Authors: Barbara Peters
Well, they probably wouldn’t notice anything anyway. They were much too immersed with each other. Not that I cared. I didn’t. I would not care for a cheating asshole, who took advantage of my vulnerable best friend. But I knew she would never be so vulnerable to let herself get taken advantage of. Even in this situation with her being cheated on she would be strong enough to withstand something like that, which could only mean she was doing this of her own volition.
Suddenly my vision got blurry and I couldn’t see in front of me anymore. I blinked a few times and it got a little better. Carefully, I made my way to the side of the road to avoid getting into any more accidents than I had already been in. There I let my tears flow freely again. I couldn’t even go thirty minutes without repeatedly bawling my eyes out over this. They were both breaking my heart in two.
Once I had calmed down a little I drove on. I didn’t know where I was going really. I just needed to get away from them, far, far away, to get away from all the heartache that ate at me right now. If I
got
far enough away it would go away, too, right?
Before I knew it I was parked in front of the Rowe company office building. Huh? Why was I here?
I sat there in my car for a while just staring into space. If I went up there and asked Zach for help, would he help me? Or would he just throw me out?
Technically, he didn’t have anything to do with me. The only connection between us was his twin brother. But what other choice did I have? I had nowhere else to go, so I had to take my chances.
I took a deep breath of encouragement before getting out of the car and entering the building. Inside it was as busy as the last time I had been here with Ethan to visit. No, no, I couldn’t think about him now or I would start bawling all over again. That would just be embarrassing in front of all these people. And to be honest, it didn’t solve anything.
Even though I knew that my body still wouldn’t listen to me. My eyes started getting wet again, but before it could transform into another full-fledged sob fest I pulled myself together and took another cleansing breath. Slowly, I counted to ten in my head to calm myself down again.
When I was relatively approachable again I went over to the reception desk and addressed one of the two beautiful women working there. To be frank, their beauty was a little intimidating when directly confronted like this. I was sure I looked like the complete wreck that I was.
“Excuse me?” I said.
“Yes,” she smiled at me politely
while critically eyeing my appearance, “How may I help you?”
I cleared my throat against a bout of nervous jitters. Why was this woman making me feel inferior? “I’d like to speak to Mr. Rowe.”
“Do you have an appointment with the CEO?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Then I’m very sorry, but he has a very busy schedule and unless you have an appointment he won’t be able to see you. Have a good day.”
And with that she dismissed me, turning back to her computer screen again. But I couldn’t leave like this, without even getting the chance of asking Zach for help. I needed to hear it from him that he wasn’t going to help the woman, who left his brother.
I cleared my throat again and said louder this time, “Excuse me?”
Startled the receptionist looked up from her screen. The look on her face told me she was extremely surprised I hadn’t already left and was still standing there. “Yes?”
“I’m an acquaintance of Mr. Rowe, so could you please tell him that I am here. If he still doesn’t want to see me then I would like to hear that from him.”
“Ah…yes, of course. One moment, please.”
This time it was me, who was surprised, as she seriously picked up the phone and called Zach’s secretary. The
secretary then called the man himself to tell him of the situation. All in all it took about fifteen minutes of me waiting for them to just announce my presence to him. And my feet were really starting to hurt, too. I sighed.
“Mr. Rowe will see you now,” the receptionist’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.
“Ah, thank you,” I told her, trying to be polite. I didn’t really feel like it, though.
I didn’t feel like doing anything anymore.
“Just take the elevator to the top floor. His secretary will wait for you there.”
I nodded
in
acknowledgement and got on my way. Because I was standing at the front desk for so long my feet really hurt when I walked. They weren’t used to all this extra weight. I went over to the bank of elevators and pressed the UP button. Within moments an elevator arrived and I got on and rode to the top floor.
It was way too silent in here. Silence wasn’t good for me. It made me start thinking about things and when I started thinking I would start thinking about seeing the two of them together. And then I would just end up sobbing again. So, to distract myself I began humming one of my favorite songs, the
soundtrack of my favorite kung fu movie, which in turn reminded me of Jess, with whom I had always watched it. And all that brought me back to the incident less than an hour ago.
I couldn’t suppress the tears that started streaming down my face again. I quickly tried to wipe them away with a tissue, but it was no use. I slumped against the back wall and slid down to the floor. Fortunately, I was alone until I reached all the way to the top.
Unfortunately, this was how Zach’s secretary found me. Worried, she rushed into the elevator and helped me get to my feet.
She guided me over to her desk and let me take a seat on one of the stools there. Zach came out of his office, wondering what the fuss was all about.
“Rachel, what happened?” he asked, looking at me concerned.
“I…I…,” I sniffed and couldn’t quite get it out.
“Ah, just calm down for now.
Come into my office. You can tell me there.”
His secretary helped me up again and handed me over to Zach, who led me into his office and over to the couch, standing against one wall.
Before he closed the door he asked the secretary, “Could you please bring us some tea?”
With a nod and another worried look in my direction she went to follow the order.
Zach sat down beside me and took my hand in a concerned gesture. For a couple minutes we sat in silence until he finally broke it.
“Are you calmer now?”
I couldn’t look him in the eyes, not even in his direction. I had caused a huge scene in front of his employees. It was just embarrassing. I was sure my face was bright red. It was burning like crazy as I gazed at the ground at my feet. I only nodded in agreement because I was too embarrassed to speak.
“Will you tell me what happened?” he gently prodded.
