The Reconstruction of Cyprian

by Michelle Love

  The following day at work, Brent made the announcement that I was moving across the street for a full-time position. The team was happy for me, though I sensed a bit of confused jealousy. Still, they took me to lunch to celebrate and we clinked our soda glasses together as Autumn asked how it came to be.

  “Burt called asking about the interns and Brent recommended me. He sent over my resume and it impressed Burt, so he asked me if I’d like to work for him. I guess it’s not totally out of the ordinary for someone graduating in a year, right?” I asked as I dipped a fry into some of the ranch dressing on my plate.

  “That’s when I got hired,” Vince admitted with a grin.

  “Me, too,” Autumn said as she smiled. “They’re willing to give us a chance when they see that we’ve worked hard. A lot of the time, they don’t want to pull long time staff, since we work in teams. It’s nice.” She sipped her soda. “Is the big boss upset that he’s losing your help?”

  “No, I was told he gave me a good referral. He told me good luck,” I responded with a bright smile on my face. I could never reveal the truth and what might end up out there would be happening after I left the building. It would be something that developed later and I hoped that’s how it would be perceived.

  “He seems busy with that floozy these days. I don’t know what Damon sees in Brooke apart from their family ties. I mean, I know they hooked up a few times but to keep going back? She was caught with another guy at the club the same night the pictures were taken.” Autumn shook her head and I frowned. He said they weren’t involved like that. “Whatever. He’s gorgeous but seems a bit dumb to me.”

  “I don’t know him well,” I lied as the conversation moved to something else. Gossip about Damon seemed like it got boring fast and I wondered about the truth about us. Would I be the floozy then? We finished our lunch and I thanked everyone before we headed back to the office, seeing Damon walking with Brent to the elevators ahead of us. He looked good in fitted black slacks and a blue shirt, hidden under his black winter coat. I stared at him as everyone chatted around me, losing myself in the memories of last night.

  His name was called across the lobby and Damon turned around as his brows furrowed together. He said something to Brent and waited as a woman with familiar hair walked up to him.

  Brooke.

  Damon looked annoyed as he talked to her but I managed to sneak by unseen. She was pretty in person and she was busy grabbing his arms and shoulders as they talked, while the doors slid closed. I wasn’t lying when I told him that this was going to be difficult. He had a lot of past where I had next to nothing. I made my way back to our room, looking around wistfully for a moment. “What’s up?” Vince asked as he set his cup down on the floor.

  “I think I’m going to miss this place. I was barely here but you are such a good team to work with,” I replied as he smiled.

  “You’re going to be the assistant to the big boss. That’s something to look forward to.” Vince assured me as I shrugged.

  “It’s scary,” I whispered as we gathered around the table. “I’ll be full time and going to school. The hours will be crazy and I might drop dead from exhaustion.”

  “I hope your guy won’t mind that,” Vince told me as I shook my head.

  “I am building an empire. He needs to understand that.” I smiled and he nodded as Autumn smirked at me. I knew from talking to her that Autumn grounded herself with the company before she said yes to her fiancé’s proposal and they were now planning the wedding. She was a go-getter like I was, coming from a poor family that struggled as well.

  I was going to be with the team for another two weeks before I started across the street. I jotted down advice that everyone gave me, since the job would be a little different. I know that Burt wanted me to learn various duties and I hoped that some of it was hands on design. That’s what I loved, after all.

  I saw Damon every night that I could but didn’t have the guts to ask him what Brooke wanted that day. I felt uncertain all over again and when we weren’t in one of the beds in his house, he noticed it. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Just nervous,” I replied with a smile on my face. I hadn’t gotten high fives from everyone in the building and found that Devin was a little jealous of my job offer. That made me worry that Damon had influenced the process more than he was telling me, making me wonder how much of this life was earned. I wanted it all to be mine.

  “You have this in the bag, Elisa. Just go shine.” He dropped the toy on the night stand and looked me over, flushed and tired from the torment that he’d just put me through. “Is someone bugging you at the office?”

