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Then Mr. Lawrence sent in his sales team. It was made up of four employees plus his two idiot sons. His sons usually took the simple jobs. The ones that basically sold themselves. If a client was dragging their feet, then I went in and pushed their hand using my skill and charm.
Every project followed the same protocol, and every project went through to completion. My first two meetings today went well, and both clients signed on the dotted line. Then I met with a building owner who was ready to dump an apartment complex.
Mr. Lawrence wanted to purchase the building for a development idea he had. I went down to give the man our offer. He needed time to think about it, so next week sometime I’d follow up with him and give him a little nudge.
“Ready to go, dear?” a familiar voice that grated on my every nerve said from the doorway.
“Vincent,” I said on an exasperated exhale.
“C’mon, let me at least buy you dinner. I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Tell me now. I want to go home and soak my feet.”
He scrunched up his nose, and then quickly smiled when I caught him. He’d never approved of my nightly ritual. It wasn’t every night. Just when I’d been running around all day. I deserved a glass of wine and a foot bath.
“We won’t be all night. Just a quick dinner at that little bistro you like, and then I’ll have you home right after.”
I wanted to scream. Why wasn’t this man getting it? I didn’t want to have to file a restraining order, but things were headed in that direction. It would make things really awkward with my boss, considering they were friends. Vincent was sort of the reason I had this job. He helped me get my feet in the door. The rest was all me.
“Fine. One dinner. Consider it your goodbye dinner.”
He laughed. “You’re funny. I didn’t know you had such a good sense of humor.”
I shook my head and waited for him to exit my office so I could lock up behind him. He put his hand on the small of my back as we walked to the elevators, and I sidestepped away from him.
“No touching me.”
He put his hands up. “Okay. No touching.”
“I mean it, Vincent.”
He crossed his finger over his chest. “Cross my heart.”
A muffled growl escaped me as we got into the elevator. We rode down in silence, and when we got to the car garage, he tried to persuade me to ride with him. I refused four times before he finally gave up and settled on me following him.
It only took two minutes to drive to the bistro. I could have walked, but I needed a few minutes alone to think of my next move. This was not part of my plan. Giving in to Vincent was only going to spur things on further. I should have just gone home.
Vincent tapped on my window, letting me know I was stalling. I could hear him yelling it on the other side of the glass. I quickly texted Mindy to let her know where I was and to send help if she didn’t hear from me in half an hour, then I got out and followed Vincent inside.
This restaurant was our little spot. Even when times were bad, we’d come here, and time seemed to stop. All the anger and fighting stopped, all the mean words disappeared. The tension between us drained away when we were here. We’d just sit and enjoy our meal as two civilized adults, almost like friends. It was peaceful.
I hadn’t been in here since we broke up. Vincent asked for our usual table, which happened to be open. I slid into the booth and placed my napkin on my lap. Vincent did the same and took a sip of the water that was already at the table.
“This is nice, huh?” he asked, looking around.
“Sure.”
“Have you been in here since we…” his voice trailed off.
“Since we broke up? No.”
I thought I saw him wince, but he covered it with another sip of his water.
“Vincent, can you just cut to the chase?”
“Relax, we’ll get there. Let’s just enjoy our dinner like we used to. Surely you can be civilized for one meal?”
“Yes. Can you?”
