Of All the Grocery Stores
EVREN
“Mr. Kade?” Jasmine’s voice breaks through the quiet hum of the algorithm running across my screen.
I roll my neck, feeling the stiff pull of muscles that haven’t moved in hours, and drag my eyes from the stream of data in front of me.
“What is it, Jasmine?”
“There’s a representative from Obsidian Capital on line one for you. They have a question regarding a co-investment opportunity.”
Of course they do.
Another firm too afraid to take a risk alone. It’s not that I don’t want to help. I pride myself on having built The Covenant Group from the ground up and on helping other firms with good investments whenever I can. This firm, however…
I exhale slowly, rubbing at the tension building between my horns. They’ve been calling since before the cruise. I wasn’t in the mood then, and I’m not in the mood now.
Just thinking about that cruise twists something in my chest. The spreadsheets, the meetings, the market, all of it feels hollow compared to what I left behind.
Not what. Who.
Kallie.
The name alone feels like salt in an open wound.
“Mr. Kade?” Jasmine prompts again, careful now, as if she senses the shift in my mood.
“Put it through,” I say, though my voice is rougher than I intend.
“Yes, sir. Should I push back your client meeting?”
I drag a hand down my face. “Reschedule if possible. If not, move it an hour. Will that mess up the rest of the day?”
She glances at her phone, calculating. “No, sir.”
“Good.” I nod, forcing my tone back to steady. “Give me a few minutes to review Obsidian’s portfolio before you send the call through.”
“You got it, sir.” She leaves, the door clicking softly behind her.
Silence settles again, thick and oppressive. The glow of the monitor reflects off the glass walls, the numbers meaningless now. I try to focus, but the ache in my chest only grows.
I rub the ache away as best as possible, take a few deep breaths, open the file on Obsidian, and take the call.
Two excruciating hours later, I finally hang up with Obsidian. I’m glad I took the call, as the investment proposal was a good one. It just took entirely longer than I had planned.
Jasmine had popped in to hand me a note letting me know my in-person meeting had been rescheduled for next week, leaving me with a decent break.
As if sensing I had a free moment, my phone buzzes on the desk, my mother's name popping up on the screen for a video chat.
I prop the phone against my monitor and answer:
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hello, my sweet boy. How’s your day?”
“Busy. I just got a break. I was going to grab some food before diving back in. What are you doing up so late?”
My mother makes a tutting sound. She’s sitting on her bedroom balcony, the Aegean Sea’s soft waves a gentle symphony in the background. She’s got her hair, the same wavy mass of red and black waves I have, braided to one side and resting along her robe. It’s nearly midnight in Greece.
She looks at me in the way only a mom can, that scrutinizing, all-knowing look.
“I was worried.”
I’m surprised. “About what?”
“You were upset earlier.”
“What are you talking about, Mom?” I ask, perplexed.
She scoffs, “Evren, don’t lie to your mother. Something upset you earlier. I felt it. Now tell your mother what’s bothering you, or I’ll wake up your father and have him book the first available flight out there, and we’ll stay until I’m satisfied you’re ok.”
Sweet Satan.
I’m not sure if I believe the entire I’m your mother, and I can feel when you’re distraught thing, but I won’t deny I was in my feelings earlier.
“It’s nothing, Mom,” I say, even as I rub my chest where the ache has taken up residence since I watched Kallie walk away on the last night of the cruise.
My mother narrows her eyes and moves to stand.
Acting quickly, I spill, “I was thinking of Kallie. The woman I met on the cruise.”
Her expression softens. “Oh, sweetheart. I wish you had gotten her information or that the cruiseline would give it to you.”
“There are privacy laws against that, Mom,” I chuckle.
She rolls her eyes. “Ridiculous.”
“You aren’t wrong. I kick myself every day for not asking for her number or where she was from. I can’t believe I spent all that time with her and never even asked where she lived.” I say with a scowl.
There’s a knock on the door pulling me away from my mom.
“Come in,” I say before Jasmine pokes her head in.
“Lunch is delivered, and I tracked down that item you asked about earlier.”
“Thanks, Jasmine,” I say to her before turning back to my mom.
“You go eat honey. If you wanna talk later, you call me. Promise?”
“I promise, Mom. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
I hang up with my mom and head out to the staff lounge to grab some food before diving back into work.
This was the day that just would not end. After I grabbed lunch, the day spiraled into madness.
The overseas market took a hit, which sent a good number of our clients into a panicked tailspin. I spent the rest of the day on the phone with overseas contacts and investors, assuring them their portfolios were secure.
Now I find myself on the opposite side of town in a small bakery and specialty foods store, hunting for a white whale. It takes me a few minutes to navigate my way to the cold section. A minute later, I find my prize.
“Hello, there, old friend,” I mutter to myself.
Then it hits me… a scent I’d know anywhere. Hibiscus and citrus. Basket forgotten, I weave my way back through the store, landing in the very front and stopping dead in my tracks.
Kallie stands not even ten feet from me, speaking to a store employee. She’s wearing dark-wash jeans that mold perfectly to her curvy frame and a t-shirt with a green apron over it. Her hair is secured back with a black bandana and falling loosely beside her.
She’s more stunning standing here before me than in my memories.
Seeing her here is like opening my wings for the first time after keeping them tucked away for too long.
Like the first real breath I’ve taken since she walked away from me.
The ache in my chest that has been my constant companion eases as I drink in the sight of her.
As if she can sense my presence, she turns and gasps.
“Evren?”
“Kallie,” I exhale her name like an answered prayer as I walk forward.
I’m gifted with a radiant smile that steals my breath.
“Of all the grocery stores, in all this big city, you end up in mine,” she says in a happy, sassy voice.
I smile before my deep laughter bursts forth as I open my arms to hug her. But she steps back, and I can feel my smile falter.
“I’m covered in flowers, pollen, and processor. If I hug you, which I would love to do, I’ll ruin your suit,” she says upon seeing my distress.
I close the distance between us. “If you think I give a greater damn about this suit than about holding you, Doll, you are sorely mistaken.”
Whether she embraces me or I embrace her is irrelevant. All that matters is I have my arms wrapped around Kallie once more.
Fate has given us another chance, and I’ll be damned if I let it slip away like a ship in the night. No, now that I’ve found her again, I’m never letting her go. I just need to convince her of that.