Reaching Out for You (28 page)

I take another
sip of my coffee and look at the clock. It is almost time to take out the
muffins. I get up and walk over to the kitchen. “Morning,
Soph
,”
Connor says while yawning.

“Morning sleepy head, hungry?”
I ask him.

Connor throws
his arms around me. “Oh thank God you’re home.” He kisses my forehead. “I miss those
cooking skills.”

“
Erin
can cook too!” I put my arms around his
waist and hug him.

“Yeah but not
like you.”

I shake my head
and break away from him. “Where’s
Erin
?”
“She went back to her dorm last night. She has an early class and didn’t want
to wake me up.” I pour a cup of coffee for him. “So
Florida
was good?”

I take another
sip. “Good.” I start smiling.

“Well I’m glad
to see you happy,
babygirl
. You both deserve it.”

“Thanks honey.
Yeah I am happy. I’m glad things are going good.” I take out the tray of
muffins and see Connor’s mouth drop. “You have to wait until these are cooled
down a little.”

He shakes his
head. “Woman, give me a muffin now.”

I laugh aloud
again and carefully take out one of the muffins to give to him. “You’re such a
brat Connor!”

“Funny,
Soph
.” He peels back the wrapper and his eyes grow wide. I
laugh to myself. He looks like a little boy in a candy store. “Alright I got to
get ready,” he says with a mouthful of food.

I throw a towel
at him, “
Ew
! Just go!”

After a few moments,
Adam is up and dressed for work. He looks great in his black suit, blue button
down and black tie. “Morning baby,” he greets me.

“Morning
handsome.
You look
nice.” I give him a quick kiss and taste his
minty
breath.
“Busy day?”

“Very. But so
will you.” I look at him questionably. Adam places his hands on my shoulder and
smiles. “You, my stubborn girlfriend, are going to be doing some research and
analyzing for me.”

At this point, I
have to pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming. “Huh?”

“I know that you
wanted to be on the marketing side of the company but I think that you and I
should work together to launch these products. I’ve seen your work and I like
how you can figure out the reports fast.”

I am shocked.
This is really happening! “So am I going into the office with you?”

“Not yet baby. I
want you to do everything from home for now on the laptop and video conference
with me if you have any questions.”

I sigh. I knew
he was holding something back. “Well at least it is better than nothing.” I
jump in his arms and kiss his cheek. “Thanks Adam.”

“I’m glad you
like my idea. Now be good today and do not give Connor too many issues.
Remember; call me if you need me ok?” He gives me a tender kiss and squeezes me
to his chest. “I love you baby.”

“Wait Adam,
Connor’s staying with me? Don’t you need him?” I feel bad keeping Connor with
me.

Adam smiles
“Don’t worry sweetheart. I have Olivia at the office to help me. I love you.”
He gives me another kiss.

“I love you too.
Have a good day.”

“You too,” He
gives me one final kiss.

He leaves for
work and it is just Connor and I in the apartment. I start to clean up the
kitchen and straighten out the place. My mind goes back to the name Olivia. Who
is she I wonder. I run to Connor’s room and jump on his bed.

“Woman, are you
crazy? I could be naked.” He laughs.

“I don’t care!”
I grab Connor and start shaking him like a mad woman. “Who is Olivia?” My voice
is full of jealousy and suspicion.

Connor has a
weird expression on his face and then he bursts out laughing. “Are you jealous,
my little Sophia?”

“Screw you,
Connor.” I take a pillow and hit him multiple times. As he laughs, it fuels my
anger and annoyance.

“
Soph
!
Ok!” He gets up and grabs my shoulders. “Olivia’s his new assistant. She is nice
and he needed someone. But come on you don’t have to worry.”

“Well, I am. Get
dressed! We’re on a mission!” I get off his bed and head to the bathroom to
shower and freshen up. I take out my phone and send him a quick text:

Me: Have a great
day! I miss you xo

I smile when I
press the send button and slide my phone back in my pocket. After my shower, I
go back to our room. While going through my things, I find the digital camera
Adam bought me while we were in
Miami
. I turn it on and wait for it to load. I
have not had a chance to look through the pictures until now. Once the camera
loads, I click through each picture and start to sigh. We were so happy in
Miami
, leaving behind all the drama. I stop at
a picture that he took while we were on the beach while the sun was setting.
The sky filled with beautiful colors and the water was calm. Adam has a big
smile on his face and there is love in both of our eyes. I want to print out
the picture and put it in a frame. I instantly get an idea. I quickly get dressed
and call for Connor. I slip on my flats and head out the door while pulling on
Connor’s arm. Instead of taking the elevators, we go down the stairs.
Excitement runs through me as I think about what I am going to do for Adam. I
want to give him everything he deserves and he deserves me to give him my
heart. I want him to know how much I love him and want to be with him. While
going down the stairs I feel my phone vibrate. I take it out and read the text
message.

Adam: Hi baby. I’m in meetings all day.
Can’t wait to see you tonight.
I’ll see you later. I love
you and
be
good.

I smile to
myself and put my phone back in my pocket. When we get outside, I let go of
Connor’s arm and follow him to the SUV. “Thanks for doing this Connor,” I hop
in the car and we head to the store.

“No problem
crazy.” He gives me a sly smile and we start driving.

