Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Luke

All week, I could not get that girl off my mind.

I knew so little about her, so I found myself doing what any self-respecting man in a digital world would do and took to the internet. With a little detective work, you could find out an astonishing number of details about a person. Especially with the level of determination I had. I didn’t even know her name…at first. But after some sniffing around on her school’s website, I found my mystery interest.

Her name was Clemson Farsay. She was a biology major at one of the private universities here in San Diego, and apparently, she was one hell of a swimmer, because that was where I hit paydirt. She had been featured in a handful of articles dating back to her high school years that always centered around her swimming accomplishments. That explained her incredible body.

Sophomore in college…that would make her twenty years old at most. Almost twenty years younger than me. Did that make me a pervert? Maybe to some, but she was so mature when we talked. I found myself more interested in what she had to say the day we volunteered together at the shelter than the last two women I’d gone out with. And they were both my age.

And my God, was she beautiful. At the animal shelter, she had her blond hair tied back in a no-nonsense ponytail, so I didn’t get to appreciate how long and gorgeous it was. After I found her on social media and got to see her all dolled up, though, my tongue nearly lolled out of my mouth. The girl was a complete bombshell, and now I was desperate to see her again.

“Did you even hear a word I’ve said?” Liam asked, looking a bit pissed about it.

“Huh?”

“Perfect.” He sighed. “Where the hell is your brain this week? Are you coming down with something? You’ve been so out of it. I think you need a vacation, man.”

Honestly, I hadn’t heard a single word of his campaign pitch after the initial concept.

“Sorry, man. I’ve been so distracted. And I think you’re right. I should take some PTO.” I didn’t have much more to offer and didn’t think asking him to start over would be good either.

“Do you want to table this, or should I run through it again?” Liam asked, offering me way more grace than I deserved. “We’re on a timeline here with the client, so I’d like to get your approval to pitch it.”

My behavior was so unprofessional and uncharacteristic.

“Can you run through it again? Let me get some caffeine first, and hopefully I’ll perk up a bit,” I said as I rose to pour myself a cup of coffee.

I knew the real reason behind my lack of concentration, and it had nothing to do with my lack of sleep.

Back at the table, I took a hearty gulp of the steaming liquid and focused on Liam.

Instead of launching into his idea, he sat staring at me. “Seriously, Luke, what’s going on?”

“I just have a lot on my mind,” I said with a shrug.

There was no way in hell I would tell him about the girl living rent-free in my mind. Inevitably, her age would come up, and I didn’t have the energy to defend myself. Maybe that should have been a deal breaker on this one, but I just couldn’t shake the image of her.

“You’re so full of shit,” he replied and tilted his head in question. “Honestly, I’m a little offended. I thought we were better friends than this.”

“I thought you were on a time crunch with this proposal?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Yeah, but I don’t think you’re even here in the same room with me, so maybe if you speak your mind, we may actually get some work done.”

When I didn’t say anything and just took another drink from the coffee mug in front of me, he let out an exasperated sigh.

“All right, be that way.”

I laughed. “So this is for the Stone Global account? The fitness centers?” I got that much from what he’d said before.

That was enough to light his fuse again. “It is. They’ve had a huge pick-up in memberships since the pandemic. The proposal is for a line of home gym equipment. Small, some even portable, machines that offer a great cardio workout, super durable and high quality.”

“My very first thought is what makes theirs any different than the hundreds of brands already doing this? Sure, there will be some brand loyalty, but I’d highlight whatever they claim they do that no one else does. It’s a massive challenge to market something no one really needs, especially in an already saturated market.”

We were off and running. We bounced ideas around using his initial concept and fine-tuned it so the decision-makers would be blown away with the campaign we offered.

More than an hour later, we left the conference room with a pretty solid pitch outlined. Liam definitely had his work cut out for him, though. I’d pitched a campaign to this client years ago, and to this day, it was one of the most stressful ads I’d ever worked on. I loved the creative outlet this job provided, but I didn’t miss the stress of the day-to-day interactions with clients.

