The sound of Theo’s name snapped my attention away from the invitations I was drafting at my desk. My ears pricked up, straining to hear the conversations floating around me.
Grace, the middle aged woman in the office next to mine, was talking to our mail girl as she did her rounds. “He’s been cheating on his girlfriend. Can you believe that? Nobody would dare fuck around on Veronica Maher. She’ll string him up by his balls.”
Julia leaned in closer, a handful of undelivered mail still in her hand. “Well, Theo obviously has a death wish then. I heard he confessed and everything.”
“I heard he told her outright.”
“Silly, silly boy.”
The marketing assistant stopped her work to join in the conversation. “He didn’t tell her.” That got their attention. “Yeah, someone saw him leave a hotel room a couple of weeks ago with some other woman. Word got back to her and he was busted.”
“A hotel room? How scandalous.”
“And stupid.”
I was talking before I could stop myself. “He might not have been cheating with the woman. Perhaps he had another reason for being at the hotel.”
All three women stared at me like I was betraying my gender by trying to defend the guy. The irony of the fact he was actually cheating didn’t escape me.
It was the assistant who recovered enough to reply first as she shook her head. “He told Ronnie he was at a client’s business premises – right across the city. If he was there for legitimate business, he wouldn’t have lied to her.”
The others all agreed, happy to hang the guy instead of getting any real evidence. They were actually right but they didn’t really know that for sure.
“Did anyone recognize the woman?” I asked. God, I hoped I didn’t look as guilty as I felt.
“The woman who saw them didn’t.”
“She should have taken a photo,” Grace added. “That’s what I would do.”
Julia shrugged. “I would have gone up to the cheating dirtbag and confronted him.”
They tsked collectively before going their own ways again. I casually walked to the printer in the middle of the office, pretending to get some paper while I continued to listen to all the surrounding conversations.
Theo and her were the hot topic of conversation on everyone’s lips. I shouldn’t have cared. I should have ignored it all because I didn’t want anything to do with either of them anymore.
Still, I couldn’t. I was still too emotionally invested.
From what I could gather from the snippets of conversation, Theo had broken up with her and revealed he was seeing someone else for most of their relationship. She was apparently spitting mad, out for revenge or blood.
I didn’t blame her. If I were in her position, I would be furious too. It went against all my better judgment and morals to be involved in hurting another human being. I wished Theo and I had met under different circumstances, I really did.
The whole situation was just… shitty.
There was no other way to describe it.
I returned to my desk and tried to block out all the gossip. It was difficult, considering none of them would shut up about the scandal of the decade.
All I kept thinking about was the person who had seen Theo and I leave the hotel. Who had tattled on him? We had been so careful; we thought our meetings were perfectly covert.
Apparently not.
At least nobody knew the other woman was me. Even though I had reconciled what I was doing with my own conscience, nobody else would understand. They would instantly hate me. Taking someone else’s boyfriend was an unforgivable sin in the girl codebook.
I went back to my work, trying to forget about everything else. I hadn’t even heard from Theo so it wasn’t like the news this morning changed anything. Theo had made it clear he was happy to let me go instead of fighting for me. This changed nothing.
My distraction lasted until mid-morning before a sudden noise in the office broke the silence. The doors opened with such force they hit the walls with a bang.
I didn’t get a chance to even work out what was happening before a familiar female voice started yelling. All I could hear was “Where the hell is Ivy Foster?”
Chapter 7
My colleagues ratted me out, all looking my way and giving Ronnie a flashing red arrow in my direction. I’m not going to lie, I actually considered hiding underneath my desk.
The exit was too far away to make a run for it.
Her six-inch stiletto-clad feet stomped all the way to my desk. Her face was red, her eyes red-ringed. If looks could kill she would have withered me down to a pile of dust instantly.
“You like stealing what belongs to other people?” she demanded.
You could have heard a pin drop in the office. I was more popular than a new funny cat video on YouTube.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied. I had two options, the truth or a lie. Apparently I was going with lying.
I was going to hell.
She rolled her eyes and puffed, barely able to control her anger. A stab of guilt went right through me for causing her this distress. Nobody deserved it, not even spoiled bitches.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You fucked my boyfriend,” she screamed at me, losing any semblance of control she once had.
I stole a glance around the office. Every single set of eyes was on me. I had never been so humiliated. Where was Theo and why wasn’t he stopping this? He was the one who was caught in the middle of the entire mess. I shouldn’t be doing this alone.
“I think you should be talking to Theo, not me.”
This seemed to only make her angrier. “Don’t you dare even say his name.”
“Why? He was my boyfriend too.”
