Cancelled (7 page)

She caught up and stood next to him, without saying a word. Her fingers held the business card by the edges before she tucked it safely into the woven bag hanging diagonally across her chest and resting near her hip.

“I didn't know how you'd react. I practiced what I would say, and I still screwed up. I don't even know what I'm doing....” Her voice trailed off into the emotions she was trying to hold at bay.

Johnathan's rigid posture softened and he made a quarter turn to her.

“No, I shouldn't have acted like an asshole back there...can I give you a lift somewhere?”

“You keep a car in the city?

He grinned. Does he keep a car in the city?

“Wait until you see it, you'll understand," Johnathan said over his shoulder as she followed him towards the parking garage.

Johnathan put the roof back on before they sped away. Kellie squealed when Johnathan flexed the car's muscle to peel out of the garage.

“I ride the Metro most days. This is just for fun!” He slammed the gears, bobbing in and out of downtown traffic. He maneuvered toward Interstate 66.

“No, no I get it. This car is awesome. I live off Chains Bridge.”

Johnathan nodded. He knew that area well. Until Anna sold the old house in Annandale for a Fairfax condo, he had haunted the shopping districts of his high school days. Now living in the city, he rarely ventured beyond McLean and Tysons Center if had to visit the suburbs.

“When is the baby is due?” Johnathan had an idea of autumn, but wondered if she'd calculated to the day.

“Definitely know the day of conception.” She paused before giving an actual date. “An online calculator came up with September ninth.”

Johnathan steered the car down the side streets as Kellie directed. He added her address to his Blackberry before she disappeared behind the front door. Despite all of the conflicting thoughts he had about the baby, an odd one came to the surface. His kid would be so screwed when it came time to start kindergarten and he missed the deadline by eight days.

5

T
uesday did not feel great like Monday. Johnathan ate his breakfast and sipped his morning coffee content with his own thoughts. Pulling his phone off its charger in preparation to leave for the day, he noticed the screen wasn't lighting up. He slid the screen open to reveal the keypad. Closed it. Still nothing. Feeling like an idiot, he forgot he turned his phone off after walking to the park with Kellie. Now the lack of phone calls last night made perfect sense.

He had kept hoping Alex would call him last night, but wanted to give her the space she needed. All night he thought her silence meant she was reconsidering their involvement.

Turning it back on, he listened to two messages from Alexis on his way down the massive concrete stairs to the Metro. The morning was crisp and cool; March was back to normal in DC. Johnathan zipped up the pull-over cable sweater he wore over a dress shirt. Cool air filled the platforms as a Red Line train just left. He waited in queue to board the next one to get off at Chinatown.

Alexis knocked on Johnathan's door at 9:00 AM. He put down the drawings in his hand.

“Eric is expecting me.”

“Eric can wait.” Alex shut the door behind her.

Johnathan sat on the edge of his desk. He leaned back on his wrists.

“Who was that girl you left with last night? Why didn't you answer any of my phone calls?”

Johnathan smiled. He didn't mean to, but the satisfaction of the shoe being on the other foot was too tempting.

“Girl? What girl?

“The blonde.”

“Oh, Kellie. She's nobody.” Johnathan suppressed the guilt flooding his mind. He reminded his conscience that it was only yesterday she played her own games with him, claiming she didn't know what they were and hiding her lunch with Kyle. And until she did know what they were, he didn't owe any explanation about the possibility he was becoming a father.

“Did you sleep with her, too?”

“Not last night.”

“You have before?”

She was quick. Johnathan crossed his arms in front of him, opposed to giving Alexis full disclosure, but he wasn't going to outright lie to her, either. “Yes. Ages ago.”

Alexis opened her mouth and then closed it.

“Why didn't you call me back?”

Johnathan released his arms from across his chest and stepped away from the desk, closer to Alex.

“I forgot I turned my phone off.”

“What did she want?”

“I'm sorry?

“Want. Why did she show up at work to see you? Does she want to get back together?” Alex shared her frustration by over-enunciating her words.

Johnathan flashed her a smile and closed the distance between them until he was standing intimately near.

