Eastern Lights (Compass 2)

I rolled my eyes but felt a slight tug at my heart. Something about your mama saying she was proud of you hit a certain cord of emotions. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Although, I have to say, it sounds like she might be coaching you, too. Didn’t you say she talked you into taking some breaks from work?”

“Yeah, she did.”

“Maybe at the end of the day, you needed her as much as she needed you, too.”

I smiled at the thought.

Maybe.

“Oh goodness, Connor. I really like this girl, just from the sound of everything. She sounds wonderful.”

I knew she’d love Aaliyah. It was kind of hard not to think she was wonderful.

Before I could reply, there was a knock at my door. I looked up to see Marie standing there with a basket in her hands. She smiled brightly, and mouthed, “Is this a good time?”

Perplexed, I arched an eyebrow. “Hey, Mom. I’m going to need to call you back.”

“All right, sweetie. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

“Tell Aaliyah I said hi!” she added in before ending the call.

I placed the phone down and smiled over to Marie. I hadn’t seen her since the wedding had been called off. All I knew is that Aaliyah had to tell her to back off a bit and give her space to breathe. I understood both sides of the situation. When a relationship ended, it wasn’t only two people who had to deal with the heartbreak, it was everyone who loved the individuals. It was clear that Marie loved Aaliyah. She treated her like her own, so losing someone you’d grown to love, someone you thought would be in your life forever, had to be challenging.

“Well, good afternoon, Connor,” Marie said, walking into my office after I waved her in. “I was in the neighborhood, visiting Walter at work, so I thought I’d stop by. Last night I went into a baking frenzy, and I needed to get some of this food out of my house.” She set a container with treats in front of me and then took a few steps back.

“I would say you didn’t have to do that, but I’m glad you did it,” I said, opening the container and finding my favorite cookies: oatmeal chocolate chip.

I could’ve shoved all of those into my mouth in a heartbeat, but I didn’t want to appear like a slob in front of Marie.

“Yes, well, I know those are your favorites. Now, I don’t want to keep you, but I wanted to see if you’d heard from Jason recently.”

“We emailed back and forth a few times over the past week to finalize some paperwork, and had a call last week, but that’s about it.”

“Oh, right. That makes sense. The two of you boys are just work, work, work. Just like Walter. I’m surrounded by workaholics,” she seemingly joked. She shifted around in her high heels before saying, “I don’t want to hold you up, but do you have a minute for us to talk?”

I tilted my head confused, but then gestured toward the empty chair beside her.

She sat and crossed her legs. Her lips were painted a fuchsia color and her fake eyelashes batted my way. I swore, Marie was always made up as if she were on her way to a runway show.

She pursed her lips together and began to tap her fingers against her thighs. “It was a shame, wasn’t it? What happened at the wedding.”

“Yeah. You could say that.”

Or the biggest blessing in the world.

“I just feel awful for all sides included. I know my poor Jason just got cold feet and panicked. Now, I’m not making excuses for him, but he’s just not used to having someone as good as Aaliyah. All of the girls before her were exactly that—girls. They played games and always got Jason in trouble. But Aaliyah…” Her eyes flashed with emotions and she shrugged her left shoulder. “Aaliyah is a saint. She is a grown woman with a good head on her shoulders.”

I couldn’t disagree with that, but for the life of me I couldn’t connect the reason that Marie was telling me this information.

“I’m sorry, Marie. What happened was terrible, but I don’t know what this has to do with—"

“I heard a rumor about you doing an interview for Passion. Is that true?”

I sat up a bit straighter. “Uh, yes. It’s true.”

“And Aaliyah is interviewing you?”

Why did I get the feeling this conversation wasn’t going anywhere good? “Yes… After the wedding she was in quite a situation with losing her job. So, her boss said she could have her position back and get a raise, if she could land an interview with me. I felt bad not helping.”

“Oh, my goodness, of course. I’m so thankful that you offered your services to her. Jason didn’t leave her in the best situation, that’s for sure. You’re a good man, Connor. You’ve always been a good man.”