“Seriously? You brought a fork?”
“I’ve been smelling that thing all night.” Crumbs fell from his mouth as he shoveled in another bite. “This is really good pie.”
I stared at my ceiling for over an hour before I finally managed to fall asleep. I’d hoped not responding to Darcy’s texts would be enough to consider the situation handled, but she wasn’t backing down. I needed to talk to her. Confront her. Clear the air between us so there wasn’t any doubt about where I stood.
Trouble was, I didn’t know where I stood. I wanted to be over Darcy and ready to completely let her go, especially when I thought about how great stuff felt with Lilly. But she still had her claws in. And I had no idea how to get them out.
Chapter 9
Lilly
“When are you going to see him again?” Emma shifted her pose, rotating then standing up, her arms stretched far over her head. She looked up at the ceiling, her dark waves tumbling down her back. I probably should have gotten out of bed and done some yoga with her, but I was so warm. And my bed was so comfortable. Sure, I could have joined her then, but…
I yawned. “I don’t know. Soon, I hope.”
“No date scheduled?”
“No. I thought about going by his office this week. Just to say hello and see the place.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Friendly, but not as pushy as showing up at his house. It could be a good thing.” She folded herself into a downward dog.
“How’s your love life?” I turned my head sideways to try and catch her line of sight. “Any good things happening?”
“Ha,” she scoffed. “Yeah, no. Unless you count my associate conductor flirting with me after rehearsal every day.”
“Is he cute?”
“No. I mean, yes, maybe? He’s . . . older.” Up dog. I was tired just watching. People shouldn’t move like that in the morning.
“I don’t know how old Travis is. I guess I should ask.”
“I thought he seemed pretty close to our age,” Emma said. “Maybe a year or so older.”
I finally sat up, but kept my legs under my blankets. “Really truly what did you think of him?”
Emma finished her sun salutation and smiled. “Really truly, I think he seems really great.” She collapsed onto the foot of my bed, stretching out full length. “I’m happy for you, Lil. You deserve someone really great.”
* * *
The next couple of days I spent most of my time with Emma and her family. But that didn’t stop Travis and me from an almost constant stream of texts. We talked about everything. And I mean, everything. Our childhood fears. The sports we played growing up. Our siblings and parents and grandparents and cousins. He told me about his aversion to olives. I told him about my first kiss behind the dumpster of the bowling alley the summer before eighth grade. He told me how much he loved dogs, but was terrified of horses. I told him about the first time I’d been present for a stillborn delivery and how much I’d struggled to hide my tears. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t say. In fact, it felt like I knew him better after just a couple of days than I did most people after weeks of interacting. There was no hesitation, no fear I might say the wrong thing or ask the wrong question.
The only thing we didn’t talk about was Darcy.
I tried, more than once to bring her up, but he was dismissive. Quick to change the subject, normally with some sort of compliment or witty phrase. He never avoided answering anything I asked him. Unless it was something about her.
Though we’d made plans to go out the following weekend, I decided Wednesday was a great day to stop by and see him at work. Casual-like. Because I happened to be walking downtown. To see a friend that works at the pet store right up the street. Not because I’d spent hours agonizing over what to wear or what to say or whether or not it would be weird to take him a slice of cheesecake from the Chocolate Lounge.
I ended up getting the cheesecake. If I’d learned anything on our first date, I’d learned he liked his food.
When I opened the door, a guy that was very much not Travis looked up from his desk. He was the only person in the office. “Hi. Can I help you?”
“Um, hi. I’m looking for Trav. Is he around?”
He pushed his chair back from his desk with enough force, he rolled several feet across the smooth, wood floor. When he came to a stop, he was right in front of what appeared to be a hallway, leading back to the right. He looked down the hall and yelled. “Hey, Trav. Somebody’s here to see you.” He looked back my way. “It’s a girl,” he added.
The guy walked his chair back up to his desk without getting up, which made him look a little like a crab. A very lazy crab. “Are you Lilly?”
I guess it was good to know Travis had mentioned me. “I am. Are you Buster?” Trav and I had just texted back and forth about his business partner/roommate/best friend the night before. The guy looked exactly like I pictured him, down to the Minecraft t-shirt and black rimmed glasses. If such a thing existed as a video game designer stereotype, Buster was totally it.
“The one and only,” he said, his eyes already focused back on his computer screen.
Hurried footsteps sounded down the hallway, then Trav stumbled into the room. “Please tell me he didn’t say anything stupid.”
I grinned. “Not so far.”
“It’s not too late,” Buster said. “I know all kinds of good stories, Lilly. Like the time Trav . . .” His words trailed off when Trav smacked him in the back of the head as he walked by. He crossed the office and stopped right in front of me, a broad smile on his face.
He leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “Hi.”
Swoon. “Hi. I, um, I was in the neighborhood so I thought I’d stop by and say hello.” I held up the bag from The Chocolate Lounge. “I have cheesecake.”
“That’s awesome. Can you stay a while?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, a few minutes. I’m supposed to meet a friend, but she’s in a meeting so I’ve got a little time to kill.”
He reached forward and squeezed my hand. “I’m really glad you’re here.”
