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His mother’s harsh declaration rings in my head. Given the reception I just received, I guess he still does.
“Cristal, we have a meeting,” he says curtly. I look away and get back to packing up my things.
“Good afternoon, Dean,” she says sarcastically. “Yes, we do. But not for another ten minutes. I was just meeting with Ms. Dennis—I mean Milly—about our holiday party.” She walks over to stand by me. “Your timing is actually perfect, now you can meet her yourself.”
I fix a smile on my face and look back up at him. He’s still not smiling and he’s studiously avoiding my eyes.
I’m not sure if I should say anything. He must recognize me, but doesn’t want to acknowledge me.
I wonder if he will embarrass me by having Cristal cancel the contract now or wait until I’m gone before he drops the ax. Because I’m sure he doesn’t want me working for him.
The silence stretches for what feels like an eternity. Cristal looks between us and then says, as if we are both aliens she has never seen before, “Milly Dennis, this is Dean Orleans, our CEO, he's not normally so preoccupied.”
His eyes flit to my face and I feel desperate to say his name. I want to walk over and put my arms around him. Those are the eyes of the man I love—the man I’ve never stopped loving. Even with that cold expression, those eyes were once my sanctuary, my safe harbor, and I feel tears welling in my own eyes as he looks at me.
His expression softens slightly for only a second before he says, “Hello, Milly.” His tone gruff and short.
He looks back at Cristal. I want to scream for him to turn back to me, I want his eyes back on me. I have so much to say. My heart is in my throat, my pulse is wild, as rivers of adrenaline rich blood rush through my body.
Everything about me recognizes him as my other half. How can he not feel it? How can he tear his eyes away from me?
I have so many questions and yet I just stand there, watching the man who I never got over act like I don’t exist. The man whose picture I pull out of my drawer and stare at when I need to remember what it feels like to be loved. Whose promise ring is hanging around my neck, laying on my chest right now.
His voice, so familiar, cuts through the silence. “Let’s move our meeting to tomorrow morning. Something has come up.” He looks back at me, and I swear I see a flare of something in his eyes. When I blink, though, his expression is totally blank. I glance down at my bag and pretend I’m looking for something.
Cristal sounds mildly annoyed when she says, “Okay, but you’re supposed to be in New York tomorrow. We’ll have to set up a conference call.”
Dean responds with a distracted, “Fine.” Then, I hear the door open and shut. It’s only then, that I look up from my bag.
I feel a nauseating combination of relief and sadness congealing into a sickening lump in my gut. I can’t believe he’s gone. I can’t believe he was here. I can’t tell what he was thinking, but it couldn’t have been anything good. He didn’t greet me like a long-lost friend, and I followed his cues. I just need to get out of here.
Cristal walks back to her desk seemingly unaware of my state of total discombobulation.
“I think he’s got a lot on his mind. Some personal stuff. So, excuse him. He’s normally a lot more personable than this. I’m surprised though, since he asked me to personally bring you in.”
I don’t even know how to process what she said or how I should respond, so I just smile, my stomach sinks and I feel a sense of dread wash over me.
“What do you mean?” I ask her slowly and as nonchalantly as possible.
“He sent me your details. Said he’d received a referral from someone you’d worked for.” She glances at me casually.
“Oh, okay. I see. I didn’t realize. I’ll have to find out who and thank them.”
I know my smile must look crazy, because I know it doesn’t reach my eyes, which are probably reflecting the horror I’m feeling.
Dean knew I would be here. He received a referral? Unlikely. I just know I need to get out of here.
“Well, I’ll do my best to make sure I impress him with my event planning skills,” I say through clenched teeth.
“You do that and you won’t have a thing to worry about when it comes to him,” she says kindly, clearly oblivious to my rapidly growing anger.
“While I have you here, let’s just bang out a few more details. I was going to work on them tomorrow, but since my meeting has been canceled, why don’t we just continue ours?”
She gestures at the chairs in front of her desk and I sit back down.
I'm nervous about being in the same building with Dean, but I can’t afford to lose this opportunity. And now that I know how I got it, I want to stick around long enough to confront him and ask him why.
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