In all honesty, I didn’t really remember Katrina Stevens. I had an image in my head of a shy teenager who let her hair fall over her face and who wouldn’t look me in the eye, but that was all I could recall. I had made an educated guess by calling her sweet, and luckily Dean didn’t seem taken aback by that choice of words.
“She’s still sweet,” Dean said. “Except in her work life. In the office, I think she can be a bit of a shark. She reminds me a lot of her mother in that sense.” He laughed. I opened the door for him, and he sat down right away. He was getting up there in age, and I knew that run to the elevator probably wore him out a little. “Stacy was really kind and warm to the people she cared about, but then if you went and saw her while she was defending one of her clients in court, she was basically a different person. She had no mercy. Totally cutthroat.”
“She sounds like a very interesting woman,” I said. “I wish I could’ve had the opportunity to meet her.” I felt my mind begin to wander to memories of my own late wife, but I derailed that train of thought as quickly as possible. I had a long day ahead of me. If I thought of Erin, I would get distracted, and that was not an option. These board meetings required my full attention.
“She would’ve liked you I think,” Dean said. “But anyway, enough about that. I have another favor to ask you.”
I sat down in the chair next to him. “Shoot.”
“Kat hasn’t lived in Boston for ten years now,” he said. “And you didn’t hear this from me, but she and her brother have some stuff they need to work through.”
“Calvin mentioned as much when I told him I hired his sister.”
Dean nodded. “I guess I should’ve told him myself that Kat was coming back. Oh well. They are both adults; it’s not my responsibility anymore to be the arbiter of their sibling squabbles. What I was going to ask, however, was if you would be willing to take Kat out to lunch today? She doesn’t have very many friends left in town, and since I won’t be in the office all the time, here to help her get her sea legs, I wanted you two to get to know each other, so she’d have a friend at work.”
I smiled. Dean had missed his daughter a lot the last decade. He didn’t say it often, or even outright, but I knew he wished he was closer to her, both in the literal and emotional sense. He must’ve been so excited to have her back in town, and he wanted to make sure she felt welcome here, or else, he was probably afraid she would take off abroad again.
“Of course, I can take her out to lunch,” I said. “But it’ll have to be a quick one, since I have a lot of other meetings today.”
“Yes, yes, that’s fine. She won’t mind if it’s rushed. I’ll text her right now to let her know.”
I nodded and a second later, two of the other board members arrived and it was time to start prepping for the meeting. I stood up, smoothed out the front of my jacket, and squared my shoulders, gearing up to give my presentation.
Lunch with little Kat Stevens,I thought. I nearly laughed as I remembered the girl was in her twenties.
What are we even going to have to talk about?
* * *
The meeting let out early, so I had some time to pour myself a second cup of coffee and search the cupboards in the breakroom for something to eat. I didn’t get breakfast this morning, and I was running on empty. I wasn’t going to make it to lunch without putting some fuel in the tank.
Unfortunately, there was no good food in the cupboards, and the only thing that looked appetizing in the fridge was homemade soup that I knew Mindy brought for her lunch, so I left it untouched. With my stomach growling, I decided to go down to the little café in the lobby and buy myself a muffin. I took my coffee with me, and as I stepped out of the elevator on the first floor of the building, a gorgeous woman was standing on the other side of the doors.
She smiled at me, and I felt my chest tighten.
Her thick, wavy brown hair framed her face and brought out the hazel specs in her eyes. She had on a smart dark blue coat, plaid skirt, and a black turtleneck that hugged her body tightly. I smiled back and stepped out of the doors. She stared at me for a moment or two longer than a stranger would, giving me the distinct impression that she knew me.
Have we met?
The question crossed my mind, but my mouth was too dry, so I wasn’t able to get the words out and ask for real. She finally broke our little staring contest and slipped inside the elevator behind me. I turned to watch as the doors closed. She now had her eyes downcast, looking at her shiny black boots, and I found myself wishing she would look at me again.
I put my free hand out just as the doors were an inch apart. “Hey, wait—” But then they closed, and she was gone.
“Who… who are you?” I said quietly to no one.
I stood by the elevator for a moment or two longer, then took a sip of my coffee and tried to push down all the feelings that had just unexpectedly bubbled up. I didn’t know who that woman was, or why she was looking at me like that, but the one thing I did know was that I’d never been speechless in front of a pretty girl.
Well—except once.
When I first met Erin.
Again, I shook my memories of Erin away, and reminded myself why I had come down to the lobby in the first place. I walked over to the café, got in line behind the other people who missed breakfast, and focused on what flavor of muffin I was going to buy.
* * *
Calvin was waiting in my office when I got back. He grinned and jumped up out of his seat as I walked inside. “Good. You’re here. Take these.” He handed me a stack of papers and I brought them with me to my desk.
“What’s this about?”