It was semi-awkward, what with Buster fifteen feet away, but there was a sweetness to his gesture that made my heart get all melty. All our texting had created this familiarity between us, but being together in person still felt new and completely unnerving.
I took a deep breath. “So this is where all the magic happens.”
The office was sparse—modern to the point of feeling utilitarian, with only two desks pushed up against opposite walls. But it was clean and organized, had good light and enough room that if the business continued to grow, expansion wouldn’t be an issue.
“This is pretty much it, for now. But we’ve got room to grow.” Trav pulled me toward his desk. “Come on. I want to show you something.”
Trav’s desk looked more like a control room at NASA than it did an individual work station. Multiple screens and keyboards and other computer looking stuff I couldn’t identify covered the u-shaped set up.
He pulled out his chair and swung it around. “Here. Have a seat.”
I leaned back into the soft leather. It was really comfortable—a necessity, I guess, when you spend most of your work day sitting in it. Trav leaned over me, reaching for the mouse on the desk. He clicked on a series of icons and suddenly the screen was filled with what looked like an airplane hangar.
‘Is this what you’ve been working on? The hostile alien invasion one?”
“I just finished the opening storyboard. Want to watch?”
His voice was close to my ear and I felt myself shift sideways, trying to close the little bit of distance between us. His arm bumped against my shoulder. I felt the warmth of him, smelled the spicy man-ness of him. It left me with a sudden and driving need to kiss him. I cleared my throat, forcing my focus onto the computer screen in front of me. “Yeah. I’d love to watch.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d watched the stage-setting opening scenes of a video game, but watching
knowing Trav had created the entire thing was a very cool experience. When it was over, he turned around and sat on the corner of the desk so we were facing each other.
“What did you think?”
I grinned. “I think it’s amazing. I can’t believe you can create all of that just from writing a little bit of code.”
“More like writing a holy crap ton of code, but I get what you’re saying.”
“Well whatever it is, I’m thoroughly impressed. It’s very cool what you do.”
He stood up and reached for my hand, pulling me up beside him. “I’m glad you think so,” he said, still holding onto my hand.
The longer we stood there, holding hands and staring at each other, the more keenly I felt Buster’s presence. If he wasn’t sitting behind us, I had no doubt Trav would have been kissing me. I’d never wanted a person out of a room quite so much.
“I’m kinda wishing we were alone right now,” Trav said, his voice low.
“Yeah?” I dropped my eyes, the nerves from earlier blooming in my belly with renewed force.
“I think I’d probably kiss you if we were.” Trav took a step closer and reached for my other hand, rubbing his thumb slowly across my knuckles.
Behind us, Buster pushed noisily away from his desk. “I think I’ll find somewhere else to be.” He stomped down the hall muttering something about office hours and getting work done and no girls every showing up to make out with him on the average workday.
I tried not to laugh. “He seems really nice.”
Trav rolled his eyes. “If he wasn’t such a genius, I’m not sure I could stand the guy. But he’s the real brains behind what we do. I couldn’t do it without him.”
“That’s humble of you to say.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’d never say it to him.”
As we talked, he pulled me closer and closer until finally my hands were pressed against his chest and our faces were mere inches apart.
“I’ve been thinking about doing this for days,” he whispered.
I licked my lips. “Yeah, it’s pretty much the only reason I came over here.”
“Not cheesecake?”
“Not at all. But it was a pretty convincing cover story, yeah?”
One arm slid around my back, pulling me tightly against him and the other brushed across my cheek before cupping my face in his palm. When his lips finally touched mine, my knees literally went weak. I’d always thought it was just an expression, but no. I lived it—had to grip his elbows to keep myself from going down.
When we broke apart, the only thing I could say was, “wow.”
Seconds later, the bell on the door chimed. Travis stepped back, placing enough distance between us that a client wouldn’t feel like they’d just interrupted a make-out session. When he turned to see who’d come in, he froze, his face going stony and cold.
I tried to squeeze his hand, but he dropped it and moved away, creating even more distance between us, like he was suddenly ashamed to have been standing so close. I mean, I get propriety and everything, but, still.
The woman that came through the door finally spoke. “Travis.” She turned her attention to me and gave me a once-over. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“What are you doing here?”
The edge to his voice could only mean one thing. The woman standing in front of us was Darcy.
She was pretty, in a perfectly polished kind of way. Hair, nails, make up. Coordinating jewelry and shoes and purse. There wasn’t a single thing about her that was out of place or out of style or out of . . . anything. I might have been intimidated, but everything about her seemed so . . . frigid. She was exactly the kind of person I would never want to be friends with.
“I came to see you. After all the texting, I really felt like it was time we sit down and talk in person.”
Text messages? The thought of Trav having conversations with his ex-girlfriend at the same time he was texting me suddenly made me feel ill.
Darcy walked across the office and stopped at the corner of Trav’s desk. She gave me a pointed look. “So I guess you’ve been hiding something from me.”
Ohhh, the girl was making me mad.
