Chapter Fourteen #2
I could feel her stares from behind as I cautiously approached his door and knocked. It didn’t take long for him to grant permission for me to open the door. I did so quickly before I lost my nerve. I walked in and shut the door behind me as fast as I could, so no one else would see me or hear me.
He looked surprised to see me, but his eyes lit up. “Ms. Bryant.”
“Um . . . Mr. Greyson.”
“Please have a seat,” he offered.
“That’s okay. I just wanted to say thank you.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “For what?”
I knew he was lying, but I wondered why he would. “I know the columbines are from you. You and I may be the only ones in this state who know what they are.”
“Or that it’s illegal to pick them in the wild.” He grinned.
“Anyway, thank you.”
“Happy birthday.”
“Thanks for reading my employee file and remembering.”
His smile faded away. “I’ve never forgotten.”
“Oh.” I always remembered his too. June 16th.
His eyes burned into mine from across the room, and suddenly I wanted to cross the professional boundary line. “Thank you,” I said again, flustered, before I ran out of there.
I didn’t even react to Delfia’s detective work and knowing looks as I walked past her. “Did you know that columbines are Colorado’s state flower?” she called with delight in her devious voice.
I ran straight to my bathroom and stared at my flushed reflection in the mirror.
What was wrong with me? I decided not to answer, because the answer was ridiculous.
Instead, I went back to my desk and tried to concentrate on my presentation for tomorrow before I sent it back to Mr. Greyson.
His new laptop was better than mine, and he thought it would be a good idea to use his for tomorrow’s presentation.
No matter how hard I tried to concentrate, my eyes kept drifting toward the beautiful flowers, and my mind kept landing on the man who sent them to me.
By four, I decided to call it a day. It was my birthday after all.
With my balloons and flowers, I made a beeline for the exit.
It took me a while to exit the lobby as I had lots of birthday wishes.
It was a nice way to leave work, but I wanted to make a quick exit.
I wasn’t feeling like myself. I was so out of sorts that on the drive home I debated whether I should cancel my birthday dinner with my family or not.
Physically, I was well, but I felt weird, if that made sense.
When I arrived home, I carefully placed my flowers front-and-center on my kitchen table.
I put the balloons on my coffee table. I didn’t want anything to distract from the beauty of those darn flowers.
They had become like that silly note he wrote about the coffee filters.
I kept staring at them like they would reveal some secret.
I finally had to force myself to walk away and get ready for dinner.
There was no use in canceling. I knew my excuse of “I felt weird” would never fly with my sister.
She would be over here psychoanalyzing me if I gave her such a reason.
As soon as I walked into my sister’s home, I was happy I hadn’t given into my odd feelings.
Court and Sam immediately flew into my arms with birthday greetings and hugs and kisses.
They pulled me into the kitchen. It smelled amazing.
Amanda and Zane were finishing up dinner, but each took a break to give me a hug.
I was definitely feeling the love. For dinner, my sister was making one of my favorites: sweet and sour chicken with homemade fried rice.
I felt terrible she was going to all the trouble right before she was leaving on vacation.
She waved off my concern. “I love you, Kelli Jelly.”
I sure loved her.
Dinner was beyond amazing, and the cake that followed was just as good or better.
Amanda made another favorite of mine, lemon cake with blackberry frosting.
She really was Betty Crocker, and I adored her for it.
I especially enjoyed the company as I listened to my nieces talk about flying to Disney World the next morning. They were so excited.
“It’s not too late for you to come,” Zane and Amanda said.
I shook my head and sighed.
Amanda gave me a knowing look.
I put the girls to bed while Zane and Amanda cleaned up. I definitely got the better end of the deal. I had a feeling the girls wouldn’t be sleeping well. It was like the night before Christmas for them. They each promised to bring me something Disney related.
“Do you think you could bring back Prince Charming for me?”
They giggled. Too bad I was serious.
I came down to say goodbye to Zane and Amanda. I figured they would want to get to bed, because they had an early flight, but Amanda pulled me into the living room to talk to me for a bit. They both sat on the couch, and I took the large ottoman in front of it, trying not to get too cozy.
“So, what’s wrong, Kelli? You’re not acting like yourself. Did something happen at work today?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I had a . . . good day.”
Amanda tapped me with her foot. “Did Ian bring in another blonde?”
“No,” I hesitated, “he sent me flowers today for my birthday.”
Both of their faces beamed.
I waved off their excitement. “It was nothing.”
Zane reached over and patted my hand. “Kelli, I know we’ve raised you better than to be this na?ve.”
I couldn’t help but laugh when Zane got all parental on me. He was only like eight years older than me. “I’m not na?ve. Ask Amanda, she’ll tell you.”
She grinned at me but didn’t jump to my defense. I kept looking at her expectantly and getting more annoyed by the second as she stared with amusement on her face. I finally blurted out, “Why are you staring at me like a fool?”
“I think we were wrong about the hussy.” She tensed waiting for my response.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t agree, but even if it’s not what we think, so what?”
“Kelli, you need to open your eyes to the truth,” Zane jumped in with his two cents.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He took my hands in his like he was talking to his daughters. “Ian loves you,” he said point blank.
I laughed in his face and pulled away my hands. “Have you been inhaling laughing gas at work?”
Both he and my sister were looking at me as if I was the high one.
I stopped laughing. “Guys, you know that’s not true.”
They looked between each other, making me feel more uncomfortable than I already was. “Why do you think that?” My voice cracked.
“Besides it being completely obvious, he said some things while we were golfing that cinched it,” Zane answered.
I began to feel weird again. All I could do was stare blankly, with my mouth wide open. Amanda lovingly closed it for me.
“Fine. I’ll play your sick little game. Did he say he . . .” I could barely say the word in relation to him, “loved me?”
“He didn’t say the exact words,” Zane admitted.
I folded my arms with a fair amount of smugness.
“Kelli, the man loves you.”
I jumped up. “No, Zane. The man left me crying and calling his name with no thought at all. Then he went years without contacting me, and when he did show back up, he stole my job and made me call him Mr. Greyson. Does that sound like love to you?”
Both he and my sister each took a hand and gently guided me back to the ottoman. I was on the verge of tears, and I had no idea why, other than I was frustrated with their insinuations and the way my life had been ever since Mr. Greyson showed up.
Zane kept my hand. “Can I tell you a little something about Bryant women?”
Both Amanda and I gave him the look.
He laughed, but braved speaking. “You are the most terrifying creatures on this planet,” quickly adding before we really did terrorize him, “but there’s nothing greater than being loved by one.”
I still wasn’t buying it, though Amanda lapped it up. “Aww,” she said before she kissed him a little more sloppily than necessary in my presence.
“Ahem,” I interrupted. “Okay genius, if that’s the case, then why did Mr. Greyson leave me?”
“Kelli, did you ever stop to think that maybe he did what he did because he loved you?”