Sometime Soon (32 page)

“Miss me yet?” he asks.

“Yes, terribly,” I reply, smiling
into the phone.

“Good to know. Did I leave my phone
on your night stand?”

I take a walk into the bedroom, and
I see it lying there. “Yes, you did.”

He breathes out heavily and curses.
“Are you going to be around for awhile so I can come by and get it?”

“Where are you now?” I ask.

“At the office.”

“Why don’t I drop it off to you?”

I hear only silence on his end for
a moment before he answers. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You didn’t. I offered.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s no problem. I can head your
way now and get some errands done on the way back. Your office is near the
Waltham Brew House, isn’t it?”

“It’s just a few blocks further
down. Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Really, I promise. It’s no
problem.”

 “That would be great. Thanks.” 
He then proceeds to give me the address.

I click back to Laura. “That was
Ryan. He left his phone here. I’m going to bring it over to him.”

“He left his phone at your place
and he asked you to bring it to him?”

“No. I offered. And now I get to
see where he works.”

“Swing by here after. I want you to
look at more bands for the wedding with me. We can watch them on YouTube.”

“I thought you chose a band?” I
ask, placing Ryan’s phone in my purse.

“No. Mom ruled them all out. But
some other ones we heard about said we could watch them online. That’s so much
more convenient anyway.”

I keep my lack of enthusiasm for
this task to myself. “Okay. See you later.”

After feeding a very hungry Tiger,
I head out the door. I’ve heard Ryan’s phone ring several times in my purse,
and I hope he isn’t missing anything important. 

It’s a cool and startlingly bright
morning. The sunshine fits my mood perfectly, and I’m pleased when the ride to
Waltham is unusually fast due to the absence of the weekday commuters. Soon I’m
driving past the Waltham Brew house, and I easily spot the squat three story
brick building Ryan described to me. His car is parked by the entrance. There
are only a few other cars scattered throughout the lot. I easily find a parking
spot, and I head inside the building. Before I can try the door, Ryan appears
in the hallway beyond it.

He flashes a smile at me and pushes
the door open. “I was watching for you,” he explains. I step past him and enter
a dark hallway that smells of disinfectant. I reach into my purse, pull out his
phone, and turn around to hand it to him. But he doesn’t just take the phone.
He takes my whole hand and pulls me to him, wrapping his arms around me.
“Thanks,” he says, and I can hear the word rumble inside his chest.

“Want the tour of The Holodeck?” he
asks as he releases me.

“The holodeck?”

“We don’t have an official name
yet, but we had to put something on everyone’s employment papers. So, for now,
we’re The Holodeck.”

I just stare at him.

“You know, from Star Trek? It’s
what they used on the ship to create a holographic environment for
entertainment.”

“Uh-huh,” I reply. I don’t think
I’ve ever watched an entire episode of Star Trek.

He laughs at me. “You thought I was
kidding about the Trekkie thing.”

“I was hoping,” I say dryly. “When
are you going to choose a real name?”

He shrugs. “When we have the money
to hire some branding people.”

I grin at him. “This really is
exciting, Ryan. Your own company.”

He glances down at the rust colored
carpet. “If it succeeds, it could be kind of amazing.” By the look on his face,
I can see that the “if” in that sentence is bolded in his mind.

“Come on. Let me show you around.
It will take all of one minute,” he grins. Then he grabs my hand again and
leads me down the hall to a set of stairs. We climb to the next floor, and Ryan
pushes open the first glass door I see along a short second floor hallway.

I precede him inside, and I take in
the open space before me. It’s one big room about the size of a tennis court.
There is a line of tinted windows running along the three outer walls and two
rows of grey cubicles stretch across the length of the space. 

I feel Ryan move beside me. “We
don’t have all these filled yet,” he says, motioning to the cubicles. “We’re
hoping to hire eight to ten more people in the next couple of months.”

I smile at him. “This is nice.”

“This is bare bones. But it works.”
He leads me over to the first cubicle by the door. “This is me.”

I peer inside and see a couple of
laptops on the desk. There’s a whiteboard attached to one wall, and I can see
it’s completely filled with computer code.

“Hey, Ryan,” someone calls from the
other side of the cube wall.

