And then…back to my cupboard to study.” She shrugged. “I’ll call before I come over in case you are entertaining.”
Then she was gone. She didn’t give him a kiss goodbye. She didn’t try to make plans to come over later. It was…everything he had always wanted in a woman, only this time he wanted more. He wanted her to want to come back. He wanted her to want to spend the night. He wanted her…apparently in a way that she didn’t want him. That was fast becoming obvious.
Adam sank down in the couch to think. The winter sky was turning dark, just like his loft. He should turn on the lights, but as he sat there in the dark, the less he could see the more clear everything became. She had wanted to be with him before. If she had liked him enough to have sex with him, then he should be able to turn that into something. That was his job…advertising. He took nothing and turned it into something special all the time. Okay…all the time he worked and when he freaking felt like it. His every success in that business was based upon his ability to sell a product, to inspire an emotion for a product. That’s all he had to do…inspire her to want to be with him. That could be a full time job.
The chime sounded on his phone. It was a text. He felt his heart start to pound in anticipation. Maybe she had changed her mind. Only it was Sam.
Don’t forget. You have to be at the office from 9am to 5pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Thank you.
His first reaction…crap…now he was an advertising executive. His second thought was this full time job was really going to cut into his free time. Although in the end, he decided that this, too, might work in his favor with Cammie. She would see him differently than ever before. She would realize that he was a changed man and that while those experiences had shaped his past, even he had redeeming qualities, and even he could change his future. That’s what it would take if he was going to build a future with her. He shuddered some as he wondered where that thought had come from. Then as he ruminated on it more, he decided that maybe his heart did know best.
After going back to her place to change and drop off everything from Adam’s house, she pulled out her sensible navy dress with matching ballerina flats, pulled her hair into its standard pony tail, spread some lip gloss over her lips, and after a cursory glance at her appearance in the reflection of the teeny tiny bathroom mirror, she headed back out the door. Although they rarely ate before 7pm, it was widely accepted that everyone would get there at 5pm. The women would work together in the kitchen; the men would sit in the living room and discuss politics, the day’s events, and the world news. No week was any different from the next.
Maybe this week would be. Certainly between giving notice to her parents so she could start her own business, and that she hadn’t been there for her first holiday…ever…it would be more memorable than most. They were a Greek family who like those before them believed in big families and frequent gatherings. Sunday dinner was treated with the same importance as any major holiday. The food was plentiful and came in many courses. There was always cheese and olives, always pitas and hummus. There was always love and laughter.
This was what Cammie was used to and she tried to imagine how a man like Adam would ever fit in. While he would definitely be able to hold his own in the conversation department, and the women would fall for his devastatingly handsome good looks, there was more to it than all that. Could he ever be happy in that kind of life, having every Sunday for the rest of his life all laid out for him? Sometimes she really despised it. Other times, the routine offered her comfort and forced her to be around her family when she might have otherwise lost her roots like so many of her friends had. What did it matter if Adam fit in anyway? He was a business associate. He was not marriage material. Only marriage material would ever get through the door of her parents’ house.