Over the Moon

My phone is on silent and face down on my desk. I have managed to get through a few meetings today and avoid most of the people I have come to cherish over the last few weeks. I just don’t want to talk about anything that happened on Friday or months ago in Chicago. Harper took me back to her place after the incident at the bar. She knew I wasn’t going to talk so she poured us each a shot of whiskey and chased it with ibuprofen and a bottle of water. I woke up surprisingly not too hungover and drove myself home.

Wolf is back in the office today. He keeps walking past my office door to see me and has called my phone twice from the hallway. During a meeting earlier this morning, he went to take the seat next to mine, but Harper got to it first. He chose to sit across from me and stare at me throughout Rusty’s entire presentation.

It’s almost lunch time so I change into my running gear and head out across the road to the trail. I run 5k out and turn where the trail meets the shore. On a normal day, I would come across four to five people running or walking the trail either on their lunch or with their dogs. Today is different, as I only see one person as I turn around a corner on the way back.

Wolf isn’t walking the trail but pacing back and forth when I run into him, literally. I bounce off his body and tumble toward the ground just before he catches me.

“Fuck! You scared me! You can’t just stand in the middle of the trail like that,” I yell at him as I push him away and swat at his outstretched arms.

“Why are you not answering my calls and texts?”

“Why can’t you take a hint?”

“Don’t fucking say my name like that!”

“We need to talk.”

“No, Wolf, we don’t. This is all feeling like it did with Derek and I’m not playing games with you. I have two weeks left and then I am gone.”

“You’re really going to quit? Leave me? I mean, leave Lawson's?”

A week ago, everything seemed perfect, I was falling in love but now it’s all screwed up. “Yes, I am leaving,” I say as I walk around him and run back to the building.

I take a shower in the locker room, there is no way I am going to use Wolf’s shower again. Damn it. I left my lotion there. Oh well, a casualty of war, I guess. I get back to my office to finish out the day.

At three o’clock, I hear a commotion coming from down the hall and I peek my head out of my door. Wolf’s office door swings open and he comes storming out, Nate and Jack at his heels. I step back and close the door before he can see me.

“You have to cool it, man,” Jack says. “We are just saying that you need to take a few days off. Get out of this office, you are no use to us like this.”

I hear Nate’s firm voice next, “Stop calling her. If she wanted to talk to you, she would. You fucked it up, now give her space.”

The elevator doors open and Wolf leaves without saying a word.

“I know. I am going to miss this place and you too, Honey.”

“You don’t need to leave, Aubrey. There is still so much work to do, and you are one of us now.” She pleads with me again, like she has every day for the last two weeks. My decision to leave has nothing to do with Lawson Building Company and everything to do with Wolf. He runs hot and cold and I can’t keep up with that anymore. I would be lying to myself if I said that it was an easy decision and that my heart isn’t hurting. I have made poor choices before and ignored all the signs. Things never seemed to line up with Wolf and that is a huge red flag. “I know. I know. You have to go. At least you are staying in Styre Cove until the marathon. We will all be there to cheer you on!”

“Thanks, Harper. I better get going. I have a final meeting with Kelly and Lyle in five minutes,” I say as I pat Honey’s head. I stand up and Harper grabs me for a big hug.

“I’ll see you later!” She heads out with Honey at her heels.

I sit down and open my laptop to start the conference call. “Good afternoon, Ms. Bishop,” Lyle says with a handsome smile.

“Hello, Mr. MacDonald, Ms. Sutton.”

“Hi, Aubrey. I am so sad that this is your last day with us. Thank you for putting us in such great hands. Jack seems like a good fit,” Kelly says.

“He certainly is. I have been bringing him up to speed and he is ready to hit the ground running.”

“Thank you so much for everything you have done, Aubrey,” Lyle says. That is the first time he has called me by my first name.

“The pleasure is all mine, Lyle.” A smile comes across his face, and I can’t help but smile as well.

“So sorry to cut this short, but we have another meeting in a few minutes. We just wanted to say goodbye and thank you.”

And that is the end of my duties at Lawson Building Company. I grab a small box that includes some pictures and one plant I have claimed as mine and make my way out of the building. I stop at the front desk and leave my access card with Nicole. “Sorry to see you go, Aubrey. Don’t be a stranger.” Nicole says sincerely. Over the last few weeks, our relationship has changed. Not quite friends but not far off.

“You haven’t seen the last of me, Nic,” I say with a wink.

I go into the parking lot and place my things in the backseat of my car. Last night Dad handed me the papers showing me that the car has been in my name the whole time. I promised to pay him back and he refused, telling me it was all paid for.

A truck door slams drawing my attention to a few parking spots away where Wolf is standing, watching me. This is the first time I have seen him since he walked out of the office two weeks ago. He is wearing faded jeans and a hoodie, not his normal office-day clothes. He has gray circles under his eyes like he hasn’t slept in days. Our eyes lock as he walks toward me. My heart is pounding so loudly that I can’t hear the traffic driving by. His hand isn’t wrapped anymore. It’s still covered in scabs, but I can see a few fresh bruises.

He hasn’t sent one text or tried to call me once in over a week and I am not sure whether I am okay with that or not. I want to shield my heart but something in me aches to reach out to the broken man in front of me. Instead, I stand frozen in place as he approaches. “Your last day?” he says when he stops a few feet away.

“You are moving away.”

“Yes. I am moving to Portland after the marathon.”

He closes the distance between us and even though he looks like death warmed over, he smells amazing. I look up at him “Is that coconut?” I ask. He smirks, and a flash of life lights up his face.

“Are you smelling me, Ms. Bishop?”

“Are you using my lotion, Mr. Lawson?”

He leans into whisper in my ear, “It was in my bathroom, that makes it mine.” The growl of his voice vibrates through me, and I have to fight the urge to pull him in and feel the softness of his lips against mine once more.