More Flirts! 5 Romantic Short Stories - By Lisa Scott Page 0,16
need the next two days off as personal days.
“What for?” asked Barb, the perpetually frowning woman in HR.
Aubrey crossed her arms. “It’s personal. That’s why they’re called personal days.”
“Very well. We’ll see you on Monday.”
“Make sure you put out the M&M’s tomorrow. That’s what everyone voted on. They’re in my top desk drawer.”
Barb set down her I Love My Cockapoo coffee mug. “Is that necessary?”
“Unless you want a full-on office revolt.”
“Fine.”
During her lunch break, Aubrey called the dreamy guy she’d dated three years earlier. She still had Ian’s contact information in her cell. Guess she was hopeful they’d get back together. But she’d never heard from him again after he dumped her. Hopefully, he still had the same number. Her hands shook as she dialed. She’d taken the breakup with Ian hard. He made excellent French toast and was a fabulous kisser—French and all other kinds.
The phone rang four times before he picked up. “Hello?”
“Ian? It’s Aubrey Carter.”
He said nothing.
“We used to date?”
“Of course—yes. I’m just surprised to hear from you.”
She twirled a piece of hair around her finger. “How are you?”
“Great. I’m great.”
She was about to ask if he still had six-pack abs, when she heard someone crying in the background. Her stomach flipped. “Is that a baby?”
“Yes, it is.”
The piece of hair slipped from her grip. “You have…a baby?”
He paused as the shrieking continued. “Yeah.” He hesitated. “My wife and I just had a baby.”
Her heart fell, but she reminded herself that the point of this investigation wasn’t to get back together with her exes; it was to find out what had gone wrong—fix it—and get on with her life. “Congratulations,” she said, sounding as enthusiastic as she could, which was tough, because Ian had been a really great guy. A pick-out-wedding-china guy. Apparently, someone else had thought so, too. Damn. She definitely would’ve given him another shot if he’d been interested. But then again, he did break up with her. Clearly something had been missing. He was a few years older than her; maybe he’d thought she was too immature.
Ian’s voice brought her back to the present. “Thanks. We’re real happy. So, what’s up? Why are you calling after all this time?”
She cleared her throat and gripped the phone. “I’m working on a project, sort of a historical perspective of my dating life, and I wanted to know if you could get together and answer some questions for me.”
“Questions?”
“About us. And what went wrong.”
“Oh. That’s easy. I had to focus on my career. I was up for that promotion, remember?”
“Yeah. But I wanted to talk about it more. I have some forms and questions…”
He laughed. “Of course you do. Okay, I can meet you tomorrow for lunch. Sound good?”
“How about JuJu’s? We’ll see if they still have those Reuben wraps.”
“Perfect. See you at noon.”
***
The next morning she got up early, squeezed in an extra long workout at the gym, and used the expensive body lotion she saved for special occasions. She’d just tried on outfit number four when the phone rang. “Hello?”
“Aubrey, it’s Ian. I can’t make it. Joshua is sick and I had to stay home from work with him.”
She checked herself out in the mirror. Her hair was looking way too good to cancel their date—their reunion. Their meeting. It was just a meeting. “You can bring him with you. I see babies out for lunch all the time.” A total lie, but surely babies could go out for lunch. They have to eat, too.
“He’s sick. I can’t take him out.”
“Then let me come to you. I’ll call in an order from JuJu’s and pick it up. Please? This is really important. And I’d love to see you. And your baby.” She tried not to sound desperate, but this was Ian George.
“You’re going to pester me about this until we sit down and have this conversation, aren’t you?”
She dug around her jewelry drawer for the perfect, dangling earrings. “You really know me, don’t you?”
“I do.” He gave her his address and she hung up slightly breathless. She’d have to compose herself better the next day and remember that Ian was a married man.
Aubrey rang the bell on the cute condo on Commonwealth, not far from her office, and gripped her clipboard. She steeled herself for whatever he was going to say about their relationship, but she wasn’t prepared for how good he looked when he opened the door. How had he become more handsome?
“Hey, you made it,” he said. His hair was a bit longer