Chapter 28
CHAPTER 28
LEIF
O ur firm was the main sponsor of a big toy drive at one of the local donation centers, and I’d signed my team up for a day of volunteering. One of the things I loved most about our success was that we were in the position to help support local charities. Whenever I got the opportunity, I liked to get out there and be on the ground, working hard to distribute everything we were donating.
I grinned as I hopped into the shuttle service I’d arranged to take the team over to the donation center. “I hope you’ve all got your wrapping fingers ready. The center told me they’re expecting over five hundred toys this year.”
Rainy flashed me a coy smile from the front of the shuttle, where she’d chosen to sit right behind the passenger seat that I was in. “We’re ready, Leif. We’re going to make you so proud.”
As she said it, I felt fingers sneaking through between the doors and the seat I was in, her hand caressing my side. I scooted over immediately, deliberately taking her hand and moving it off my person.
Shit. I really need to have that talk with her.
I’d touched on it the other day, but ever since I’d mentioned the words inappropriate and behavior in the same sentence, she’d been scarce. It looked like my brief reprieve was over now. Groaning internally, I reminded myself to put a chat with her in my calendar.
Sooner is better than later.
“Remember,” I said out loud, twisting to face my team again and purposely avoiding eye contact with her. “We’ll be wrapping presents for kids who otherwise wouldn’t be having a very merry Christmas at all, so give it your best. There’s plenty of supplies in the back that Danny and Albert will be helping me offload once we get there. Use all the ribbon and bows you need. Don’t skimp.”
Chuckles rang out, but I was serious. Someone without thumbs would be better at wrapping presents than I was, but what I lacked in talent, I made up for with enthusiasm.
When we arrived at the center, I turned to give them one last instruction before we went in. “Meet back here at one p.m. We’re scheduled to be here for the whole morning, so have fun with it. Let’s go.”
One of the organizers walked out to greet us and I shook his hand. “Leif McIntosh, it’s always great to have you guys with us. Thanks again for your contribution.”
The guy covering social media for the drive came past and I smiled at the camera.
“Of course,” I said. “We’re here to help, so just point us in the right direction and we’ll get started.”
He flashed me a grateful smile. “We’ve got stations set up inside. If you could have your team bring in the supplies you brought along, we’ll add it to our stockpile and get each of you set up at one of the stations.”
“Sounds good.” I helped two other guys from my office to bring in the wrapping paper, tape, and decorations we’d brought for the day. Then I grabbed a table at the far end of the hall as my station.
Less than five minutes later, Rainy joined me, her huge blue eyes on mine as she smiled. “At least we’ll have some privacy all the way over here. It took me forever to find you.”
“We haven’t even been here for ten minutes in total. It couldn’t have been forever.” When she came to stand next to me, pushing up her sleeves and getting ready to start wrapping, I sighed and moved to the other side of the table. “I’ll just go get the first container of toys we need to wrap.”
Nodding at the others from the firm who had gathered around the table, I took off, needing to put some distance between Rainy and me. Piles of donated toys had been set out in storage bins near the door and I headed over, collecting a bin and taking it over to my team.
After making sure they had everything they needed, I found a spot at a different table to start wrapping some gifts. I’d barely done two when Rainy sauntered over, a playful smile on her lips.
“I’m going to grab a coffee. Would you like to come?”
“No,” I said firmly. “Thank you, but I’ll get one later. By myself.”
She pursed her lips, peeking up at me through batting eyelashes. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were avoiding me.”
“I can’t avoid you. We work together, but we aren’t together in any other way anymore, so you should go grab that coffee if you want. I’m going to keep doing what we’re here to do.”
She let out a soft, but dramatic sigh, turned on her heels, and stomped away. One of the guys at the table smirked at me. “Drama with an ex you work with?”
“Yep.”
He chuckled. “Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt, the mug, and the all the other memorabilia too. Good luck.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m going to need it.”
As I got back to work, I unrolled some wrapping paper and smoothed it out, then reached for a toy car and positioned it in the middle. I did my best to make it look good, although my corners were a mess. I wrapped the worst of it with golden ribbon and stuck a few bows on the rest.
I was just admiring my handiwork when a familiar voice spoke behind me. Again . “You still take it dark as night, right? I figured I’d get you one anyway. You’re always so crabby when you haven’t had enough caffeine.”
I felt like someone had dropped a block of ice down my spine. I slowly turned to face the ex from hell. She held a coffee out toward me, but I didn’t take it. As great as caffeine would’ve been right about then, I really didn’t want to do anything that might encourage her.
As I looked into her eyes, I realized that she and I desperately needed to have that talk. This had gone on long enough, and though I felt like I’d always been crystal clear with her, it looked like I was going to have to spell it out.
