Crashing Waves (3 page)

"While you're out, call Angel. I'm sure she'd like to hear from you today, especially since you're sending someone to Australia in your place next month."

~ ~ ~

Rory hadn't noticed the time flying by, until Alex knocked on the door to say she was heading home. It was six-thirty and most of the office staff and design staff had gone for the day. Martie had been on her way out behind Alex. She'd stopped to check Rory's office and sure enough she was typing away at her computer and had just hung up the phone.

"Come on, Rory. Let's get out of here. You've been here all day. I'm sure you're ready to go home and relax or at least eat something. I bet you skipped lunch while you were out, didn't you?"

"I'm fine, mate and I have a lot of work to do still."

"Damn it, Rory, working seventy hours a week is ridiculous. You shouldn't be working like a dog, especially today. You're not the only one with deadlines and piles of work to do. Let's go have a drink or something."

"No, and today of all days, I'm fine! How many times do I have to tell you, Martina? I'm fine. Okay? I've moved on with my life. The past is the past! Now if you would please excuse me, I have things that I need to get finished before I leave."

"Alright, if you want to act like an ass, go ahead, but don't you come running to me when it catches up to you, and trust me, Rory Eden, it will catch your ass one day!"

Martie slammed the door and walked down to the elevator. Being best friends with Rory was one of the hardest things she'd ever done. She had to sit back and watch a woman that she loved like a sister, throw her life away over a near fatal accident. She hurt inside almost as equally as Rory did, yet she couldn't understand why Rory had never faced what had happened to her. She slowly recovered and had gone to work a year later, never surfing again. The only time she'd ever spoken about surfing was for work purposes. Four years had gone by and Rory had suffered inside every day. No one saw it except for Martie because she saw right through the façade.

~ ~ ~

Rory drove her Audi through the iron gates, up the driveway and into the garage, just after eight p.m. She got out, carrying her briefcase and cell phone as she walked into the house, setting them both in the study, before walking upstairs to her bedroom.

Ten minutes later, Rory stood in the sand on the beach behind her house, wearing a sports bra under her sweat shirt and a loose pair of warm-up pants. Her feet were bare in the cold, wet sand. She started the slow motion of Tai Chi, moving her body in rhythm, gracefully from one stance to the next. The full moon cast a shadow behind her, mimicking her every action. It was a clear California night, with stars blanketing the ocean as far as the eye could see. It was an absolutely perfect night for most people, but not Rory. Her body moved through the motions as her mind played back the painful memories and her heart felt the sadness of her loss.

An hour later, she sat down in the sand, listening to the waves crashing against the shore as a few tears fell. The beautiful scenery reminded her of a time when she had been happy. A time when no matter what day it was, as soon as she'd seen the sky, smelled the salt of the ocean and heard the waves crashing, she'd been happy. That happiness had died with her on that beach in Hawaii and it hadn't been resuscitated with her in the hospital.

Back inside, she poured herself a glass of whiskey, sipping it on her way up the winding staircase to her bedroom. She showered off the salty sweat and tears, finishing her glass before crawling between the sheets and forcing herself to forget for another year.

Chapter Two

Two weeks had gone by since Rory had faced the anniversary of her accident. She'd trained herself to focus further away from it every year as it passed. Nothing seemed to change her routine. Christmas also passed right by. Rory had spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Martie's. They'd exchanged a few gifts and watched old movies.

Rory fell right back into her work routine Monday morning as she awoke at four a.m. to the buzzing of the alarm. Knowing she had to get up, she slowly slid out from under the covers and into warm-up pants and a sports bra. Outside on the beach, she went through a short Tai Chi routine to wake up her muscles and stretch out, before taking off in a jog. She always returned to the house, galloping like she was a champion sprinter. This had been the only thing that still made her feel alive; that and the hot steamy shower that usually followed.

Rory made her way downstairs, stopping in the kitchen. She hadn't realized she still needed to go to the grocery store. Luckily, she still had a half gallon of fat free milk, so she poured herself a small glass and drank it while she buttered a plain piece of toast.
I really need to go to the store. This is crazy. One morning, I'm going to wake up and have to stop at Mc Donald's for breakfast.
She cringed.
 

