Professional Boundaries (8 page)

While in the kitchen, Holly sidled up to me. “Wow, he is quite handsome. Did he look like that when you knew him?”

“He’s a better dresser now, and he used to wear glasses.”

He looked like he had stepped out of the pages of GQ, even though he was more casual tonight. He wore designer jeans and a perfectly pressed shirt and canvas jacket that looked tailored to fit him. He was definite eye candy, but like I said before, I missed the boring khakis and polos and even the glasses. I had to quit thinking of the past. I reminded myself I didn’t know the man that was impeccably dressed and who was now my boss. The thought made me want to cry. Why did he have to be the new director?

“Well, I imagine he looked good then too.”

I just shook my head in agreement.

“He seems nice too,” she causally said as we were loading the dishwasher. 

I just nodded my head again. He had been nice. It was one of the reasons I really fell for him. He could have made me feel like a real idiot when he tutored me because, for some reason, calculus was very difficult for me to understand, but he was patient and he took the time to explain it until I got it, even if it took several times.

“Are you ok, sweetie?”

I came out of my memory. “Who, me? Of course.”

“You were awfully quiet at dinner.”

I smiled and lied. “That’s because that pasta dish was so amazing. I need the recipe.”

She laughed. “You’ve always been a terrible liar.”

I laughed too. “I’m just trying to adjust. But, seriously, I want that recipe.”

She touched my cheek. “I’ll get you the recipe, but you should know I’m here if you need to talk.”

I hugged her. “What would I ever do without you and Boss?”

She squeezed tighter. “You’ll never have to know.”

I really did love them. Too bad it couldn’t have worked out with me and Luke. They would have been the best in-laws ever, and they would have pictures of my cuties on the fridge too. If only Luke could have gotten his act together. He would have been the director. It was Boss’ hope to turn over his company to his son someday, but Luke unfortunately was the poster boy for substance abuse.

Holly and I put dessert together: strawberry shortcake. We each took two and brought them back out to the dining room. Of course Holly served Gary. That left me to serve Ian.

Ian touched my hand when I set down his dessert in front of him, and he looked up at me. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I responded quietly.

My hand tingled, and I felt a tad warm from the touch. I took a breath and reminded myself to be completely unfazed by him.

As soon as I sat down, Ian turned toward me. “Gary told me the good news. You’ve rescinded your resignation.” He sounded very pleased.

I just smiled closed mouth.

Gary raised his glass of water to me. “To our girl.” Then he looked at the both of us. “May this be the beginning of the most successful chapter Chandler Media has ever opened. I’m expecting great things from this partnership.”

Ian looked at me and raised his glass. “I second that.”

I turned quickly from him and raised my own glass and looked at Gary. “To the best boss a girl could ever ask for.”

And that’s where I slipped. A single tear escaped. I quickly wiped it away, but not before Ian noticed. I wasted no time in turning to my dessert for comfort. I tried not to focus on the conversation going on around me. I was ready to go home, and it wasn’t too long after dessert that I made my move to do just that. Unfortunately, Ian followed suit, and we ended up walking out at the same time.

We each walked toward our cars. His was behind mine, in front of the house.

“We should celebrate. Let’s go get a drink,” he said as I reached mine.

“I don’t drink,” I said as I started to open my car door.

He walked toward me grinning. “I didn’t say it had to involve alcohol.”

“Hmm … Thanks for the offer, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

He stepped closer. It made me uncomfortable. I could see his eyes and smell him again, and my senses were drawn to him.

“Why not, Kelli?”

I bit my lip. “Because you’re going to be my boss.” Ok, so I lied.

He grinned. “I just saw you kiss and hug your current one goodbye.”

“He’s like a father to me.”

“I remember someone telling me once or twice I sounded like her dad.”

I forced myself not to smile at the memories. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

His smile dropped. “Why can’t you just acknowledge we knew each other and that we share a past?”

“In my experience, it’s not good to dwell on the past. Goodnight, Ian.” I turned to leave.

He gently grabbed my arm before I could open my door. “So, you’re saying you don’t remember anything?”

