to make his last impression and woo her with his professional charm, “how about you give me a call and –”

  Sydney took the card from his hand before he could finish as the taxi pulled up. He smiled, thinking he had her and his antics had finally worked, but he was confused when he saw her pull a pen from the small purse she had hanging from her shoulder. She flipped his card over to the reverse side and leaned against the roof of the cab. She wrote something down and handed the card back to him.

  “How about you give me a call, and maybe we can have lunch sometime; work on this stranger thing.”

  Instead of taking his number, she had given him hers instead. To most men this would have been okay, but not to Mason. It meant that he lost the upper hand and the ball was, in fact, now in his court.

  She got into the cab without waiting to get a response from him as the driver put her luggage into the trunk and drove off. Even though she’d given her number, she didn’t really expect him to call. She knew his type. She’d been hit on by plenty of guys like Mason. Instead of playing to their tune she learned how to talk just as smooth, give just as much, and still walk away with her pride. In most of those cases, however, she never gave her phone number out. She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit that she found him extremely attractive, but guys like Mason are a type, the type, that she stayed away from.

  Chapter 6

  The city wasn’t without its usual nuisances, and the fact that it was a Friday didn’t help much. It had been two weeks since the wedding passed - two weeks of what felt like nineteen days of straight work and very little down time, which was beyond unusual for Mason. The breeze blew cool, waiting to carry the warmth of the sun through partly cloudy skies. Mason watched tirelessly from his office window, seeing people making their rounds at the news stands and coffee shops in Rodney Square while waiting for the bus to get them to where they were going. Apparently he wasn’t the only one trying to get a head start on the day, he thought, laughing to himself.

  J.D. Everett & Associates, apart from the leading banks that comprised the city’s skyline, was one of the most prominent family owned corporations in Delaware. It was positioned in the center of everything appealing in Wilmington, overlooking everything that made the city what it was. Mason stood behind the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that framed his building. He was in the office early trying to get a jump start on a few things for a meeting he had scheduled later that afternoon. On a traditional day he could multi-task exceptionally well, but today too many things and too many people one in particular he couldn’t get out of his mind. There is no reason I should still be thinking about her, he told hiself, scanning through the papers on his desk. His mind wandered what seemed like every few minutes. The first time was a glimpse of her smile -- one of the most beautiful he’d ever seen. The second was the sound of her voice: her laugh, her words –sharp and direct. Sydney. He laughed his thoughts off for most of the morning, unsure of why or what was making Sydney linger amongst his thoughts. It wasn’t like he’d met her previously, but there was certainly something about meeting her the first time that made her stand out from the girls he’d been accustomed to interacting with.

  The morning progressed to working hours and
a lot of his staff had already come in and started their day. Mason was the type to keep up appearances no matter what else was happening, so he repeated the same routine every day he came into the office: He emptied his pockets into his desk every morning before sliding his hands across them to make sure they were flat and kept their tapered look. Just like every other morning, today was no different. He took out his keys, followed by a few receipts and his money clip. Of all the moments for random things to happen, this by far was the top of his day. Wedged between two twenty-dollar bills was the business card with seven numbers in blue ink, in her handwriting. He fell back in his chair holding the card in front of him, tracing each number with his eyes over and over again. ‘Maybe we can do lunch’, he remembered her saying. That might not be that bad of an idea, he thought. The more he thought about it, though, the more he came to his senses.

  Wait, he said to himself, lunch …’maybe we can do lunch’. What am I doing? Why am I even entertaining this? Why am I still thinking about her? Why? He questioned himself, still holding the card in his hand. Mason wasn’t the type to think about a girl. He wasn’t like Jackson. He wasn’t one to be romantic, or to converse much outside of a few choice words occasionally during or leading up to intimacy. He played by his rules, which meant they called him and he let them know whether or not he was available and when. Nine times out of ten he would only see a woman once. Come to think of it, Erika was the only woman he’d ever been with more than twice. He tried his best to convince himself that he was above this number thing, this ‘call me for lunch’ game. The fact still remained, though he wanted to call her. Holding tight to the card, that was the one thing he still couldn’t understand.

  The office environment was pretty relaxed. It was 9:30 a.m. and like clockwork, Christina, Mason’s secretary, walked in his office wired on a frappuccino ready to go over the scheduled meetings and appointments for the day. Christina was in her mid-twenties. She was tall and very petite with an uncommonly soft-spoken voice, and remarkably attractive. In a way she had grown up in the company, hired after only her first year of college. She and Mason were professional friends, respectively on a first name basis.