36. Chase
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHASE
T hese first few days in San Francisco haven’t been too bad. Trevor, the other manager, and I have been working with the corporate trainers—Mike and Marla—since Friday. We’ve been undergoing leadership training as a team. Besides helping us build our field and office teams, they’re guiding us on conflict management, tracking traveling expenses within the team, and conducting performance reviews. Today, we’re on the second half of an intensive two-day HR training with the six associates.
We break for lunch, and once I’m in my mostly empty office, the first thing I reach for is my phone. It’s been five days since I left Fort Bender. All I want is to see my girl and hear her voice. We were back in a good place by the time I had to leave on Friday, spending the day before snuggled up on the couch at her place, and the night before tangled up in her bed. It took everything I had not to tell her I loved her when I left her house Friday morning. Something about saying those words for the first time before leaving her for a week just didn’t sit right with me. She’ll be staying with me after the shareholders’ event in a couple of days, and I think I’ll tell her then.
For now, I lean back in the chair in my office and press the video icon on my phone, bracing for her sweet face to appear on my screen.
“Hey! I was wondering when you were going to call today.” She grins. I see the walls of Patti’s Place behind her as she steps out of the dining area and hurries down the hallway to the back office.
“Yeah, we broke for lunch a little late today. I’ve got thirty minutes just for you.” We quickly fell into a habit of doing video chats during lunch and right before bed, with a constant stream of texting in between. Looking at her on the screen is a poor substitute, though, and I can’t wait until I can wrap my arms around her again.
“How’s training going?”
“It’s good. I think we’ve got some nice cohesion within the different teams. We’ll see how they do while working together to gather the projected sales numbers. What about your portfolio?”
“I got it all turned in yesterday. I’ll hear about the internship right before the event on Friday.”
“You’re gonna get it, baby. Your portfolio was top tier.”
“I hope so! Patti’s running around like a chicken with her head cut off, trying to prepare everything for the event, and it’s driving me nuts.”
I can just imagine Patti flitting around the diner, moving everything out of place, with Kayla cleaning up behind her, cursing under her breath.
The rest of our conversation touches on my new apartment, plans for the evening, and a promise to talk again later before she has to get back to work. Those three little words hang off the tip of my tongue as my screen goes blank, and the I think I’ll tell her this weekend turns into an I know . I don’t care about the number of weeks on the calendar anymore. I love her, and she deserves to know it.
“Hey, Chase,” Marla greets me as we merge into the hallway from opposite directions. The dark brown curls framing her heart-shaped face bounce along with each footstep. She’s friendly, and an absolute powerhouse with teaching corporate strategy. “You ready to finish up your nap in the back row?” she teases, referencing the dozing I succumbed to earlier.
“Nap? Me? During that very important and not at all dated HR slideshow? I’d never do that. Must be thinking of Trev.”
“What’d I do?” An auburn buzz cut with sepia skin-tone emerges from the doorway.
“Just napping during the last session,” I rib, clapping the former military man on the shoulder as I pass through the door.
“Oh yeah, that was definitely me.” He nods with a chuckle, folding his tattooed arms across his chest.
“You two are a mess!” Marla smiles, shaking her head before joining Mike at the front of the room. The rest of the associates file in shortly after, and I feel my eyelids droop as soon as the slideshow starts up again.
Kayla
Patti and I just pulled up to the venue. Wish me luck!
Me
Good luck, baby! I can’t wait to see you. Still good for lunch?
Kayla
Yep! See you soon.
Finally, she’s here. After what feels like the longest week of my life, my girl— my love— and I are under the same roof. She doesn’t know it, though. I’m in the ballroom at Trancy Hall, setting up the projector equipment for tonight’s presentation, and plan to surprise her ahead of our scheduled lunch date.
I’ve dimmed the lights in the large room and positioned the wheeled projector over the burgundy fleur-de-lis carpet so it points toward the curtained stage. Testing the focus on the screen, my mind drifts to how I want today to go. I’ll take her back to my new apartment for lunch, and maybe that will be a good time to confess I’m head over heels in love with her. Or maybe I should wait until after, when the stress of finding out about her internship has passed. Either way, I need to tell her before my head hits the pillow tonight. Even if she isn’t ready to say it back, I can’t keep this inside any longer.
Circling my way around the large room, I double-check speakers, charge microphone batteries, and test the sales presentation twice, making sure everything is cued and ready to go for tonight. Glancing at my watch between each task doesn’t make the clock move any faster, but I can’t help it. I need the hands of time to speed up so I can wrap my arms around Kayla. When I can hold her, all will be well in my life again.