Again.
When she realized I wasn’t going to take the coffee, she sighed. “You really don’t want it?”
“I really don’t want it. Any of it.”
The guy who’d talked to me earlier spoke up from behind. “I do. If he doesn’t want it, I’ll take it. Thanks.”
Reluctantly handing it over, she shot me a curious look and sidled up to me, her eyes locked on mine. “Are you feeling okay? You’ve never said no to coffee before.”
Quickly taking a look around to make sure there was no one from our offices within earshot, I decided it was time to be blunt. “It’s not the coffee I don’t want, Rainy. It’s you. You and I are over, but you don’t seem to understand what it means to keep things professional. It’s becoming a real problem.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “You’ll have to forgive me if I disagree. We could still have something, Leif. You just needed some space.”
“Which you haven’t given me,” I said firmly. “Regardless, we don’t have anything anymore, and we never will again. I need you to understand that. Please.”
“I understand that’s what you think,” she countered, taking a small step closer to me and looking up into my eyes.
At that exact moment, the social media guy appeared again, snapping pictures of us talking. He checked his camera screen, grinned, and took off. I groaned, smacking my palm over my face. My guard was instantly and automatically up.
I knew what that picture likely looked like—and it wouldn’t be that I’d been reminding her to give me space. Undoubtedly, it would appear like she and I had been talking closely.
I sighed and looked her right in the eyes. “My office, tomorrow afternoon. Two p.m. sharp. Don’t be late, but Rainy?”
“Yes?”
“It’s not just what I think. It’s how I feel. You and I haven’t been romantically involved for months. It’s time to stop acting like we’re just on a break. It’s over.”
She scoffed, looking like there was something she wanted to say, but she obviously decided against saying it here. Nodding instead, she flashed me yet another flirty smile. “I’ll be there tomorrow. We’ll talk.”
With an exaggerated wink, she turned and strode away, finally giving me the space I’d been trying to create between us since we’d arrived here this morning. The dude on the other side of the table grimaced when I took my place at our station again.
“That woman is trouble, bro. For your sake, I hope you manage to get it through her skull that you don’t feel that way anymore.”
“You and me both. I’m not sure how exactly I’m going to do it, but I need her to get that message loud and clear. I’m in love with someone else, and I seriously don’t want to risk having Rainy fuck it up for me.”
He glanced at the coffee in his hand. “You don’t think she put a love potion or something in here, right? I mean, she’s hot, but from the sound of things, she comes down on the wrong side of the crazy/ hot scale.”
I laughed. “The wrong side? No. She doesn’t just come down on the wrong side. She flies off the damn scale altogether.”
He blanched, setting the coffee down and pushing it gently away from himself. Then he reached for another toy and so did I, both of us wordlessly getting back to work. The rest of the day went by in a blur of toys, wrapping paper, tape, and afternoon meetings.
Marge had managed to arrange my schedule so that I’d been able to join the drive this morning, but it meant working late to catch up on several urgent things I’d already been falling behind on.
When I finally got into my bed much later that night, Laurel was back to being front and center in my mind. All day, every day, she was right there, very much in the background of every thought even when I was actively occupied with something else. But here, alone in my bed, she was the only thing I could think of. Her and the possibility of a future together.
After I switched off the lamp on my nightstand, I felt around for my phone, figuring I’d at least text her since it was probably too late to call. We’d spoken after she’d gotten home from her girls’ weekend last night, but I hadn’t gotten around to speaking to her at all today.
I missed the crap out of her, and in the silent darkness of night, it was so much worse. I opened my texting app and scrolled through all the work messages I’d received today. I came across our thread and clicked into it, smiling at the last message I’d received from her, a pulsating heart on the screen.
Me: Wish you were here.
Since I wasn’t sure she would still be awake, I wasn’t expecting a response. I was already reaching out to put my phone down on the nightstand when it chimed with a response. Excitement flared through me like I was a damn teenager getting a text from a crush.
Somewhere deep down in my soul, I knew I would always be like that with her, though. Only with her.
She was the only girl who had ever made my body react this way, and frankly, as much as it was probably a little bit juvenile, I loved it. I loved the racing heart and the weird feeling in my stomach. The anticipation. The excitement, and even the holding my breath until I heard from her again. I lifted my phone back up, checking the message.
Laurel: Me too. Someday soon, I will be. Just hang onto that.
I smiled. After Christmas in Austin, our plan was still for her to come visit me here and I couldn’t wait to show her around like she’d done with me. Even if it was only so I could show her all the things I would be saying goodbye to just as soon as I could figure out how I was going to tell Jack I was leaving.