Page 22 of Return on Love

The next day, I book my ticket to New York to meet the third company. It’s actually a division in a large tech company. They come out with one game and one upgrade to older games every year. Their latest game is a strategy game that can be played alone with AI or as a multiplayer. Their games are expensive and the target audience differs from MooreGames’ target. Nevertheless, it’s a pleasant relief getting away from Ryan’s office for a day.

My return flight is late in the evening, so I sit in a café after the meeting and think of my next course of action. How do I do my job if he doesn’t want to meet me? Can I email him my thoughts? Why not? So I spend the rest of the day typing out a detailed email where I tell him why his games suck. I list out how they lack innovation, character detail, storyline. They’re mostly just rip-offs of their first few games. It’s so much easier to type out your thoughts than actually utter them out loud. Satisfied, I press send before I change my mind.

I reach Boston later in the night and decide to sleep in a little on Friday morning. It’s not as if anyone cares whether I reach my desk on time. I check my email. His Highness hasn’t even replied to my email. Not even acknowledged it. Well, what did I think? That he’ll send me a thank you note? Pah! I drink some coffee and eat an apple before walking to the office. As I step inside, I see Gabriel.

“Mornin’, Eva. You threw some nuclear bomb, I heard.” He chuckles and scampers off to his office.

Puzzled by his statement, I enter my cabin and through the glass wall, I see two coders staring daggers at me. What’s happening here? I call up Nora to ask if I’ve missed something.

She comes over and peeps inside my room.

“Hey. What’s happening here? Why are people behaving so funny?”

“Don’t know the deets, but I heard you blasted the coders’ work, and that you didn’t have the courage to do it face to face but did it over email, and then you ran off without showing your face.”

“What?” That’s quite a bit of information without deets.

“That’s what I heard. Maybe it’s a prank. You should tell Ryan if it wasn’t you.”

My face flushes a little. “I sent an email to Ryan, not the team. And I didn’t run off. I was in New York yesterday. For work.” Did the bugger forward my email to his entire team? How ridiculous.

Nora’s eyes widen a little. Then she purses her lips. “Oh! Well, I’m sure you have your reasons. Plus, these people need to know the truth about their games. I’m rooting for you. Cya later.”

Gabriel comes over later. “Ryan wants to meet you at 3:30, if you’re free.”

“I am,” I say. I can’t help giving a smug smile. That nasty email is what it took for Ryan to finally meet me.

I discuss a couple of things with Gabriel before he stands up to leave. “So, are you coming to Steve’s wedding this weekend?”

Steve is a coder. I don’t know him, like at all. Haven’t ever spoken to him even, thanks to Ryan. Moreover, he hasn’t invited me to his wedding, so no, I’m not going. Plus, if Ryan did forward my email to his team, I have a feeling they might not appreciate my presence. I don’t feel like giving this long-drawn explanation to Gabriel, so I just shake my head in response.

“Lemme know if you change your mind. We’ll be leaving right after work. Plan to have a small party at Cape Cod Mall, and then we’ll take a ferry to Nantucket tomorrow morning. That’s where the wedding is. Some cozy beachfront property. It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah. I’ve made plans with my brother. We don’t meet that often, so I want to use this opportunity to spend time with family,” I lie through my teeth without even a flinch. Lily would be proud. I hope he doesn’t tell Ryan, who might know that Alex will be back only late Saturday night. But chances of that are minimal. Why would His Highness talk about me?

“As you wish,” Gabriel says and leaves the room. “I’ll let Ryan know that you’ll be meeting him.”

I have a quick lunch with Nora. She’s super excited about the wedding. Not that she likes Steve much. She doesn’t. Steve is like a quiet mouse who no one seems to notice. But she’s excited to go to Nantucket and more excited to wear her new dress. I’m only partly listening to her. She mentions that they’ll be leaving around 4pm.

“So all of you going together?” I ask, as my stupid brain tries to imagine Ryan in a smart blue suit.

She nods. “All except Ryan. He has some meetings in the evening. He said he’ll try to come tomorrow.”

I wait anxiously for 3:30 and I’m outside his office right on time, only to find him missing. What is with this man never being on time for my meetings?

I spot him with the coding team in another room. Well, no big deal. I calm myself down and sit on a chair in a small room near his office. Ten minutes go by, and then fifteen. I walk by their meeting room, hoping he’ll remember our scheduled meeting if he sees my face. I see they’ve opened a pack of doughnuts and are gorging themselves. Ryan glances outside and sees me. Worse, instead of coming out, he shows me the doughnut he’s eating. Like lifts his arm up and waves it a little. What the hell? They’re partying while I’m waiting like a fool. What kind of office is this?

I stomp back to my tiny room, imagining landing a punch to Ryan’s gut. His perfect muscular abs. I wonder if he has six packs. I think he does, though I hope he doesn’t. Wait… what am I thinking? I wanted to punch him and hurt him, not marvel at his physique. I’m going insane, and Ryan is to blame for my insanity.

It’s almost 4 when I hear loud sounds in the usually quiet office. The team is leaving, and Ryan is seeing them off, hugging Steve and saying something which makes everyone break into a boisterous laugh. Yeah. Be cool, Ryan. That’s who you are with other people—cool and fun. I wait for everyone to leave. Ryan goes back to his cabin. I give him five minutes, wondering if he’ll call me or come over to apologize. He doesn’t. I feel like barreling out of this building. I would’ve done it, too, if my career wasn’t hanging in the balance.

So I do what any reasonable person with no ego would do. I swallow my pride and march over to his office. The heels are killing me. Part of it is Ryan’s fault. I’ve had to walk so much extra because he was not on time for our meeting. I’m ready to give him a piece of my mind, but the bugger is on a call. Again. He is on his swivel chair, with his back to the door. There is a mug filled with black coffee, and it says ‘Yoda Best Boss.’ I’m half inclined to believe he bought it for himself.

I decide to wait outside for a few more minutes. That’s when I hear my name. Who is he talking to about me? I push open the door a little. “I don’t know why she’s not joining in, Weber. She’s part of your team.”

So he’s talking to my boss. Again. Without me. Again. It’s déjà vu. Just like he did with the prof back in grad school.

“Look, I don’t think that’s required,” he replies to something Weber says. “Why don’t we carry on with the discussion?”

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