“Hello Penthouse apartment.” Casey says excitedly when I open the door. I smile and go in for a hug. It feels so good to see her, we haven’t seen each other in so long. I missed her so much. Life has been so busy that we haven’t had time to link up. What they don’t tell you about adulting is that the days get shorter and relationships are harder to maintain. It’s so hard to keep in touch when you are trying to keep your shit together. “I think I chose the wrong career.” She says when she walks into my apartment. “We do the same thing. What are you talking about?” I say laughing. We walk into the kitchen and sit at the island. She touches the marble top, smoothing it out. I look at her funny, we work in the same industry and we make about the same amount of money. She’s acting like she can’t have this if she wanted to. “I chose the house, white picket fence and the 2.1 kids. I didn’t stop to think that maybe I could want this.” She says gesturing to my place. “This is bomb af, pent
When are you going to see her?” My grandfather asks looking at me sitting on his favorite chair in my home office\ library. He looks at me smiling mischievously and then he turns to the fire place longingly. “I’m not going to see her. I don’t think it’s a good idea.” I say more to myself but I’m looking at him. He turns to look at me smiling. He has this I don’t believe the crap you’re telling me look on his face. “We should light the fire.” He says out of nowhere, changing the subject. I look at him confused and disappointed. I really need someone to talk to about this before I lose my mind. But I guess he’s not in the mood to listen to my bullshit today. “It’s going to get hot.” I say looking at the fire place. It’s not cold out, the house is cool. But as soon as we light that thing it’s going to be a furnace in here. “I know but it would be so nice to look at.” He says smiling at me like a kid that wants something really bad. And unfortunately I can’t say no to him when he look
“Hey, Melody.” My new boss Jack says standing at my office door. I look up and smile at him. He walks in gingerly unsure of himself. I look at him curiously, that’s very odd of him. “Hi.” I say and he walks in closing the door. I look at him slightly concerned, I’ve only been here two weeks and he’s already walking into my office closing doors. This can’t be good. I can’t imagine I’ve messed up yet. “I just wanted to check in, see how you’re doing. You know the two week check in.” He says sitting in one of the chairs in front of my desk. “I’m settling in well. I think I’m starting to find my rhythm.” I say and he looks at me smiling but he still seems unsure. “I’m happy to hear that. I want you to be as comfortable as possible. The board and I are very excited to have on board and we know how important of an asset you are to our team. We hope we can build a lasting relationship with you.” He says and I calm down a little, I thought he was coming in here to tell me that I lost my jo
“Thank you for joining me for dinner.” Knox says smiling at me from across the table. I look around at the beautiful view. We’re in a private room at the highest level of the tallest restaurant in the city. It’s so breathtaking. “It’s not like you gave me much of a choice.” I say looking at him. I smile back at him because his real smile is infectious. “I like to believe that I gave you a choice.” He says staring at me. His eyes are filled with that mischief he had in university. He’s playing games. “We believe what we want to believe.” I say and that makes him laugh. “You know, I didn’t imagine meeting you again would go down like this.” He says leaning back in his chair getting comfortable. His eyes don’t leave mine; they greedily take me in as he smiles at me. “No? How did you imagine it going down?” I ask taking a sip of my wine. I need to ask the waiter what brand of wine this is. It tastes exquisite, it’s probably one of those insanely expensive and rare bottles. Knox chose
“Is anyone home?” I hear Olive call out from the entryway of the house. Her footsteps echo in the house as she walks toward my office. “Maybe I should have called first.” I hear her say as she comes closer to the door. She didn’t even tell me she was coming, I wonder if her mother knows she’s back. She walks into the office her eyes going to the desk. She scans the room and finds me sitting in my chair. I look at her at her surprised, she looks refreshed and grown up. I guess a year in Paris will do that to you. I smile excited to see her. I missed her so much. I love having her around. “Wow you look old.” She says smiling at me. I frown at her words; she has a way of making me not miss her in a matter of seconds. “Hello to you too.” I say getting up from the chair. She walks to me and we hug. She wraps her arms around me giving me so much love. I smile at her sweetness. “What’s with the beard?” She asks staring at my face, “It’s a new thing I’ve been trying out for about a yea
“There is a Mr. Knox here to see you.” The concierge says when I answer the phone. I look at the time on my phone and sigh. Its 8 pm on a Saturday doesn’t he have some rich people thing to go to? Or better yet a wife to be with? Why is he here to bother me? “Let him up.” I say ending the call. I knew letting him drive me home the other night was a bad idea. Now that he knows where I live and he is going to show up randomly whenever he wants. I need to stop this before it goes any further. I don’t want a repeat of our university days that shit wasn’t cute then and it will never be. We’re too grown to be going through all that drama again. I don’t have the patience, time, energy, emotional ability or luxury of having a man show up at my day whenever he wants. I have my sibling’s safety and sanity to think about. I’m going through a process of healing and adjustment. I really don’t need his bullshit right now About a minute later my doorbell rings. I leisurely walk out of my bedroom an
“This bed looks so comfortable.” Knox says walking into my bedroom. I love how he just walks around the apartment like he and I are allowed to do this. He’s just walking around like he belongs here. “I thought you were going to wait for me in the living room.” I say looking at him from my bathroom door. He looks at me smiling, that beautiful smile he used to give me when he wanted to get into my pants. I missed that smile. “I really wanted to see what your bedroom looks like.” He says walking to the bed and touching the duvet cover softly. “I loved your bedroom in your old apartment. I slept the best in that bed.” He says and I look at him surprised. “That bed was not even long enough for you to fit in.” I say taking a change of clothes from my drawers and walking into the bathroom to change. I close the door so he doesn’t get any ideas. Or am I closing the door so I don’t get and ideas? I push the thought aside and get undressed; thinking like this won’t help me at all. “It wasn’
I walk into my bedroom feeling refreshed. The usual tiredness that I used to feel every single day is gone. I feel calmer and so much more settled these days and Melody has everything to do with it. We’ve been hanging out for almost a month now and it’s been a joy. She’s the reprieve I have needed for the last five years of my life. We spend hours talking; laughing and we argue a little. It feels like we’re getting to know each other all over again. Only this time we’re doing it without the pressure of hormones. That’s not to say that there isn’t any sexual tension between us. I still want her; in fact I know I want her more than I ever have. But I know that I can’t have her like that and I made a promise to keep my hands off her. And that’s a promise I intend to keep. She and I have a respect and understating that can only come from maturing and time. Well I can say I’m the one that did the maturing. I didn’t think things through when I was younger. I wanted what I wanted, when I wa