Page 20 of A Matter of Time
“Tonia Callahan, you mean?” I asked, pretending that I had to struggle to remember her name. “The consultant from work?”
He nodded in agreement. “She came down with me yesterday so I’m her ride.”
Quickly, I put everything together in my head, trying to come up with a plan to cover Tonia and spare Bradyn the embarrassment of realizing he’d been completely forgotten about. “Would you give me just a second, Bradyn? I just remembered there’s a call I need to make.”
After he nodded again, I stepped back into the restaurant where we sat the night before and quickly sent Tonia a text:If you get something from Bradyn, don’t respond to it. I’ve taken care of it.
Next, I called the hotel reception desk. From where I stood, I could see the receptionist as she picked up my call. “Good morning. I’ve got a message for Bradyn Mclaren from Tonia Callahan.”
I explained how she’d had a family emergency and had to leave, and when the receptionist assured me she’d pass the message on, I checked the website for the Corpus Christi Hooks and found that there was, in fact, a home game this afternoon. Finally, something seemed to be going my way. I bought a single ticket out in left field with lots of empty seats around it before heading back into the lobby to where Bradyn had taken a seat on one of the couches.
I sat down next to him, flashing him a casual smile. “Sorry about that. You know, I was just thinking: it seems odd that Tonia’s not getting back to you. Isn’t her whole deal being super-organized?”
That made him laugh. “Exactly. I didn’t peg her for a late sleeper.”
“Maybe she left some kind of message for you at the desk?” I suggested as innocently as possible and, sure enough, when he went to check, he found a message waiting.
“Good call,” he told me gratefully when he came back. “She’s already gone and I’d’ve been sitting here waiting forever. I guess I’m not in any hurry to get back to the city now so if you don’t mind some company for the game today…”
“That’d be great,” I quickly agreed. “I’m sure we can pick up an extra ticket at the field.”
That was how I ended up spending the day with the guy who had tried to hit on Tonia the night before. He ended up confessing the whole thing to me as we sat on our plastic outfield seats together under the warm Texas sun, eating hot dogs and drinking beer.
“I thought it would be kind of charming,” he told me as he took a swig from his bottle. “But she said it came across creepy, and looking back, I kind of see her point.”
I couldn’t argue with that, but the more we talked, the more I could see he wasn’t such a bad guy, really. He did something stupid, but hadn’t we all? After the blunt refusal he got from Tonia, he’d never try that particular trick again.
“Women are confusing,” he complained good-naturedly. “They like all that shit in a romance novel, but if you do it in real life, you’re a freak.”
“It’s a mystery,” I agreed, trying not to laugh. “Don’t ask me for advice though, I don’t have a clue either. I’m still waiting for the magic formula.”
Tonia did text me back during the game in response to my message, but her answer contained only one word:Okay.
No thanks, no update on how things were going at the hospital, and definitely no joking around. She couldn’t make it any clearer that whatever ceasefire we’d had in place the night before had been lifted, so by the time I finally got home that evening, I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I would have to go into the week ahead expecting the worst.
~Tonia~
By Monday morning, things were as back to normal as they could be. Shawna and Dex had a new treatment plan that would involve her staying in the hospital for a few days to start another round of chemotherapy but she should be going home by the middle of the week, and they were still determined to have us all over on Friday to show off the new gallery space. We tried to tell them it could wait, but Shawna insisted she needed something fun to look forward to. I offered to help organize food and drinks for everyone, and Dex gratefully accepted.
With all that in place, I returned for another week at Barnly Oil that would hopefully be a little less eventful than the last one.
I had my phone off on Saturday when Bradyn texted to let me know he was ready to go. I had completely forgotten about letting him know I’d left, but by the time I saw his message, Cam had already messaged me to say he’d taken care of it. I didn’t know what that meant, but I didn’t want to encourage any further conversation by asking; my talk with my sisters had reminded me exactly why Cam and I weren’t friends, and I had no reason to act like we were.
Bradyn texted me again on Sunday, that time to apologize for his behaviour on Friday and I told him not to worry about it so long as he didn’t try anything like that again. He assured me he wouldn’t, so as I headed into the office in another trendy suit Laura had selected for me and gave Marianne a smile of greeting, everything seemed back under control.
“Have you got a minute, Tonia?” Jason headed me off before I could head to my first meeting of the day. My morning would be spent doing my initial session with Cam and the afternoon with a man named Jeremy who looked after the business’ supply chain.
“Of course,” I agreed with a smile. Early as usual, I could spare a minute. “What’s up?”
He led me into his office, letting me take a seat first while he closed the door behind us. Once he’d settled behind his desk, he explained why he’d invited me in. “I heard you got delayed in Corpus Christi on Friday.”
News sure travelled fast in the company; I definitely couldn’t complain about the efficiency of the gossip. “What exactly did you hear?” I wondered out loud. Had Bradyn confessed to him as well as apologizing to me? Or did Cam say something?
“Just that your meeting ran long and you had to stay overnight. You can charge your room to the company, and I just wanted to apologize. I know your time’s valuable, and we don’t take it for granted.”
“I thought that was my line,” I teased him and he grinned back at me, looking relieved that I had no hard feelings about it. “If you already know the value of time, what do you need me for?”
“I hear you’re doing a great job,” he praised me, which made me smile in return. “I’m free for lunch today if you have time to catch up. I’d love to hear what you’ve identified as our problem areas so far.”
