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Piperdoesn’ttextmeback. For days, I check my phone out of habit, just to make sure I don’t miss a notification on my watch.
Nothing.
The champagne and chocolates had been my sister Frannie’s suggestion - I told her I needed to apologize to someone, and that someone was female, and no, it wasn’t someone I was romantically involved with.
Yet.
Yet?Romantic involvement was the last thing I needed right now, smack dab in the middle of our busiest season of the year, fresh - kind of - out of a nasty divorce, and the fact that she doesn’t particularly like me is also problematic.
I sit back in my desk chair, my hands cradling the back of my neck. Maybe I’m projecting my cynicism a bit?
OK. A lot.
I can practically feel her hand on my face from that day in the office. A light touch I didn’t deserve after jumping down her throat - assuming the worst and then telling her as much. I can see her eyes burning into mine, bright and blue and swimming with compassion I didn’t deserve. There was a good chance I was letting the feeling inside of me - guilt, maybe? - cloud my perception of whatever that moment had been.
But after Olivia, the string of one night stands and less-than-friends with benefits has been a bit…extreme. Being with one woman for your entire adult life, your entire sexual life, and then losing that partnership, can be hard. Especially when it’s made abundantly clear that the same exclusivity wasn’t honored for you.
Sex no longer carried the intimacy it once had - really, hadn’t had in a long, long time. Long before I found out about Olivia and Ryan. But when I think about Piper, despite the near-feral thoughts I’d been left with after seeing that purple device on the desk, I can’t help but wonder if that deep interest could spark something more.
Fuck. What am I saying? I’ve seen her twice in the last few weeks, including one time where she heavily implied I was a pain point for her. Now I’m hoping for hearts and flowers?
I glance at the tape measure that’s been sitting on the corner of my desk, taunting me.
A constant reminder that I’m a fucking chickenshit, who shouldn’t be this high up in a company that makes this much money, if I can’t talk to one girl. One woman.
Then, an idea strikes me. I fish my phone out of my pocket, snapping a picture of the tool and sending it to her.
FITZ WESTFALL
You left this at my office.
Moments later, the three dots appear.
PIPER DELMONICO
LOL Carla was asking about that yesterday, I thought I’d left it in my trunk. Oops.
I’m surprised by the casual tone of her text, but even more surprised that the three dots appear again.
PIPER DELMONICO
I’ll have you know I thoroughly enjoyed the chocolates, as did Carla. We may have had the majority of them last night during movie night.
I feel a small swell of pride in my purchase and stare at the screen, pondering my response.
FITZ WESTFALL
What did you watch?
Smooth, Westfall. Fucking smooth. But then she responds almost immediately.
PIPER DELMONICO
Is Fitz Westfall asking me a personal question?
FITZ WESTFALL
I mean, I feel like I kind of crossed that line the other day.