“She returned a monogrammed shirt I let her borrow.” He lowered his voice and every utterance tickled the tiny hairs in her ear. “I was jealous about Dr. Perfect yesterday, and had a little fun. I'm not going to just throw away our opportunity on a young blonde who bats her pretty eyes at me. Not when I've waited years for this.”

Johnathan cupped Alex's face with his hands and pressed every urge and fear of losing her into a lingering kiss. Alex audibly gasped when Johnathan released her for air.

“Oh. I didn't know–I mean, I thought.”

“I know exactly what you thought. I did it on purpose. I apologize,” he said, pausing for sincerity. “I don't want to play games, Alexis. Either you're in this with me, right now, or we pretend nothing ever happened. I can't take another night worrying if I have destroyed my company and lost my chance at happiness.” Johnathan's eyes held a piercing gaze, willing an answer of yes.

Alexis popped her right foot out of her heel and toed the dress shoe. She broke eye contact with Johnathan and rested her head on his shoulder. Sliding her shoe back on, she slid her hands down his back.

“You don't have to worry. I want to give us a real chance.”

“That's all I ask.”

Alexis pulled back from the hug, her face pleading for reprieve. “Can we still keep this between us, just for a little while? My logical side keeps screaming how much an office romance is doomed.”

Johnathan laughed and spun her on the spot. They stopped with Alexis pressed against his desk, slightly sitting on the edge.

“Mmmmm, a clandestine office romance? Sounds plenty kinky to me.” Johnathan pressed against her, burning with a need to solidify their recent pact with actions. He didn't care if they were at work; it was his office. All he needed to do was take two steps and lock the door.

“Johnathan. Johnathan.” Alex tried to stymie his kisses along her exposed décolletage with her arms. The man was an octopus, with at least two appendages to her one. “Johnathan!”

He pulled back and ran his thumb around the outside of his mouth.

“Yes?”

“You're supposed to go meet Eric. We do have work to do you know.”

“Have dinner with me.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes tonight. Are you going to act like you're previously engaged? No more games, remember?”

Alex pushed by Johnathan on her way to the door.

“Email me a time and restaurant. Oh, and I'd wait a few minutes before rushing off to the Cave. Unless you want the guys making fun of you.”

Johnathan made a mimicking giggle as she closed his office door. Why did women think men needed a reminder they were aroused? If any of them ever walked around with a hard on, they'd realize by its very nature, it wasn't a bodily reaction designed to go unnoticed. By anyone.

Recollecting his drawings and himself, Johnathan took a slow walk towards the back of the office. He grabbed a cup of coffee at the break station, and pushed through the heavy steel door that separated the office and work areas. He couldn't bring his focus on work. All he could do was mentally run down the list of restaurants in Georgetown he could take Alex and encourage her to crash at his place. It wasn't a great plan, but it was all he had.

“Would you like another glass?” the bartender asked, holding up a bottle of wine.

Johnathan handed his empty wine glass to the impatient bartender at the hottest new wine bar in Georgetown. He shook his head and checked his cell phone once more for a text from Alex. Only five minutes until their reservation, and still no sign of her. He pushed the number 6 for her speed dial.

“I'm almost there, I'm walking from the Metro now.”

“You didn't drive?” His careful plan of drinking and co-ed sleepover at his apartment two blocks away evaporated.

“Isn't this a wine bar?”

He grinned. He could hear her excitement. Alexis wasn't a wine snob, but she loved to imbibe new fermentations.

“How long?”

"Walking through the door.” Alexis entered and shed her coat to reveal a cobalt blue cocktail dress with a plunging neckline and deep angles. Johnathan developed a new appreciation for the triangle as a design aesthetic. He pushed his way through a group of people milling around and kissed his date. Their fingers kept a trailing touch for the short game of follow-the-leader to their table.

The menu offered a perfect blend of his favorite French cuisine and enough wines listed to make him completely lost. Wine wasn't really his thing, but he was making an effort for Alexis.

Alex sipped from her water glass and stared at the over-sized painting on the wall paper behind Johnathan. “I love that. You know the name?”

