Chapter 4
At first, I’m not entirely sure what I am looking at. It’s a heart shaped glass bottle filled with all sorts of beach treasures. There are all kinds of shells, pieces of coral, small rocks, sea glass, driftwood and sand. The bottle has a wide opening that is filled with an odd cork and tied around the neck of the bottle is raffia and another piece of coral; it looks like it is strung on the raffia. It is so beautiful and simple; it reminds me of some great times, as well as some not so great times. The beach in a bottle, I can hardly believe the sentiment, it means so much to me. I carefully take the bottle out of the box and set it on the coffee table, turning it all around to see all the little pieces of the beach they could fit in this thing. Underneath the bottle is a note, well more like a letter and it is hand written. The signature grabs my attention first “Mystery Man”. I take out the letter and start to read it.
Abigail,
The very fact you are reading this letter tells me that you are at least interested in what I have to say. I hope the flowers this afternoon were not too much, I felt compelled to tell you what you meant to me and I know you haven’t been on the receiving end of roses in quite some time.
I am sure as you read this you are trying to figure out who I am, rest assured you DO know me and I obviously know you. I have tried to keep my distance from you both professionally and personally and let me tell you it is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life. From the moment I first met you I have dreamt about you, wished that I had been the one you met in college, the one you fell in love with, the one you made your life with and the one you would grow old with.
No woman I have ever been with has compared to you. Your kindness, your loyalty, your wicked sense of humor, your ability to light up any room you enter with just a smile. You set the bar so high; those poor girls never had a chance.
But over the past two years I have watched you lose yourself. Your laugh has faded, your carefree attitude has been replaced by this shell of a person you once were. I miss you Abigail. I know my gifts to you came as a shock, as well as my cryptic emails but I don’t think you are ready for me to love you yet. Just know that I am waiting for the right moment, and them I promise I will reveal myself to you. So for now, please enjoy the flowers and the beach, I hope it helps you to remember your dreams.
Love always,
Mystery Man
I can’t even move I’m just sitting on the couch holding his letter. I know him? Almost ten years, which puts me back to when I started at my job? I must work with him, but who? Well, we have about fifty people at our company and all of a sudden I can’t remember any of them. How many guys do we even have there? Okay he wrote ten years, so when I stared there were only about twenty of us. Ahh, I can’t remember anything. Well at least that explains the flower on my desk, and the fact he saw me ‘storm’ out of work or down the street or whatever he said.
I try to email him to thank him for the flowers and the beach bottle but after six attempts I give up; I can’t seem to find the words I want to say. I am no longer as concerned by the fact he knows all about me, I actually feel better knowing that I know him too. It is actually reassuring that I won’t have to explain my situation, a widowed mother to two young children. It’s like we would be starting on date four or six or however many dates it takes to drop the whole ‘I have two little boys and my husband recently passed away’ bomb. Seeing as I haven’t dated since college I don’t know the rules anymore.
Right then and there I know what I’m going to do, I decide I’m going to flush him out tomorrow at work. I head to my closet and grab the Hawaiian shirtdress I got on my honeymoon, my teal strappy espadrilles that wrap up my calf and for a small touch the pink hibiscus flower clip I got in Hawaii
***
Friday morning and I’m up at five am without any assistance from my alarm, I know I’m going to need every minute if I am going to pull this off. Suddenly I am so thankful Lisa and I never stopped our girl’s day out, regular Mani/Pedi’s. She is one of the only friends I’ve held onto these past few years, we met when I started at the company. She was a consultant for NS Turner and we worked close on several projects and needless to say we hit it off. Since then we have been attached at the hip, I can’t believe I haven’t told her about Mystery Man, I’ve been so caught up in this craziness I completely forgot, I’ll have to fill her in tomorrow.
My shower is lightening fast and I managed to get my hair dry and curled in record breaking time. My make up look today will be a little more natural looking, just the basics, foundation, blush, mascara and my favorite lip plumping gloss. Before I get dressed I grab my shimmer lotion and apply generously to my legs, arms and chest, basically anywhere skin will be showing. Then the outfit, I grab it from the closet and stared to get dressed. This dress is so perfect, it was a staple on my honeymoon and I don’t think I’ve worn it since then. It is a button down shirtdress that comes up just above my knees and has a standard collar. It has large teal hibiscus flowers with a black background and a tie belt that goes in front. I leave the first two buttons undone so I don’t look like a librarian, and get my shoes on. The hair clip slides perfectly above my right ear and I take a step back to check out this look. Not too shabby, Mystery Man will have a hard time not approaching today! Or will he? Either way, Hawaiian day is MINE!
Since I managed to pull myself together so quickly I start to get the boys stuff ready for the day, I have to pack up bathing suits so they can go run in the sprinklers, and of course a change of clothes for each of them. They always manage to get so dirty that the usually need to have two outfits a day. Then I get their baggies of cereal, Apple Jacks for Philip and Trix for Ben; orange juice in their cups to take to daycare, and lastly their ‘car toys’. I never understood why they needed toys on the car, it is only a five minute drive from our house, but that is one less argument I want to have in the morning. I sneak into their room just before 6:30 and they are already up. They are just lying on their beds, probably contemplating whether or not to get out of bed. I greet them with a bright smile and an exaggerated Good Morning.
