Page 8 of A Matter of Time
The building had a gym and a pool downstairs, and several of my single, female neighbours flirted with me when I made use of them, but though I flirted back, I didn’t go any further than that. The pitfalls of getting involved with someone I couldn’t avoid if things went bad seemed too risky; I had definitely had enough of that for one lifetime.
With nothing planned for the evening, I made myself a quick dinner in the kitchen that made up half my living space and ate my meal sitting alone at the counter, reviewing a few more emails from work on my phone. After I finished washing the dishes, I thought I might kick back with a beer in front of the game and zone out to take my mind off things, but even those meagre plans were quickly thwarted as my phone rang and I saw the name that flashed across the screen.
Marley Stevens.
How ironic, considering how Tonia had been on my mind all day. I might as well invite the whole town of Sandy Creek to join her.
“Hey Marley, what’s up?”
Holding my phone with one hand, I grabbed my beer with the other and got settled on the couch. Our calls were never short, but to my surprise, it seemed she actually called to talk about me.
“I heard Tonia’s working with you now,” she opened. “Is that weird?”
“How the hell did you hear that already?” Sure, Sandy Creek was one of those places where everyone knew everyone’s business, but even by those standards, that news had spread ridiculously fast.
“Tonia told Dex, who told Shawna, who told Barbara, who told Graham, who told me.”
That sounded about right. Even in my apartment in Houston, I couldn’t hide from small town gossip.
“Well, sounds like the story got warped along the way. She ain’t working with me. She’s just doing some consulting work on a temporary basis and then she’ll be moving on. We can put up with each other for that long.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to talk to her? If I told her exactly what happened…”
“No.” I cut her off just as I always did. She’d made that offer before and I always turned her down for the same reason. “She didn’t want to hear me out then so she doesn’t get to hear about it now.”
“You’re just as stubborn as she is,” Marley pointed out. “One of you has to bend first.”
“That’s assuming there’s something worth bending for. It’s all water under the bridge, a bridge that’s been burned to the ground. There’s no way of going back.” The metaphors might be mixed, but I’d made my point.
Even if she understood me, that answer didn’t satisfy Marley. “Then why do you two still wind each other up so much? If there’s nothing there, it shouldn’t bother either of you to be working together. But she’s complaining to her brother and you sound like you’re ready to crush that beer bottle in your hand, you’re wound so tight.”
With a frown, I glanced down at the beer in my hand which I was, in fact, holding onto a little tighter than absolutely necessary. Was I really that predictable?
“It’s not your problem, Marley,” was the only thing I could say in response. “We’re all grown-ups now, we can deal with the choices we’ve made.”
“But it’s not fair. You shouldn’t have to suffer just because you were trying to…”
“I’m not suffering,” I countered, interrupting her again. “I’m perfectly happy. I’ve got a great job, I’ve got a great apartment in the city, I’m living the life I always wanted. Now, can we talk about something else please?Anythingelse? How’s your dad?”
That distracted her, as it always did, and as I got caught up with her latest family drama, I managed to not think about Tonia for the next half hour at least.
When the day finally ended and I laid down in my bed, I mentally checked the date off in the new calendar I’d created in my head: days I might run into Tonia in the office.
One day down, thirty more to go.
~Tonia~
The next few days in the Barnly Oil office went pretty well. Jason told me we could save his one-on-one sessions until the end of the month since he thought it would be more important for me to meet with the other members of the team first. With that in mind, I started with the head of HR, working with him for two days before moving onto the man in charge of engineering, the one whose work took place mostly out of the office. I considered that a bonus since it meant no chance of randomly running into Cam on the way to the restroom, or anywhere else.
“Maybe it’s some kind of sign,” my brother, Dex, teased me when he and I went out for drinks after my first day at Barnly Oil and I told him about Cam working there.
“A sign that the universe hates me?” I guessed, taking a sip of my martini. Normally, beer and jeans were more my style, but still wearing my dress from the office, I had ordered a drink to match.
Dex, on the other hand, sat there in his usual jeans and t-shirt, having come straight from his workshop, which explained the paint stains on his fingers. He and his wife, Shawna, were in the middle of setting up his brand-new gallery space to sell his artwork. They’d found a small storefront in a slightly run-down area of downtown, the location being the only reason they could afford it. Even so, he would be paying off the mortgage on it for years, not to mention the one on the house they’d bought together too.
He’d always been the more optimistic one between us, trusting that things would work themselves out. I liked to keep tighter control. I wouldn’t even think about buying a house until my business was much more settled and I had a lot more money in the bank. Until then, I rented a small apartment and put away as much as I could each month.
Things had a way of going wrong, even when something looked like a sure thing. Experience had taught me that, and I wouldn’t let myself get caught out again.
