Page 4 of The Boardroom: Kirk
“Did you readGone Girl?I just loved it, but I thought the movie…”
I zoned out Sabryna’s words as I tried to watch Kirk’s movements. He was talking to Johnathan now, and it was only a matter of time before he saw me.
“Are you okay, Marissa?” Sabryna asked with concern. “You look a little out of it, if you don’t mind me saying.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, it’s cool,” I lied, taking another sip of wine. “Just a little tired.”
Sabryna looked at me skeptically, and excused herself.
Great. Now one person thinks I’m a total flake.
I wandered over to the food table to sample some of the tiny appetizer crackers…all topped with an assortment of expensive looking and unidentifiable toppings. One was definitely caviar, and then there were some cheeses I’d probably never be able to pronounce, and then—
Oh, shit, he saw me.
He definitely saw me.
I had looked down the second I had noticed it, avoiding eye contact, and now I was really panicking. I grabbed one of the enigmatic appetizer crackers and bit into it carefully as I watched Kirk stride over to Johnathan, his eyes wide.
Nowhewas panicking. I don’t know what I expected, really.
I could sense the two of them watching me as I continued to nonchalantly gaze around the room. I admired the ice sculpture, I clapped for the pianist. I stared at one of the brightly-colored abstract paintings and pretended to have some deep thoughts about it. I tried to look busy.
I mean, I’m not gonna lie, I might be a little smug about the fact that he seemed to be freaking out this much. But yikes, was this awkward.
When I ran out of random stuff to look at, I gravitated towards a group of people by the drinks station and chatted with them, a bunch of accountants who were deep into a debate about last year’s Oscars.
“Marissa!” I turned around to see Sabryna again. “You’re from Buffalo, right?”
I gulped. “Yup.”
“Well you’re not going tobelievethis,” she said excitedly, dragging me by the arm across the room.
Oh, I could believe it.
“Our top lawyer here at Torver Corporation is also from Buffalo,” she said, and we turned the corner, and there he was.
Time did not so much stop as much as melt, blurring around us as we looked at each other. Seeing him again felt like finding an old toy in the attic and being shocked that the batteries still function, that the spark still lit up in the same old way. Years had passed, so much had changed…wehad changed…but I think we both understood the unique magic of that moment, of how surprisingly familiar our connection felt without words even passing between us.
“Ahem,” Sabryna interrupted. “Marissa, this is Kirk Atkins, our top lawyer here at Torver Corporation, and Kirk, this is—”
“We’ve met, actually,” Kirk said, maintaining eye contact with me, the newly deepened yet strangely familiar baritone of his voice sending shivers down my spine.
“Really?” Sabryna asked, and I could tell that she intuitively sensed something deeper going on. She waited for us to explain.
But how on earth could what happened between us ever be explained?
“Kirk and I were friends in high school,” I said, looking back up at him. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“Nice to see you again too,” Kirk said, and I winced at our small talk, how burdened it was with the unsaid.
“Well, I’ll leave you two to catch up,” Sabryna said with a smile, pleased that she had matched the two Buffalo natives, and walked away.
Kirk and I both laughed awkwardly as soon as Sabryna left…at what, I couldn’t really say. But the fact of the matter was that we were standing here facing each other after all these years apart, with everything to say but no way to say it. And it was terrifying…and exhilarating.
I glanced down at Kirk’s muscled forearms and quickly looked away. The man was emitting raw sexual energy without even trying, and it was making it rather difficult to focus on what was already a difficult conversation.
“So, when did you move out here from Buffalo?” I asked.
