“I…do.” He sighed and his face grew somber. “And I also understand how immature and stupid I was, even though I was a graduating senior. I just took everything your roommate said at face value.” He gave a hiss fraught with frustration. “I should have known, Meg, but when she told me what you’d said I was hurt and angry. I guess not trying to find you was my way of hurting you back. In the end we both suffered.”
For a long while they stared at each other in silence, each reliving that night that had so changed their lives. How differently it could have turned out if they hadn’t both been too angry and hurt to reach out and find each other.
Then it all became too much for her. “I…have to go. Can you take me home, please?” She shook her head and dropped her eyes, refusing to look at him. She wasn’t ready for this revelation. Her mind in turmoil, she wanted to get home where she could go off somewhere by herself and think.
“Will you think about my question?” Drake’s voice was gentle.
Meg didn’t answer. She reached for her purse. “Please. Let’s just go.”
Thank goodness he did not object. Drake called for the bill and within minutes they were walking back to his car.
And when he walked her to her door there was no attempt at intimacy – no touch, no kiss. Thank God for that.
Because tonight had turned her entire world upside down and she had no idea where she should go from here.
******
Well, that had gone well. His thoughts turning sarcastic, Drake’s lips twisted in a smile of irony as he thought about his last encounter with Meg. It had been four days since they’d gone out to dinner and he hadn’t heard a word from her. He’d tried calling her at home, only once, but he’d only heard a recorded message. He hadn’t bothered to leave a message of his own. He’d be seeing her on Thursday, anyway. That appointment was already set. There was no way he was going to let her escape him again.
But although he had every intention of going for what he wanted – and what he wanted was Meg – there was still that nagging doubt at the back of his mind. He wanted her…but did she want him? In her heart had she moved on, so far away that he could never win her again? Dammit, the thought was driving him crazy. To know that it might be too late...no, it did not bear thinking about.
With a grunt he got up from the desk and went over to the closet where he grabbed his gym bag then he dug his cell phone out of his pocket and dialled. “Tyson, it’s late and I know you’re still in the office, stuck in front of that damn computer. Meet me in my gym. Twenty minutes. Take your gear.”
The earpiece came alive with protest. Tyson, his friend from college, was the consummate workaholic. Drake often had to literally drag him away from the computer but then when he got a chance he would pull out his iPad or smart phone. The man always had to be connected to something. This evening, though, Drake wanted to see his friend, not just to make sure he was not overworking but to talk, and when he needed to talk Tyson was the only friend he could trust when it came to matters of the heart.
Drake rode the elevator down to his private gym in the basement of the building where he changed quickly and did a few rounds of push-ups. He was doing crunches when the door opened and Tyson, tall and dark and lean, walked into the room.
Drake grinned. “How goes it, old man?” he asked, his voice breathless as he continued to crunch his abs as he lay on the floor. “Making some greenbacks on the market?”
Tyson grinned back as he shucked his sweatshirt and flexed his muscles. “Can’t complain, old man, can’t complain.” He walked over to the stationary bike. “Glad you called me when you did. With all the work I have piled up I’d probably be at the office till past midnight.”
“Yup, I know you. And if you’re not careful that beautiful wife of yours is going to leave you.” He exhaled with a puff of air then sat up. “Remember this, man, money isn’t everything.”
Tyson burst out laughing. “Well spoken by a man worth over a billion and who has no woman to share it with.”
That stung but Drake did not let it show. He gave a chuckle then said, “In time, man. In time.”
After that Tyson and Drake got serious, spending the next thirty minutes lifting weights and spotting each other, working up a sweat that left the shirts of both men soaked through with sweat.
It was not until they were cooling down, doing light after-workout exercises, that Drake dropped the bomb on Tyson. “I found her, man. After years of waiting I’ve found ‘the one’.”
“What the-” Tyson stopped and stared at him. “When did this happen?”
“Ten years ago.”
His friend frowned, obviously confused. “Say what?”
“She’s someone I met in college. I never thought I’d see her again but then she just walked right back into my life.” He glanced at Tyson. “Call me a psycho but I think it's fate.”
“Yeah,” Tyson snorted, “or she found out you’re worth a fortune and wants a cut.”
Drake frowned. He almost felt like punching him for that one. He’d let it pass, though, because Tyson didn’t know Meg. No-one could look her in the eye and doubt her sincerity. “She didn’t come looking for me,” he said. “I was the one who did the hunting. Well, sort of.”
Now Tyson looked even more perplexed. “Explain yourself,” he demanded.
And that was when, without giving her name, Drake described the happy coincidence where the woman he’d fallen for ten years earlier had been the one chosen to write his memoir. When he was done sharing the story he walked over to the bench against the wall and plopped down, a sudden feeling of despondence washing over him. He began to loosen the laces on his gym shoes.
“For someone who’s just reunited with the love of his life you don’t look too happy.” Tyson leaned against the treadmill and folded his arms across his chest. “What gives?”
Drake was staring at his feet, his thoughts going back to his last conversation with Meg, then he exhaled heavily. “I asked her to marry me.”