  “No. They’re just not all thrilled for me,” I admitted as he gave me a dark look. “I’m sure it’s normal and I just have a few days left, right?” I wouldn’t see Damon daily then and would have so much more to wonder about.

  “Sure. You’ll settle in before you know it and telling me all kinds of stories.” Damon teased, his eyes warm on me as my heart jumped into my throat. “We’ll be rivals.”

  “Hardly,” I choked as I dropped onto the pillow and took a deep breath. “I have years to go for that.”

  “You doubt yourself too much,” Damon reminded me as he moved beside me and traced my stomach with his finger. “You’ll get this job and we’ll only get better and better.”

  “I hope so.” I closed my eyes and let my body relax as sleep took me over. As uncertain as I might be about Damon at times, my body craved him and I knew that I’d never get enough. This made me tired. “We’re exclusive, right?” The idea that we were having unprotected sex a lot lingered in my mind every time we were finished. Not that I had any worry about pregnancy because the shot was virtually a sure thing, but I worried that he was sleeping with other women.

  “Did you ever think that we weren’t?” He asked as I felt him kiss my hair.

  “Just curious.” He turned the light off and pulled me against him as he kissed my cheek.

  “You know you’re it for me.”

  The holidays were coming and my new office was decorated in style as I walked through the doors to meet with Burt and fill out paperwork. The staff had thrown me a party on Friday and I lingered with the friends I’d made while Damon stood on the other side of the room with his managers. We shared a few glances but kept it to a minimum with so many people around. The food was excellent and the cake beautiful, with a champagne toast in my honor. A few of the people were going to a bar afterward and they invited me as I glanced over at Damon. “Come on. There’s cause to celebrate.”

  “Okay. Sounds great,” I agreed as she smiled and pulled out her phone to send a text. Within an hour, things were wrapping up and I thanked everyone for making it great there as I held my glass up high again. I left with my former team and a few others, walking to a group of bars on the corner. It was getting busy with the after-work crowd and we blended into the crowd at the bar at the first one.

  I had a feeling to look at the door and I saw Damon walking in with the other guys. I frowned for a moment as I turned back and accepted the round of drinks that Vince bought everybody and thanked him as we clinked our glasses together. I knew that I would keep in touch with Vince and Autumn at this point and I stood closest to them as she waved across the bar. “This is Tim, my fiancé!” I looked at the tall, dark-haired man and shook his hand as she introduced all of us. They looked good together matching one another’s style and he introduced a couple of friends that came along with him.

  Dave was one and Glen the other and they had the same alternative look that Tim did. Glen congratulated me on the promotion once he heard about it and drew me aside to start talking about my new job. I felt eyes on me and glanced over to see Damon staring at me angrily before someone walked up to him. Brooke again. Ploy my ass. I smiled at Glen and focused on his words, pretending that I wasn’t crazy about the man across the bar with another woman.

  The drinks were flowing and I kept downing them as they were offered, laughing a
little too hard at Glenn’s jokes. I even danced with him, crazy and free as reality left my mind and I lived in a different world. It wasn’t until I had to pee that it hit me like a sound punch in the stomach. I did my business and walked out to feel someone grab my arm and pull me down to the end of the dark hallway. “What the hell?” I asked as I looked up to see Damon dragging me. “What are you doing? Isn’t your date missing you?”

  “Date?” He asked as he reached the end and stared down at me.

  “Brooke. I’ve seen you with her a few times and I give up.” I yelled as he grasped my shoulders to stop me from flailing my arms.

  “A few times?” He asked and I nodded as I took a deep breath.

  “At work, here…and there’s all those pictures of you with her. I know that you hooked up in the past too.” His face fell as he stared at me and all my happy buzz turned into hard, painful emotions. “I’ve been with you all this time, wondering who else you’re with as I’m taking chance after chance. I must be stupid.”