Ryan steps out and looks next door.
“What’s up?” he asks.

“Take a look at this.”

“First I’d like you to meet
someone.” He motions to me.

I move beside Ryan just as a very
tall red head stands in the next cubicle and peers down at me curiously. Ryan
is about six feet tall, and this person towers over him. His bright red hair is
clipped very short, and he has a deep dimple in his chin. He has a handsome
face, and he’s on the thin side with a stooped posture.

“This is my partner Blake. He’s
also my housemate.”

“Good to meet you, Andrea.” Blake
smiles as he offers me his hand. I recall Ryan telling me about Blake during
one of our phone conversations. He said that they’ve known each other for
years, and they both sold their condos to raise money for the business. Now,
they’re renting a house nearby together.

“Nice to meet you, too.” I shake
his hand and pretend not to notice the way he looks me over and then displays
his appreciative expression to Ryan.

“I fixed the code from yesterday,”
Blake says, turning his attention back to work. “I wanted to show it to you
before I start the new stuff.”

Ryan hesitates and glances at me.
“Go ahead,” I assure him. “I can find my way out.”
“No, I’ll walk you out. This won’t take long. Have you got a minute to wait?”

“Sure. I’ll just look around some
more.”

He offers me a grateful smile before
turning back to look at Blake’s monitor.
I pivot and stroll toward the entrance as I continue to glance around. Now I
can picture Ryan here when he tells me he’s at the office.  Through the
windows on the other side of the space, I see dense woods. I’m about to walk
toward those windows when I hear my name. I turn around and I’m surprised to
see a familiar face from the past. “Ian?”

“Hey.” He grins at, me and we give
each other a quick one-armed hug. “What are you doing here?” he asks.

“I’m visiting a friend.” I worked
with Ian at my first job out of college. I haven’t seen him in over five years.
He looks about the same with his slight build, dark brown hair, and rather
nondescript features. He still wears the Elvis Costello, black-framed glasses that
are his trademark.

“Where are you at these days?” he
asks.

“I actually just got a new job at
Cronus. I start next week.”

“Hey, that’s great.” He smiles at
me and then glances around the office. “Would your friend mind if you came
outside with me for a quick smoke?”

I make a face at him. “You’re still
smoking?”

He shrugs, unconcerned. “Come on. I
won’t keep you long.”

I look back toward Ryan’s cube and
see there is no sign of him. I decide it might be fun to catch up with Ian, and
I follow him down the stairs out to the parking lot. Once outside, the fresh,
cool air replaces the disinfectant aroma from inside the building. I inhale
deeply before Ian can begin polluting the atmosphere with his cigarette.

“Do you keep in touch with anyone
from back then?” I ask as I watch him light up.

He takes a deep pull and releases
the white smoke through his nostrils before responding. “I talk to Henry and
Justin. They’re both over at Cisco now. How about you?”

I shake my head. “I’m not that
great at the keeping in touch stuff.”

“So, who are you
visiting?” he asks.
“Ryan.”

This gets his full
attention. “You know Ryan?”

I nod.

He wrinkles his
brow at me. “What? Are you two dating or something?”

I nod again. It feels strange that
after Laura, Ian Tucker is the second person who knows I’m dating Ryan.

“Really?” he muses. His tone
implies that this surprises him. “I wouldn’t have put you two together.”

Now I’m surprised because Ian
hasn’t seen me in half a decade. Before I can question him, he continues.

“He’s kind of a hard-ass. Making us
all come in on a Sunday.”

I narrow my eyes at him.

He takes another pull on his
cigarette. “And the guy can’t remember my name. I’ve worked here for three
months and he still has no idea who I am.”

I hold a hand up to my mouth to
shield my laugh. I now recall that Ian always was something of a complainer.

Ian is not pleased with my
reaction. “What’s so funny?”

 “Don’t take it personally,” I
tell him. “I’ve learned that Ryan’s memory is like a sieve sometimes.  He
just forgets stuff. He doesn’t do it on purpose, and he doesn’t mean anything
by it.”

Ian doesn’t seem appeased by my
response. He turns and frowns. I follow his gaze to see Ryan coming through the
door.

