“Well, you found me. What you want?” I asked her. I was such a mess over Missy that it didn’t feel like anything was going to satisfy me. Seeing her versus not seeing her, talking about her versus not talking about her. Maggie held out the envelope that she had in her hands.
“What’s in it?” I asked, taking it and ripping it open. I didn’t have any guesses in mind, so I was pretty surprised when I saw a check for twelve thousand dollars. It had been issued by my company to Missy for her services.
“Did she ask you to send this back? I don’t want it. Why didn’t she cash it?”
“She didn’t want to. She said that she never would so I figured she wouldn’t care what happened to it.”
“Well, I don’t want it. It’s her money, she earned it. Why didn’t she just rip it up if she didn’t want it?”
“Maybe she wanted to keep it. Something to remember you by.” That statement just pissed me off. I hadn’t issued the check personally, but it was a check for everything she had done for me. I knew that she was wealthy meaning a twelve thousand dollar loss didn’t really mean much to her, but it pissed me off that she would keep it at all and not use it. Suddenly, not even my money was good enough for her.
“Well, if she wanted something to remember me by, that interview of hers is all over the Internet, she can just look at that.” I handed her back the check. She looked a little distressed. Maybe she thought this meeting would go better than it just had.
“I realize it may not be my place to say, but she really is sorry about what happened.”
“Well, that’s great for her. Don’t tell her I said hi.” I walked away. It was hard to move. I felt like I was forcing myself to take every step. I had a message from Missy, but I didn’t want to give it to her. I wasn’t comfortable with how much Maggie knew about all of this. Clearly, she knew about the interview because of how she reacted when I brought it up. Why was I even upset? This was my legacy now. I was the idiot who got insulted by Missy James.
I did the rest of the trip to the store and back to my loft on autopilot. Back home, I left the grocery bags still full on the kitchen counter and went back to my game. At least now, that impulse to keep checking my phone had reduced a little bit. I had to figure something out. I was starting to annoy myself with the way that I had been living. I was just warming up a frozen pizza on the stove when I heard the elevator open up. There was only one person who could come to my home unannounced like that. I waited until he walked into the kitchen.
“You know, I was coming here half expecting to find you dead or something.”
“Well, not yet. But maybe close. You’re just in time for dinner. You want some pizza?” I asked him. I threw a glance over my shoulder to look at Toby. I hadn’t seen him in days. I had barely left my apartment in days and since I could do all my work remotely, that wasn’t really a problem. Well, it was a problem, but I wasn’t going to admit that to him.
“Are you done moping around in this place? It’s about time you came back to the office.”
“No. I’m going to need at least another week.” I opened the oven and checked the pizza.
“We have clients out the door trying to set up meetings. I need you there for them.”
“No, you don’t.”
“What do you mean no I don’t. You’re the co-owner of the company and my business partner. Of course, I need you there.”
“But you don’t want me there.” The pizza was ready. I pulled it out and set it on the counter.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I mean, when I’m there, all I do is mess things up.” I knew what I sounded like, but I couldn’t stop myself. It was true, but I knew that it was a lie at the same time. I wasn’t as good as Toby was at taking meetings, but he did want me there.
“You’re being stupid. All this time alone has crippled your brain or something.”
“I’m not a kid. You don’t have to feel sorry for me. Just tell me like it is.” I started slicing into the pizza. I wasn’t sure why I had gotten a frozen one instead of ordering a fresh one. Well, that kind of made sense. Second best, not as good as what it could be. Reminded me of myself.
“Dude, you’ve designed drones that branches of our government use. What the hell are you talking about? It isn’t just anyone who can pull off something like that.” I took a bite of the pizza slice. It was hot and the cheese was pretty good, but nothing could really get rid of that frozen pizza taste.
“Yeah? Well, tell that to Missy.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face.
“I knew this was about her. I know that saying this isn’t going to make the process any faster, but you have to get over what she said to you. I don’t know if you talked to her at all, but she’s really sorry about what she said. Even she knows that she’s wrong. You should too. You need to have a little more faith in yourself.”
“Has she come by the office?” I asked, hating myself for asking.
“If you
’re so curious, why don’t you come to the office? Better yet why don’t you just talk to her.”
“She stopped trying to get in touch with me. I think she’s done.”
He scoffed. “If you think that, then maybe you are as dumb as she thinks you are.”