I only stop searching when my phone bleeps and I get an unexpected message back from Lucie.
‘Ha ha, very funny. Did you ever think that I might not want to go out with you? So arrogant! Xx’
I laugh to myself, enjoying the way that her teasing makes me feel. She really does make me laugh a lot.
‘I’ll make you cave. Somehow or another, I’ll get your attention again. Xxx’
‘Yeah, you’re probably right. You always do find a way to do that… xxx’
As I stuff my phone away, I decide to take matters into my own hands. I can’t keep waiting for Lucie to make up her mind when I already know that she wants me, so when I’m done here I’m going to go to her house and see if she’ll come out on a surprise date with me. She might not be able to, but that’s okay. I have to at least try. Mainly, I just want to see her face again and if I turn up then I will get that.
With a smirk, I finish up my food and I start my journey, working my way around the head office while I get to know everyone there. Dad might think that I’m trying to do this to impress him, but actually this is for me. I want to show myself off as a real boss, and from what I’ve learned from my travels is that people work better for a boss that they can communicate with and connect with, so that’s who I want to be.
People respond well to me actually, I’m surprised to have such an effect already. I can see how it must look to the people here. They’ve been working for this company forever and I walk in as the boss’s son ready to control it all. I shouldn’t have their respect really, but I do and I’m so thankful for that. It feels great. That actually makes me feel more proud of myself than anything else. To be accepted and liked is a great start.
I spend time in the IT department, I talk to the accountants, I see the creative team, the marketing group, the lawyers, the admin staff, I even spend a while talking to human resources. It’s awesome. The more that I learn about the company, the easier I’ll be able to run it when I’m in charge.
I just can’t wait until I’ve been here for long enough to start suggesting the ideas that I’ve come up with while travelling. I’m sure that my fresh new opinions will benefit… but I have to wait until the moment is right. Dad is just about beginning to trust me and I cannot spoil it. Patience is becoming all of me right now.
“Right,” I say to him once I’ve spent time with everyone and I’ve achieved what I came here to do. “I’m going now but I’ll be back bright and early on Monday morning. Ready to do whatever you need me to do.”
I need to get going now, to get myself ready to see Lucie and my God I’m excited about it. There’s a deep thrill racing up and down my spine at the mere idea of getting to see that wonderful smile of hers.
“You’ve done a really good thing today, son.” Dad pats me on the back. “I’m very happy with you.”
I leave the building and climb into my car, checking my phone just once before I go. I don’t have anything from Lucie but I do have an acceptance of a friend request from Rhiannon. That’s interesting, I don’t quite know what to do with that. I scan her profile, not seeing any kind of connection to Lucie anymore, but then I’m sure she grew distant, just like I did. I open a message, wondering what I should say. I don’t know how I’m going to go about this but I do want to open a line of communication, just in case.
In the end, I’m ashamed to say that I go with the very simple, very cowardly hi. Maybe I don’t know if I want her to respond yet, which is why I haven’t made much effort. If she doesn’t, it’s a little bit of a get out clause. Then I don’t have a choice. I’ll have to simply wait until Lucie wants to tell me.
I pause for a couple of seconds, but I don’t get any response back. Maybe she’ll just think that I’m weird and she’ll delete me from her friend’s list right away. If so, that’s something I’ll simply have to accept.
I don’t know why this is driving me so nuts, I’m not quite sure why it’s bugging me so much, but it is. There’s just something there, bugging me in the back of my mind. It’s almost as if my brain knows something, but it’s keeping the information locked away, just out of reach where I can’t access it.
Still, I’m going to have to push my frustration to one side to make sure that ne and Lucie have a good night tonight. However, annoying this mystery is, it doesn’t compare to how much I love Lucie. I can get through anything for her. By this point, I honestly don’t think there’s any answer that she could give me that would put me off her. Five years of love cannot be switched off that easily. It simply is not possible.
I stop the car outside my house and check my phone again. This time I have a reply from Rhiannon which I don’t quite know how to feel about. Even after everything that I’ve just thought, I can’t resist checking it.
‘Hi, Kade, long time no see! We went to the same college, right? If I remember rightly, you were friends with Lucie Smith? How is life treating you these days? Rhiannon.’
I don’t respond right away, I need some time to think about what I want to say. I put my phone away, forgetting about it for the time being while I focus on date number two instead…
26
Lucie
“No, Logan, I can’t do that right now!” I yell out, letting the stress get to me a little bit. I tug on the ends of my hair is distress. “I’ve just got to finish up here, I’m on my own at the moment, sweetheart.”
I don’t even know what he wants me to do, but I feel certain that it isn’t as desperate as he’s making it out to be. Honestly, it’s so hard to be a million places at once. I have to get his dinner sorted, first and foremost, I’m already a bit behind the schedule that I try my hardest to stick to. Then it’s bath and bed time. Usually I have someone else around to spread the load out with, but Mom and Dad aren’t back from the cinema yet. I don’t begrudge them having some time together at all, I’m just spread thin. But I can do it.
Knock, knock. I groan loudly as I hear someone rapping on the door. Not what I need! Knock, knock.
“Coming!” I cry out while keeping the word ‘dinner’ in my mind so I don’t forget to get back to it as soon as I can. I swing the door open while rubbing the perspiration from my forehead… “Oh! Kade?” Yeah, I definitely don’t want to see him while I look like this! I’m in full ‘mom mode’ with sweat pants on and my hair scraped back. I can’t remember whether I have make up on or not, this is a nightmare. “I wasn’t, erm… I didn’t know that you were going to be here. What are you doing? I don’t mean, not rudely…”
“I want to take you on a date,” he replies while making a sweeping gesture with his hands. “You keep rejecting me when I text you and ask you out, so I thought I would try it face to face, see what you say.”
The gesture is so touching, it almost makes me drop everything, but I can’t! I can’t leave Logan here alone, nor do I want to. If Kade is serious about me then he needs to see that I can’t just drop my responsibilities on a whim, even if I really do want to spend some more time together. This is the life of a parent.
“I don’t reject you.” I smack him playfully. “I just can’t, that’s all. I don’t have anyone here.”