“You disappeared,” he remarks as he
approaches us.

“I ran into someone I know.” I
gesture to Ian.

“Really? You know….” Ryan
hesitates.

“Ian.” I supply for him.

“Right,” he says. “How do you know
Ian?”

“We used to work together.”

Ian gives Ryan a tight smile. “Good
to see you, Andrea. Stay in touch this time,” he says as he stubs his cigarette
out on the pavement and heads back inside.

“You don’t know your employees’
names?” I ask once Ian disappears through the door.

“Sure I do. That was Ian.” He
notices my sardonic expression and runs a hand along the back of his neck.
“Actually, I don’t deal with them much. That’s Blake’s job. I’m not really good
with the managing people stuff.”

I realize he sounds just like me.

He rocks back on his heels and
peers down at me. “Thanks again for bringing my phone. That was a really nice
thing to do. What are you up to now?

“After my errands, I’m heading over
to my sister’s. She wants me to help her with more wedding stuff.”

He takes a step closer and his
expression intensifies. “Will I see you tonight?”

My stomach is immediately flooded
with butterflies.  When he looks at me that way, I completely unravel.
“Would you like to?” I ask.

“What do you think?”  He takes
another step forward, and we’re practically touching. By the way my body is
reacting to him, we might as well be pressed against each other.

“I’m going to go with a yes,” I
reply.

 “Come to my place later,” he
says softly, brushing a stray curl away from my cheek. “We can order some
dinner.”

I haven’t been to Ryan’s house yet,
and I am curious to see it, but I have a problem. “Sounds nice, but um, I won’t
be able to stay the night.”

He quirks an eyebrow. “I like the
direction your thoughts are going in, but can I ask why not?”

“I can’t leave Tiger alone all
night.”

“Ever?” he asks incredulously.

“I never have before,” I answer
hesitantly.

“Isn’t that one of the advantages
of having a cat? You don’t have to walk them, and you can leave them alone for
long stretches of time?”

I cringe before answering. “Yes,
that’s what I’ve heard.”

He blinks at me, and I have no idea
what he’s thinking.

“How about this?” he suggests.
“Maybe we could work Tiger up to it. Leave him alone until one or two in the
morning to start. Then slowly add an hour over time, until eventually, he has
spent an entire evening at home alone?” Ryan is unsuccessfully concealing his
mirth.

“You’re making fun of me,” I pout
even though I’m amused.
“Yes, I am,” he smiles warmly. “You just told me you can’t warm my bed tonight
because you have to be home for your cat. You sort of asked for it. Now you
leave me no choice but to be rude and invite myself over to your place since a
sleepover is part of what I had in mind for tonight.”

“Well, that is pretty forward of
you, but also absolutely okay.”

He leans in and pecks me on the
mouth. “It’s a plan. I’ll call you when I’m heading out.”

I nod in agreement. “Ryan,” I call
to him after he turns to go inside. He stops and looks back at me. “We could
try it one night. Leave Tiger alone and see how it goes. I’m sure he’ll be
okay. I’ve just never…”

“Andrea,” he interrupts. “It’s
fine. It doesn’t matter where we are. I just want to spend time with you.”

I nod wordlessly as the rest of my
plea dies on my tongue.  Ryan gives me a casual wave before heading back
inside.

“You seriously told him that you
couldn’t spend the night at his house because you needed to get home for
Tiger?” Laura asks.

I bite my bottom lip and nod.

She throws her arms in the air.
“What kind of a moron are you?”

“That’s a rhetorical question,
right?” I ask mildly.

“No, actually, it’s not. Didn’t you
just tell me this morning that you weren’t going to mess this up?”

 We’re sitting on the couch in
Laura’s living room. Jonathan is at the gym, and we have the place to
ourselves. Her hands have landed in her lap where they are now curled into
fists. Her narrowed eyes are making me feel about two inches tall.

“It just came out,” I explain.
“It’s true though. I’ve never left Tiger alone all night. When I go away, Mom
and Dad take him.”

“How did Ryan react?”

A smile curls my lips as I recall
our conversation in the parking lot. “He made fun of me, actually. He joked
about working Tiger up to it a few hours at a time.”