Sitting back down at his desk, he stared at the obituary and the picture at the top of it. Ignoring everything around him, he pushed his shoulders back and took a few deep breaths before he began searching for Audrey’s relatives. Leaning in towards his computer, he banished any negative thoughts for the time being and focused on finding an address or phone number; anything that would lead him to her. With his jaw set, he pushed up his sleeves and began punching names into the search engine, hopeful he’d find a hit.
From their brief dating period in college, he knew that she had a couple of sisters, and the obituary mentioned them as well. Figuring that it’d be better to reach out to one of them rather than the parents, he searched for them. First he tried searching for Theresa but didn’t find much so he turned his attention to Caroline. He flopped back in his executive office chair when he saw that Caroline had a social media page, and it was entirely public. Her profile picture consisted of a photo displaying her daughter and Alex playing in her driveway. His mouth went dry as it fell open and he began pouring over her post history.
A brief knock interrupted his train of thought as he heard his secretary speaking to him.
“Mr. Wetzel, Pragomatics called a few moments ago. They’re complaining that their systems are down and they’re unable to conduct business. Would you like the usual team to handle it or should I escalate it right away?”
Unable to articulate any words, he nodded.
“So I should escalate it right away?” she asked again.
“Yes, please. And Tina, could you close the door behind you?”
Tina smiled as she made her way out of the room, closing the door behind her. She could tell that something seemed to be troubling her boss, but she knew better than to ask. He was too discreet and professional. Mr. Wetzel wasn’t the type to offer personal information about himself.
He quietly exhaled once the door was shut. His shaky hands grabbed at the mouse, scrolling as he continued to read Caroline’s profile page. Within a few agonizing moments, he found what he was looking for. She’d made a post just a few weeks ago that she’d given her sister a job at Fast Fuel, a local gas station. Ironically, it wasn’t all that far from his office. His lips pressed together in a slight grimace as he considered driving there to meet her. For a moment, he thought about sending Caroline a private message. His hand reached for the mouse and began to click on the send message button, but he pulled his hand back and stopped himself. As he continued debating whether or not sending a message was an excellent idea, his hand made several attempts to click that button. Unsure of what to do, he brought his hand up to his forehead and began massaging his temples. A headache was beginning to form as he went through a wide array of emotions. Weighing the pros and cons, he ultimately decided not to message her as he played the what if questions in his mind.
Needing to get out of there, he called it a day and left early. He told Tina to take a message if anyone called for him as he headed to the elevator. On his way down to the lobby, he decided he could use a stiff drink to mull things over. He needed to think about what he should do as he was unable to think of anything other than talking to Audrey. He hailed a cab in the busy downtown Kansas City area and asked the cab driver to take him to McFadden’s Sports Bar. Weaving in and out of traffic, he stared straight ahead with a glazed look in his eyes as he tried to clear his mind.
Arriving at the bar, he paid the cab driver and headed inside. Sitting at the bar, he ordered a Scotch on the rocks, carefully avoiding any eye contact or conversation. With his drink in front of him, he nursed it as he thought about how he should contact Audrey. His mind raced in a million directions as to how to approach her. He picked up his glass and downed the remaining whiskey in one big gulp before raising his glass to the bartender, signaling he needed another. She returned with another drink; this time, he let the alcohol sit before him with sweat beading down the glass. He touched it, needing to feel something—anything—and stared at the glass as the sweat rolled down his fingertip. He had to talk to her, but what would he say? Surely, he thought, she’s had to have heard the phrase, “I’m sorry”, more times than she cared to listen. How do you even explain that something told you to look her up? Will she think I’m crazy or a stalker? He downed a few more drinks at the bar before calling it a night.
When he returned home late that evening, he took a long, hot shower. His mind wouldn’t stop thinking about Audrey. As the fog from the shower steamed the glass door, he finally felt comfort as if he were hidden from the world. His eyes teared up as he rocked back and forth. If only I hadn’t let her get away, maybe her life would’ve been different. Our life would’ve been different. Maybe she wouldn’t be dealing with the loss of a child. At that moment, he thought about how stupid he was in college. If he wouldn’t have let his image, and perhaps his ego, get in the way, he could’ve settled down with her. Feeling weak, he leaned over in the shower with his hands on his knees. Unable to stand there any longer, he shut the water off and allowed the water to drip from his hair and trickle down his face.
Climbing into bed that night, he had nightmares about Audrey and her son. He pictured her sobbing at Alex’s funeral as she glimpsed into his tiny casket. With each bad dream, he awoke with his chest pounding and would grip his pillow tight and will himself back to sleep. Not long before his alarm clock was set to go off, he had a dream. A dream that promised hope. He imagined himself meeting with Audrey, and it was happy. She was glad to see him, and it gave him hope. When he woke up, he decided that he had to go meet with her. I know where she works, he thought, I’ll go meet her there.