  “Who the fuck told you that?” Damon asked as I stared sadly at him.

  “Is it true?” His silence told me everything. “I wish it was you. Now it looks like you were hiding something from me and I keep seeing her. I don’t even know what I want anymore.”

  “I was a mess that day. Everything happened with the pictures from the weekend and I knew I had to hide who you were. She was the first thought and I didn’t want you to be worried about things, because nothing has happened between Brooke and I for years.” Damon insisted as I shook my head. “She is here by chance tonight and she wanted to tell me something about my parents in the building that day. That’s it, Elisa.” His eyes darkened. “How do you explain the new guy? You look like you’re having a great time with him. Who is he?”

  “I don’t know!” I told him as I tugged my arm away from him. I hurried through the bar and out into the streets, crying as I searched my purse for my phone to get a ride home. I had the job that I always dreamed of, but at a cost I never expected. I was in love with Damon but too insecure and jealous to trust in him. I saw a cab and held my hand up as I ran towards it. The last thing I saw before we drove away was Damon staring at me and I turned forward and told the driver where I lived.

  I was alone that night and I huddled under my covers, crying. I had given him back all the devices and my phone was shut off. I wouldn’t be hearing from him and I hoped that he didn’t come over. I needed some space.

  Damon

  I watched Elisa drive away in the cab in shock. She was drunk but didn’t make any sense in there and I took a breath of the fresh cold air before I turned and walked back into the bar. Brooke had been here by chance and she was with her friends now. For that matter, she was dating a new guy and didn’t even seem concerned with what I was doing. The other time had been a business call, though I had no idea that Elisa saw us. I wish that she would’ve brought it up so we could talk about it before it blew up like this.

  I cast a dark look at the man that she was dancing with before I sat down at the table with my friends, sipping my fresh beer. He seemed to be looking around for her and I couldn’t blame him.

  I knew that she was gone if she didn’t try to reach out to me. I knew where her apartment was but I was going to try to resist being a caveman and dragging her out of it back to my place where she belonged. Fuck, I wanted to ask her to move in with me and we’d set her mom up somewhere close by, tonight of all times. I didn’t see any reason to hide it now that she had her new job.

  I drank myself into oblivion before calling Mark for a ride home. I called Elisa several times in the car, getting her voice mail every time. “Damn it.”

  “What’s wrong?” Mark asked as he glanced at me in the mirror.

  “The past is coming back to haunt me, Mark. I didn’t tell her everything that I should have and it’s the one thing I got in trouble with.”

  “Can you fix it?” Mark asked as I frowned.

  “Maybe. I can get roses again and have them delivered. I could try to get her to talk to me.” I wasn’t sure what to do. This was all new to me. I was supposed to be coming home with her after the celebration over her promotion. It was nice to see her smiling and so happy about the catered work party, looking beautiful in a paisley wrap dress and black heels. I was going to ask her to move in in front of the fire in my room when I told her how much I loved her.

  Now, that was gone.

  “I tried to save my marriage before things went south. I took her to the coast, got a great hotel and took her to dinner. It worked for a while but we were too far gone. Arrange a weekend away.” That reminded me of our trip before and I considered the idea. We could stay a couple of nights and make a longer trip of it. “I don’t think you’re that bad off, since you’ve been seeing so much of her. I just think you fucked up a bit. I learned that communication was everything when I got divorced and I’d advise you to learn from it.”

  “Yeah. I see your point.” I told him as he pulled up to the curb. I got out and went upstairs, feeling drunk and empty as I took off my clothes and fell into bed.

  I called Mom and Kenneth the following morning, arranging to meet them for dinner that night since they were home. We met at a steakhouse and I sat across from them as Kenneth watched Mom get her jacket off with a warm gaze. “How are things at the office?” Kenneth asked once we had our drinks in front of us and orders were placed.

  “Going well. There are a few new clients and the earnings are coming in.” Kenneth still got a good chunk of that and he nodded with a pleased expression.

