Heartless

by Sophie Stern

  “That’s putting it lightly,” I rolled my eyes. He was right about her on that count. My mom was wonderful, but yeah, she liked to fidget and meddle and mess with things that didn’t concern her. Only, maybe this time it wasn’t so bad. Perhaps knowing that our parents approved of what we had considered to be an illicit and wild relationship really was calming.

  “We should get inside,” Bob said.

  On a whim, I decided to take advantage of Bob being in the car alone. He was in a talking sort of mood, apparently. Perhaps it was because Felix had just gotten married, or maybe it was just because he was accepting of the fact that I was starting a relationship with his daughter.

  “You remember Zoey’s boyfriend in high school? The one she had right after you moved back to Kansas?”

  The look on Bob’s face said that yes, he definitely remembered. Zoey and Eric had barely gone out. They’d dated something like two weeks before it had all fallen apart. I wasn’t entirely sure how much Bob knew about what had happened, but apparently, the guy was smarter than I’d given him credit for.

  “You know I punched him out, right?”

  Bob smiled slyly, and he jerked his head in a nod.

  “Hell yeah, I know you punched that asshole,” he said. Then Bob grinned. “That’s why I know you’re good for her, David. You took care of my kid, and you didn’t ask for any credit for it. You stood up for her because it was the right thing to do. That’s the kind of person I want my daughter to be with.”

  Bob got out of the car, then, and he headed into the reception without looking back. I just sat there at the steering wheel for what felt, honestly, like an eternity. Was he right? Was I the good guy in this story? I’d never particularly thought of myself that way. To be honest, I’d always considered myself to be kind of a bad boy, an outsider.

  Zoey had always been out of my league. Forever. She’d always been someone I’d wanted, but I knew that I couldn’t touch. Why would I be able to? She was perfect. She was fire and ice and beauty and gold. She was heaven and I was broken. I never thought I’d ever be able to even have a chance with someone like her, and now...

  Now it seemed as though the universe was smiling down on me for some reason I just didn’t understand. It was up to me what happened next. I could take advantage of this. I could make the most of it. I could get out of this car and walk into the reception and I could start making Zoey the happiest woman alive, or I could be scared.

  Well, fear had no place in my life, I thought. If Bob approved, that was incredible. The idea that he and my mom and Zoey’s mom had all considered that we might end up together was cute to me. I didn’t know what my dad thought about all of this, but I had a feeling that if he didn’t roll his eyes at me, he’d probably agree with everyone else and tell me to stop acting scared and just go for it.

  So, I went for it.

  I got out of the car and headed inside. There was music playing, and the guests were all gathering. The bride and groom weren’t here yet because apparently, they were supposed to make some sort of special entrance. Luckily, the rest of the wedding party wasn’t being held to the same standard. I wondered if the “special entrance” was just an excuse for them to be allowed to sneak off for a quickie before the reception.

  I found Zoey standing by one of the refreshment tables. She was sipping lemonade and talking to my parents, who had come to the wedding, of course. They had been close with Felix’s parents forever. It made sense they would come to the wedding. Besides, during the traditional mother/son dance, Felix wanted my mom to take his mother’s place since Susan couldn’t be here. My mom had cried when he’d asked her, and even though she’d been honored, I think it had broken her heart a little bit, too.

  “David,” Zoey said when she saw me. She smiled and gestured for me to come over, so I did.

  “Mom,” I murmured, kissing my mother’s cheek.

  “Hey sweetie,” my mother said. She gave me a quick hug and my dad simply nodded, letting me know that he saw me, and that we were good. “Zoey was just telling me about her new job. Did you know she works downtown?”

  “Is that so?” I asked. I reached for one of the glasses of lemonade that was sitting on the refreshment table, and I sipped it. I made a mental note to get myself a drink from the bar as soon as possible. Lemonade was good, but whiskey would be better.

  “It’s so,” Zoey smiled. “It’s a good firm. Actually, it’s pretty close to your office, David. You know, we could have lunch together sometime.”

