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“Yeah,” I said.
“How did that happen? Did you finally track her down?”
“No, actually, she showed up at my office. She applied for a job. She wants to replace Mabel.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “Well, if that isn’t just a crazy coincidence.”
“Yeah.”
“What did you say to each other?” she asked.
“We both acted like we didn’t know each other,” I said. “I wasn’t sure she remembered me. I asked her a few questions about the job. I probably didn’t ask them the way she would have liked. I didn’t mean to get snarky, but I did. When she was leaving, she told me she knew who I was.”
“Wow! What do you do now?”
I wasn’t about to tell my mother about my devious plan. She would not approve. I didn’t care. I was going to do what I needed to in order to feel like I was a real man again.
“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging.
She was smiling as she shook her head. “Isn’t that just the way things work?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, people who are meant to be together are going to be together,” she said, shrugging. “One way or another, this woman is supposed to be in your life.”
“The hell she is,” I said.
“Don’t be too quick to dismiss her,” she said. “You have thought about this woman for years. Now, you have her number. Isn’t this what you’ve wanted?”
“I don’t know if I wanted her. I don’t know what I feel. I don’t think I want to feel anything.”
After lunch, I went home with the intention of doing a little workout. I changed and was headed down to the basement where my personal gym was when my cell rang. It was Brian. I smiled and imagined myself rubbing my hands together like a supervillain.
“Brian, what’s up?”
“I just wanted to let you know, Ms. Stiles has declined the job offer,” he said.
I stopped walking. “She what?”
“She said she was no longer interested.”
I clenched my jaw and punched at the sky. “Did you offer the ten percent pay bump?”
“I did,” he said. “She said the money was not the issue. She didn’t seem interested in elaborating.”
I could offer her three million dollars and I knew she wouldn’t take the job. She didn’t want to work for me. There was no way in hell I was going to let her get away again. “Okay, well, thanks, Brian. I guess we can’t replace Mabel. Maybe I can chain her to her desk.”
Brian laughed. “I’d like to see you try.”
I hung up and called Mabel once again.
“I thought you were taking the day off,” she said.
“I am. Do you remember that college that keeps calling and asking me to give a talk for the entrepreneur majors?”
“The one you’ve declined every semester?” she asked dryly.
“Yes. Call them. Tell them I just had a break in my schedule. I’m available for a seminar.”
