Love Takes Time (Christian Romance) (14 page)

And
fast. 

Whatever
it was had probably already been on the back burner for too long since the last
phone call from Trent was over two hours ago.  He dialed his best friend’s
number immediately.  He never would have thought that it was possible for
a phone to be answered before it rang but Ryder was sure that was what happened
in that instance.  He heard the concern in Trent’s voice, and knew that he
wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear.    

“Wow
Ryder, finally.  That’s all I can say.  Listen man, I don’t know why
you didn’t answer your phone and right now I don’t even care. This whole
situation is crazy.  Bottom line, you and I are going to have to get this
fixed as soon as possible otherwise it’s not going to be good.”

Ryder
growled back into the phone.  

“Fix
what?”

“Hold
on.  Are you telling me that you haven’t even listened to your voicemails
yet?  Unbelievable.  You are slipping bad man.  If you had
answered you phone or even taken the time to listen to any of my voicemails,
you would know that they called from Tokyo and wanted to move forward with the
contract but only with you since you have been their contact throughout all the
negotiations.  You know Mr.
Moronobu
better than
I do so you know how he is about personal attention.  When you didn’t get
back to him in time, he took it to mean that you didn’t value his business and
put his company as your top priority.  Now it seems like he is strongly
considering going with the other bid.  To add insult to injury, it got
back to your father and when you didn’t call back, there was nothing I could
tell him. You know….”

Trent
continued on for a few minutes about how upset his father was and Ryder drifted
off, his emotions taking a one hundred and eighty degree turn for the worst.
 He was dreading the conversation that he was going to have with his
father.  He had no idea what he was going to tell him.  It was
probably the first time in his life that he wished that he could change places
with his little brother Royce right then and be on an island somewhere sipping
champagne.  He looked at the clock on the wall.  Tomorrow was going
to get there sooner than he wanted.  

***

Ryder
sat in the large chair looking at his father’s back who was staring without a
word through the large glass window to the streets of the city down below.
 He had just sat through a scathing diatribe of himself and his actions
but it finally seemed that the old man was settling down.  That was when
he spoke again, then his voice had much less venom but he was still very angry.
 His father was controlled and direct which was the best time to deal with
him.  

“I
don’t know what to say son.  I’ve been watching you lately and to say that
you have been off would be an understatement.  I used to be able to give
you a task and know that it would be done quickly and to perfection.  Now
I don’t know if I can trust you with a deal for a hundred grand, let alone one
like this for a hundred million.”

Silence
and tension lingered in the air between them.  His father was acting as if
Ryder hadn’t done a thing for the company--but he had.  He’d put in his
time and worked to make this company greater than it was when he started his
current role.  He was sure of that but it didn’t matter when the elder
Chatham was on the warpath like now. 

Ryder
had been down this road with his father before with smaller issues of how they
wanted to run the company but he had never had an issue that could cost the
company money, and lots of it.  Mr. Chatham retook his seat for what Ryder
figured was the fourth or fifth time in the conversation.  Every time he
would get revved up, he would stand and then, as if forcing himself to calm
like a Zen master, he would sit back down and watch Ryder again, as if
refueling his ire one more.   

“Ryder,
I needed you on your A game for this and you knew that.  The stunt you
pulled was completely and totally unacceptable at this level.  We are
closing an important deal that will expand our operations overseas by five
percent in the next twenty-four months.  You, son, are the figurehead of
the company as far as
Moronobu
is concerned and you
know the culture demands respect in business.  Yet you are off
gallivanting with the waitress for goodness sakes.  I get that you were at
a wedding and you didn’t want to be rude.  I really do get it, but you
should have at least checked your phone.  And you see I am not upset with
her.  I don’t blame her at all really.  I blame you.  You can be
in love and be successful the same time.  Your mother never made me ignore
my responsibilities.  You made that decision.”

His
father looked across the large oak desk at him with disappointment painted on
his face.  Ryder was upset with himself as well.  He really had been
the most dependable employee when it came to building the business.  That
was, of course, until he had met Chelsea.  He’d started to become someone
a lot different and not answering his phone for what he knew was business was
the most horrible, glaring example of that.  Not that he would tell his
father any of that but he was going to have to re-evaluate some of the
decisions in his life.  Either way, he knew that he needed to let the old
man vent so he waited for the next round of verbal assault.  It arrived
immediately.