I walk down the dimly lit hallway toward the large Victorian styled dining area with a few minutes to spare. Peeking through the glass of the double swinging kitchen doors, I look for the one person I’ve wanted to see since I left her in Fort Bender.
“Hey, Chase,” Patti says from behind me. I turn, half expecting her usual flour-stained apron and hair piled on top of her head. This isn’t Diner Patti, though. This is Business Patti. She wears a navy pinstripe power suit and a simple string of pearls around her neck, with her hair pulled back into a sleek bun.
“Hey, looking sharp, Patti! I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“I clean up alright,” she says with a chuckle. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I work for EdTechU. I had to set up for the presentation tonight.”
“I see… Well, I don’t know how I missed that tidbit of information, but Kayla’s outside in the courtyard.” She winks, turns on her heel, and disappears around the corner.
The glass doors to the courtyard are flanked by long tinted windows that dim the hazy morning sunlight, and I quickly stroll across the room. I walk out onto an open patio with a wide cobblestone walkway that leads down to a double flight of stairs. The courtyard at the bottom is enclosed inside tall magenta-flowered hedges, save for a wide arched opening where the stairs end.
In the middle of the courtyard, sitting on the ledge of a three-tiered water fountain, is Kayla. With her eyes closed, she tips her head back, a small smile scrolling across her lips as she basks in the hazy sun rays. The light around her casts that memory inducing glow, making me hesitate as I remember the times I’ve seen her like this before.
“Making a wish?” I ask, closing the distance from the archway to her. She starts, opening her eyes and looking over her shoulder. A smile spreads across her face as she stands from the bubbling fountain. I would give anything to feel that smile on my lips right now.
“Why would I do that?” Her head tips to the side as I wrap my arms around her waist. “All of my wishes have already come true,” she teases, a nod to my cheesy line from our date at Crystal Beach. She weaves her fingers into the back of my hair, kissing me with lips that have gotten impossibly softer. If I never spend another week away from her, it will be too soon.
“I missed you, baby,” I say, nuzzling her nose once we take our fill of each other.
“I missed you too.” She smiles, pecking my lips one more time before adding, “And you’re early…”
“Maybe I couldn’t wait to see you. You think of that?”
Her eyes flash briefly as she pulls back to check her phone. “I got sidetracked out here. Give me twenty minutes, and I’ll be ready to go.” She takes my hand, and we make our way back up the stairs and into the dining area. When we get to the swinging kitchen doors, she turns to me, tips up on her toes, and brushes her lips on mine. “Twenty minutes,” she says, squeezing my hand before slipping between the kitchen doors.
I lean against the wall and dig my phone out of my pocket to waste some time. It vibrates in my hand with a picture of Hunter, in a frilly apron covered with flour, flashing across the screen. Our kitchen from the rental is in complete chaos behind him.
Hunter
Bruh, who thought it was a good idea to put me on sister duty?
Me
You know cereal exists, right?
Hunter
You ever told Hadley you’re not making her pancakes? The girl is downright scary in the morning.
Me
Good point. Maybe call Ashlie for reinforcements?
Hunter
Can’t. She’s on her way to help with the event.
Me
Well, it was nice knowing you. At least you’ll go out looking pretty!
Hunter: *middle finger*
I chuckle, silently wishing him luck as I continue scrolling through my phone. My hand drums against my leg while I wait for Kayla to finish. At last, she slides back through the doors with her purse in hand, blowing a forceful puff of air through her lips.
“Ready?” I ask, nodding slightly at her exasperation.
“Yeah, just a little overwhelmed,” she says, sandwiching my hand between both of hers as I lead her out to the parking garage. “Where are we going?”
“Over to my place. It’s not too far—about ten minutes with traffic. I’ll cook lunch for us.”
“ Cook ?” She looks at me, her eyebrow raising like I’ve said the most outrageous thing. With her working so much this summer, I’ve never had the chance to show her my skills in the kitchen. Most of our meals have been at Patti’s Place, save for the family dinners she’s had at the rental and the few at her house.
“Hey, I can cook!” I chuckle, unlocking my car. When I open the passenger side door and she slips into the seat, I lean across her to steal a kiss. “I think…”
“Chase, I swear, if you give me food poisoning tonight…”
As I slide behind the wheel and weave our fingers together, I lift her hand to my lips before resting it on my cheek. “I’m joking. I can cook, and you’re gonna love it. Might even ask for seconds.”
She rolls her eyes and smiles.
I love you.
My mind shouts at me to release the words as I ease the car out of the garage. I clamp my teeth over my tongue. Not now. It can wait just a few more hours.