~ ~ ~

The tiny convertible Audi with the license plate- BRN2SRF looked like a black streak as it turned the corner into the parking garage for her office building. Rory stepped out, shuffling her briefcase to her right hand and scrambling to answer her ringing cell phone.

"Rory Eden."

"Hi, Rory. This is Carl Farmer with security. I'm calling to make you aware of an early morning visitor. A young woman has been trying to contact you for approximately a week now and it appears as though she has somehow entered the building. I'm sending a guard to escort you inside."

"Carl, I've told you a hundred times I'm not a child and I don't need a personal security escort to enter my own company. When you find the girl, tell her I'm tied up in meetings all day and leave it at that."
Whoever this girl is, she must be very hard up for a sponsorship, either that or a washed up autograph, neither of which she will get.
 

Rory ended the call and entered the doors on the first floor of the building in time to see a young blond being
escorted out of the side door emergency exit.

"Wait! Wait! Let go of me you asshole! Miss Eden! Can I speak to you please? It's very important!"

"I'm not sure what you want, but I stopped signing autographs four years ago. A representative will speak to you if you'd like," Rory said, ignoring the girl as she stepped into the elevator.

On the top floor, the doors swung open and Alex was standing there with Martie. Both women looked as though 9/11 had happened once again.

"What? Why the hell are you two staring at me like that? Did I forget to put something on?"

"Did you see her down there? Carl said there was a girl in the building searching for you. How close did she get? Are you ok?" Alex asked.

"Rory, I had no idea she was in the building. Carl told me you wanted a rep to speak to her, so I sent Lisa down there. I didn't know she was coming after you. My God, the nerve of that girl. She'll be lucky if she doesn't get arrested. I swear these kids will do anything for a chance to be famous or in a damn magazine."

"Calm down. Alex, you sound like I was mugged and Martie, do you not remember the hell we went through to get sponsored? Give the girl a break. Yeah she's a little headstrong, but I'm sure she's harmless. Besides, she doesn't even know how things work around here. Talking to me isn't going to help, that's why I wanted a rep to speak with her. If I took the time to personally look at everyone that wanted a chance, I'd never have time to run this company. Everyone back to work, we have deadlines around here people. Chop-chop," Rory said, sidestepping the women on the way to her office at the end of the hall.

~ ~ ~

Rory sat in the overly comfortable executive leather chair behind her desk, taking off her glasses and tossing them on top of the folder sitting next to the computer monitor. She'd attended three meetings with the Snow Team and had held fourteen national and international phone calls. Lunchtime had already come and gone. Martie had stayed at her own desk most of the day, working on her own agenda.

Just as she stood up to stretch, Rory's cell phone rang in its holder on her belt. She looked down at the caller ID and immediately pushed the red button, sending the call to her voicemail. She glanced around her spacious office, her eyes pausing momentarily on the framed magazine covers on the wall. Her name and photo grazed every one of them. Rory took a deep breath, shaking her head slightly and walked out into the hallway.

"Alex, have you seen Martie this afternoon. She hasn't been in my hair since the last meeting this morning. She didn't take off early did she?"

"No ma'am. She's been in her office just as you were. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Oh no, I'm fine, just stretching my legs. I get tired of staring at those same four walls." She smiled and laughed a little as she started down the hall. She stopped at the closed door a few feet away, knocking softly as she opened it. Martie was turned around, facing the floor to ceiling window and talking on the phone. She quickly spun around in her chair and hung up the phone when she noticed Rory standing in front of her desk.

"What's up, Rory? I figured you were sitting on the floor under your desk, since I haven't heard a peep out of you for um…" She looked down at the silver watch on her right wrist. "It's been almost five hours. Wow, I'm amazed. Honestly, I didn't think…"

"Oh shut up, Martie. I'm just as busy as you are, if not busier, so I don't want to hear your shit. I actually came down here to check out a suspicious notion, and sure enough I was right. How long have you been talking to her, and I don't mean just now?"

