Summer Swing (40 page)

“So you’re not planning on being with Gage at that point?” He studied me closely and then added, “Because I would assume that he’d be back for the holidays, too. And if you guys are still on, it’s probably not a good idea that I’m here, too.”

I shrugged and said, “I don’t know what to say, then.”

“It wouldn’t work, Ellie.”

“Yeah, I realize that.”

We were both quiet for a few seconds, and I was just starting to wonder if I had been kidding myself all this time. There was no way that I could be fully involved with Gage and have a friend like Tyse at the same time. If I were to make a couple of trips to California to see Tyse, and also have him visit for Christmas, Gage would have a cow. I couldn’t blame him for it either, could I? I didn’t believe I could ever get Gage to feel comfortable about Tyse.

“Well you’ve got my number, Ellie,”
he
finally said. “Let’s just start there I guess.
”

“I’m sorry
.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” he smiled. “Such is life. But if you find a weekend that you can come and see me, I’ll make it worth your while. And I’m not talking about crap like Sea World and Disneyland.”

I laughed. “But what if I want Sea World and Disneyland? I’ve never been to Sea World.”

“Well I’ll take you if I have to.”

“Actually do you know what I really want to do in California?”

“Hm
m
, what’s that?”

“I just want to sit on a warm beach. We don’t have
the same
beaches up here.”

“Sit on a warm beach, huh?”

“Yep, just sit on a beach. I could probably sit there all day and be content.”

“That’s a lifelong dream of yours?”

“Yes.”

He smiled a
nd
shook his head. “Well warm beaches aren’t anything new to me, but I think I’d like to sit on a warm beach with you. I’d be pretty content, too.”

And then we were back to the awkward silence. I hated that awkward silence, and it only seemed to make saying goodbye even harder. Nate had reappeared in the parking lot with what looked like a bag of jerky from the jerky shop around the corner. He kind of lingered for a while, keeping his distance and even ch
atting up someone that walked by
.

“Well I can’t do this anymore,” I finally admitted. “I should let you go so you can get some freeway under you. I hate goodbyes, and I would normally hug you, but I know hugging i
sn’t your thing, so I’ll just—
”

“What? Why isn’t hugging my thing?”

“Well, you were
freaked
out the last time I hugged you, so I just thought it wasn’t something you were comfortable with.”

He stared at me for a few seconds and then he kind of smiled. “You said you were a hugger, and then I never got a hug from you again.”

“I know, because I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“It
doesn’t make me
—” He stopped short and then sighed. “It just caught me by surprise, Ellie. And no, I’m not used to being hugged, but I did like it. It was nice being hugged by you,” he smiled again.

I didn’t know what to say but I did
return the
smile. We were back to that awkward silence
again,
until Tyse
took the
paper
bag from my hands and set it on the hood of the car. Then
he
stepped toward me and gathered me in his arms. I wrapped my arms around his waist and laid my face against his shoulder, relishing my last few moments with him.

“You smell really good,” I murmured against him.

“So do you,” he replied. “Like oranges or something.”

“I was really tired this morning. Citrus is supposed to be uplifting, but I don’t think it worked this time.”

“You didn’t sleep good last night?”

“No, not really—”

“Ellie! Bob Howard is on the phone for you!” Beth exclaimed from the door to the building.

I very reluctantly pulled away from Tyse and smiled at him sheepishly.

“I guess this is it, then,” he said with a slight frown.

“Ellie, Doug is looking for you, too!” Beth hissed dramatically.

Great, if the boss was on the hunt…

“I’m sorry, Tyse—”

“It’s work, don’t
be sorry
.”

I slightly nodded and he gave me one last hug. “Take care of yourself, okay? Try not to do too much.”

“
Hmph
.
”

“Yeah,” he replied knowingly, pulling away to look at me. “Just at least call and let me know how you’re doing, okay?”

“Okay,” I nodded.

H
e handed me
my lunch and said,
“Bye, Ellie.”

I couldn’t even respond, so I just gave him a wave and headed into the building
after Beth. She motioned to the phone on hold, so I just took the call right there so Bob didn’t have to wait any longer. Between watching Tyse get into the car with Nate, Doug entering the lobby to talk to me, and managing a phone call at the same time, I hardly had a chance to let my emotions settle too deep.

As soon as I got off the phone with Bob, Doug eagerly asked, “Well?”

“He’s in.”

“He’s in? He’s
in
?
Yes
!
” he added with a fist pump. “Nice job, Ellie. So you said Friday… He agreed to coming in on Friday?”

“Yep.”

“Wow, this is big,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “Bob Howard as a guest on the afternoon show… I can’t even wait.”

“He said he’d consider getting us in touch with a couple of his major clients if he liked his experience.”

“Are you kidding me? I couldn’t even guess who it might be, but any one of them would be huge. Bob represents the largest…”

I tuned him out by then, glancing into the
paper bag
that
Tyse
had
left me
with
. Yeah, I knew the numbers on Bob Howard because I’d done the research myself. All Doug ever talked about was the big names in the industry. Sometimes it got annoying because there were so many other artists that I thought would be great to have on the show, not just the ones that were the most exposed already. But I knew how it worked, and getting Bob Howard to our radio station was pretty huge.