Chapter Three
All day at work, Chad couldn’t stop thinking about his dreams from the previous night. He focused on the one where he met with Audrey. Every time he thought about it, he found himself smiling and squirming as butterflies stirred in his stomach. Deciding that he could wait no longer, he planned to go to Fast Fuel when he left work that evening. His thoughts were scattered throughout most of the day as he walked around with gleaming wide eyes.
“You seem to be in a much better mood,” Tina his secretary commented.
He picked up a stress relief ball from his desk and tossed it into the air. “I guess you could say that,” he said as he caught the ball in his opposite hand.
“Pragomatics finally got everything straightened out last night, but they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
“Is our team looking into why everything crashed?” he asked.
“Yes, Mr. Wetzel. Bruce is looking into everything as we speak.”
“Wonderful. If he needs any assistance, call Thomas in Florida. He’ll be more than happy to work with Bruce.”
“Will do,” Tina said. “Will you be leaving early again today sir?”
“Actually, I may cut out of here a few minutes early, but if you hear any more about Pragomatics, let me know.”
The rest of the afternoon was business as usual and he never heard another word about the software crash from the previous night. Around 3:30, he walked out into the front lobby and told Tina he was heading out.
“Have a good evening, Mr. Wetzel,” she called to him as he stepped onto the elevator.
On his way to the gas station, he wasn’t sure what he’d say once he got there. What if she doesn’t recognize me? She probably hasn’t thought about me in years. The sudden realization set in as he pulled into the parking lot of the gas station. Pulling up to the gas pump, he rubbed his neck for a moment as he tried to control his breathing. Noticing that he had sweat beading up at his temples, he reached for a napkin in his armrest and wiped his face with his shaky hands. Why am I so nervous? Should I even be here? For a moment, he thought about leaving. Maybe I should just let her be, he thought, as he eyed the exits of the parking lot. No, I should just go in there; talk to her. Contemplating what to do next, he grabbed the door handle and thrust it open without thinking. It’s now or never, I’ll go inside and grab a soda to see if she’s working right now. She mig
ht not even be here.
Walking into the gas station, he looked over to the counter and saw a young woman with short black hair and a nose ring. Nope, definitely not her. As he made his way over to the soda fountain, he caught a glimpse of a petite woman. She had medium chestnut hair swept back into a messy ponytail, just like Audrey wore in college. He noticed she was sporting a pair of jeans and wearing a company-issued smock; it had to be her! His fingers and toes began to tingle as he walked closer to her. Clearing his throat, he said, “Excuse me.”
The small woman turned around and said, “Oh, sorry.” She looked up at him and recognized who he was. “Chad?”
“Audrey?” he asked, acting as surprised as he possibly could. “How are you?”
“Good! How have you been?” she asked.
“Great! I haven’t seen you in years.”
“I know! You look like you’re doing quite well,” she commented as she eyed his sharp business suit.
“Oh, this old thing?” he joked, grabbing his lapel.
“Audrey,” the woman behind the counter called. “Can you open this other register?”
She saw the line was backing up past the candy rack. “Sorry, I have to go. Haley needs my help,” she said, offering a weak smile.
He nodded his head and began making his drink. Clumsiness seemed to overtake his shaky hands, causing him to spill some of the soda onto the counter. With slow, deliberate moves, he took his time wiping up his mess as he watched the line begin to dwindle. Assuming it was safe to make small talk since most of the customers were gone, he strolled to the front of the store. Standing in Audrey’s lane, he patiently waited for his turn with a nauseated feeling in the pit of his stomach. In attempt to suppress his nervousness, he avoided eye contact and stood unnaturally still with a pasted-on smile.
“I can help whoever’s next,” Audrey called out as she put the change away inside the cash register.
Chad stepped forward, placing his Styrofoam cup on the counter and began twisting his watch to keep his hands busy.
“Is that….” Audrey stopped herself when she looked up and saw him standing there. “Hi,” she said with a warm smile.
A younger black woman—probably in her early 30 s—came in, standing behind Chad, waiting her turn. He noticed her right away and immediately felt rushed to talk to Audrey. Oh, he thought, why did she have to come in here and stand behind me?
“Hi,” he replied as his stomach churned.
“Will that be all for you today?” she asked, ringing up his drink.
“Yeah,” he answered, nervously glancing back at the woman behind him.
“That’ll be one-oh-eight.”
He slowly dug into his pocket for change, trying to take as much time as possible, hoping the woman would go to the next register. She sighed behind him as he placed the change on the counter and reached for his wallet for a dollar bill. After handing Audrey the cash, he quickly took a drink of his soda to wet his dry mouth.
