“Iswear to youI’mnot.Andthen asI’mpaying for dinner, my card gets declined.Ifthat wasn’t embarrassing enough, the next one gets declined, too—apparently, there was some fraudulent activity on my account and they were ‘protecting me’—andIdidn’t have enough cash to cover the meal.
“Soshe paid.LuckilyIhad bought the movie tickets online in advance.Althoughit probably would’ve been better ifIhadn’t, because she got sick from something at dinner, andIcouldn’t even take her home because my mind had still been back on why my cards had been declined, soIlocked my keys in the car.”
Darrenshook his head.
“Let’sjust say it was a bad enough first date to convince us both it wasn’t meant to be and guarantee we’d never have a second date.AndthenIstarted datingStephanieand we got engaged and she went on to almost get engaged toJames.”
“Shutup.So, wait.Isthat why you two started pranking each other?Becauseyou had an awkwardly embarrassing first date, which made working on the same floor with each other awkward, so that was a way to turn the focus off the date and onto something else?”
Huh.He’dnever really thought of it that way before.MaybeDarrencould read people better than he’d given him credit for.
“Youcan’t tell me that you’d let a little thing like an awkward first datetwo-and-a-half years agostop you from asking someone out who you very clearly have chemistry with.”
Parkershook his head. “It’snot just because of a bad date.I’dnever be good enough for someone like her.”
Darren’shead jerked back in surprise. “Areyou being real right now?”
Parkerdidn’t even bother answering.IfDarrenknew everything that was on the listStephaniehad given him when she broke off their engagement that detailed all the ways in whichParkerwas deficient, he wouldn’t be questioning it at all.
“Youused to own every room you walked into,Parker.Youused to have the confidence to ask any woman out.WhatdidStephaniedo to you?”
Parkerwas spared having to answer when his computer chimed its email alert.Heturned to it and opened the email.
“Ireally think you should talk about this,”Darrensaid.
Likethat was going to happen.Parkerstood up and grabbed his coat from the hook on his cubicle. “Maybesome other time, buddy.Itlooks likeIhave a meeting atHQright now.”
“AtHQ?Whydo you have a meeting at headquarters?”
“Yougot me,”Parkercalled out as he headed toward the elevators. “Whateverit is, wish me luck!”
Itwas nearly five, and it was already getting dark outside.Allof the streetlights were on in the parking lots of the buildings as he walked toward headquarters, the falling snow lit up in the rays of light below each one.Hestepped into the building at the top ofZentCube’scampus, stomped off his shoes, shook his coat, and brushed the snowflakes out of his hair before heading to the elevator.
Whenhe reached the third floor, the receptionist took him toMeritCasselman’sassistant,Carla.Shethanked him for coming, then led him toMerit’soffice and poked her head in the door. “ParkerBrockbankis here.He’syour last appointment of the day.”Thenshe opened the door the rest of the way, motioned for him to go inside, then left and shut the door behind her.
Theoffice was nice.Goodfurniture, not overly decorated.Hehad met bothMeritandGrahamseveral times.He’deven chatted withGrahamfor quite a while at last year’sChristmasparty.Theyhad both been sitting on the armrests of a chair and a couch, chatting, but stood when he walked in.
“Parker,”Grahamsaid as he shook his hand, “thanks for coming to meet with us.Havea seat.”
ParkershookMerit’shand, too, and then sat down in the one seat that neither of them had been leaning against when he walked in.Thetwo of them sat, too.
“It’sbeen a long day,”Meritsaid, “and we know you probably want to get home, so we won’t beat around the bush.We’veheard you don’t have anywhere to go forChristmas.”
Ouch.Notonly was it a reminder of the broken engagement, but also that he wasn’t going to have any family around.
“Andwe want to change that.”
Parkerraised an eyebrow.
Grahamlooked atMerit, laughing. “Well, that definitely couldn’t be called ‘beating around the bush,’ that’s for sure.”Thenhe turned toParker. “You’llhave to forgive us.You’reour twelfth and last meeting of the day, andIthink we peaked in our delivery of this message somewhere around the third or fourth person.”
“Maybeyou should’ve made a slideshow,”Meritsaid.
“Aslideshow!Ican’t believeIdidn’t think of that!Ah, well.It’stoo late now, so we’ll just spell it out.Everyyear, we have aChristmascelebration with a group of employees who don’t have family around to celebrate with.”
“Andthis year,”Meritsaid, “we are doing it at a resort on the coast inSouthCarolina.Aweek-long, all expenses paid.Twelveemployees—”
“Assumingyou tell us yes,”Grahamcut in.
