Page 337 of Well Played

A tight smile wandering across her face, clashed slightly with her words as she tried to stay professional and not give away to anyone in the room that they knew each other. Liam shifted inthis chair slightly, causing a squeak of wheels to vibrate through the room as his nervous energy found its footing.

Maeve unexpectedly swung her head in his direction, never missing a beat as she spoke.

Their sudden eye contact gave Liam a quick second to communicate hopefully his own wordless reply, showing that he, too, was sharing in the same suffering of seeing each other again. Instead, a scathing look of invisibility greeted him, causing all the muscles in his abdomen to contract with a surprise gut punch. Maeve continued to speak, no one even knowing the can of worm-infested history their actions had opened with calling this meeting.

Lost in thought, Liam was jolted to attention by Aisling voice.

“Liam? You agree? Arrange to meet with Maeve ASAP and visit with the Mourne and Down District Council to discuss the appearances at the parade and meeting the players game event before the Sunday morning game at Pairc Esler GAA Stadium.

“Sure. No problem,” Liam smiled to the room, congratulating himself on a quick recovery.

“Lovely!” Aisling commented. “I think we all have our matching orders now, so let’s get cracking. There’s a lot of moving parts and people to coordinate in a very limited time. Time will fly by.”

As Maeve was saying her goodbye to everyone in the meeting, Liam caught her glancing briefly at him before turning to hurry out of the conference room. He didn’t want to miss an opportunity to speak with her alone, if he could get her to just spare him a minute. Guessing from her tone and demeanor during the meeting, she was thinking this unexpected encounter was a set-up on his part–which it wasn’t.

They needed to arrange a meeting on neutral territory to clear the air --- working together in some form of compromise. He still needed to ask and understand why she had justdisappeared the night after his graduation party. They had a huge misunderstanding, and he never had the chance to apologize and make things right after discovering the terrible situation they had both been fooled into.

But today, seeing her again it hit him hard … he had never stopped loving her, and he was quite sure he never would.

Thinking quickly on his feet, Liam made an effort to follow Maeve, but Aisling interrupted him in mid-stride.

“Liam, can I ask a big favor of you?”

“Damn it!” Liam mumbled to himself, trying to think of a way to extract himself from chit-chat so he could hurry and catch Maeve before she left. He convinced himself to take a brief second to hear what Aisling was cornering him on at the last minute.

“Sure, but can we make this quick? I have a meeting at the Olympic Team offices.” Liam glanced at his watch. “The meeting starts in about 40 minutes, and I’m not sure how traffic will be across town to make it.”

“No problem. I just need you to help set up some time with our social media team. Could you call Mary Beth Healy’s office? She’s the scheduling coordinator for this project, and needs to go over some potential dates that you and other team members are available to pose for photos, taping videos, etcetera to use on our social media channels?”

“Brilliant idea. I can call her, and I will also mention it to the coaching staff. They can contact her as well. I hate to rush, but I really need to make this meeting. Are we done here?”

“Sure. Thank you. I’ll call you later and don’t forget to connect with Maeve about the Wake the Giant Festival.”

“Dead on–bye.”

Moving toward the elevators and quickening his pace, Liam watched Maeve just up ahead, standing in front of a set of elevator doors just opening. Quickening his stride, he shoutedout her name, but was too late as the doors closed her off from him.

“Bollocks!”

As he searched for an alternative route to catch her, he came across another elevator that opened its doors to let off passengers. Stepping on it, he hit the button for the parking level, saying a small prayer to his Granny’s fairies that he would catch her in time before she left the parking garage.

The elevator stopped at the first parking level; the doors opening. Liam leaned out to see if Maeve had got off. As his eyes darted around, he held the elevator’s door open, peering around the corner. He caught sight of her, walking down the center aisle, fumbling with her car keys.

“Maeve!”

Stopping, Maeve turned around to see who was shouting for her. Noticing it was Liam, he watched her hesitate, her eyes darting around for what he guessed was for a quick escape exit. Facing in his direction, she waited for him to catch up to her. Her chest rose and fell with hesitancy, while pulling her tote bag tighter on her shoulder–looking up towards the parking garage ceiling, Liam could see every detail of the emotions ricocheting through her.

“What do you want?”

Stopping in front of Maeve, Liam gulped, wiping his palms in a quick sweeping motion to dry the perspiration covering them. Meeting Maeve’s eyes, his lips moved to speak, but nothing came out. Avoiding his embarrassment, he shifted his gaze to his feet before glancing back up one more time, before his words finally left his mouth.

“Please Maeve. I had no advanced warning we would be working together. Hell, I didn’t know until three days ago that I was being asked to work with this promotion.”

“Well, isn’t that convenient …”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Maeve continued standing silently.

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