  “I’d like that very much,” I told her. I hadn’t even asked her where she was going to be working or what projects she was starting off with. I knew she had a big one starting next week, according to Felix, but that was it.

  “Awesome,” Zoey smiled. She seemed genuinely happy, and that made me glad. It felt good to be desired.

  “I’d like to have lunch with you sometime, too,” my mother told Zoey. “It’s been such a long time since the two of us spent time together.” When Mom looked at Zoey, I knew there was a lot going through her head. She missed her friend, I was sure. Was seeing Zoey hard for her because Zoey reminded Mom of Susan? I didn’t know. What I did know was that Zoey had a group of people who adored her, and I was at the front of that group.

  “Of course,” Zoey nodded. “That would be great.”

  Just then, the music changed, and we all turned to see the bride and groom entering the wedding reception venue. We all clapped and cheered and hollered, but the entire time, my eyes weren’t on Felix and Lauren.

  They were on Zoey.

  THE RECEPTION, AS FAR as receptions go, was lovely. The decorations were beautiful, and Lauren was smiling and laughing the entire night. I’d never seen Felix look more pleased than he did while he was dancing with his bride. Everyone danced and drank and ate. People came around to tell stories and catch up with old friends. Zoey and I each gave a short little toast, and then the night continued.

  Eventually, though, all good parties must come to an end. It was a few hours later, after the last guest had left, that I found myself sitting in the parking lot with Zoey. Her dad had gotten a ride home, Felix and Lauren were off to their house for the night, and everyone else had taken off. Zoey and I sat in the parking lot listening to music from an obscure band we both loved, and we kissed.

  We were making out like a couple of teenagers, and it was the best thing I’d ever done. The music was loud, and we were both feeling relaxed and happy. I’d stopped drinking hours earlier, and so had she, so neither one of us had any sort of buzz going. We just felt content to be together.

  “You were beautiful tonight,” I told her.

  “Tonight?” Zoey laughed and gestured outside. It was still light out. The wedding had been right after lunch with the reception immediately following. “Talk about a wedding for geezers,” she laughed, shaking her head. “Felix and Lauren really went all out, didn’t they?”

  “Well, you know,” I shrugged. “She probably gets tired more easily now.”

  “Maybe,” Zoey nodded.

  “What do you want to do now?”

  The party was over, and everyone had gone home. Felix and Lauren were both wildly exhausted from everything that happened. They might have had an afternoon reception, but they were both worn out from the wedding, the dancing, and the socializing. If I knew anything about my friend, he was probably already sleeping, and Lauren probably was, too.

  Still, there was no way to deny the fact that it was barely past dinnertime. I was getting hungry again, and I bet Zoey was, too. I wanted to know if she wanted this date to continue, if she wanted to keep spending time with me.

  “Well,” she said, looking over at me. Zoey grinned mischievously. “We could go see what Percy’s up to. Maybe he wants to hang out with us while we watch a movie and order pizza.”

  “Is that what you want to do?”

  “Yep,” she laughed. “I can’t think of a better way to spend the evening.”

  And so, we did. We went back
to my place, ditched the wedding clothes for comfortable pajamas, and ordered pizza. Zoey looked awesome in my pajama pants and t-shirt, and we snuggled up on the couch, ate food, and watched movies until we fell asleep.

  Perhaps it wasn’t the most romantic date in the history of the world, but it was our date, and she was my girl, and I was the happiest damn man in the world to get to spend time with her. When I looked over at Zoey, I felt a wild and calming peace. When I was with her, it was like nothing else mattered. The only thing that I cared about when we were together was making her feel like she was important, and judging by the way she was snoring on my sofa, I think I did an okay job.

  16

  Zoey

  It was only a few days after the wedding when I had to meet with the most difficult client of my entire career. My supervisor, Annie, had told me he was a piece of work, but she hadn’t told me exactly what to expect. All I knew was that TechFlurry needed a new digital media consultant as soon as possible, and that they needed to completely revamp their social media presence. As soon as Zander Reynolds walked through my doors, I understood why.