“I…I…,” I stuttered again. I just couldn’t bring myself to actually say the words. If I said them out loud, it would be too real. I didn’t want that, but nonetheless I knew what I had seen. “
Could I maybe crash at your place for a while? I have nowhere else to go?”
“What did my brother do this time?” he asked with a harsh tone.
“I…can’t really talk about it right now.” I took a deep breath and went on, “Please, I just need a place to stay until I have one of my own.”
I looked up at him, waiting for his reaction, waiting for the rejection. I mean, who was I to him? No one, that’s
who
. Tears were blurring my vision again and I quickly wiped them away, not wanting to cause another scene.
Before he could give me an answer, though, there was a knock on the door and his secretary poked her head in. Silently, she brought us the tea over to the coffee table in front of the couch and then made herself scarce again.
“You know, I won’t turn you away, but isn’t there anything that could be done to fix this?”
I just shook my head
sadly
and looked at the floor again. What exactly could be done? A functioning time machine hadn’t been invented, yet. So, their actions could
never
be reversed. There was nothing anyone could do.
Just thinking about Ethan and Jess standing together in that hall made another lump form in my throat, but this time I swallowed it down. I couldn’t break down every time I that picture popped into my head. I had to stay strong for my babies and for myself. I knew I could get through this somehow. I always got through any crisis, even if it wasn’t unscathed.
I heard a deep sigh from beside me and when I looked up I saw Zach' lips curled into a gentle smile, which made his face look so much kinder.
"Alright, then," he said as he got up from the couch. He held out his hand toward me in an inviting gesture. "
I’ll
show you my apartment and where you can sleep for now. Come on."
I took his hand and he helped me to my feet. Ah, it was becoming increasingly difficult to maneuver my body around. Maybe that was the reason Ethan turned to another woman. My body was getting as big as a whale's. Of course, he wouldn't find that attractive. He must have forced himself to be with me over the past few weeks. Did he just want the babies? Would he have kicked me out once they were old enough? And only put up with humoring me until then?
Indeed, they were the saddest thoughts anyone could think of. Just over a year ago I would never have even imagined I would end up in such a situation, where such thoughts would even occur to me. How times changed.
Zach guided me out of his office into the hall, where his secretary looked up from her work curiously.
"
I’ll
be taking the rest of the day off. Please, cancel the rest of my meetings for today. When you're finished you can go home, too," he told her.
He always seemed so stoic and unapproachable, but he was actually nice and kind to his employees. Not the strict and rigid boss I had imagined. Every time we would encounter one of his employees on our way out he would greet them and wish them a good day. I wished I would have had an employer like that.
"You could if you wanted to," Zach answered to my thoughts. Did he read my mind?
"No, I can't read your mind. You said that out loud."
"Oh…but just now…”
He smiled at me. "You are really just like an open book. You're not very good at hiding your emotions. They all show on your face."
I could feel my face heat up in embarrassment. Was I really that transparent?
"Yes, you are."
I ground my teeth and glared at him. "Stop it."
He just laughed and I couldn't help but enjoy this moment.
"Ah, you smiled." He pointed a finger at my mouth.
"I did not. You're imagining things. Get your eyes checked." It was so nice to fall into this easy banter with him. He was like a big brother to me. The one I never had and always wished for. I made a fake pout and looked in the other direction, so he couldn't see me trying to suppress another smile.
"You're trying to hide that smile, I know you do," he declared arrogantly.
"Damn it, stop," I laughed in response.
A moment later he turned serious again. "But you know, I meant what I said earlier. I know you couldn't get any work because of your pregnancy. So, why not work for me? You could be my personal assistant. I haven't had one in a while. My secretary just took those responsibilities in addition to her own. You would really relieve her of some of that burden and help me out a lot. What do you think?"
As he looked at me expectantly I couldn't find any objections to his proposal. It was actually a really good idea. I could work for him until the babies came and get some money to support us. This way I wouldn't have to leech off of him so much.
"Sure, I'd love to." And this time I let him see my smile, gratefully.
We were now on the sidewalk outside the office building and made our way down the street.
"Ah, but you'll have to tell me what exactly
I’ll
be doing. I never worked as a personal assistant before."
"Don't worry about that. Between me and Jennifer I'm sure you we'll teach you quickly what you need to do." He shot an encouraging smile my way before suddenly descending a staircase.
Ah! Where did those come from? As I looked up I saw the subway sign above the entrance. We were taking the subway? This was getting stranger by the minute. Why did a major business owner, a billionaire to boot, take the subway to and from work? I had never seen Ethan take any public transportation before and he was just as rich. So...why?
As I pondered over those questions Zach butted into my thoughts.
"I want to stay down to earth. That's why?"
There he went again reading my mind. I looked him over suspiciously, but he just smiled back at me.
"Didn't you ever realize that now and then you start talking out loud when you're so deep in thought?"
Huh?
"Really?"
He nodded and gave me a knowing look.
Oh my god. "This is so embarrassing."
I held my hands over my face to cover my shame. I was sure I had turned into a bright red lobster.
An embarrassed lobster.
Maybe I could work at the zoo as the new attraction.
“
Pfft
,” I heard Zach burst out laughing.
“
Hahaha
, an embarrassed lobster.
I can’t…ah, my belly hurts.”
He
was bent over,
h
olding
his arms over his belly while
laughing his ass off about me
and
complaining about his aching belly. If it hurt so much, then he should just stop laughing at me already.
“Stupid, Zach,” I mu
mbled.
Having fun at my expense
.
He was really the worst.