“Hey guys, wakie wakie time!” one day they will hate this but for now they don’t seem to be bothered by incessant need to add an ie or a y to the end of most things I say to them. “Where are my sleepy pies?”
“Good Morning Mommy, did you have nice dreams?” Ben likes to say my lines before I do.
“Yes I did sweetie, how about you?”
“Well, I dreamed that we were swimming at the pool and Mr. Incredible was playing blay blay blades with us and you…” he stopped himself, thank goodness he has a wild imagination and a lot to say, this conversation will probably take the rest of the day. “I’ll be right back I have to go potty” as he bolts out the door.
“Good morning Sleepy Pie” I sit next to Philip and rub his back. He is awake but I don’t think he is very happy about it. “It’s time get up baby, what do you want to wear today?” I always ask him but he really isn’t a morning person…again except on Saturday and Sunday. “Okay, how about your penguin shirt? Is that okay, it’s going to be hot today.”
“Ok mommy, I love you” awe, he is so sweet.
“I love you too Philip”
As Ben runs back into the room I had just finished getting Philip ready. He is actually easy to get ready because he is so tired he doesn’t put up a fight. Ben on the other hand has an opinion about everything plus his insatiable need to get all of the words in his mind out at once makes mornings a struggle.
“Ben, what are you going to wear today?” I am afraid to ask.
“I don’t know, I want to wear pants and a sweater, I am so hot.” Haha, I know he gets them backwards every once in a while.
“You mean you are cold, right?”
“No I’m hot, I keep getting sweaty” He seems to be annoyed that I do not understand him this morning.
“Okay, but if you are hot I think you should wear shorts and a t-shirt, with your sandals. It is going to be hot today and I don’t think pants are a good idea.”
“Okay, you pick just no zippers or buttons”
“I know.” He is so picky, but that is one thing he really hates…zippers and buttons.
Even though that took a little more time than I was hoping we are still out the door and checking into daycare on time. Ali greets them warmly with a huge hug, I know they like it here because they talk about Ali all the time. ‘Ali knows ALL the colors’, ’Ali plays duck duck goose with us’, ‘Ali this and that’, I am grateful for her help and they are happy so I don’t mind hearing how awesome Ali is.
“Looking hot today Abby, got a hot date?” Ali whistles at me, shaking her hand like she just touched a hot plate.
“No, its Hawaiian day at work and this was all I could find.” Not really but she hasn’t seen my entire wardrobe.
“Sure it is” She winks as the words pour out of her like a snotty teenager. She is one of the only other people on the planet I know who uses sarcasm as much as I do.
“Well, it is supposed to be hot today and this was the best choice.” I have no idea why I am defending myself to her, she doesn’t care.
“Uh huh” She is shaking her head at me just like I would be if I saw this situation unfold before me.
“Whatever, I gotta go” She can think whatever she wants I have a mission today and I will not let her distract me. “Bye guys, I’ll see you later, have a good day and NO TIME OUTS!!! I love you!” I yell back as I head out the door.
***
I am at work before eight and start to unload my things. I decided to bring a few roses back to work and to help figure out who Mystery Man is I bring my new beach in a bottle and set it on a prominent place on my desk. Hopefully he will see it as a clue that I want to meet him, or re-meet him or know who he is or whatever it is when you are introduced to someone who “loves” you that you already know but didn’t know that fact…ugh, my head is starting to hurt from this. Lastly I grab my phone before I stow my purse in my file cabinet. I am surprised to see an email since I already checked before I got in the shower.
Abigail,
I hope you enjoyed the gift I sent to you yesterday. When I didn’t hear from you I thought you might have been upset and would never want to meet me, but I am choosing not to think that. I can assume that you now know we work together but don’t think for one minute that I am going to just swing by your cube and say hello. I told you that you weren’t ready and I meant it. Hope you have your best Hawaiian shirt on today, I know I will.
Always Yours,
Mystery Man
“Hello” I jump at the surprise, Carla has the best timing EVER.
“Hey Carla good morning, looking good but where are your coconuts?”
“HA HA!” she is not amused this morning, and since she made the trip to my desk she must have something important to say. “I wanted to tell you, you look hot today, you really are taking this whole Hawaiian thing to heart, maybe you should have brought your coconuts.” Oh, not what I expected to hear from her but I’ll take it.
“Thanks Carla, I saw this just sitting in my closet and thought it could use a day out.”
“Well then what’s up with the whole hair, flower, make-up and fun shoe thing you’ve got going on, were those just sitting in your closet too?” Is she mad at me?
“It’s kind of a look, what’s wrong, why are you giving me the third degree?”
“I don’t know you just never dress up. I think you are seeing someone and you just don’t want to tell me. I thought we were closer than that. I have seen you alone for too long now and now you are walking around here like you are on could nine, smiling, getting flowers, and what’s this?” She grabs the bottle on my desk.
