Here at Last (10 page)

“It starts at eight.
” I hesitated, adding,
“
It’s formal.
”
I didn’t know if he
had
any
thing to wear.

He shrugged.
“Great
.
Why don’t I
pick you up around
six
and take you
out for
dinner? We can go to the party from there.” Just then, Margaret made her way back to the table.

“Okay,” I said, not sure what I had just gotten myself into. “I’ll email you
with
the details.”

“
Good
.
Then, i
t’s a date.” He
smiled and
kissed me on the cheek before excusing himself to
return
to his sister, who was waiting for him at their table.

Margaret looked at me with wide eyes and asked, “Who in the world is that?”

“JT Knight,” I said as calmly as I could.

“
The
JT
Knight?” she asked.

Turning to her, I asked,
“What
do
you mean
the
JT Knight?”
trying
to
willfully erase the red from my face.
JT was pretty well known in our line of work, and I should have expected that she might know who he was. Besides, there were those company rumors….

Peter
sat back down at the table.
“
What about JT Knight?” he asked.

Margaret
motioned toward JT, who was
just sitting down at
the table
that
he shared with his sister. She
said, “
He’s
bringing
Sophia
to
the
holiday
party next weekend.”

“
Excellent
! 
How do you know Knight?” he asked.

“We
worked together in San Diego. I helped
him
set up
the
lab
there
.”

Margaret raised her eyebrows
, and I became serious
.
I didn’t want them thinking that I
’d ever
had a relationship with anybody
at work
.
“No,” I
shook my head
. “Never.”

She got the message
and changed the subject. After a round of tapas, we decided to clear out and let someone else have our table. I glanced back toward JT’s table, but he was listening to his sister and did
n’t
notice our departure.

We put on our coats as we move
d
toward the
exit
and felt
a bla
st of cold
wind
come in when the next set of patrons opened
the door
. I felt a shiver run
down
my spine as I wrapped my scarf over my head and tied it under my chin, put on my black gloves, and buttoned my coat all the way to the top. We stepped out
side
and
said goodnight before making
our way to our cars
. As I drove
home
,
I was so focused on
hoping
that
the heat
er
would
start working quickly
that the thought of JT fell from my mind
.

Chapter
1
2

The next morning, I awoke with the sun streaming across my bed. I closed my eyes and remembered the times that I had seen Him
–
some
version
of
Nicholas
– and how
he had
unwittingly
affected the direction of my life. What role he would play from this point forward was unknown.

And JT? I couldn't believe that I had run into him the previous evening
.
Given our last conversation, I wondered if he was still a fortress
. I
also
wondered if it was a mistake to
have
invite
d
him to the
holiday
party
. H
owev
e
r, he
'd only be in town
over the holidays
. What could it hurt?

I got out of bed
and
showered
.
Then,
I
began
dressing
for work
and thought better of it
,
deciding
to
telecommute instead
.
I had a lot of paperwork to do and was always more productive working out of my own office. I had gotten as far as pearls and a
chestnut
blouse when I decided to work from home so I threw on some blue jeans and
ankle-high brown boots with heels and
opened my
laptop c
omputer.

While
the computer was waking
up,
I decided to make some tea
and find something to eat
. I scrounged around in the fridge and came up with
organic
apples and almond
butter
before pouring
a cup of tea and return
ing
to the computer.
M
y cell phone
lay nearby with its
green
light flashing.
As it turned out,
I
had
two text messages – one from Rhonda and
the other
from
Nicholas
.

Rhonda wanted to
know
my holiday plans.
None.

Nicholas
asked if I wanted to have dinner tonight. Apparently, the message
had
c
o
me
in
the previous evening
, but I hadn’t checked my phone
since I had left work yesterday
.

I used the voice dictation on my smart phone
to type.
Sorry for the late reply. I just checked my phon
e. Are you still up for dinner?

A few minutes
later, I received a response.
Six o’clock?

Sure.
What can I bring?

Nothing. Are you okay with veggie burgers?

I smiled.
Love them.

I
put
down my phone and turn
ed
my attention to my computer where I downloaded email. Despite spam filters, I always ended up with a fair share of junk mail
, which
I deleted before focusing on the real
stuff
.
There was
a
n
ew
email from JT.

Sophia
–
I
t was great seeing you last night. San Diego w
asn’t the same after you left
nine months ago
. I’m
really
l
ooking for
ward to
spending some time with
you on Saturday.
Meanwhile, have a great week. – JT

I didn’t know
what to
expect
from JT but
assumed
that
I would find out
the following weekend
. I
sent a quick note to him with the details of the
holiday
party before answering
a few other emails.

The remainder of the day
was
spent getting ahead on paperwork for Hastings. I finished up early and decided to start on my taxes. I
devoted
the next few hours
to
developing a spreadsheet with all of my
expenses
from January
through November and putting all of my receipts in order. It would make tax time much easier.

Feeling pleased with myself, I wrapped up
just before
five
o’clock
,
checked
my
emails, and call
ed
Neelie
.
There is a real value to the very few friends in our lives who
truly
understand
us
. F
or me, Neelie was one of them. Like me, s
he had grown up in a
n upper
middle-class
New Jersey family. She’d
followed her career in advertising until she fell in love with a marketing director, married, and stopped working for a few years to have and raise babies.
When
she
went
back
to
work
,
she loved it and was
excited to
spend her days with grownups again
. She was funny and spontaneous and clever, and we always laughed a lot together. She was one of those friends with whom I just clicked.

When I called her, she w
ould be finishing up her work day in New York. I hadn’t told anyone else about having met Nicholas or about running into JT and
wanted to share it with someone
.

“Hey, girlfriend,” s
he answered
.

I hear
d a lot of
noise in the background and laughed.
“It sounds like you decided to hit happy hour
a little
early today
.”

“That’s right. Hold on,
Sophia
, let me step outside so I can hear you.” I heard the crowd
fade into the distance
as she moved away from it and stepped outdoors. “Just make it fast,” she said.
“
It’s freezing out here!
”

Without missing a beat, I said, “JT Knight’s in town. I’m taking
him
to the
holiday
party next weekend.”

“
You’ve got to be kidding
!
I want to hear the story behind this.”

“There’s no
story. I ran into him at
a
ta
p
as
bar last night.
Before I could think about it,
I asked him to
the party.
H
e seems… a
little different
than he did before
.
Warmer somehow.
But that’s not why I called.” I could hear her teeth starting to chatter. “I’ll make it quick. I met Him.”

“No. Wait. Him Him?”

“Him H
im. I’m having dinner at his place tonight. I know you’re
cold
so I’ll
let you go. I’ll call you later.”

“Wait!
Call me when you get home tonight. I
want
to hear all of this.”

“Okay. Get back inside before you freeze.”

“It’s too late for that. Call me later
Sophia
.
I mean it!
”

I
agreed
,
and
we
hung up.
Then,
I grabbed my purse, dropped my cell phone in
side
,
and
threw on
the heaviest coat
that
I had. I decided to
switch out my shoes for a pair of tall
brown
boots so
ran into my bedroom
,
sliding my feet into them and
zipping them up in the back. I dropped my blue jean legs over them and ran out
into the hallway
where I
caught the elevator down to the parking garage
.





Driving in rush hour, it took me a little while to make my way out of the city and into the suburbs. Finally
, I pulled up in front of
Nicholas
’s townhouse.
He opened the front
door
right
before I got to it,
and
I
was happy to
walk into the foyer
where
it
was warm. The temperature was dropping quickly, and it felt like it was in the teens.