  “Did you get any good interns this round?” Mom asked as my face fell. “Damon?”

  “Yeah, we did. One of them just got hired full-time by Burt.” Kenneth sipped his whiskey and nodded. “She’s great.”

  “She’s moving up fast. What is her position there?” Kenneth asked as Mom searched my face with a knowing gaze.

  “His assistant. She was with Brent’s team and helped me a bit here and there as well,” I replied as I took a long sip of my own whiskey. “She’s graduating from MIT in a year.”

  “I think she sounds like the perfect addition for Burt. You guys always get the cream of the crop with the annual internship program.” We ate as our entrees came and Mom pressed the napkin to her lips as Kenneth excused himself to use the bathroom.

  “When did you realize that you’d fallen for her?” Her eyes sparkled at me, exact copies of mine.

  “Recently when I messed up. I was trying to fight it but Mom, she’s addicting. Compassionate, beautiful, intelligent and she’s stubborn as a damn mule. She wants the world.” I shrugged and looked at her.

  “Isn’t that better than the empty women that only wanted you for your money?” Mom asked as I stared at her. “Speaking of which, I’d be thrilled if you stopped doing photo ops with Brooke. I adore her parents but she’s not the woman I want as a daughter-in-law.”

  “Not even close. I was dodging some rumors,” I told her as she giggled.

  “The woman on the beach? I saw those.” I nodded. “That was the intern?”

  “It was.” Kenneth returned and sat down as he glanced between us.

  “What’s your mother worried about now?”

  “Damon found a woman,” she said as I scowled. “He fell for one of the interns.”

  “I dated her while she worked there. I didn’t intend for that to happen, but it did. I thought when she moved across the street, we could start fresh. She just…I think she thinks my past is too much.”

  They both laughed. “It is,” Mom said as Kenneth kissed her hair. “If I got over all the trouble this man got into, there’s hope for you. Woo her. Show her what a great man you are.”

  I went home that night thinking about what she said. I knew that I was in love with Elisa and that there was nobody else for me. I needed to tell her that. I asked Mark for some advice as we drove, smiling at his romantic ideas.

  I did some work on my plan over the weekend, setting up re
servations for the following weekend at the same place we stayed in Cape Cod. I asked for the most romantic room they had and a lot of additions to get my plan in motion. I made a couple of reservations at good places, leaving time to do what we wanted on a whim.

  The rest could wait until I was going to surprise Elisa and I dropped into bed, staring at the ceiling as I hoped that it worked.

  Work wasn’t the same without Elisa there. I missed her being in my office with her beautiful smile and laugh, and I stared at her number on my phone. I wasn’t going to call her yet.

  Elisa

  The new office was merely a smaller version of Elkus Manfredi but it was still new to me. I reported to duty with Burt wearing a new black pencil skirt and white skirt and the shoes that would always remind me of Damon.

  I missed him more than I wanted to admit but I was drunk and foolish at the bar that night. I’d made an excuse that I drank too much to Vince and Autumn and left because I felt sick, since only Damon saw me run out and jump into the cab like the chicken that I was.

  Burt was kind and gave me the same devices as Damon, showing me the way he did things with patience and kindness. He remarked at how quickly I picked things up a few times and I always credited Damon and Brent. Burt was surprised that I’d worked so closely with Damon, since it wasn’t mentioned over the phone. “Really?” I asked as I looked at him.

  “All Damon did was say that you seemed to be doing well and sent me your resume. It was Brent’s recommendation that got me and your school. That’s impressive with your grades and skills,” Burt assured me as I nodded.

  I felt a little bad as I left that night, tired and emotionally drained. I went and showered, pulling on my pajamas, and going tight to bed. Damon didn’t set me up with my job like I’d thought. He threw my name out there but I earned it with my hard work and I sighed. I picked up my phone, making sure that my alarms were set and found his number. I considered calling him but my mind was mush today. I needed to figure out what to say.