Page 45 of Dear Rosie

I drop heavily into my chair and have to grip the edge of my desk to stop myself from rolling back.

I started this company a couple of years ago after I retired my cleats and moved to Minnesota.

Tech has always been my thing.

Fucked around with it in college, got a degree in computer science while I played with Maddox at HOP University, and closely followed popular tech companies during my playing days.

Now I own Catch Tech, where my team helps other companies develop apps that mimic and interact with their websites.

Among other things.

Those other things got me into trouble a few times in my twenties, but I keep those activities to a minimum nowadays.

I grin, thinking about Tony.

It was good to see him at Maddox’s party. Even if he is the one who got me into the less legal side of the World Wide Web.

But what’s a little hacking between friends?

“Why are you smiling like that?” A feminine voice sounds from my doorway.

“Thinking about Tony Stoleman,” I tell Hannah.

She snorts as she steps into my office.

Hannah, wife of my best friend, is the person who runs my accounting department. And her presence reminds me that I have actual work to do.

Leaning forward in my chair, I rest my elbows on the desk and focus my mind on the present.

TWENTY-FIVE

NATE

From the conference room, I look down at the courtyard below.

Where my company picnic will be held in less than an hour.

A dozen stories down, I watch the head of red hair move between tables and umbrellas, organizing the food she’s worked so hard to prepare.

It’s been nearly two weeks since I saw Rosie. Since I had my hands on her. But now that I know it’sher, I can recognize her from this distance.

How I didn’t recognize her…

How I forgot…

I slide my hands into my pants pockets.

I’ve done a lot of thinking since she ran out of that pantry.

A lot of thinking and a lot of remembering. And every unlocked memory makes me feel just a little worse.

I remember that last day in the woods.

I felt sick all morning.

I’d been dreading telling her I was moving.

We were just kids, but I knew it would hurt to tell her goodbye.

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