I looked up into those eyes of his and stared, just for a moment. “No. I’m saying I remember everything.”

Chapter 6

“Gary and Holly really invited you both over for dinner?” Amanda asked.

I called her as soon as I got home. Admittedly, I was a little thrown off by the evening, and all I could do was lie on the couch and stroke my lazy cat. My head was spinning, and I felt a little nauseous.

“Yes, can I just say, awkward?”

“But you’ve decided to go back to Chandler?” she asked hopefully.

“I’m sure I’ll regret it, but yes.”

“How did your new boss take the news?”

“He seemed genuinely happy about it. He even asked me to go out after and celebrate.”

“Well, that’s certainly interesting. What did you say?”

“Amanda, please keep your conjecturing out of this. He’s not interested in me that way. And I’m certainly not interested in him. He’s going to be my boss, for goodness’ sake.”

“You are so naïve sometimes, Kelli.”

I laughed at her. “Really? This coming from the woman who just thought Sam’s soccer coach was being friendly?”

“Hey, how was I supposed to know? The guy knew I was married.”

“Thanks for proving my point, sis.”

“You are such a brat, Kelli Jelly. And you’re naïve if you think this guy doesn’t have ulterior motives that involve
you
.”

I was really getting tired of her saying that.

“That doesn’t make any sense at all. I haven’t seen the guy in almost thirteen years, and the last time I did see him, he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with me ever again.”

I started to cry. It was such a stupid thing to do over such a stupid man.

“Honey, don’t cry.”

“Why did he have to come back into my life? Everything was going so well.”

“I don’t know, but I know it wasn’t by accident. Just be careful.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just don’t think you’ve ever really gotten over this guy.”

“That’s just ridiculous, Amanda. Of course I have. Don’t you remember? I almost got married.”

It was her turn to laugh, but there was a little sadness mixed in. “Honey, you didn’t almost get married. Yes, Luke asked you, but there was never any chance of you saying yes.”

“That had nothing to do with Ian.”

“No one’s saying Luke didn’t have issues, but you didn’t love him or anyone else that’s come your way.”

“I’ve tried. I really have.”

“I know you have, Kelli.”

“And I don’t love Ian.” I didn’t know why, but I needed to say that out loud.

“Maybe not, but you’ve got to admit, that relationship has affected all others.”

“That just makes me sound pathetic.”

“No, it makes you sound human. And, honey, look at your life, it’s not like you’ve closed yourself off. You’re successful and beautiful, and no one puts their heart into anything the way you do. You are the best aunt, sister and friend, employee, coworker, you name it. I’m not saying you’ve sat around and pined for this guy, I’m just saying there may be some underlying feelings that have never been resolved. And he obviously has the same issue.”

“Amanda, you know I love you more than my cat, and you’re hands down the best sister and friend ever, but Ian’s here for business. Period.”

“Ok, Kelli, keep telling yourself that. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, sis.”

She was killing me. She was supposed to make me feel better. Now I was just more confused, and my head hurt. I wasn’t going to lie, I was still physically attracted to Ian, but any woman would be. He had the whole tall, dark, and handsome thing going for him, and to top it off, he had this mysterious, brooding air to him. But the attraction meant nothing, because I was attracted to him before, so why would that change? His attitude and mannerisms were mostly the same, too, except I seemed to frustrate him more, and not in the fun, cute way I used to. Like tonight, he seemed legitimately upset by my refusal to acknowledge our previous relationship, which was weird. I could also tell at dinner he was expecting more from me, and he was bothered when I didn’t rise to the occasion. Then he just walked off without a word after I told him I remembered everything. I still couldn’t believe I was agreeing to work with him. I had a feeling there was going to be lots of turbulence and frequent warnings to wear your seatbelt.

I was beyond happy to have the weekend over with. Typically, I reveled in them. Sure, I loved my job, but I loved evenings and weekends more. However, I needed to get away from myself and my thoughts; I needed to work even though I knew working meant seeing Ian. True, I wouldn’t likely see him a lot; it wasn’t like Boss and I worked together constantly. In fact, he ran his accounts and I ran mine and I took care of the running of the office. We met weekly, and sometimes we collaborated, but it wasn’t an everyday thing. I was sure Ian would want to collaborate even less.  He was the type who hated group projects. He liked doing things on his own.

