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Ithrew open the doors of the lobby and finally breathed. “Holy shit!”
“Excuse me?” A man wearing an expensive suit and carrying a briefcase paused.
“Sorry,” I said. “Just talking to myself.”
I walked to my car in total disbelief. I got into the driver’s seat and simply sat and stared out the window. Eight years. Eight long years I had wondered what happened to that man. I never stopped thinking about him. My damn cat was named after him. That had to say something. But what now? What did I do now? I found him. I wasn’t looking for him, but I found him.
“Holy shit!”
My mind was blown. I couldn’t process it all. I was in total shock. I wasn’t sure what shock was, but I knew now. This was shock. My brain just felt like mush. I couldn’t even begin to put what I was feeling into words.
I finally managed to get my butt in gear and drove home. When I walked through the door, I was relieved to see Trisha was there. “Did you know?” I asked.
“Did I know what?” she asked. “Did you get it?”
“Oh no,” I said with a shake of my head. “I most definitely didnotget it.”
“Come on, you don’t know that,” she said.
“Did you know who the CEO of the company was?” I asked. There might have been a hint of accusation in my voice.
She shook her head. “Jonathan something, I think.”
“Uh, yeah, Jonathan something. Jon Handcock.”
She looked confused. “Jon Handcock. Your cat? Oh, wait.”
I raised an eyebrow and waited for her to connect the dots. She looked to Handcock and then back at me. Then her eyes widened. “No!”
“Oh yeah,” I said. “One and the same.”
“No way!”
“Yep,” I said.
Then it hit. All the emotions that had been buried for eight years came bubbling to the surface. Tears started flowing. I couldn’t stop them. I flopped on the couch and buried my face. Trisha quickly joined me and put her hand on my back.
“What happened?” she asked.
“I met with the head of HR,” I said, sniffling. She handed me a tissue. I wiped my eyes and took a few deep breaths. “He said the other interviewers were impressed with me. He just wanted to talk to me to see if I should meet with the big boss. I was waiting in yet another private reception area. This place is swanky. I should have known it was way too good for me. I was sitting there waiting for the CEO and he appeared out of nowhere.”
“You’re sure it was him?” she asked.
“Trisha, Handcock? Come on. How common is that name? Not to mention that his face is one I will never forget. It was him.”
“Wow. What are the odds of that happening? He’s the CEO?”
“Yes,” I said and sobbed again. “He’s the owner.”
“Wow,” she said again. “Did he know who you were?”
“I wasn’t sure at first, but then he sat down and looked at me,” I said. “I was pretty sure he recognized me. Then he started asking me smartass questions. I wasn’t ever really sure how he felt about me walking out on him. Now, I know he wasn’t happy. I’m sure it was a blow to his ego. A man like that is not used to being turned down. I don’t even know if he was serious about any of it. I truly believed it was just a drunken moment of weakness. What if he had been serious?”
“I know I told you back then it was just a fling,” she said. “I still think it might have been. He can’t hold that against you. You were both drunk. It was Vegas. I can absolutely guarantee you the two of you were not the only ones that hooked up that night.”
“He kept saying it was different,” I said. “I thought he was being real, but then I talked myself out of it. What if he was being serious? What if I walked out on the man that could have swept me off my feet and changed my whole life?”
“You might have walked out on him then, but maybe this is fate correcting that mistake,” she suggested. “This is your second chance. You went on and on about how great that night was. You named your cat after him. Fate has probably given up on trying to get you over him and put him back in your life.”