Now, most of my days were spent managing my team, making sure everyone was staying on track to meet their deadlines, and reviewing their concepts. There was always the interoffice drama that any manager had to deal with—my least favorite part of the position—and it was shocking the situations employees got themselves into. Having to clean up the mess when it all collapsed was the worst.

By the time I walked through my penthouse door that evening, I was so tired, I considered just sleeping on the sofa in my suit. Even ordering food felt like too much effort, so I threw two Pop-Tarts in the toaster and kicked off my shoes. When they were ready, I tossed the little rectangles onto a paper plate and flopped down in front of the TV.

The Food Network was my guilty pleasure, even though most of the time I watched the shows on mute. Guy Fieri’s voice had a special way of raising my blood pressure, but I did enjoy watching him visit little hole-in-the-wall diners all over the country.

The blond co-ed was still on the forefront of my non-work-related thoughts, so I pulled up her account on social media to see if she posted today. Immediately, when I saw the image, I set down my nutritious dinner and gave the little screen my undivided attention.

It was a close-up picture of her beautiful face, and she had clearly been crying. The tip of her graceful nose was red, and her deep-blue eyes glistened with unshed tears. The caption read, Some days are just hard .

Before I could talk myself out of it, I tapped on the little icon that opened a direct message thread with her. The desire to hold her and make whatever happened disappear was way stronger than any rational thought as to why this might be a bad idea.

I’m sorry you had a rough day. Here if you need to talk.

It was short and thoughtful—or at least, that was my intention. I didn’t want to come off as a creeper. I’m sure she had plenty of guys chasing her for attention. Seeing her upset really hit me, though. The contrast between that picture and the vibrant, stunning woman I spent time with at the shelter was painful.

I knew what it felt like to be lonely, especially on days you just wanted to come home and unload to someone who cared about you. My profile on this app hadn’t been touched in nearly a year, but my first and last names were listed, along with my photo. If I’d left any impression on her at all, she would recognize me.

After fifteen minutes of constantly checking my phone for a reply, I dragged myself to my room to shower and go to bed. I had an early meeting and needed a good night’s sleep. I plugged my phone in to charge and set it face down on my nightstand. I was such a light sleeper that a glowing screen from any type of notification could wake me from a deep sleep.

Surprisingly, I slept through the entire night. The sun was shining deep to the east as I enjoyed my first cup of coffee outside on the balcony off my kitchen. From this location, I could see the Coronado Bay Bridge, and I stood watching the early morning commuters make their way back and forth from Downtown to Coronado.

It wasn’t until after my second meeting later that morning that I saw that Clemson had responded to the message I’d sent last night. I’d thought of it randomly throughout the morning but hadn’t had a chance to look to see if she’d replied. As ridiculous as it was, I was physically excited as I launched the app to see what she’d said.

Do I know you?

My heart sank to my knees. But as I held the phone, rereading the sassy remark, a second message came through.

From the shelter?

A stupid grin spread across my lips, knowing I’d made enough of an impression that she placed my name or face—or both, I supposed—without me having to prompt her. Now the big question…

How long do I wait to respond?

Did people still play those dumb games allowing a prescribed amount of time to elapse between contact as to not appear too eager?

Yeah…fuck that. I was never into head games. If I was interested in a woman, I wanted her to know. And if she weren’t into me, I’d rather she just be upfront about it and not string me along. I spent the entire summer after grad school being toyed with by a heartless, manipulative woman, so I ran in the opposite direction at the first sign of that bullshit.

Hey there! I happened to see your post last night while scrolling and couldn’t believe it. I thought, Hey, I know her! What are the odds, right? Are you having a better day today?

Rather than saying I hope your day is better , I intentionally framed my message as a question in hopes of continuing the conversation. I wasn’t familiar enough with the app to know if she was currently viewing my message, so I anticipated spending another day tied to checking for notifications.

While I was staring at my device, Liam stuck his head in my door. “Want to grab lunch?”

Although I wasn’t very hungry, it would be nice to get out of the office for a bit.

“Yeah, sure. Where are you headed?”

He shrugged. “Haven’t decided yet. Anything sound good?”

I made a face. “Not really. You pick.”

