Grilled

She probably should apologize for hanging up on him but she was still mad with him because of Melissa even though nothing happened between them–or at least, that’s what he said.

Today was the last Friday in the month which meant that it was casual day so, she was wearing a white blouse with a knee length denim skirt. When she saw Ryker, he was dressed in a leather jacket over a white tee shirt and jeans. He looked good no matter what he wore. For the umpteenth time, she wished that she weren’t in love with him. Life would be so much easier.

Yes, she should apologize. After, he was her boss. She stood up and after smoothing her hands down her skirt, she went to his office. He was standing at the window looking out but turned when he heard her. “Good morning,” he said quietly, his expression inscrutable.

“Good morning.” She walked over to him. “I came to apologize for last night. I shouldn’t have hung up on you.”

“Apology accepted,” he said.

“I didn’t mean to be rude but you were grilling me.”

“I wasn’t grilling you, Shaelyn. I asked a simple question.”

“You were grilling me,” she insisted. “I wish I hadn’t told you that Brian asked me to have dinner with him.”

“Well, you did and all I wanted to know was if you had accepted his invitation or not. All you had to say was yes or no.”

“I still can’t believe that you called me just to ask questions about the drink we had.”

“You asked me about Melissa, remember?”

“Okay, so I did. So what?”

“Never mind Melissa. Just answer my question. Are you having dinner with Brian tomorrow or not?”

“Why is that any of your business? You’re my boss, not my father.”

“Why are you being so evasive?”

“I’m not being evasive–“

She broke off when there was a knock on the door and then, Melissa walked in. She looked from one to the other, her eyes settling on Ryker. “Am I interrupting something?” she asked.

“No,” Shaelyn said before Ryker could say anything. Melissa was a very nice person but she couldn’t warm to her because of him. If only she weren’t beautiful and blonde–his type.

“Ryker, I just wanted to let you know that I changed our dinner reservation to 7:30.”

Ryker felt his face grow red. “All right,” he said. He could feel Shaelyn’s eyes on him.

Melissa glanced at Shaelyn and then back at Ryker. “I’ll see you at the board meeting in half-hour.” She said to him before she turned on her heel and quickly left the office, closing the door behind her.

There was silence and then, Shaelyn said to Ryker, “So, you and she are having dinner?”

He nodded, his expression tense as he met her gaze. “Yes. Tomorrow. Shaelyn–“

“I have some photocopying to do before the meeting. Excuse me.” She turned and walked away. She left the door wide open and returned to her desk. She looked at the folder with the documents which she had already photocopied for the meeting. It had just been an excuse to leave his office.

So, he and Melissa were having dinner together tomorrow. Whose idea was it? His or hers? It didn’t really matter. The fact was they were having dinner. And he had the nerve to grill her over Brian’s dinner invitation. She had a good mind to drop by Brian’s cubicle now or call him and tell him that she had changed her mind about dinner.

What good would that do? What did she hope to accomplish by doing that? Make Ryker jealous? That wasn’t likely. For him to be jealous it would mean that he had feelings for her which she knew he didn’t. The fact that he and Melissa were going out tomorrow made that very clear.

Besides, she didn’t want to lead Brian on. She wasn’t interested in more than a working relationship with him. No, tomorrow night, she was going to indulge in guilty pleasures such as binge watching reality shows or watching sappy romantic movies or listening to a favorite song on repeat. Maybe have a gallon of ice-cream. She would try hard not to think about Ryker and his damned dinner date with Melissa.

Ryker ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. Why couldn’t Melissa have waited to tell him about the dinner reservation when she saw that he wasn’t alone? And why did she have to drop by when she did? If she hadn’t maybe he would have gotten an answer out of Shaelyn. Why did Shaelyn leave in such a huff? She said something about making photocopies before the meeting but he thought she had already done that.

He was tempted to go to her now and finish their conversation but he had a phone call to make before he went to the meeting. He strode over to his desk and picked up the phone. When he was finished, he grabbed a notebook off his desk and left his office. Shaelyn was in her cubicle.

“I took the photocopies to the boardroom,” she informed him.

“You and I need to talk,” he told her.

She glanced at the digital clock on her desk. “The meeting is starting in seven minutes.”

He grimaced before he turned and walked away.

An hour later, he was back at her cubicle. “We need to talk,” he told her.

“I have filing to do–“

“It can wait. I need you in my office right now.”

The expression on his face brook no argument. She rose to her feet and followed him into his office.

He closed the door and walked over to his desk. “Have a seat.”

She sat down and waited for him sit down before she said, “If this is about Brian and me–“

“It isn’t,” he replied shortly. “What I want to talk to you about has to do with business.”

“Oh.”

“I’ve been invited to a conference in Hanoi. It starts on Monday.”

“Are you going?”

“Yes.”

“How long will you be gone for?” She tried to hide her disappointment. The thought of him going away was unbearable.

“A week.”

“Oh. When do you leave?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning? But, what about your dinner with Melissa.”

“It’s cancelled.”

“She must have been very disappointed.” As disappointed as she was that he was going away, it meant that he wasn’t going to have dinner with Melissa and she was very happy about that.

“She’ll get over it. Perhaps, Brian will too.”

She stared at him. “Brian? What does this trip have to do with him?”

“It will interfere with his dinner plans with you.”

“How?” She wondered if she should tell him now that there were no dinner plans with Brian because she had turned him down.

“You’re coming to Hanoi with me.”

Source: Zippia