  My office wasn’t exactly huge. I wasn’t the biggest, baddest person at my place of business. I was, however, serious about my job, and I was serious about getting things done. I wasn’t going to waste time messing around when it came to things like getting the work done. The reason I was so successful both in California and now, in Kansas, was that I stood up for myself, and I believed in myself, and perhaps most importantly, I believed in the vision my clients had for their companies.

  One of the reasons people came to me was that they were struggling to brand themselves effectively using social media. In those cases, I could help with creating effective branding materials, including images and graphics they could post. Some people would have me manage their social media pages entirely. Other people just wanted me to take care of the process of setting up social media sites they could use on their own.

  The thing about using the Internet was that it wasn’t always easy for people, especially older people, to learn how to use. Figuring out how to juggle multiple social media sites, respond to messages appropriately and promptly, and engage with potential clients could be tricky. That was where I came in, and that was what I was expecting to do for Mr. Reynolds.

  The moment Zander Reynolds walked into my office, though, I instantly knew there was a problem. The guy was late, for one thing. I didn’t care too much because I’d bill him for my time regardless. The other problem was that he had a smug-ass look on his face that I instantly wanted to slap off. That was a problem. If you met a client and right away, you wanted to smack them, that wasn’t going to be a good situation for anyone involved.

  “Mr. Reynolds?” I asked, standing up. I smoothed my skirt and pasted a smile on my face. Getting a bad vibe just meant I’d have to work harder to get along with this dude, right? I walked around my desk and stretched my arm out to shake his hand. “I’m Zoey Lane. I’ll be assisting you today.”

  Reynolds looked at my hand like it was covered in mud. Then he raked his eyes over my body like I was a piece of meat he wanted to chew on. Was this guy for real? He looked like he wanted to murder me or fuck me, but he couldn’t make up his mind as to which he should do first.

  Again, not a great first impression.

  “Mr. Reynolds?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. Finally, I dropped my hand. He wasn’t going to shake it, but that was okay. Not everyone liked to touch new people.

  Most of the time, someone would actually tell you that, though. They’d say something tensely polite, like, “Apologies, my dear, but I’m a bit of a germaphobe.” This guy didn’t even give me that.

  “You’re not who I agreed to meet with.” Zander Reynolds’ words were clipped, short, and to the point. So, he was being abrupt, but that was fine. Again, I could work with abrupt. I’d just have to figure out what he wanted and give it to him as quickly as possible. If I could set up a plan for social media management, or whatever it was that he wanted, then I could boot his ass out and start working. Hopefully, this would be our only meeting. There was little we had to do after this that we couldn’t do remotely.

  “Your appointment is with me,” I reminded him. “Now, why don’t we go ahead and get started? Annie mentioned you wanted full digital media management, as well as some assistance with your reputation management.” Apparently, he’d been dealing with some sort of lawsuit that wasn’t going very well. I didn’t know the details. I just knew he’d been slammed with a bunch of fake reviews that were impacting his sales.

  “I was told I would be meeting with Mr. Lane,” Zander insisted. The only thing that was missing was a solid foot stomp.

  “Nope, there’s no one here with that name,” I explained. “I’m Miss Lane, and I’m happy to help you. Why don’t you have a seat? We’ll go over what it is that you’re looking for when it comes to digital relations between you and your clients.”

  Ignoring the fact that he snubbed me, I took a deep breath and tried to stay focused. That was what I needed to do, I knew. I couldn’t let some guy get under my skin, especially not at work. Chances were that my company would like to have this dude’s business, or at least his cash, and it wasn’t going to look super good for me if one of my first clients in Kansas immediately fired me from his project.