"Rory, you know someone has to keep your mother in the loop of your life because you sure as hell don't. If it wasn't for me, she'd have no idea what kind of life her only child was leading, except for what your Uncle Mick tells her or she reads in a magazine. Besides, I needed to tell her you weren't going to the Roxy Pro."

"I don't care to hear the poor pitiful me excuses. It's over Martie. It's been over for four damn years. I've moved on with my life and I wish the rest of you would too. I'm sure she would've noticed that I wasn't there eventually."

"Come on, she's all you have. How long do you plan on shutting her out?"

As long as it hurts, or until the pain stops, whichever comes first!
Rory started to speak, but stopped before the words left her mouth. Instead they faded off into her thoughts. Martie stood up and walked around the desk towards Rory. She knew she wouldn't get through to her, not today, but she'd keep her promise to Angel and continued trying to reach deep inside, past the pain, to the part of Rory she knew still existed; the part of her that died four years ago on the beach.

"Have you heard from Carl? Did he get anything out of that girl from this morning?" Martie asked.

"No I guess not, Carl hasn't called me. What about Lisa, did she find out what she was here for?"

"Nope, the girl took off before Lisa could speak to her. I don't like the smell of this, Rory. Be careful. Who knows who she is or what her motive is for that matter. I don't think she'll be back, but then again she'd been trying for two weeks to get in here and see you. On the lighter side, maybe she has a crush on you. That would be quite funny. I can see it in the next issue of Surf's Up Magazine. 'Rory Eden, retired pro surfer and head of Eden Boards, Inc. the largest surf and snow board design and manufacturing company in the world, is stalked by a love struck teenage girl with a crush.' Man, would that be hilarious!" Martie laughed.

"Laugh it up, mate, I swear. Besides you're probably the one with a crush and as oblivious as I am, I made you my vice president. Go figure!"

"Oh please, woman! You'd know it if I had a crush. Anyway, been there, done that. Don't get me wrong, it was great and I will always love you, but you're way too enigmatic for me. I don't know whether you're coming or going half of the time. Hey, don't you have work to do or something? Can't you see I'm busy here? What happened to 'chop-chop' and 'we have work to do people'?"

Rory laughed at Martie's attempt at blowing right past the discussion of their brief attempt as a couple.

"Fine, I get your point. We lasted all of about two months, but I do believe you were the cause of the break-up. Something about not dating your mates and I was too much like a sister or something along those lines," Rory teased.

 Martie's deep brown eyes grew as big as baseballs as she started towards Rory with her hands clenched.

"Okay, I get the hint!" Rory laughed backing away from her friend. "Do me a favor, next time you talk to Angel, tell her I'm too busy to talk. I'd prefer it if you didn't talk to my mum at all, but since you never do what I say or suggest, make sure it's known that I don't want to speak to her," she said seriously, before leaving the room.

~ ~ ~

It was eight o'clock by the time Rory's midnight blue Audi rolled through the iron gates of her property. She parked the car in the garage and walked into her house. She stopped inside the study to turn on her laptop, before strolling up the stairs and into her lavish bedroom with a balcony and an ocean view. She walked into her closet, stripping off her company shirt and chino style pants and tossing them into the overflowing basket full of dirty clothes. She put on a white t-shirt, then slipped a canary yellow polo shirt over it and pulled on a pair of khaki colored cargo pants. She stopped momentarily, looking at herself in the mirror before exiting her room.
 

Rory walked through the open doorway of her study and sat in the leather chair behind the desk, bumping the wireless mouse next to the laptop to turn off the screensaver. Her personal computer had the same program as the one in her office, so she was able to continue working when she was at home. Rory yawned softly as she ran her fingers through her short blond hair. She logged into her office software and her inbox flashed three new messages. She walked into the living room in search of her iPod when she heard the doorbell on the gate ring. She pressed the call button on the intercom thinking it was Martie trying to redeem herself, even though she knew the code to get in.