In the Eye of the Storm (19 page)

Who was she kidding?  It would forever be awkward because she was in love with him and even a week away at home with her family and everything that was familiar and dear, she had not been able to stop thinking about him and wondering if he was off making love to some slutty snow-bunny that he’d met on his trip.  That was an image that refused to leave her brain as she’d lain in her childhood bed. 

By her third day at home her mother had figured out that something was amiss and so Holly had had no choice but to confess.  While her mother had listened without judgment, she did advise Holly to come home and straighten things out with Stephen and perhaps think about finding a new job.

That was the last thing that Holly wanted to do but being that she couldn’t make herself get in the car and drive to the office or pick up the phone because just the sound of Stephen’s voice was too overwhelming for her right now; she knew that she really didn’t have much of a choice.

Looking at the clock and seeing that it was only nine-thirty, she rationalized that it was too late to go in to the office anyway; Judy would already be there hard at work.  Glancing around her home she decided that she would go and do her food shopping for the week, run some errands, something safe and boring that would keep her mind off of her troubles. 

Dressed in faded blue jeans and a thick navy colored hooded sweatshirt, Holly pulled on her sneakers and grabbed her purse as she headed for the door.  Keys in hand, she opened it and found Will and Derek standing on the other side; Will’s hand raised as if prepared to knock.

It was hard to tell who was more surprised at that moment, but after a brief silence, Holly spoke.  “Will.  Derek.  What can I do for you?”  Her tone was cool and steady even though her insides were shaking uncontrollably.  Thank God for the bulky sweatshirt! 

“Can we come in?” Will asked.

Holly glanced at her watch, unsure that she wanted to know what Stephen’s two friends were here for at this hour.  “Um…”

“We won’t take too much of your time, I promise,” Will said quickly, sensing her indecision.  Derek remained blessedly quiet but Holly noted the purple bruise on his chin.  She was a little envious of whoever it was to put that mark there because she certainly had entertained the thought of doing it herself after his smug phone call that fateful night.

Silently stepping aside, the men walked in.  Holly led them to her living room and sat.  Her hospitality skills decided to stay hidden; the quicker they said what they had to say, the quicker they’d leave.

Will cleared his voice as he watched Derek sit in an overstuffed chair opposite Holly.  “Obviously we’re here to talk to you about Stephen,” he blurted out. 

“What about him?”  She was trying for blasé but had a feeling she asked a little too quickly to pull that off.

“He’s in pretty bad shape.  He’s been sleeping in the office; something about this new contract or something and he’s not prepared to go to Texas.  Can you cut him some slack, Holly, and give him a hand?  He really is a mess.”

Holly looked at Will for a moment as if he’d spoken Greek.  This certainly wasn’t the news she had wanted to hear.  There was no reason for Stephen to not be prepared for this business trip.  Everything was settled and secured before she left; before she sent him away.  For the minutest of moments, she had actually allowed herself to hope that Stephen was a mess because he missed
her
.  But as usual, it was the business.  It was always going to be the business.

Holly’s brows furrowed.  “I don’t understand,” she looked from one man to the other.  “Everything was set before I left for New York.  Unless something got changed after I left, this Texas trip was a no-brainer.  As for the second leg of the trip in California, any kinks that had to be worked out would be nothing for Stephen.”

“I’ll be honest with you, Holly,” Will began, “I couldn’t even begin to tell you exactly what the problem is business-wise but the reality is that he is missing you.”

“As his assistant,” she said flatly, her disappointment evident. 

“No,” Derek finally chimed in and made Holly’s head snap up.  “It’s
you
that he misses.  He’s been a mess since you…well, since I called here that night and convinced you to send him away.”

“Why would he be a mess over that?” she asked, clearly confused.  “I did exactly what you said; exactly what you told me he wanted.”

Derek shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked to Will for assistance but Will merely crossed his arms across his chest and stared him down.  “Fine,” Derek mumbled.  “The thing is, Holly, Stephen never said anything to me, to us, to anyone about the two of you.  I sort of found out by accident and…”

“How?” she asked.