“Two cents is your change,” she said, holding out the copper pennies.
Chad leaned over the counter and lowered his voice as his chest tightened. “I was, uh, I was wondering if I could maybe get your number.”
“What?” Audrey asked in disbelief.
“I thought,” he looked down and shuffled his foot on the floor, “maybe we could hang out sometime. Maybe I could call you or something.”
“Woo, girl! Get that number!” the woman behind him shouted.
Audrey’s cheeks flushed as heat spread from her cheeks to the tips of her ears, turning a beautiful shade of crimson. Rapidly blinking, she repeated his words in her mind.
“Are you kidding?” she asked.
Chad’s toes curled up as he shoved his hands in his pocket. “No, I thought it’d be nice to catch up, hang out.”
Scrambling to understand exactly what he meant, she nervously laughed. “Oh, I knew what you meant. I was just teasing. Sure,” she ripped a piece of register tape from the serrated edges and scribbled her number. “That last digit is a 5; I kind of messed it up.”
He looked down at the torn register receipt and scanned the number she’d written. “I can read it. I’ll talk to you later,” he winked with a playful grin on his face.
Audrey watched him disappear out the front door with his shoulders back, chest out and chin high.
“Are you going to ring me up or what?” the woman asked as she snapped Audrey back into reality.
“Oh, yes, ma’am. I’m sorry. Is this all for you today?” she said apologetically as she scanned the items.
“And I got gas on pump six.”
After the woman was gone, she started out to the lobby as thoughts of Chad swarmed her mind.
“So what was all that about?” Haley, her coworker asked.
“What?” Audrey said with glazed eyes and a goofy grin.
“That guy. He looked like he had some money, and he was good looking, too.”
“That was Chad. Chad Wetzel. We dated for a bit back in college.”
“I didn’t know you went to college,” Haley commented. “What’d you study, and why are you here?”
Audrey rolled her eyes. She hated explaining herself to people she didn’t know. This girl was asking a lot of personal information for them only knowing each other a few weeks.
“Yes, I went to UMKC and studied art history,” she vaguely offered, not wanting to volunteer more information.
“What happened? Did things just not work out?” Haley pressed.
“Something like that,” she answered as she thought of her son.
A couple of days went by and she hadn’t heard from Chad. Ever since he’d came into the gas station, she couldn’t get him out of her mind. He acted much differently than he had in college. Back then, he was much cockier. Now he was charming and didn’t seem to be as self-centered as he was in his younger days. Since she was still fairly new to the gas station, she wondered if he frequented it or if he’d come in by chance. Part of her was hopeful that he was a regular customer so that she could see him again. Every time she pictured him, a flutter in her belly would stir up and a jolt ran through her body. She wanted to believe that everything happens for a reason and maybe he was destined to come in while she was working; or, maybe it was a coincidence.
On her day off, she was sitting at home painting her fingernails. With each stroke of nail polish, she continued thinking about Chad. She reminded herself that even if he was slightly interested in her, she had baggage—and a lot of it. Would he even want to be with a recovering heroin addict? She tried to reduce her high expectations, but she kept coming back to the fact that he asked her for her number. Biting the inside of her cheek, she continued to question why fate would’ve brought them back together after all these years. She sat back in her kitchen chair as she replaced the cap on the bottle of nail polish and crossed her legs. Hoping he would call, she drew in a deep breath and let out a sigh.
Suddenly, her phone rang loudly, pulling her back into reality. Picking up the phone, she eyed the number on her caller ID. There was no name attached to it, so it wasn’t one of her contacts; she cocked her head to the side, wondering if it was him. Dismissing the thought, she answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“Audrey?” he asked though he recognized the voice.
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Did you forget about me already?” he flirted.
“Is this Chad?”
“Oh, I see you haven’t forgotten about me. What are you doing?”
“Not much, just sitting here waiting for my nails to dry,” she said, fanning them in the air as she cradled the phone with her shoulder.
“I’m glad I’m not a girl,” he laughed.
“So what are you up to?”
“Eh, I was thinking about how hungry I’m getting and was wondering if you had plans for tonight.”
There was the confident, cocky Chad she remembered. “What makes you think I want to go to dinner with you?” she
joked.
“I figured that we all get hungry and it’d be nice to catch up. If you’re not busy,” he quickly added, hoping he hadn’t offended her.
She switched the phone to her opposite ear. “Actually, I could go for a bite to eat. What’d you have in mind?”
He paused for a moment, “Do you still like Indian food?”
He remembered! How could he still remember her love for Indian food after, what, almost eight years? “I do! How did you remember that?”
“I just do,” he said, not wanting to give himself away and how much he’d thought of her over the years. “So what do you think? You want to go out to dinner with me tonight?”
Addicted (A Billionaire Romance Novel) Page 3