“I
don’t know that I can trust you with this deal or the company right now.
 In the short term, I can let Trent handle this deal but I can guarantee I
won’t retire and let anyone or anything run this company into the ground.
 Not with my name on it.  So you tell me...right now… should I let
you handle this or give it to Trent while you go prancing about with your
girlfriend?”

After
he mentioned her again, he could see that his father thought more about how
much she was affecting him than he wanted to say.  He knew his father
didn’t mean to speak ill of Chelsea.  He’d actually made it pretty clear
that he liked her, going so far as to tell Ryder to make sure and bring her to
the next family gathering, which was a seal of approval that he’d never given
to any woman Ryder had ever introduced to him.  Now Ryder wondered if he
and his father had it wrong.  If a few months could do that to him, how
messed up would he be if he stayed with her longer.  

His
father spoke sternly to him.

“I
asked you a question son.”

Ryder
cleared his throat before talking.

“No
sir.  As I said to you before, I had a temporary lapse in judgement and it
won’t happen again.  I can guarantee you that I have the same passion you
have for Chatham Holdings and I’ll fix this.  I’ll fix...everything.”

Before
he had said it, he knew what he meant.  He was going to have to take a
break from Chelsea and evaluate things.  He didn’t have the time necessary
for her with the level of commitment that he had to give the business.
 The business needed him more than he needed her.  At least that was
how he felt in that moment, and if there was one thing that Chelsea had taught
him it was to embrace the moment.  He looked his father squarely in the
eye.  No blinking.  No fear.  

“Good
then.  That’s the Chatham confidence I was looking for.  I don’t know
what just happened but you have that look in your eye again and it’s right in
time.  You are going to have to fly right back over there right now and
smooth this out.”

Ryder
knew that before he had even met with his father and had already begun
preparations for he and Trent to fly back to Tokyo later that day.  

“Definitely.
 I was already considering that.  I need to take care of a few things
really quickly.  I’ve already had the jet fueled so I’ll be leaving before
evening.”

“Good
job son.  Now go finish what you started.”

He stood up, turned, and walked out of his
father’s office.  He only had one thing he really needed to take care of
himself but he had a feeling it would be harder than the meeting he just had
with his father.  He called Chelsea to see if she could talk.

Chelsea
was happier about her relationship with Ryder than she had been in a while and
it was all because of the decision he’d made the day before.  She was on
cloud nine when he called her and said he was coming to pick her up.  Two
days in a row with him was a new thing.  Maybe he was taking what she had
told him to heart.  Regardless, she was just happy to have a chance at
more time with him.  She looked out of the window and saw his car appear
downstairs.  Seconds later her phone rang.

“Yup. 
I see you.  I’m on my way down now.”

She
hung up the phone and took the elevator to the ground floor.  She was so
excited she practically ran outside and the driver opened the back door for
her.  She stuck her head inside and smiled at him before jumping in and
sitting next to him. 

“Hi Ryder.”

“Hi
Chelsea.”

She
kissed him, looking at him with anticipation before talking. She was bubbling
over with good news for him. 

“So
before we go to lunch, I have something I want to talk with you about but since
you asked me to meet with you. I’ll let you go first.”

“Alright.
 Well, Chelsea, I think I have to be as straight forward and honest as
possible.”  

Chelsea
straightened in her seat, alerts going off in her head.  She hadn’t
noticed it when she first got in, but Ryder had the most serious look on his
face that she had ever seen him with.  Well except when he was around his
father.  She watched as he looked in her direction and then closed the
partition, apparently wanting to keep what he was about to say as private as
possible. 

“What’s
. . . what’s going on Ryder?  Why do you sound like someone just dropped
the world on you?”  

“Chelsea,
I don’t know if I can keep seeing you right now.  I care about you so much
but…”

He’d
said it.  He’d said exactly what she was afraid he would and it
hurt.  A lot. 