When we get to
the store, Connor stays by my side not letting me out of his sight. I drop off
my memory card to the photo department and head over to find the perfect
picture frame. As I am looking through each one, I look over at Connor. “Do you
really think I’m crazy?”

He looks up with
me not sure how to answer the question. “
Ummm
…you can
be but I say that with so much love.” He looks at me and winks. I slap his arm
and he pouts. We go down the home goods aisle and I start browsing for the
perfect picture frame. Connor stops me and turns me around, “
Soph
?”

I look up at
him, “Yeah?”

“Don’t run away
anymore. Adam was pretty fucked up when you left him again. I don’t think he
can handle you leaving him anymore.”

I think about
what Connor is saying and know how right he is. I have left Adam so many times
already and I am tired of playing with fate. If I lose him, I will not know
what to do. I cannot do that to him again. Adam deserves better. He deserves my
whole heart and soul. I finally find the perfect frame. It is a silver frame
and the quote seems to fit our relationship. “I loved you yesterday. I love you
still. I always have. I always will.” I fall instantly in love with the frame
and know I have to purchase it. I look over at Connor and he gives me thumbs
up. We walk back to the photo department to pick up the pictures and pay for
the merchandise. Before I can give the cashier my credit card, Connor steps in.
“What are you doing?” I ask annoyed.

“Oh this,” he
says while waving the credit card in the air. “This, my dear, is power. Adam
doesn’t want you paying for anything.” He hands the black Visa credit card to
the cashier.

“Well I am
certainly not going to let you pay.”

“You aren’t.
This is his card for you.” My mouth drops. Why is he always doing these things
for me? “Don’t worry
babygirl
. Adam wants you to be
happy.”
“I look like a gold digger Connor.”

He shakes his
head, “Nonsense.”

After the
cashier swipes the card and hands it back to Connor, he hands it to me. “This
card doesn’t have a limit and he would like you to use it for all your
purchases.”

This is crazy. I
did not want Adam to pay for everything. I know he has money but to have a
limitless credit card is unheard of. “I can’t do this Connor.”

“Sophia.” Connor
takes my hand as we walk out. “Do this for him. He wants to make you happy and
if this is how, then let him. Like I told you before, he is madly in love with
you and I’ve never seen him this happy until you.”

I simply nod my
head. The fact that Adam would do all these things for me is great but I don’t
want anyone to think I am just with him for the money. I’m not a gold digger
and don’t want to appear that way. I want to talk to Adam about this credit
card but I think about what Connor said. It is good to be taken care of, but I
don’t want to lose all my independence.

I take out the
pictures from the envelope and find the one with us on the beach. I look at it
again and smile. Adam is my world and I have to keep remembering that. I slide
the picture into the frame and take one last look. I know he is in meetings all
day, so I just plan on going into his office and putting the frame on his desk.
I start thinking about the future again and imagine how our life will be. I
think about us as a family going down to
Florida
, spending our summers there. Adam can
provide a safe and wonderful life for me but I know that our love will never
die.

When we get to
the office, I look up at the building and am amazed. The building is huge with
at least twenty floors. The sliding glass door opens and when we step inside
there is a contemporary feel to it. The colors are neutral and there are people
all over. “Is this building just for
Optimax
?”

Connor puts his
arm around my shoulder and leads me to the receptionist. “Yes it is. Each
department has their own floor and there are twenty-five floors.”

We head to the
receptionist to check in. She is a young girl in her early twenties with short
brown hair and brown eyes. She is tall and has amazing tastes in clothes. The
simple black dress paired with a white cardigan and black stilettos. “Good
morning, Mr. Simpson. How can I help you?”

“Hey
Liz, just here to see Adam.”

She gives us
both a smile and wishes us a good day.

We ride the
elevator to the top floor and step out. I follow Connor over to Adam’s office
and take everything on this floor in. There are cubicles all over and the room
is buzzing with commotion. A few people turn and look at me. I wonder if they
know who I am.

Connor points to
an office and lets me go. “Here’s his office Sophia. I’ll wait for you here.”

“Ok, I shouldn’t
be long.”

“Take your time.
I’ll let Olivia know you’re going in.”

I make a mental
note to make sure I get to meet this Olivia person. Something about her did not
sit right with me. I feel bad thinking so negatively of her but I do not like
how some young girl is working for
my
boyfriend. I know I am being a
jealous freak but I don’t care.

I see Adam’s
office door and start to get nervous. I have never done anything remotely
romantic before. Kyle wasn’t a big fan of romance and I hope I wasn’t doing too
much. I slowly open the door and go inside. His office is massive. He has a TV
mounted on the wall and a mini bar in the corner. His desk is rather large as
well with two laptops and a desktop. His desk is neat with papers and folders
in neat piles. There are a few pictures on his desk and I go over to look at
them. There is one with him, Connor and their parents. The next one is of
Connor and Adam when they graduated high school and the other one is of me on
the beach the last time we went to
Florida
. I pick up the picture and carefully
look at it. I am sitting on a towel with my aviator sunglasses smiling. I
remember that day. It was the last time we went to
Florida
with my mom. I cannot believe he has
this picture of me. I touch my heart and it all hits me. He is my always and
I’m his forever.