Page 78 of The Night We Met

“So, to love and friendship and to new beginnings.” Jax said as she lifts her drink to the center of the table for a toast. We all giggle and clink our glasses together.

I take a deep breath and say, “I think I’m gonna do it. I think I’m gonna go to the game, and you three are coming with me.”

The rest of the dinner passes us by way too quickly. We all talk about anything and nothing. Sarah tells me about a guy at her job that has been giving her no-go signals for the past month. Emily says that she’s in talks to get bumped up to teaching third grade which is a huge step up from kindergarten. And Jax and I talk about the expectations for my new line. Jax helps me with the marketing along with her thriving YouTube channel.

My attention is pulled as I read a couple of pages and then look at my phone. I repeat the cycle while reading the same pages over and over and over. Not retaining anything that’s happening in the story. When I annoy myself to the point of frustration, I pick up my phone to text Mason.

Me: So you said it’s a home game Sunday?

Mason: Yes, ma’am

Me: And how would you react if I told you my answer was ‘yes’?

Mason: What?! You’re really coming?

Me: I sure am. And the girls are more than excited to see you play as well

Mason: Kam, you have no idea how happy you just made me

Me: I think I have an idea. And when do you get back in town?

Mason: Thursday evening. We have practice late Saturday morning, then team dinner at 5.

Me: So…no chance for us to see each other before your game?

Mason: I think we can squeeze in a Friday date.

Me: Okay. Well just let me know when

Mason: Oh I intend to

Me: Bye, Mason

Mason: Bye, Kamryn

Kamryn

Iwalk into work the next morning almost as if I’m floating. I look around the space that I’ve created with a fresh pair of eyes. The exposed brick that’s barely visible with the amount of clothing racks and mannequins lining the walls. Desks with half completed drawings, swatches of fabric, and pencils spread out creating an array of color in the mess.

Finding this space for the home of ‘Ryn & Co.’, my high-end line and ‘Kamryn’, my affordable line, was a stroke of luck. But what sold me on this space was the view from my, at the time would be, office. The baseball and football stadium’s flanking my view with the river just barely seen beyond. I’ve never had to worry about a lull in creativity when the stadiums are bursting with activity. It felt like a dream come true and a nightmare rolled into one that my office was in view of the two sports where the two great loves of my life could be with me without being with me.

A few hours rolls by when I’m brainstorming in my office, and thinking about reaching out to Ninafor a collaborative project, when a courier with a delivery pops into the office. “Delivery for Ms. Rawlins?” he asks.

“That’s me,” I announce from where I’m standing at my vision board for my next few lines. Once I sign for the package, the courier leaves. And when I see that the return address is posted from the stadium, I automatically know it’s from Mason. But why would he send me a box when all I thought I was getting was tickets?

“Olivia, will you bring me a box cutter, please?” I yell to my assistant as I move to put the box on top of my workstation.

She comes back with the cutter and returns to her desk. I always brace myself before opening boxes like these since the last one I got identical to this broke me down.

When all of a sudden a wave of why I felt numb when I saw Mason again, hits me. The box cutter falls from my grasp as I fumble for my phone to FaceTime Theresa. She said to call her anytime and I desperately need to talk to her. As the phone continues to ring I close my door because I don’t need my employees in my personal business.

“Hello, Kamryn,” always the professional even with FaceTime.

I cut straight to the chase. “It’s a box. The reason why I am the way that I am. The reason I can't let anything out.”

“Boxes can mean a ton of different things. Why do you specifically think it means you can’t let anything out?”

I stop pacing and make my way over to my chair. Once seated, I swivel and look out of the floor to ceiling window and the two stadiums that host the sports that I’ve loved and hated. “Because the last time a box was dropped off to me it destroyed me. And anytime I would get a box a sense of dread would just wash over me. I shut down from the world.”

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