I got up super early on Monday and dressed with a purpose. My sister was right; I was going to show him what he’d missed out on. I wore a nude pencil skirt that left no question I was a woman, a very feminine yet chic red wrap-around blouse, and beige suede peep-toe pumps. I may not have been the new boss, but I sure looked like it. The red lipstick was even coming out again. If I had been one to take selfies, this would’ve been the morning for it. I pulled my hair up in a messy yet sexy bun, made my lunch, and then was out the door with a spring in my step.

I was hoping to be the first one there, but I was disappointed when I saw the Infiniti with Colorado license plates.
Dang it
. Delfia wasn’t even there. No matter, I was a big girl. I just needed to remember to treat him like I had never known him before. I was going to be professional. I proudly walked in to the empty foyer and made my way up the stairs. I took a deep breath before I opened the door. It felt right. I belonged here, no matter who the director was. I smiled to myself before I opened the door to the executive level.

I heard Ian before I saw him. It sounded like he was still using the conference room, which made sense. Boss was still going to be working there that week while he turned everything over to Ian. I think he also wanted to be there just in case he needed to referee, but I planned to be on my best behavior, or basically employ a simple strategy of avoidance, if I could get away with it. Unfortunately, that didn’t work so well when I tried to scoot pass the conference room unnoticed.

It was like he was waiting for me, like a cheetah ready to pounce on its prey. He immediately met me at the conference room door as I passed. “Good morning,” he said.

I wanted to say it
was
a good morning, until that moment, but I acted professional. “Good morning. Did you have a nice weekend?”
That was professional, right?

He thought for a second and pressed his lips together. I also noticed that his eyes drifted over me. “It was interesting. How was yours?”

“Just fabulous.”

His eyes narrowed. He knew I was being sarcastic. We both stood silent for a moment.

“Well, ok. Have a good day.” I began to walk off, criticizing myself for sounding so stupid. I was supposed to sound professional, not like an awkward ex-girlfriend.

“I’d like to meet with you later today to discuss the digital ad software. Let me know what your schedule looks like,” he called out after me.

I took a deep breath, and before I turned around, I reminded myself to treat him like I would any colleague, even though he was already getting on my nerves. “I’ll send you a copy of my schedule, and you can let me know what works best for you.”

He smiled. “Thank you, Ms. Bryant.”

I had already begun to turn around, but I stopped dead in my tracks and turned toward him again. “Did you just call me, Ms. Bryant?”

“Yes,” he said with no apology. “I feel it’s important to maintain professional boundaries with my employees within the office.”

There were so many things I wanted to say, including what a pompous twit he was, but I kept it together. “I see, Mr. Greyson.”

He looked like he was going to respond, but he thought the better of it and just turned and went back to the conference room. I headed back to my office and shut the door harder than I intended to. I sat at my desk and just stewed. What was all this bull about professional boundaries? If he thought he was treating me like just another employee, he had another thing coming. Boss said this was a partnership, and Boss had treated me like a partner. Seriously, Ms. Bryant? What an idiot!

As soon as my laptop came up, I immediately began to fill my schedule for the day. I smiled to myself.
Looks like I won’t have much time for that meeting with Mr. Greyson after all
. I almost laughed, thinking about his formality. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but seriously, this wasn’t the 1950’s, and I wasn’t some little girl that took orders. With more than a little glee, I emailed him my packed schedule and then went to work catching up on all the email I had missed on Friday.

Halfway through me playing catch up, Delfia came in and gave me a big hug. “You don’t know how afraid I was you weren’t coming back.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you back and made you worry. I just needed to … sort some things out.”

 “So what’s up with you and the new boss?” she asked quietly, but wickedly.
I knew I needed to proceed with caution. I had no desire for the whole office to know that Mr. Greyson and I once dated and that I was more than smitten with him. I loved Delfia, but she was the queen of office gossip.