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Her arms had wound around my mid-riff as she pressed herself closer to me. We had been standing there like that for a relatively long time. I could sense that she was thinking as well, just like my own mind was racing with thoughts. Finally, she raised her head and looked up at me.
I smiled when I saw her face, still ruddy on the cheeks but bright and excited. For the first time, Beverley looked truly happy and I couldn’t believe that I’d caused it.
“When can I start?” she asked and I smiled wide.
“So you’ve accepted my offer?” I said and she nodded her head.
“I want to work with you and I want to be with you, Grant,” she added in a quiet voice and I lowered my face to kiss her on her lips again.
Chapter 23
Beverley
Eight months later
I didn’t walk to work any more, so when I looked at my watch and it was seven already; I wondered where Grant was. We usually left the office together. We worked on different floors. I had my office space with Susan, John and Sasha while he still worked from his own. Usually at six thirty, Grant buzzed me on the intercom and asked me what time I would be finished. This evening, he hadn’t and I pressed the button to reach him.
Instead of Grant, his secretary answered the call.
“He’s already left the office, Ms Wade,” she said and I had my brows crossed. In the past eight months, since I started working at Lonex, Grant had never left without calling me first.
“Is he coming back?” I asked her and she sounded nervous, like she didn’t want to come between a quarreling couple and she definitely didn’t want to betray her boss.
“I’m not sure, Ms Wade. He didn’t leave a note,” she said.
“No problem. I’ll get a hold of him on his personal phone. Thanks,” I said to her, as politely as possible and hung up the phone.
I hadn’t been paying attention to the time, but I would have heard him calling if he had. This was unlike him, and also made me wonder if something had happened.
The past eight months had been a whirlwind of experiences and emotions. We had started off by testing the waters with a few formal dates, he drove me back home on all those occasions till one night I asked him to come in. We hadn’t had sex for a month when we officially started dating, because I wanted him to prove to me that it was more than just about the sex.
After we had been together for three months; Grant asked me to move in with him. I was skeptical initially, not because of my feelings for him which were stronger than ever, but because I didn’t think he knew what he wanted.
I was still in disbelief, that my boyfriend Grant was the same Grant Jennings from college. The King of Silicon Valley. My impression of him was entirely wrong? Everyone’s impression of him? When I agreed to move in with him a few days later, I did so with doubts still whirling around in my head. I was still not a hundred percent sure that this was what Grant really wanted. I often caught myself wondering if he missed his old carefree life. I was his first real girlfriend…one who had lasted for more than just a couple of weeks. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was itching to go back to his old ways.
In the past few days, I had noticed a change in him again. The first few months of us living together was happy and normal and we were getting comfortable together. And now suddenly, in the last couple of days, I saw that he had become a little reserved. He might have even been nervous around me. He was speaking a little less, and sometimes when we lay on the couch watching TV together; I’d catch him staring at me.
So out of the blue, the fact that he had simply left for home without informing me unbalanced me.
I stood up from my chair and grabbed my coat from the rack before heading downstairs. I could take a cab I thought, but I was nervous about how Grant was feeling. Was he cheating on me? Did he have second doubts about our relationship. There was no way of knowing unless I actually spoke to him about it.
The whole way down the elevator, I could feel my heart racing. I was in love with him, had always been and I was desperate to not lose him. But somewhere at the back of my mind, I’d always known that he was way out of my league.
The elevator doors slid open and I stepped out into the lobby of the Lonex building, to find all my colleagues, everyone who worked in the building gathered there. There had to be at least a hundred people, who were standing there, creating a parted pathway for me to exit through.
I looked around me in surprise. I had no idea what was happening and I tried to catch someone’s eye who could tell me. When I looked ahead again, I saw Grant at the other end of the tunneled clearing. He was in a fresh black tuxedo with a red bowtie at his neck. He was smiling at me invitingly while I rushed towards him, still in shock from what was going on.
As I approached him, Grant fell to one knee and a loud gasp rang out in the crowd around us. I could feel my fingers quivering as I slowed my pace. He was slipping out a small blue velvet box from the pocket of his pants. The smile on his face grew wider the closer I got to him and I placed a hand on my heart.
“Grant…” I said, my voice was a near whisper.
“Beverley, will you do me the honor of being my wife? I love you. I worship you and I have never been happier before,” he said, in a clear strong voice before I could say anything else.
I could hear the murmur in the crowd. Everyone who worked with Grant was surprised. He had organized this grand public gesture for me, and nobody could believe that a guy like Grant Jennings could do something like this.
“Yes, Grant, of course I will,” I said and everyone was clapping. Grant slipped the huge solitaire diamond ring on my finger as he stood up and swooped me into his arms. We kissed passionately, a little too passionately for a public place but neither of us cared.
“I thought you were acting nervous the past couple of days, I was getting worried,” I whispered in his ear when I drew away from him. I could barely hear him over the applause and cheers from everyone around us.