“Ellie, I want you to personally see to every need that Mr. Howard has while he’s here on Friday. I want him to have the food he likes, and any other comforts that
he
deems necessary.”

“
Okay.”

“And I want you to meet with me tomorrow so I can approve it.”

“Sure thing.”

He left after a decisive nod, and I remained alone in the room with Beth.

“Wow, Ellie. How’d you get Bob Howard requesting to talk to
you
?”

“I met him last year at the Portland Fashion Show. He agreed to a brief phone interview while he was in town, but then he ended up having to leave early before we could make it happen.”

“So how’d you get him to come into the studio?”

“I heard he was in town for a couple of weeks, so I found a way to get a hold of him again. After the message I left for him, I guess he decided to call back.”

“What was the message you left?”

“Just reminded him that I was the one that suggested
Benny’s
.
I know he ate there because I called
Charles—the owner—t
o make sure, and
he
said
that Bob loved it. A
nd then I just added that I would love to try the phone interview again.”

“And he called and said he’d
come in
instead?”

“Yep. That was my hope.”

“Wow, you’re good,” she smiled.

“Behind the scenes… I guess that’s where I belong.”

“For now,” she frowned.

With a shrug I said, “Anyway… I’m gonna
have
lunch at my desk.”

“Did Tyse bring that for you?” she smiled. “What is it?”

“Uh, I think it’s a sandwich and a salad.”

“Ah, he’s so sweet. He didn’t kiss you. I was waiting for him to kiss you.”

I stared at her with disbelief. “You were watching us?”

“What else am I supposed to do?”

“Answer phones and stuff.”

“I did. Bob called. And I think Tyse is just really shy. You should have made the first move, Ellie.”

“
Wh
—? I don’t—
” I sighed. “Tyse is just a friend of mine. I already have a boyfriend. Well, kind of,” I added quietly.

“Gage? Gage doesn’t come visit you at work. And he’s never brought you lunch before.”

“He’s been here before.”

“Once.”

I shrugged. “He had stuff to do during the day.”

“Didn’t you say that Gage and Tyse were on the same team? Didn’t they have the same schedule?”

“Well
,
Gage has family around here. He’s got people he knows and other things he could do. I never expected him to bring me lunch at work.”

“But Tyse did, and that was really sweet. I mean Gage was nice,
that one time he came in
,” she emphasized.

I rolled my eyes.

“But if you’re not seeing Gage on a regular basis anymore, I don’t understand why you don’t consider Tyse. He obviously really likes you.”

“We’re good friends.”

“
Sure, whatever.”

“What?”

She shrugged. “What else can he be with you when you’ve got Gage you always talk about? I’m sure if Gage were out of the picture, Tyse would jump at the chance to make you his girlfriend.”

I shook my head in disagreement, but Beth was just like Dawn, and she was very stubborn with her opinions.
“I
guess it doesn’t matter anyway
,” I decided to say. “He’s headed home to California and I’m sure I won’t see him for a long time.”

“And now you’re heartbroken,” Beth stated. I fumbled for a reply but she added, “Just look at you. You’re staring
at
a bag of food like you want to hold it tight or something.”

I chuckled. “I am not. I’m just tired today. I feel like I’m in a daze.”

“Well go eat then. Go enjoy your Tyse Special.”

She motioned me out of the lobby so I just smiled and left for my desk. When I pulled out the sandwich roll and a container of Greek salad, I noticed a note at the bottom of the bag. It read:
I’m not sure if you’ve reviewed this restaurant, but it’s a little shop near the baseball fields. I liked it, so I thought you might, too. –Tyse

It hadn’t been a restaurant I’d been to, so I was pretty pleased with the surprise. But as I enjoyed my lunch, I didn’t enjoy the feelings of emptiness that I felt otherwise.

Chapter Twenty-Three

I loved fall in the northwest. There’s something about
all of the
ever
green being drastically complimented by the deciduous trees turning yellow and orange. When the weather starts cooling down, a bright sunny day is one of my favorite parts of the year. Besides, to me fall signified that snowboarding season was right around the corner.

Before Gage
went back to Eastern, he decided that
our relationship meant more to him than he thought, and he pretty much begged for me to forgive him for being such a jerk. We did talk about it quite a lot—that Wednesday night he arrived in town—and I felt like he’d finally opened up completely about the struggles he was going through with his family.
The death of his father really had changed a part of him, as did his difficulties with his mom, and I told myself to accept the fact that he might not ever be the same guy I fell in love with. For the most part he was, but every now and then I could tell that he was still affected by the changes in his life. And even though there were a few moments where I felt really frustrated with something that he would say or do, he still treated me as well as he always had.
We ended up having a great week together, and it was really hard when he left for school.

For most of September we talked on the phone every day. I spent a weekend with him, and he came back for a weekend with me. It was
partly
a long distance relationship, but we were committed to making it work.

October seemed to be a different story. I got tied up with work the first weekend that I was supposed to visit Gage. I planned on making the trip the next weekend to make up for it, but Gage had a fall baseball clinic that he was attending, and he said he’d be pretty busy. When his weekend
to visit me
came around, he got sick with the flu. I volunteered to drive all the way to Eastern, just to bring him some chicken noodle soup, but he said he didn’t fe
el like seeing anybody, not even me
. He did come the next weekend though, for Halloween, and we had a really great time at a party a friend of mine was hosting.