I don’t say that enough—to anyone, really.
“Did you make cookies for us today?” I tilted my head inquisitively.
“I did.” She nodded. “Christmas trees and wreaths. They’re in the break room, but…”
“I know.” I smiled. “I need to hurry if I want to get one before they are all gone.”
“That’s right.” She finally cracked a smile that was followed by a quiet laugh. “You seem different this morning.”
“I just don’t want all of those cookies to disappear before I get a chance to get one!” I pushed my chair back from my desk and stood.
I’m definitely different, but I don’t know how to explain it to anyone but Ian…
I got some new information for the presentation that I had to do for the Dillinger’s Department Store executives in the mid-afternoon. Mr. Thornton was officially calling it an advertising campaign instead of just ad-copy for their spring collection. He had one of the designers take the ads I created and lay them out for magazine spreads, billboards, and even provided some examples of how they would look if they took up an entire page in the newspaper. What was different from most of the emails I got from him was that instead of giving me feedback, he was actually asking for my approval on the designs. It really was my campaign—he was ready to give me the ball and let me run with it. I wasn’t going to let him down.
Even if I’m thinking about Ian while I work…
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ian
I could tell there was something different about Elly after we finished handing out gifts at the hospital, and it wasn’t just the emotional toll that it took. Something had changed to give her the strength to do it in the first place. I didn’t expect it to be what finally helped her see the true meaning of the holiday season, but there was a time when it did the exact same thing for me. I understood struggling and coming to terms with the things that couldn’t be changed. I let the memories of my time with Abigail torture me, long after I accepted the fact that we would never be together again. Elly’s situation was different. Her struggle was rooted in her childhood, and it made an impression on her at a young age.
She’s beginning to see what the other side of that looks like, and I’m glad that I’m here to support her through it.
Elly was an incredible woman. She faced things that would have made most people break down and kept it together until it was safe to do so. That opened her eyes to what the holiday season was all about, even if it wasn’t my intention when I invited her to go with me. She could have retreated into her emotions and let them devour her, but she clung to me instead. Even that was a big step for her, but I didn’t expect the next one. I hoped she would find some holiday spirit at some point before the season was over, and it seemed that she was ready to try. I was excited to help her decorate her apartment for the holidays, and I hoped it wouldn’t be the only time that we shared the experience.
I’m beyond looking for something to grab onto so that I don’t fall—I want her heart, and I want to give her mine.
It was a fairly busy day at Alexander Software, but I had trouble focusing on work. My thoughts were elsewhere—on the beautiful woman that shared my bed the night before. She allowed herself to be vulnerable and slept in my arms. We didn’t make love, but the experience was sweeter than the passion that could have burned up the night. I was certain that we were going to have a lot of those nights soon enough, but it wasn’t what we needed. We just needed the closeness and the comfort of two people who had opened themselves up to each other. I loved waking up to the sight of her next to me. It made my morning a lot brighter than usual.
“Mr. Alexander?” Samantha pushed my door open. “The conference call with Bryant Benson is about to begin. I assume you’ll want to sit in.”
“Yes, absolutely.” I nodded and leaned forward to stand.
I almost forgot about that.
We had a lot to share with him, including a working prototype that the team put together a lot faster than I expected. I thought it would take another week, but they were able to use some of the code from previous apps that we built to piece it together. Bryant seemed happy with the early results and promised to give me a call once he had some more time to mess around with the sample product. I was pretty sure that meant we were going to haggle and iron out the financial piece of it. The final product would be built from the ground up to make sure it was fully functional, but the prototype was a really good indicator of what it would look like.
“Good work, everyone.” I looked around the room once the conference call ended. “You might have broken a few records this time.”
“I think the team was just trying to make sure they didn’t have to work on Christmas Day.” Joe nodded his head and laughed.
“I was trying to finish before the Christmas party.” Paul shrugged. “I’m going out of town next week to spend Christmas with my family in New Jersey.”
“A New Jersey Christmas?” Joe pretended to scoff. “Are you going to hang out with Snooki?”
“I sure as hell hope not.” Paul chuckled under his breath. “My family doesn’t live near the shore.”
“Alright, I have a few things I need to take care of before I call it a day.” I pushed my chair back and started to stand. “Again, you all did a good job.”
“Thanks, boss.” Joe smiled.
I returned to my office and reviewed a few things before I started packing up. It was Thursday, but our work week was basically over. Everyone was going to be too excited about our annual Christmas party to get much accomplished on Friday. It was a good thing that we had gotten everything done that was truly important. I could let them have a day to celebrate the holidays with their office family. Our Christmas parties were somewhat unique. I didn’t believe in taking them away from their families unless it was absolutely necessary, so we closed the office early in order to have the party. The members of their family that could come usually did, but they were home by the time the workday normally ended.
It’s too bad that I can’t invite Elly. She might actually enjoy it.
Elly’s party was going to start not long after mine ended, and it seemed to be a little more formal than the one at Alexander Software. It was more of a work event than a party for the family and plus ones weren’t really encouraged. That seemed odd to me, but I wasn’t going to tell anyone how to run their company. I had done business with the CEO of Thornton Advertising a couple of times, and he was well respected in the industry, even if he lost a lot of talent because he didn’t pay them what they were worth.