Trav finally moved, rubbing his fingers through his hair and across his beard. “I’m not hiding anything. This is my friend, Lilly. Lilly, Darcy.” It was the lamest introduction I’d ever experienced. I mean, I didn’t exactly expect him to say girlfriend, but his extra emphasis on the word friend made my stomach sour. I could still feel the tingle of his kiss on my lips and he was emphasizing friend? In front of his ex-girlfriend he was supposed to be over but still refused to talk about?
Yeah. Time to bail.
Chapter 10
Trav
Lilly grabbed her purse off my desk. “I’m gonna go.” She pushed past me.
I reached for her arm. “Lilly, wait . . .”
She turned, but kept moving, backing toward the door. “It looks like you guys have some catching up to do. It’s fine. It’s time for me to meet my friend anyway.”
“Can I call you?”
She huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, you can call me.”
Darcy smirked at her as she passed. I couldn’t see Lilly’s face, but it wasn’t hard to imagine the irritation she was feeling. And I was the idiot that was watching her walk away. My feet finally caught up with my brain and I pushed after her, but Darcy stopped me, stepping into my path, her hands moving to my chest.
I stopped at her touch. Everything about her being so close was familiar—her scent, the way she pressed her fingers against me. But the familiarity wasn’t comfortable. Suddenly, it felt more like an assault. All the good feelings I’d ever associated with being close to Darcy were completely gone.
I caught one last glimpse of Lilly over Darcy’s shoulder as she hurried outside and up the sidewalk. This was not cool. So, so, so not cool.
I turned my attention back to Darcy. “Darcy, you need to go.”
She dropped her hands. “You’re not even going to give me a chance to talk?”
I sighed. “About what?”
She looked past me, her eyes training on something behind me and I turned. Buster stood in the doorway that led down the hall to the back rooms.
“Seriously?” Buster said. “Two in one day?”
I rolled my eyes.
“It’s nice to see you too, Buster,” Darcy said, her tone dry.
“Whatever.” Buster disappeared back down the hall, yelling over his shoulder. “I’ll just be back here. Not working. Waiting for our office to be ready for working again.”
“Why is he always so grouchy?” Darcy asked.
Had Lilly asked the question, I might have laughed, said something about Buster’s less than congenial personality. But from Darcy, her words literally dripping with sarcasm and disdain, all they made me feel was defensive.
“Darcy, just tell me what you want. I really do need to get back to work.”
She took a step closer. “I think I’ve made that pretty obvious, Trav. I miss us. I know I hurt you, but I realize now I never should have.”
Had her words come a week ago, I might have given them five seconds of consideration. But I’d just seen her standing in the same room with Lilly, and the contrast between them was stark. Where Lilly was cool and calm and easy going, Darcy seemed critical and cold. I know I’d had feelings for Darcy—real ones. But comparing her to Lilly, it was hard to imagine how.“It’s too late, Darcy.” I took a step back.
She folded her arms across her chest and pursed her lips. “You said she was just a friend.”
My eyebrows went up. “She is.” At least, I hoped she still was after the way I’d just treated her. “But I want her to be more than that. And you’re getting in the way.”
She frowned. “Seriously? After all we had, you’re willing to just walk away?”
“You managed that first.” I nodded. “And yeah, I am.”
I turned back to my desk and grabbed my jacket
then headed for the door. Darcy just stood there, her feet frozen in place, her face tight.
“I don’t know what happened to bring you back here,” I said, “but I’m not the right man for you, Darcy. We both know it.” I shrugged into my coat then pushed out the door, not waiting for her response.
I texted Lilly from the corner, then kept walking, wanting to create as much distance as possible between me and Darcy. While waiting for Lilly’s response, I checked nearby restaurants and shops hoping I’d just find her, but my searching was in vain. She was gone.
And not responding to my texts.
And I was a complete jerk.
I trudged back to my office, hesitating at the door long enough to make sure Darcy was gone then pushed my way inside.
Buster looked up from his desk. “You so owe me.”
I dropped into my chair. “Was it bad?”
“She stayed for close to half an hour. Just sitting there at your desk. Finally I told her she had to leave or I was calling the cops.”
For real? I couldn’t fathom why she’d want to hang around that long. “What was she doing?”
“I have no idea. She wrote you a note or something. I tried to pay as little attention as possible.”
Sure enough, there was a note scribbled across the notepad that sat to the left of my monitor. I picked it up. It was only two lines long, and four of . . . twelve words were swear words. “Wow. It took her half an hour to write this?”
Buster looked up. “What’s it say?”
I walked to his desk and dropped the note. It fluttered down onto his keyboard where he snatched it up, reclining into his seat while he read. “You have to at least give her points for originality.” He handed back the note. “No luck finding Lilly?”
I shook my head, rubbing my hand across my beard.
“Then dude. Why are you still here? I may not have a ton of experience with women, but I’m pretty sure you’ve been an idiot today. Go fix it.”
Chapter 11
Lilly
“I don’t want to give him a chance to explain.” I paced back and forth across my living room, my cell phone gripped tightly in my hand. Emma was doing her best to talk me down, but I was annoyed. And hurt. And . . . annoyed.
A Little in Love With You: A Love at First Note Novella Page 5