“Oh
no.  You’re breaking up with me, aren’t you?”  

She
felt her body go weak.  This was the exact opposite of what she was hoping
for today. 

“No.
Goodness no Chelsea.  Just listen to me for a second before you start
making assumptions.  So you know I have this big client that I have been
working with for the past few weeks?  The one I had to go overseas for
last week,”

She
nodded her head slowly in recognition.

“Well,
the other night they were trying to call me but I didn’t answer my phone.”

She
was hoping when he said the other night, he didn’t mean Saturday.

“Oh
no.  Did you lose them?  Was it Saturday?  It was my fault
because of the wedding, wasn’t it?”

“First
of all, no I didn’t lose them, but it came close.  They were really upset
that I didn’t return their call.  To your next question, yes it was
Saturday but it wasn’t your fault.  I should have known better than to not
have a plan in place just in case of anything.  I tried to handle it all
myself and it got me into a situation where I almost lost a client.  An
important one at that.  The good news is that they still are considering
working with us.”

“Well
that’s a load off.  I would have felt terrible if it caused you to lose a
client that you’d invested so much time in just because I was acting childish
at a wedding.”

“That’s
the thing Chelsea.  You weren’t acting childish.  I was still wrong
in my actions towards you and the other guests at the wedding that day.  I
was a horrible date.”

“Well
yeah, that is true too.  I’m glad that it worked out then.”

“But
it hasn’t.  At least not yet.  I actually am going to be flying back
out again.”

“I
guess I can understand that.”

She
looked at his face before asking the next question.

“When
are you going?”

“As
soon as we’re done here.”

He
was so matter of fact in the way that he said it that she didn’t know if she
should respond.  But she couldn’t help herself.  This whole thing was
getting out of hand.  She remembered the first time she had met him and
how he was so busy working then.  Something had told her that this was who
he was but she didn’t care back then.  She liked him.  If she knew
she would have fallen in love, maybe she would have made another decision
because what she was dealing with now was bordering on
torture.     

“Wow.
 So then still the same thing.  You are going off again after just
being here for three days.  What was the point in even coming back?
 And you better not say that you came back just for me and the wedding.
 I would have rather gone alone than deal with whatever guilt trip you are
about to throw my way.”  

Chelsea
turned away from him and looked out of the window again, that time not turning
back to him again.  

“I don’t
want to guilt you. What I was thinking before you got in the car was that we
need to maybe slow things down.  Take a break.  Just until I am able
to get things in order with this job.”

“Fine.”

“Huh?”

“I
said fine.”  Chelsea twisted her head and looked at him.  “It’s what
you do.  I don’t even want to get upset about it.  You can call it a
break.  I’m sure there will be another break and another break.  You
don’t have time for anything but Chatham Holdings.  I could tell that from
the first time I met you.  Every warning bell in my mind told me that you
were too busy to have a real life.   To be in a real
relationship.  I was stupid enough to ignore them.  Well those same
warning bells are telling me to stop playing the fool.”

Now
it was his turn to be offended.  

“And
see, that is where we differ Chelsea, because I feel like I am living.  So
what if I work hard?  I find value in what I do every day and I am very
good at it because of that same dedication. And if you want to be honest, I
actually wish I could say the same for you. I mean here I’ve known you for
months.  We’ve been dating for almost half a year and in all that time you
haven’t been able to make the first decision on what you really want to
do.  At least it seems like you are sticking with dancing but who knows
what you are going to want to do tomorrow.”

“I
see.  So now you have decided that I’m just some flighty woman or that I
don’t fit into your perfectly structured world?  Well maybe I don’t want
to fit into your world.  Maybe I like being me, and not answering to other
people.  Not having to do what other people tell me to do all the time,
but just enjoying who it is that I want to be.  I’m sorry if you feel like
who I am is someone that you don’t want to be with anymore.”

Their
conversation had gotten out of control now but Chelsea didn’t care.  He
was mean, and disrespectful and acted like he wasn’t really in a
relationship.  She valued herself more than letting any man treat her that
way. 