It was the wrong thing to say. I knew it even before I finished speaking but I couldn’t take the words back. It was an admission of guilt, enough to make all my colleagues gasp.
Ronnie clenched her hands into fists and relaxed them again. “I’m going to ruin you. I am going to take everything you have. Your job, your friends, everything.”
“You might be able to scare Theo but not me,” I replied. I have known girls like her my whole life; I wasn’t going to be intimidated by her. Yes, I felt bad for my part in the whole thing, but all’s fair in love and war.
There was no more talking.
Ronnie lunged at me over the desk, taking me completely by surprise. She was able to grab a handful of hair before I jerked back out of her grasp.
I was on my feet in no time as those closest to me started to step in to intervene. Grace pulled Ronnie away from me, pushing her toward the doors.
My hands were shaking as everyone started asking me if I was okay. Honestly, I was surprised they had come to my rescue. They didn’t know the full story, but they still stopped me from getting attacked.
Toby was suddenly standing at my desk. How long had he been there? There was no amusement on his face, everything was deadly serious. “I think you should take a personal day. It seems there are some… issues you need to take care of.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I shot him a grateful look, relieved to have an excuse to get away from all those eyes staring at me. “Thank you, sir.”
Grabbing my handbag, I was out of there faster than I had ever moved before.
My fear was running into her outside. I didn’t put it past the scheming woman to be lurking for another opportunity to take a shot at me. There was nothing to do except creep down to my car and pray I didn’t encounter her again.
She wasn’t there when the elevator doors opened, nor was she in the parking lot. By the time I was on the road, my nerves were starting to settle down a little. Hopefully she didn’t know where I lived.
My hands were still shaking when I arrived at my apartment. All the shock of the encounter was running through me, making me nauseous. I desperately wanted to talk to Theo but it felt awkward calling him since we hadn’t spoken for two weeks.
I wanted to know the real story about what had happened between them. Did he get caught and have to come clean? Or did he choose to break up with her so we could finally be together? I don’t know why, but it seemed vitally important to know.
Was he choosing me?
Or was he unable to come up with a believable excuse when confronted about it?
My hand hovered over his number in my cell phone. All I had to do was tap it and I could be speaking with him. He could explain everything – whether I wanted to hear the truth or not.
My truth was I still loved Theo. He consumed my mind and I still thought about him when I considered the future. We had both given up a lot to be together and I didn’t want that to be for nothing.
I wanted to fight for him.
If he was no longer with her, then what was stopping us being together? But if that were true, why hadn’t he contacted me when it all came out? So many questions twisted my insides into a knot. And there was only one person who could unravel it by giving me answers.
My thumb was just about to tap his number when a knock on the door interrupted me. I briefly considered ignoring whoever was there. I was too emotionally fragile to deal with anything else today.
But they knocked again and I found myself heading toward the door before I could just ignore them and hide. Swinging the door open, Theo was standing there.
Speak of the devil.
Chapter 8
“What are you doing here?” I asked, tucking my phone into my pocket so he couldn’t see his name on my screen.
“I broke up with Ronnie,” Theo said, matter-of-factly.
“So I hear.”
“Can I come in?” I swung the door open for him and closed it again. The last thing we needed was an audience for this too.
“She attacked me at work,” I stated bluntly.
“I know, I went there and everyone was more than happy to give me a blow-by-blow. I’m sorry she did that. I told her to leave you alone.”
“Did you tell her it was me you were cheating on her with?”
He shook his head sadly. “No, she guessed. She said she knew there was something going on when she caught us dancing at the ball.”
All the questions I had previously been dying to ask caught in my throat. Perhaps ignorance was bliss. Perhaps I didn’t want to know the answers after all.
When I was silent, Theo continued. “I tried to break up with her after we last met at the hotel. She didn’t want to hear it. I had to tell her there was someone else I was truly in love with to finally make her listen.”
“So you did this for me?” I asked, my voice so quiet I barely recognized it. My breath caught in my throat.
“Everything I do is for you.”
“So you’re free now? We can be together? That’s what you want?”
“It’s all I’ve ever wanted,” Theo replied. His warm eyes pinned me in place as the hint of a smile crept across his lips.
I chose to believe him.
Closing the gap between us in two steps, I launched myself into his embrace. Theo wrapped his arms around me, holding me tighter than he ever had before.
Or perhaps it just felt different now because I was the only one he held like that. She was gone; it was just the two of us.
Now and forever.
No more sharing. No more wondering. Our future was together, with only two people in our relationship. Our triangle had become a circle.
“We might have to move,” Theo whispered as he held me against his chest. “I lost my job this morning.”