“It’s the beach in a bottle.” I’m trying not to give anything away.
“Not just a bottle, it’s a heart shaped bottle and it’s the beach, kind of a big deal for you.”
“I just thought I’d bring something from home to make my desk a little nicer” she can’t know where or when I got this.
“Really, Abby please I have been here for four years now you have never cared about how your desk looks. It is always the same stapler, pen jar, calculator and your phone. It could be an empty desk and no one would know any different.” She takes a long breath. “Look, Abby if you are seeing someone I am happy for you I just thought, well I thought we were closer than this, that’s all.”
“I’m sorry Carla, but I really am not seeing anyone. The flowers were from a friend and the bottle was just sitting on my end table collecting dust. I am trying to wake up again, I have been lost for so long it was becoming easier to stay a drone” I hadn’t realized she cared this much, I really have been wrapped up in my own little world.
“Okay, I’ll accept your answer for now but I know something‘s up. By the way you really do look hot today!”
“Thanks lady, right back at ya!”
I am finally settled and checking my work email, a meeting request just popped up and it’s a mandatory all staff meeting in the conference room in ten minutes. Great, this will probably be some kind of lame motivational speech by Mr. Turner himself, he always goes on and on about how he built this company from the ground up and how it is all because of us and how we are the ones who drive the business, its probably true but it feels awkward. Or worse it will be Cindy from HR talking about how great we are all and that’s why they coordinated this Hawaiian day, she has the worst talking voice you’ve ever heard. She reminds me of Ben Stein, one tone, and no excitement but to top it all off she is unbearably quiet so it’s a struggle to hear her and then to listen to what she has to say. Either way I’m not too thrilled, the only plus side to this is that I will get to see everyone who works here; maybe I will catch Mystery Man staring a bit too long. I really should be letting time take its course, but I can’t help it, I am desperate to know who he is.
When I make it to the conference room it feels like I’m the last one in because everyone turns and looks at me, ‘What do I have something on my face or something?’ I grab a seat near the back mostly because I can’t take the stares. Luckily everyone goes back to their conversations and then Carla swoops in and takes the seat next to me.
“Why are you all the way back here? You can’t get a good look at Nick from this far away, isn’t he so sexy?”
“I thought you were engaged to Jake? Having a change of heart?” I know he is hot, I’m not dead but the way the girls around here act when he comes in the room is embarrassing.
“I can still window shop Abby, as long as I don’t try on the clothes!” she starts giggling and everyone looks at us again.
“Shut up, everyone is staring.” Really, like we haven’t been in here a hundred times before, why is everyone so interested all of a sudden?
“Who cares, let them stare. They are just jealous.” Okay she’s in rare form today, I’m hoping the meeting starts soon, I can’t deal with her like this.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning; let’s get this meeting started.” It is Mr. Turner; I wonder what we are going to hear today. He is a lot easier to listen to than Cindy but he comes with his own set of distractions. First he isn’t very old, I think maybe only five years older than me but he has accomplished so much already. He stared NS Turner & Associates just out of college because his own parents had been swindled out of their life savings from a ‘retirement planning firm’, he has told this story at least fifty times since I stared here. He loves his parents very much and that is obvious but the type of business he started always seemed different.
The company is a small financial advisor firm that helps clients with all aspects of estate and retirement planning. He didn’t want to just sell insurance and stocks; he wanted to be a one stop shop. One of the main things is asset allocation, he wanted to make sure people were taking the right amount of risk while still maintaining their portfolio, but that wasn’t what I liked about this place. NS Turner & Associates wants to give every person the chance to have a nice retirement; they offer debt counseling, real estate services, credit repair and of course they offer insurance products as well as stock brokers. It really is a great place to work, just as long as they aren’t trying to boost moral.
“During our first quarter earnings were up by…” This is about where I start to tune out, I do care about the company but I’d much rather get a memo about the numbers than have to sit here for an hour. Mr. Turner is an interesting guy, he stands over six feet tall, I think he is 6’3”. Even though he IS this company he doesn’t look the part, he is a bit laid back looking, he usually wears a white shirt with the first few buttons undone under his black blazer and black slacks, I’ve only ever saw him in a tie once at a Christmas party a few years back. He has dark brown hair is usually cut short so there is not much to get messy and his steel blue eyes, I find myself thinking about the first time I met him. During my interview, back then he insisted that he do all the hiring, he was writing feverishly in his notebook, glancing up only a few times to ask a question. His head was down but he only looked up when he asked me anything. I would say he was cold but thinking back to it he was just as nervous as i was. From then on he was busy all the time; he was growing a business after all.
“And to finish up our goals for the next quarter will be to…” I’m so over this meeting, I can’t even pay attention. Carla will have a recap from Mr. Turner to send out to all of us by lunchtime. So now I use this opportunity to scan my co-workers. The IT department is all guys; there are six of them, five guys on my team, four guys on the debt counseling team, another four in the real estate department, and six on the stock broker team. I think that narrows it down to half…damn, half of our staff is guys, the other half is women. This is going to be a bit harder than I originally thought.
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