Page 7 of Forever Love-Reimagined

“I’ll have a bacon cheeseburger and fries with sweet tea. Thank you,” Steph replied with a smirk.

The lawyer in me wanted to point out that she should be more worried about eating like a raccoon raiding a dumpster, but I didn’t want to bring the conversation back. She had said what she did, and I needed to let it go. Life was short, and getting upset over something trivial didn’t matter.

I was here to work on things with her, and I needed to remember that. As I stared into her blue eyes, my heart softened. Steph was gorgeous. She had beautiful dark-red hair and a long, lean body that people, such as myself, would spend hours in the gym for. She had a lot going for her in that department, but I needed something deeper.

We hadn’t gotten to that part of the relationship yet. Most of our interactions seemed more physical than emotional, and if she was “the one,” I needed both. At least, I thought I did.

“So, I’m glad we could do this today. We haven’t spent much time together recently, and I’ve missed you.” With me at the office over fifty hours a week and her pursuing her career of the moment, which at last check was a “social influencer,” we didn’t see each other all that much.

“You don’t seem like you miss me. You practically live at work.”

I didn’t understand why she was being combative. Had I done something to upset her? Was she aware of my doubts about us? There was no way. I didn’t even know I was having doubts until I talked to Ty today.

“I realize I have been busy getting ready for my new promotion, but I’m hopeful things will slow down now.” I reached for her hand, and she surprisingly gave it to me. “I’m trying to secure our future, so I have put in the work now.” Even though I wasn’t sure if she was my future, I needed to include her in my choices because she was my present.

“We don’t live in the future, Blake. I’m right here, and you’re ignoring me.”

Ouch. I never meant to ignore her. I worked a lot, but I always tried to give her attention when we were together.

“I’m sorry I made you feel that way. I want to be better.”

She pulled her hand back and crossed her arms. I wasn’t sure why my apology caused her to put up her walls, but obviously, I was going about this the wrong way.

“Let’s do something together. Anything you want. I can call off the rest of the day, and we can go shopping or hang out.” I smiled hopefully, but from her expression, it seemed like it might have been a little too late.

“I already have plans today. I didn’t think you could take off. Especially not on the first day of your ‘promotion.’” Why she put that in finger quotes, I didn’t understand.

“You’re right. I probably shouldn’t do that. But if it made you realize how much I cared about you, I would.” It was like I was fighting a losing battle here. I wasn’t even sure things would work out for us today, let alone for the party at the end of the week. “But since you’re already busy now. What if you come to the office party with me on Saturday?”

She stared at me with softer eyes and lowered her arms. “What’s the party for?” She sounded interested, which seemed like a good sign.

“It’s a team morale thing I have to attend, but maybe it could be fun? We could get dressed and then go out after, too. It can be our date night.” Somewhere along the line, I lost her. I watched as her face went from “maybe” to “hell no” in a matter of seconds.

“So, our date night is a mandatory thing? I think I’ll pass.”

I rubbed my forehead in frustration. Everything I tried to say was coming out wrong. What was I supposed to do? Why was I like this? Why was she like this? Were we destined to break up?

“The date isn’t an obligation—the party is. But if you want to skip the party and go out with me after, that’s okay, too. Steph, can’t you see I’m trying? I had no idea you felt so abandoned by me.” Was this what I wanted? Did I want a relationship that made me believe I was the biggest fuck-up of all time?

But when I looked into her eyes, I wasn’t ready to give up. “I promise to make time for you. I’m sorry if I let you down before, but now that I understand where you’re coming from, I can do better.” I reached for her again, and she reluctantly took my hand.

“I’m sorry to be so needy. But do you realize how long it’s been since we’ve been close?”

Was it me, or did she say close like she meant more than that? Was she talking about sex? We were consistent with sex, weren’t we? When was the last time… Oh, shit. Had it been that long? I needed to remedy that. I didn’t want us to be roommates, but that was kind of where we were headed. Most nights, I was lucky if she was awake when I crawled into bed.

“How about, after work tonight, we have quality time? I’ll be home before dinner, and we can do anything you want.”

She scrolled through her phone. “My shift isn’t over until seven, but we could do a late dinner.”

“Oh? I didn’t realize influencers had shifts.”

“Didn’t I tell you? I switched jobs a couple of days ago,” she said casually, and I wondered when the last time was that we had spoken about our lives. How did someone forget to mention something so important? “I’m working at the cosmetic counter at Nordstrom. This could be my calling.” At least she seemed enthusiastic about this new line of work, and I hoped it panned out for her. It would be nice if she had a stable job.

“That’s awesome. I wish you would have told me when it happened. We could have celebrated. But maybe that’s what we’ll do tonight. Would you like to go out? Or stay in?”

“I’ll probably be tired. I’m not used to being on my feet all day. So, staying in would be fine. And we don’t have to do anything special. I’m just really excited to do something I love.”

I understood that all too well. My job was the most important thing to me. At least, it was before Steph. Now that I was with her, I needed to make her my top priority. After all, she was the first person who ever made me consider taking time from work, so that had to mean something.

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