First Sight (31 page)

“Hi
,
”
I said
shortly
, watching him as he sat there staring at me.

“
Maddy
,” he said, nodding slightly.

“I don’t think the meeting should take too long,” I said, balancing my stack of documents in one arm as I pushed the door open further with the other.  He moved slightly as if he were about to get up and help me, bu
t by then I’d already walked in, and he remained seated.

“A
l
l
right.”
  He
turned away and
looked down at his legal pad, suddenly intent on studying
his notes
.

I shook my head
slightly
and let out a small sigh as I maneuvered around the table so that I was sitting opposite of him.  I dropped my stack of papers on the table
, listening
a
s
they landed with a loud thud. 
I
sat down and
frowned
,
agitated that something about me was still bothering
him
. 
This was going to be an uncomfortable meeting if he only spoke in one or two-word sentences the entire time. 
I started to divide the copies into four piles
to hand out
,
when I
realized that Travis was staring at me. 
He looked away when I
met his eyes
,
but
before I could say anything
the door
opened
as
Marissa
and
Elizabeth
walked in.

“Hey guys!”
Marissa
said
lightly, a hint of
laughter in her voice. 
She bounded over,
heels clicking across the floor
, with a big smile on her face. 
I
could tell
she was amused
at the idea of Travis and me
sitting
alone together in the little room
with the strange way he had been acting lately
.  “Did
you start the meeting without us
?”

“Of course not,” I said, smiling sweetly. “
It wouldn’t be the same without you here
.”

“
I don’t know
;
I’m sure you two had plenty to discuss.
”
Elizabeth
said
knowingly
.
 
I wanted to
glare
at her for saying anything but decided it was best to just ignore her comment. 
Travis
did the same
.

“Well, you could have
started
,”
Marissa
said as she pulled out a chair.  “I’ve got a date tonight, so
come
5:00
, I’m
outta
here
.”

“Rob again?” Travis asked. 
Marissa
had gone out to dinner and a movie with Rob
(the coffee shop guy)
over the weekend
.  She had given us the
play
-
by
-
play
earlier this week
—the Italian restaurant they ate at,
how funny he was all through
out
dinner
, and finally their indecision over which movie to
go see
. 
Rob had wanted to see an action movie, but she’d somehow talked him into the latest chick flick.  Apparently there had only been
two
other men in the theater, and Rob had spent the rest of the night teasing her about it.  But
given
that they already had a
second date
planned for
tonight
, he
obviously
hadn’t been too upset about the situation.

“Yes, of course with Rob.”  She
playfully
rolled her eyes at Travis.

“The second date in less than a week, huh?  Must be serious,” Travis joked with a smile.

Elizabeth
suddenly looked amused.  “
Marissa
, too bad you
and Rob
don’t have anyone to double date with.”

I thought I
saw
Travis cast a sidelong glance at her, but I was listening to
Marissa
eagerly
explain their plans for the evening
, so I couldn’t
be sure.
  When she realized that we were all waiting on her, she trailed off mid-story.

“Should we get started?”
Marissa
asked
,
brightly.  She seemed all too
enthusiastic
, but I
knew
it was only because she was
excited about her date and in a hurry to leave
. 
We
spent the next hour
c
oming
up with a list of the tasks that were still incomplete and divid
ing
up
the remaining workload.  I passed around the
publication mock-ups
showing them the layouts that I had
created
based on the previous
things we’d done
. 
I’d already included the draft text that
was
ready
and
had
left blank areas for the sections that we still needed.  The overall concept was similar to what we’d done in the past,
and
Marissa
and
Elizabeth
nodded in agr
eement as they looked it over.

“This looks good,”
Marissa
said.
  “This will make it really
easy for me next week
when I compile the entire document
.”

“Yeah,
this
is good
,
”
Elizabeth
agreed.  “Travis?”

“Hmmm…” was his only reply.

Our manager Jennifer poked her head in the door then.
 
She was wearing a sleek gr
e
y suit and carrying a stack of papers, probabl
y heading to another meeting. 
“How’s everything going?”

“Good,” I replied. 
“
We were just finishing up.
  Here’s what we have so far.
”
  I handed her a copy of
the layout
and she flipped through a few pages.
 
“After we finish
editing the last of the reviews
, we
’ll
just drop the
remaining
text and
photos
into the appropriate place
,
”
I explained.
 
“
I’ll add some more things this afternoon. 
We can—”

“Do you really think that’s the best approach?”
Travis
suddenly
interrupted
.

I
stopped,
looking at him in surprise
. 
He’d barely said a word since the actual meeting had started.  Now that our boss was
standing
here, he decided to
speak up? 
And only to
disagree with me?

“What do you mean?”
I asked politely, a firm smile on my face.

“I
t doesn’t make sense to use
this layout.
  I think it’s a bad idea.
”

My mouth dropped open slightly at his harsh statement. 
Marissa
and I glanced at each other, and she raised her eyes slightly, knowing how well Travis and I had been getting along lately.
 
“
This
has
worked
in the past,” I said tightly.
  “We don’t exactly have time to
start from scratch
.”

“
I don’t think we need to
waste time finalizing
the layout now,” he argued.

“
Wh
—?”
I started to ask before he cut me off.

“
We don’t know how long
each section
is going to be
. 
Remember they mentioned possibly adding another category? 
Outdoor activities or something?
 
I think we should
focus on writing
the content
.
 
We might have to rearrange
the
entire
layout
if
you
d
idn’t
correctly estimate the length
of
the text for
each section
.
  You could be completely wasting our time.
”

Travis’s
brow was furrowed as he
finished speaking
,
his jaw tightly clenched. 
I felt the heat of embarrassment wash over my face. 
H
is words stung more than they should have.
  I
wasn’t sure if it was because Jennifer was standing there, listening to our conversation, or if it was the fact tha
t Travis was saying them. 
We had been so close
before. 
He still
joked around with
Marissa
and
Elizabeth
.  Why
was he so mad at me
?

I
took a deep breath
, trying to
stay
compos
ed
so that h
e couldn’t see
that he’d upset me
. 
“This is just the mock-up,” I said
carefully. 
“We need an idea of how the final product will look.”

“
I just think—”

“We don’t have time to rework the entire
process
right now
,”
Marissa
explained
to him,
hastily looking back
at me
.  “I think
Maddy
is right about this.
  We’re not going to have time
to
just pull this together
next week
without a concept of how
the
layout
should
look
.
”

Elizabeth
spoke up
in agreement
.
“Travis,
trust me.  It gets so crazy around
deadlines
.
  We
can’t
come up with new procedures
right
now.”

Jennifer
glanced down at her watch.  “I’ve got to get to another meeting.  We can certainly talk about new procedures for the next
publication
. 
For now, let’s just stick with
Maddy’s
plan. 
I’m here until 7:00
tonight
, so let me know if you need anything
else
later
on
.”
  She turned
,
and
before I could say anything,
was on her way back out the door again.
 
The
room was
silen
t
after she
left
,
the tension
still
thick in the air.
 
I pursed my lips together, unsure of what to say. 
How could
Travis
have just embarrassed me like that in front of everyone? 
He
shifted uncomfortably in his seat
, propping his elbows on the table and resting his clasped hand
s
against his mouth
, like he was forcing himself to remain silent.

“So, we’re all on the same page then?”
Elizabeth
asked carefully
when no one else spoke
.
  She looked at each of us, but her eyes came to a rest on Travis.