“Chelsea,
that’s not what I said or what I was trying to say at all.  I do care
about you.  A lot.  Everything is just so hectic right now that I,
well to be honest I just need to pull back for a second.  I’ve been trying
to split my time between you and the business because that’s what you need from
me but I’m just finding it so hard t--“

Her
look turned to ice.  She could see that he was trying to backtrack on what
he had said but he only made it worse.  She interrupted him. 

“Excuse
me.  Did you just say that you have been trying to split your time between
me and the business?  Well let me tell you something Ryder, you didn’t
split your time.  You gave all of your time to that company.”

She
crossed her arms, rolled her eyes, before looking out the window and then
turning to face him directly with the intensity and glare of a bull.

“You
know what.  Thank you for today.  I just figured out what I’m
fighting against and I realize what your real problem is, or mine I guess in
this . . . this relationship, if it can really be called that.  How can
you be with someone and have to split your time with the business?  I’m
sorry but I can’t come second place or even tie with your company for that
matter.  I thought we were growing a lot closer but if you don’t know
whether you want to be with me or spend your days running about like an errand
boy for your father then maybe we need to do more than take a break.”

She
would have never thought that she would be the one ending their relationship
but now she knew it was inevitable.  Tears started to roll down her
cheeks.  She knew the end was coming and she was surprisingly ready for
it. 

***

This
whole situation had taken a turn for the worst and he didn’t know how he’d let it
spin so far out of control but ending things with her was the last thing he
wanted.   For one of the few times in his life, he didn’t know what
to do.  He didn’t like it. 

“Chelsea
I know you are upset but acting like this really isn’t going to solve anything.
 You know it’s not that easy.  It’s like you just don’t understand
where I am coming from, or you just don’t want to.”

Chelsea
wiped the few tears from her eyes and smiled at him before speaking again.
 When he looked at her, he knew he’d done something that he never wanted
to.  He’d hurt her.  Whether or not he agreed with why she felt that
way, there was no debating that he was the one that had caused it. 

“No
Ryder.  Actually I understand exactly where you’re coming from very well.
 Ultimately this has been fun.  At least it has been for me and I
hope the same for you but the truth is exactly that.  It has been fun but
it really isn’t either of our future.  You and I are polar opposites.
 I know that they say that two different people come together and fill in
the parts that the other person lacks but we are a glaring example that it
isn’t true.  Maybe you are better off with someone like Phaedra. 
She’s more like you than I am and she probably wouldn’t care if you were never
there as long as your money was.”

Ryder
was in utter disbelief at what he was hearing.  Sure they had their
differences, but which couple hadn’t?  When he’d asked her to lunch, his
whole plan was to just take the time needed to get things in order with
Moronobu
.  Then he could take the time to explore what
they had and how he could make it work.  Now it seemed like she was tired
of trying to figure them out at all.  Of course her Phaedra comment wasn’t
necessary either but she was upset. 

Either
way, he had known beforehand that this wasn’t going to be easy but this was
ridiculous.  He felt more weighed down and confused now than when he had
gotten there.  Maybe she was right.  Were they
too 
different?
 If so, why hadn’t he noticed it before?  He watched as Chelsea pressed
the intercom to speak to the driver.  

“Please
stop the car as soon as possible.”

“As
you wish ma’am.”  The driver responded.

The
limo was silent.  Ryder was at a loss for words.  After the car
parked, all he could do was watch as Chelsea reached for the door.  He was
dumbfounded and stared at her--frozen.  She was leaving and he had no idea
if he should try and stop her.  She grasped the handle and then looked
back to him before exiting the car.

“I’ve
had a great time with you but it is what it is.  We aren’t right for each
other and it’s best that we realized this now before either of us got hurt.
 We played roles that don’t belong to us--pretending to be something that
we are not.  I’m not perfect by a longshot, that is true, but I do know
what it feels like to have someone care about you.  You did that for a
while but it started to change recently.  I just can’t have half of you.”

“So
that’s it?  You’re just giving up on us now?  Moving on with your
life like I was just a pit stop?  I can’t believe that we are so different
that you don’t have the energy or desire to try to make us work anymore.
 You really want this to be done, here and now?”