Johnathan reluctantly turned his head away from gazing at Alex and glanced at the impressionist rendering behind him. A popular scene of Parisians in the rain, he recognized it at once.

Johnathan smirked and took a drink of his own water. “Caillebotte. Paris Street in Rainy Weather.” Anna's personal interest in his art history education paid off.

“Hmmm. Pretty obvious, huh?” Alex wrinkled up her nose at the title. A waiter appeared with the bottle of wine she ordered for them and began to fill her wine glass.

Johnathan held his hand over his glass. “I'd like to wait for my meal, please.” The waiter nodded and placed the bottle on the table.

“Making me the lush?”

“I'm ahead of you. I waited at the bar while you rode the train.”

“I wasn't late.” Alexis swirled the red wine in her glass.

“You know what's funny? Caillebotte tried to donate his paintings and personal collection to the Louvre. They turned him down.” Johnathan leaned back slightly as their dinners arrived.

“Maybe his personal tastes weren't museum material.”

Johnathan raised one eyebrow and savored a bite of duck confit. Spices tickled the back of his throat, and he washed it down with the table wine he poured on his meal's arrival. “You're right, Monet and Renoir would never draw visitors. No one goes to the Musée d'Orsay.”

Alex's eyes widened at the list of the artists' names. She pursed her lips, then released the smile she tried to hold back. “I guess perseverance pays off.”

Johnathan lifted his wine glass to prompt a toast. Alex responded in kind.

“To perseverance.”

She repeated the phrase. Her smile turned into a giggle, and despite attempts to stop, grew into full out laughter.

Johnathan swallowed his first bite. “What?”

Alex brought her napkin to her lips and tears glistened at the edges of her mascara-laden eyelashes. Johnathan didn't know what prompted this manic fit, but anything he said or did made it worse. He finally just returned to eating his dinner, thoroughly confused by what he missed.

Alex gulped her water, and let out a few solo laughs. “I'm sorry. Truly.” She took another drink of water to keep another giggle fit at bay. “It's just, well...how did we stay apart so long?”

Silverware scraping plates around him strained Johnathan's nerves. Focused on silently cutting his own dinner, he allowed his thoughts to drift. He had wondered the same thing. From that first night they met at a grad school mixer, his attraction to Alexis was undeniable. But what made it turn insatiable? He gave up his own inquiry and realized she was still waiting for an answer.

“We were always dating other people.”

“Yeah, I know, but...” Finished with her meal, she brushed her long, wavy hair behind her shoulders and sat back, fully resting her shoulders against the high-backed chair. “Why? I always saw you as perfect. Smart, sexy, a man with his life together. How did we waste three years?”

Johnathan blushed and brought his napkin up from his lap to lay on the table. “The other people we dated helped us be better people today?” He tested the idea, which sounded even lame to him.

Alex began laughing again, but no manic episode occurred this time. “Really? Madeline made you a better person?”

“I thought you liked her.”

“No I didn't like her! I had a major crush on you and you ran around with legs that talked. It took work to be nice to that, that...” Alex closed her lips and gently nodded her head up and down.

Johnathan poured himself the last of the wine after offering more to Alex. His mind wandered to memories of Madeline. He didn't notice his eyes were inspecting the intricate design on the table cloth and not his date across from him.

“Hey. Hello?” Alex overplayed the loss of Johnathan's attention. He snapped out of the fog of girlfriends past.

“You never said anything. Dr. Perfect joined our group long before Madeline and I broke up.”

“The sex was good. I thought you and her were going to get married, you did take her to meet Anna.”

“She did too. That's what ended us.”

Alex took a turn to inspect the table cloth. A passing desert tray inspired Johnathan's Plan B to get Alex to his apartment. This conversation was pulling the evening too far into the friend zone.

“Why don't we get out of here?” He held his hand up slightly for the bill. “My apartment is two blocks away. I have coffee and cheesecake...”

Alexis stood with her purse and searched for the ladies room. “You don't play fair, Mr. Michaels.”

“Never said I would.” Johnathan's eyes followed her form as she gave him space to pay the bill. He had wondered if she would let him, and was glad to not have a verbal sparring over the check.