“I stopped by the office one night just as Stephen was pulling away.  I was planning on seeing if he wanted to go for a drink and figured I’d just follow him home.  But he didn’t go home, he came here.”  Running a nervous hand through his hair, he continued.  “I really didn’t think much of it except after waiting around for a little while outside – I figured he was just coming by to drop something off – I watched lights go off downstairs and go on upstairs.”

Holly blushed, not believing that someone was sitting outside watching all of this, especially Derek.

“He stopped coming out; he stopped taking calls.  I put two and two together and knew he would end up backing out of our ski trip and selfishly, I didn’t want that to happen.  So I called you.  I lied.  You did exactly what I knew you’d do.”  He sighed.  “I just didn’t realize how Stephen would react.  I didn’t see it coming.”

She was dumbfounded.  There was no way to describe which emotion was running higher right now – anger or sadness.  She stared from one man to the other as she sat stiff as a board.  “Let me get this straight;
you
decided that I should end things with Stephen without ever talking to him about it.  Am I correct?”  Derek nodded, unable to even look at Holly.  “I see.   So when

Stephen showed up here that night and I did what you asked me to do, he had no idea why?”  Again, Derek nodded.  “Uh-huh,” she mumbled.

Holly stood up and stalked across to where Derek sat and waited for him to look at her.  “So basically because you are a spoiled, selfish bastard, my personal relationship with Stephen is over, my job is essentially lost and my Thanksgiving was ruined.  Did I forget anything?”

Derek stood, determined to reason with her.  “Holly, listen…I…”

She never gave him a chance to finish.  With every ounce of strength she possessed, she swung and hit him square on the jaw where Stephen had earlier.  “Geez!” Derek roared.  “What the hell?”

“I’ll tell you what the hell,” Holly began as she jabbed him in the chest with a stiff pointer finger.  “How dare you!  How dare you play God with people’s lives!  I never did anything to you that would deserve such horrible treatment. 
Ever
!”  She enjoyed the fact that he winced at her words.  “And as for Stephen, he’s supposed to be one of your best friends and yet you care
nothing
about his happiness!  What kind of person does that make you?”

Derek side-stepped Holly and looked to Will for assistance but noticed that his friend was merely standing by grinning like a loon.  “Holly, I’m sorry; you have no idea how much,” he stammered, hoping that he’d find the right words to calm her down and keep her from inflicting any more pain on him.  “You’re right, I’m spoiled and selfish but I swear to you that I am through getting involved in other people’s relationships.  All I know is that Stephen is a miserable mess right now and needs you.  Please, Holly, please go to him.”

His words sounded sincere and as far as she could tell, he was speaking the truth.  His actions, his recent actions however, were just too fresh on her mind and Holly couldn’t imagine trusting this man just yet.  She turned to Will, the question in her eyes.

“In all of the years that I’ve known him, Holly, I’ve never seen him like this.  Will you go to him?”  It was asked softly, a plea, and she was torn.  How could she possibly fix this situation?  Was there a way to go back to the way things were before and trust one another again?  Or had Derek ruined everything that might have been for them?

If nothing else, Holly refused to let that creep win.  This was
her
life and she was going to take control over it; she was done running.  She sat back down and quietly contemplated her course of action.  Within minutes she had her plan.  “Can you possibly get him out of the office at lunchtime?” she asked Will, unable to bring herself to even want Derek’s help.

“He’ll have a million and one excuses why he can’t leave but just tell me where to deliver him to and he’ll be there,” Will said as his grin widened.  His friend wasn’t going to have any idea what hit him but he envied the fact that Stephen had found such a strong woman who was willing to fight for him.

“Mr. Ballinger?” Judy tentatively asked as she slipped in to his office.  His back was to her as he sat in his chair behind the desk staring at the city below.  She walked further in to the office and stood beside him before speaking again.  “Sir, your meeting this afternoon with the Jordan group has been cancelled.  I’ve re-scheduled it for when you get back from California.”

Stephen merely nodded.  Great, he thought, now he’d have the whole damn afternoon free to focus on what Derek had done and whether or not Holly was ever going to come back to work.  Life sucked.  He turned his head and saw that Judy was still standing there.  “Was there anything else, Judy?”