We ended up at a sushi place a few miles from our office. The food was always great, and they had a generous lunch special, making the restaurant a popular choice for a lot of the businesses nearby. We ate there often enough that the waitresses recognized us when we sat down.

Liam leaned across the table to say, “Oh that chick is here. The one that eye-fucks you the whole time we’re eating.”

I stared blankly at him. “She does not.” And truthfully, I had caught the girl give me the once-over on a few different occasions, but I wasn’t interested. She wasn’t at all my type.

“You should ask her out.”

“Not interested. So what do you have going on this weekend?” Maybe changing the subject would get him to drop the nonsense about the waitress.

“Seriously, Luke. I think you need to get laid. Ask her out. Based on the way she looks at you, I’m positive she’d be a sure thing.”

“Do you hear yourself?” I said and shook my head. Liam was turning into one of those guys that gave the rest of us a bad reputation.

“You’re the one who acts like an old man. Why not scratch the itch, man?”

“Hi, guys. Ready to order?” the waitress he’d been talking about asked with pen poised to write our lunch orders. “Two all-you-can-eat?” It was our usual choice and why most of the patrons came here.

“Yes please.” I smiled. “And an iced tea for me,” I added to round out my request.

“I’ll have the same,” Liam said and kept his eyes pinned to the woman.

When she finally looked up from her little notepad, he gave her the fakest smile, and she scurried off.

“She’s pretty cute,” he said, watching her walk away.

“Then you ask her out. I told you. She doesn’t do it for me.” I was starting to get a bit annoyed. We went through this same bullshit every time we came into this place.

My friend sat back in his chair. “I’ve got all I can handle at the moment. That girl I was telling you about is a maniac. Seriously, I can barely keep up with her. I’ve never met a chic as horny as this girl. I think my dick is actually chafed.”

I burst out laughing. The visual was hilarious, for one thing. Secondly, I never thought I’d hear this man complain about having too much sex.

“I’m not kidding, dude,” he said after I stopped chuckling.

“Words I never thought I’d hear.”

“On that note, though, they have a friend who’s available.” His brows hiked up to his hairline like he was enticing me with something irresistible.

“Who are they ? Or is that a pronoun thing?”

“See, this is why I know you aren’t getting laid. You’re so forgetful. All those little swimmers are backing up and causing brain fog.” He sighed. “I told you about the group of girls we’ve been partying with.”

I nodded because he definitely had. A few times. “Still not interested,” I said plainly, and the waitress was back with our drinks and our first round of sushi.

I finally got Liam to talk about other things besides my love life, and we headed back to the office with full stomachs. A nap sounded perfect, but when I sat down at my desk, grateful for the silence of my office, I checked my phone before digging in on the stack of paperwork waiting for me.

Definitely a coincidence. Honestly, no, today is as shitty as yesterday. Sorry?

Totally confused by the apology with a question mark, I was reminded why I didn’t care for texting. But I was glad she replied. Ecstatic, actually. I wanted to ask her out but didn’t want to scare her off. If I blew it, she’d probably never look my way again.

My desk phone rang, and my assistant reminded me about my next meeting. Well, I’d have to message my favorite blonde later. The next time I looked at the clock, person after person was telling me to have a good night as they were leaving for the day. That was another bummer about being in management at this firm. I was often the one locking the doors at the end of the day. Staying behind to ensure everything was done that needed to be done or taking the heat for the things left unfinished.

Good thing I negotiated an obscene salary when I was offered the position. And though money didn’t fix my loneliness, at least I didn’t have financial woes too.

After enduring shitty traffic, even though it was well past rush hour, I trudged through my front door tugging at my tie. I loosened the knot enough to unbutton my shirt and headed straight for bed. Normally I’d refresh with a shower, but I was too exhausted to care tonight.

The moment I laid down, though, my mind kicked into gear. Was I going through a premature midlife crisis? There had to be more to life than work. Sure, I had a few things I did outside of my career, but walking shelter dogs couldn’t be the height of my existence.

Finally, I drifted off and had a fitful night’s sleep full of weird dreams and extra tossing and turning. I felt like a zombie the next morning and decided before I left the house to stay as far away from Liam as possible. He’d end up getting a big earful if he started in on me again.