Stepping out of the elevator onto my floor, I’d be surprised if Kayla can’t feel me vibrating with the anticipation of being alone together. She molds her body into my back as I unlock the door to my apartment. As soon as it closes behind us, I push her up against it. My hands tangle into the locs flowing down her back as she presses her lips into mine, pulling at my shirt to bring us closer.
“God, I missed you,” I murmur against her lips.
“Me too.”
She tosses her purse somewhere at our feet as I pull her with me toward the sofa, tripping over the corner of the rug as we go. My heart leaps at the sound of her giggling when we fall onto the cushions. God, she’s amazing. I move my lips away from hers, peppering kisses across her jaw and down into the crease of her neck. That spicy vanilla scent that is distinctly hers sends fog clouds through my brain, and I let out a sigh as I’m swallowed up in her essence. She’s everything. Her hands rove through my hair and across my shoulders, eventually gliding over the muscles in my back.
Nails digging lightly into my shoulders, she rolls her hips up to meet mine. “Baby,” she pants in my ear. “I have to be back in an hour.”
“Gimme twenty minutes,” I whisper into her neck, smiling at the shiver running through her. She pulls my head back up to hers, our tongues twirling together in a frenzied waltz before shifting into something slower—more sensual. Mine. My hand finds its way to her hip, and my thumb just barely grazes the warm exposed skin on her side when a loud ringing sounds across the room. We both go still until the second ring, and Kayla shifts underneath me.
“It might be work,” she explains, biting her lip. I let out a charged sigh and give her a peck before sitting up. She scrambles from the couch to get to her phone in time. “Hey, Ash,” she says, moving into the open bedroom down the hall.
Running my hand through my hair, I breathe out the last few sizzling embers of our interrupted steam fest and get to work in the kitchen. By the time Kayla comes from the room, the pasta is nearly done and the roasted vegetables have about five more minutes.
“It smells good,” she praises, sliding into the stool at the counter. I rinse the soap from my hands, drying them quickly before moving around the counter to wrap my arms around her shoulders.
“Told you.” I smirk. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Ashlie’s filling in tonight for one of the servers who got sick. She got lost after a detour. I had to navigate her into the city, but she made it to the venue.”
“I didn’t know Ashlie worked in catering…”
“She doesn’t, but Patti was freaking out at the diner yesterday, and since Ashlie has waitressing experience, she volunteered.”
I place a kiss on her cheek and move back into the kitchen to drain the pasta and pull the veggies out of the oven. Kayla watches me with her head tilted as I toss everything in a bowl with a white sauce and other seasonings. I dish up two plates and slide one over to her, deciding to lean against the counter in the kitchen instead of sitting.
With her eyebrow raised, she takes a bite, and her eyes instantly roll back in her head. “Okay, so you can cook,” she says between bites.
“Yeah, Mom wasn’t about to have a son who couldn’t cook. She had me in the kitchen before I was five.”
“I’ll have to remember to thank her later.” She flashes a smile and wipes her mouth with a napkin. My eyes flick down as she licks her bottom lip. “Nuh-uh, don’t look at me like that. I have to get back for setup, and you are trouble.”
“You can’t lick your lips like that after the entrance we just had and expect me not to look.” I smirk.
Standing from her stool, she walks into the kitchen, right up to me, gazing into my eyes. I reach around her waist, pull her into me, and lean down to kiss her nose.
I love you .
I could tell her right now, get it out of the way before tonight, and it might be okay. It might be better this way, with a few hours for her to stew on it at work. “Kayla, I?—”
Her phone rings again from her back pocket. “ Ugh , sorry.” She grimaces before placing a soft kiss on my lips and stepping away to answer. I lace my fingers around the back of my neck, my elbows coming around my ears as I exhale my frustration down toward the floor. Feeling the chance to spill my heart fizzle away, I shake the thought from my head, for now.
Tonight. I’ll tell her tonight.
After a quick drive back, I park near the doors in the parking garage at Trancy Hall. “Thanks for lunch,” she says, squeezing my hand as we walk back into the venue.
“Of course, baby. I’m glad you liked it. I’ll make breakfast in the morning, too, so you know it wasn’t a fluke.” I smirk, bumping her shoulder before opening the door to the dining room. Spinning her around to face me, I reach up to stroke her cheek .
“I’ll see you tonight,” she says shyly, tilting her face up in anticipation. I press my lips to hers, the tips of our tongues greeting briefly before she pulls away and slowly walks toward the swinging doors. Holding onto her fingers, I wait until the last possible second before pulling her back in close.
I nuzzle her nose. “Tonight,” I say, more for myself than for her. I nestle my lips against hers one more time before letting her go.
Tonight. So much hangs on tonight.