She took a fortifying breath and then rushed forward.  “Sir, I think that maybe since your afternoon is now free that maybe you should get out of the office for a little while.  You’ve been here for days and well, to be honest, it’s a little weird and I’m worried about you.” 

Stephen raised an eyebrow as she spoke.  It was the first time she had talked to him on a personal level and he had to give her credit for it.  He had been miserable and mean and nasty to her for the better part of a week and yet she never backed down.  With a weary sigh he came to realize that if he couldn’t have Holly back as his assistant then maybe having Judy wouldn’t be quite so bad.

He gave her a weak smile.  “I appreciate your concern and you’re right, I probably should get out of the office for a little while.  Hell, I should probably get out of here for a long while.  Maybe I’ll…”

“Hey, buddy,” Will said cheerfully as he strolled in to the office.  He held his arms up in mock surrender as he advanced in to the room.  “I come in peace.  How about some lunch that doesn’t come from a Styrofoam container?”

Stephen chuckled.  “Judy and I were just discussing that and I think that sounds good.”  He stood and straightened his clothes and walked to his en suite to make sure that he looked presentable.  He missed the knowing glances between Will and Judy. 

“You’ve probably been in those clothes for a couple of days,” Will observed.  “We’ll swing by your house and you can get a fresh change of clothes and we’ll go from there.  What do you say?”

He hated the thought of going back to his house because it made him think of Holly.  Unfortunately, Will was right and he could no longer put off the inevitable.  “Yeah, sure.”  The response lacked enthusiasm but Will pretended not to notice.

“Have a good lunch, Mr. Ballinger,” Judy said as he walked out of his office.  “Everything is quiet and under control here so don’t rush back.”

Her comment struck him as odd as he and Will walked to the elevator but he decided to let it slide – he was near delirious from lack of sleep and fresh air so for all he knew her comment was purely innocent. 

Without question, Stephen climbed in to Will’s car, almost sorry to be out of the fresh, chilled air.  They made generic small talk on the way to the house and when they pulled up in front Will told Stephen that he had a call to make and that he’d just wait in the car.  Again without question, Stephen climbed out and let himself in to the home he had not seen in almost two weeks.

And stopped cold.

There was a fire burning in the stone fireplace and there was the wonderful aroma of food cooking in the kitchen.  He turned around just in time to see Will’s car speed off down the driveway.  “What the hell?”

Cautiously he walked towards the kitchen and felt like he had been sucker punched.  There stood Holly at the stove stirring something.  She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled and for the first time in what seemed like forever, Stephen felt all right.  Without moving from her spot in front of the stove she said, “Go on up and have a real shower and a shave.  Lunch will be ready in thirty minutes.”

He wanted to argue; he wanted to know where she’d been and why she was here but he was also greatly aware of how he looked and the thought of shower and a shave just about out-weighed everything.  With a curt nod, he strode from the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time to get to his own room.

When he stepped inside he saw that it had been cleaned; the last he had seen it he had left clothes strewn all over the place and had torn the sheets from the bed.  Now, before his own eyes he saw a freshly made bed that had been turned down.  There were clean clothes piled on the corner of the bed for him to change in to.  Glancing around, he noticed the fresh flowers in a crystal vase on his dresser and that every surface was clear of dust and clutter.  Upon walking in to his bathroom he saw that fresh towels were waiting for him and that this room, too, had been cleaned.

For once, it felt good to be home.  Stephen showered and changed and was back down in the kitchen in twenty-seven minutes.  Holly was just putting the finishing touches on the table and turned to shyly greet him.

“How was your shower?” she asked as she sat down.

“It felt great, thank you.”  His eyes feasted on her, not quite sure yet if she was really here.  Briefly he glanced at the table and took note of the food: some sort of soup, crusty French bread and spinach salad.  “Everything looks wonderful.”

She nodded her thanks and tentatively began to eat.  They sat silently and enjoyed the meal, neither quite sure of what to say and where to begin.  When it began to feel awkward, Holly spoke.  “Will said that you were having trouble with the Texas deal and with Gideon.  Have you gotten it straightened out?”