Page 126 of Be Your Anything
My heart thuds at his thoughtfulness, at the fact that he listened. He remembered, and he did something about it.
Reaching out, I carefully unwrap the bow, finding a small card tucked into it.
The idea that you sit at work uncomfortable every day has always irritated me. Hopefully, this will help you truly enjoy your work. Lucas.
P.S. And if it means I’m holding your butt in the metaphorical sense? So be it.
I giggle, though it cuts off abruptly when I see Kerrigan grinning at me from the doorway.
“Don’t you have assistant-y things to be doing?” I ask, the faux irritation in my voice completely unconvincing.
“Just reminding you about the conference call with Keller Media,” she says.
“I’ll be right there.”
Kerrigan keeps grinning, spins on her heels, and heads back out to the hub, leaving me another moment to admire my new chair before I have to rush around to grab what I need for the meeting.
The flowers don’t stop, which is a pleasant surprise. I assumed with the newspaper ad, he’d give that part up.
The notes are just as eloquent, and written in that same chicken scratch. They tug at something inside of me, something I put off examining. I’m not ready to spend time facing it.
Because when you’ve spent most of your life feeling like an afterthought to every member of your family, knowing you’re on the forefront of someone’s mind all the time can be overwhelming.
That week, I continue working on plans for the fundraising dinner, as well as assisting a few colleagues with finalizing preparations for supplies for the pier-to-pier swim. As the major sponsor for the event, we’re in charge of gathering all the supplies and decorations: swim caps, emergency equipment, buoys, the balloon arch at the finish line—and the list goes on.
Luckily, I stay busy. I keep my head down, enjoying my team now that I don’t have to deal with Ellison.
When Wednesday night rolls around, Paige’s driver picks me up in a car full of girls: Paige, Ji-Eun, Tabitha, Rebecka, and even Hannah and her friend from work, Eleanor.
But it isn’t until we’ve taken a seat that I realize all of them are looking at me with smiles, shit-eating grins that instantly put me on alert.
It’s the music that has me turning my head. A familiar song, but I don’t recognize it at first…mostly because my eyes are widening as I see Lucas walking through the restaurant in white pants, a red striped vest, and a hat, holding a cane.
Hannah busts into laughter, clapping her hands with enthusiasm as Wyatt enters behind Lucas, and then Otto behind Wyatt.
Once they’ve all lined up next to our table, they start to sing a barbershop quartet rendition of “If I Could Turn Back Time” by Cher.
An absolutelyhorriblerendition.
They’re off key. Otto forgets some of the words. They bump into each other and smack each other with their canes.
And it’samazing.
The whole restaurant is clapping along.
Giggling.
Taking pictures.
And the entire time, Lucas’ eyes are on me. They don’t look away for a minute.
When they come to the end and take a bow, we all give them a standing ovation. Lucas gives me a wink, and then they head right back out the door.
It isn’t lost on me what song he picked, one about going back and doing things over again, having another chance to prove something, wanting the person to love them like they used to.
It takes a minute for the restaurant to settle back down, and the girls at the table are nearly giddy.
“I knew he’d do it one day,” Hannah says, grinning at me. “I just didn’t realize it would be so soon.”
