Page 7 of A Matter of Time
“Tonia’s going to be sending us all calendar invites to make sure we get the time booked in that she needs, and you’re expected to accept those. If you need to move other things around, do it. If you can’t, just let her know. Anything else for now, Tonia?”
I shook my head. “If there are no more questions, you’re all free to go. No point in making a meeting longer than it has to be; that’s lesson number one.”
They all smiled again and as the meeting broke up, each of them came up to shake my hand and introduce themselves quickly afterwards.
My heart beat a little faster as Cam reached the front of the line. “Cam Bailey,” he said, holding out his hand with that typical little smirk on his lips. “Sounds like you got your work cut out for you with this group, Ms Callahan.”
So, we were playing it like that, were we? With Jason still in the room, chatting with someone else but potentially listening to us anyway, it seemed clear that Cam didn’t want him to know that we already knew each other. I had no problem with that. “I can handle men like you, Mr Bailey. You don’t have to worry about me.”
That smirk tightened for just a second. “I’m sure I don’t. I’ll look forward to our first meeting, then.”
“Likewise.”
When he stepped away, Jason came over next. “That was great, Tonia. I don’t know about these guys, but I’m all fired up now, can’t wait to get started. If you don’t have plans right away, could I tempt you with a lunch offer so we can go over a few things?”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Cam’s shoulders stiffen as he picked up his papers from the table.
“That sounds great, Mr Barnly. I’d love to.”
“Call me Jason, please,” he insisted. “We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other over the next month, and Mr Barnly will get old really fast.”
I gave him a warm smile. “Sounds good to me, Jason.”
One of my pens clattered to the floor, making us both turn just in time to see Cam stooping to pick it up. He glanced back over at us as he stood upright again. “Slipped outta my hand,” he explained, gesturing to the pen, and without another word, he walked out of the room.
“I’ve got a few things I need to do first,” Jason told me once Cam had gone. “Meet me in an hour at Tony’s?”
“It’s a date.” We smiled at each other once more as he headed back to his office. Left on my own again, I looked around the empty room, exhaling in relief.
That had gone well. If it weren’t for the unexpected surprise of Cam turning up, it would have been pretty much perfect. I just had to make it through the next thirty days without strangling him, and everything would be absolutely fine.
~Cam~
From my office, I could see the main office door, and my eyes kept drifting to it, unintentionally, as I waited for Jason to get back from his lunch with Tonia.
Why did I care? Ididn’tcare. I knew she dated other men, and I dated other women too. At that particular point in time, I was single, but I’d been in several other relationships since we broke up. If she or anyone else thought I had been sitting around pining after her for almost six years, they were delusional.
Some of those six years, maybe, but definitely not all of them.
So, if she and Jason were to start dating, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Sure, it might be awkward to see her at social occasions after work, but I could handle it. He could put his arm around her and I’d be okay with that. If he kissed her in front of me…
My stomach twisted, but I pushed through it, telling myself to toughen up. That would be okay too. Hell, they could get married for all I care. It really had nothing to do with me. We were never getting back together, so she could date or marry whoever she wanted.
By the time Jason finally got back, my imagination already had them living in a big house in River Oaks with three kids.
I gave him a friendly smile from my desk as he looked in my direction, trying to make it clear that he could talk to me if he wanted to, but he simply gave me a nod and went into his office instead, closing the door behind him and leaving me with absolutely no idea what happened between them.
Frustrated with myself for letting the situation distract me, I did my best to focus back on my work. I had plenty to keep me occupied, and I managed to do a pretty good job of it too until Tonia’s name started popping up in my inbox. Along with invitations for our one-on-one training sessions, she also sent me a personalized note; personalized in the very loosest form of the phrase, anyway:
Mr Bailey, I’m looking forward to our time together. If you have any questions before we get started, you can reach me at …
Obviously, she’d just cut and pasted it, not even taking a second to acknowledge that I might be any different to her from the other members of the team, just like she hadn’t said anything to me in the meeting. During the whole presentation, she never avoided looking at me nor looked at me too much. She gave me exactly the same amount of attention that she gave everyone else, so when I went to say hi to her afterwards, I decided to be a smartass and introduce myself since she didn’t seem to want to admit we had any kind of past.
I expected her to laugh at me or tell me off for being an idiot, but she didn’t. She shook my hand in her confident, assured way, still pretending that we’d never met before, and then she agreed to go for lunch with Jason right in front of me.
Which was fine. I was fine with it. I was.
I kept reminding myself of that as I made my way home after work. A year earlier, I moved into an apartment downtown, right in the heart of the city. Getting a house in the suburbs at that point in my life seemed pointless when I had no one to go home to at the end of the day. It made more sense to be close to work and the nightlife, and my one-bedroom apartment perfectly suited a young, single man like me.