“I think moving would be a good opportunity to start all over again,” I agreed. Already, I was picturing a cottage in the country with a picket fence and a tree large enough for a swing.
The city was so overrated.
“We could start over again and do it right this time,” Theo agreed. “I would have to woo you.”
“Woo me?” I peeked up at him through my lashes, loving the relaxed and sexy smile he wore.
“Proper dates, flowers, candles, lavish public displays of my affection. The whole shebang.”
“So I can finally call you my boyfriend now, for real?”
He leaned in so close our noses nuzzled. “Baby, you can call me whatever you want. Just as long as I can tell the world you’re my girlfriend.”
Theo suddenly swept me up into his arms, my feet leaving the ground as I snuggled against him. We headed for the bedroom. Our moving plans could wait for just a little while longer.
BEING ANNIE
Chapter 1
Chat Request from Seat 43F.
Chat request? That was a thing now? I guessed so. My tiny seat in economy class didn’t allow me to turn around. So I couldn’t get a good look at the occupant of seat 43F on my flight to New Orleans.
But I was bored and there was another hour left of the flight. What the hell? I hit the accept button and a chat box came up on the screen. It was attached to the seat in front of me, not allowing for any privacy.
Seat 43F: Hello Annie.
Annie? Nobody had called me that for a very long time. My name was Anne and that was what I preferred these days. Annie sounded like a little kid, Anne sounded strong. So strong she could survive anything.
And I really needed to be that kind of strong.
Seat 12B: And you are?
I had to know how they knew my name.
Seat 43F: I’m really happy to see you.
Cute. But that wasn’t what I meant. Somehow, I got the feeling the wiseass in 43F knew it too. Oh well, two could play at that game.
Seat 12B: That’s great to hear. How do you know my name?
Seat 43F: I recognized you the moment I passed by when boarding. What brings you back to New Orleans?
So they knew my name and the fact that I was going home. I hadn’t told many people that my hometown was New Orleans. I normally made up a story about being from some small town in Ohio. The more distance I could put between me and my past, the better. Even if it was only figuratively.
Seat 12B: Family matters to attend to. I take it you must be going back too?
Seat 43F: I am. It’s been a while.
Seat 12B: So why are you returning?
Seat 43F: Family matters. I can’t tell you how much I’ve thought about you over the years. I missed you.
That was just great and dandy, but I wasn’t entirely convinced the person in seat 43F wasn’t just some crazy stalker making a few weirdly accurate guesses. It was creepy and intriguing at the same time. I guess my ex-boyfriend was right – I didn’t know what was good for me.
Seat 12B: I may have missed you too, if I knew who you were.
Seat 43F: Remember Lulu?
Lulu was my dog growing up. She was a huge greyhound that was more interested in lazing around than running anywhere.
Seat 12B: Yeah.
Seat 43F: I’ve got a dog just like her now. She’s almost as awesome as Lulu was.
Seat 12B: Lulu was pretty awesome.
Seat 43F: I’m sorry about your father.
I didn’t want to talk about my father or his untimely demise. All I wanted to do was go home, give him the burial he deserved, and then get the hell out of New Orleans. My return ticket was booked for two days time and already I was counting down the hours.
Seat 12B: What’s your family matter?
Seat 43F: My sister just had a baby. I’m set for a week of interrogations about why I don’t have one yet.
Seat 12B: So why don’t you?
Seat 43F: My nightmare is starting early, thanks for that.
I couldn’t help it, I smiled. Whoever this person was, I got the feeling they would completely understand me.
Much to the chagrin of the sour person sitting beside me, I managed to do a half-swivel in my seat. I peeked over the neat uniformed rows and tried to look for 43F.
Searching halfway down the plane was nearly impossible. I managed to count to the vicinity but I wasn’t sure if my methodology was accurate or
not. It looked like there was the top of a male head in 43F but I could easily be wrong.
I turned back and sunk into my seat. Boredom wasn’t the only thing keeping me hooked now.
Seat 12B: You didn’t answer my question.
Seat 43F: Maybe I haven’t met the right person yet. Or maybe I did and she got away.
So it was probably a he. Good to know.
Seat 12B: Well, don’t they say it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?
Seat 43F: I get the feeling whoever said that had never felt the unbearable pain of having a broken heart.
Seat 12B: How poetic.
Seat 43F: So what have you been up to for all these years?
Hmmm, an abrupt change of topic. Noted.
Seat 12B: Working, trying to remember never to go back home.
Seat 43F: I heard you’re a travel agent now.
Seat 12B: You heard right. What do you do?
Love Bites Page 3