  I gestured to the chairs in front of my desk, but instead of taking a seat, Zander went back to the door, closed it, and locked it. What the hell was he doing? Alarm bells were going off in my head. This wasn’t the way I normally did business. I rarely met with male clients with the door closed, and I never met with them with the door locked. That simply wasn’t how things were done around here. Nobody really accused other people of impropriety at my office, but I wasn’t going to be the first. It also didn’t feel very safe. I wasn’t a wilting flower, but this guy towered over me.

  “What are you doing?” I tried to add a sharp edge to my voice, but I wasn’t sure that I’d done it because he didn’t leave. Instead of going away, Zander Reynolds crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me.

  “You’re the one who’s going to have a seat,” he said. “And you’re going to listen to me.”

  Nope.

  Not here, not now.

  He hadn’t done anything that I could specifically label as predatory. Locking the door was rude, but not illegal, after all, but he was freaking me out, and that was enough. I wasn’t going to wait for this guy to lay a hand on me to let him know he wasn’t welcome here. I worked with clients who offered mutual respect. I wasn’t going to work with someone who scared me. Annie would have to find someone else.

  “I think you should leave,” I said, gesturing toward the door. “This is wildly inappropriate, Mr. Reynolds. I don’t lock my office door, and I certainly don’t lock myself inside with men I don’t know. Perhaps another media specialist would be better suited for your company’s needs.”

  Not likely, but I didn’t say that. I just wanted this guy out of my office. All of a sudden, I wanted him totally, completely gone. He didn’t need to be in here with me. Not like this. Something about him made me feel like he was a total creep. Perhaps it was my self-preservation instincts kicking in. I couldn’t be sure. I just knew that something about him was wrong. Something about him was messed up.

  There was a darkness there, an anger. It was something I didn’t need anywhere close to me. In the past, I would have sucked it up. I would have toughed it out. Now I knew that I didn’t have to. The biggest social consequence this decision to kick him out would have was irritating my boss, but I knew Annie well enough to know she’d have my back.

  “No,” he said.

  “No?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “I’m not leaving. I need someone to fix my Internet reputation. You’re the person who’s going to do that. I just expected someone more...masculine.”

  “You think a man is going to do a better job?” I asked, trying to understand. There was a subtle nod from Reynolds. Ok
ay, so he wanted a dude to work for him. Whatever.

  “A man simply understands these things better,” he explained.

  “Sure,” I nodded. “Well, go ahead and leave my office, and I’ll let Annie know that you need to reschedule with someone who has a penis.”

  “Excuse me?” Zander Reynolds placed a hand on his chest, as though I had mortally offended him. What the hell was with this guy?

  “Dude, just leave,” I went back to my seat and sat down, overwhelmed and tired. I didn’t want to deal with this anymore. The idea that marketing was a boy’s club was pervasive, but women had been working their asses off to change that idea.

  “I don’t believe I gave you permission to talk to me that way.” Zander kept standing there, as though he didn’t know what to do or where to go. He no longer seemed menacing. Instead, he just looked pathetic. How many times could I tell him to leave before he finally would?

  “And I don’t believe I gave you permission to come into my office and act like an asshole. Now leave. If you choose not to comply with this very simple request, I’ll call security.”

  I looked back at my computer and blatantly ignored him. Was this the kind of guy who would leave if I pretended he wasn’t there? I was about to find out. Guys like Zander got away with this sort of shit because nobody ever called them out on it. You couldn’t just act like a petty little child because you were going to be working with someone who wasn’t a gender you liked.

  Nope. Ignoring him definitely didn’t work. Instead, he kept standing in my office and staring at me. Finally, I picked up the phone.

  “Annie? I need help in my office. I’d like a client escorted out. Can you help me? Thanks.” I hung up the phone. Before I’d even turned back to my computer, he was there with me. Zander was standing beside me, and instantly, I shrunk back into my seat. I hated myself for it, but he was so damn big.

  “Get. Up.”

  “Fuck. You.” My response probably wasn’t very kind, professional, or appropriate, but I was playing with a big dog. That called for big words.