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THE FIRST ATTEMPT AT a sale fell through. There wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with the buyer; they just weren’t willing to pull the trigger. I didn’t want to go any lower on the price out of concern for the employees. I needed a certain figure to cover the money I owed them and to get out of the deal at slightly higher than break even. I wasn’t a charity, and I wasn’t willing to lose any of my own money.
We parted amiably, but before I picked up a sub for lunch, I already had a meeting scheduled with another potential buyer. This man was in Italy, and he wanted to branch out into the North American market.
“Hey Brad,” my tax attorney had said on the phone, “I’ve got someone I want you to meet. He’s old money Italian. His family’s deeply invested in art, and they’re looking to acquire a technology company like Retro.”
“Great,” I said. “Set it up.”
“I’ll have my secretary get in touch with your secretary,” the attorney responded, hanging up the call.
Checking my schedule later in the day, I saw that Clara had set up a call for Monday. She also emailed me with some background information on the buyer, provided by our go-between. I spent some time reading up on the man, and decided he was damned near perfect.
Since there would be no movement on that front until next week, I closed up shop around four to beat the rush hour traffic. I wanted to get home and get a workout in. I had been leaning heavily on the punching bag and the free weights since Teddy left. They gave me the structure and endorphins that I needed to get through the day. After the workout, I showered and changed into jeans and a T-shirt. It was still early, but I wasn’t anticipating running into anyone that I would need to impress.
The whole time I had been Christmas shopping with Alec, I hadn’t even considered buying anything. That meant I had a lot of online browsing to do, but no real thirst for it. Time was slipping away, and if I didn’t get ahead of it, I would be rushing out to the mall at the last minute. That was the last thing I wanted, so I put on some classical music and sat down at my computer.
I found something for Mom and put it in the basket. Dad was a little bit harder. He was the kind of guy who insisted that he didn’t need anything. He didn’t have any hobbies that lent themselves to easy gift-giving, and he wasn’t helpful enough to provide a list. Still, I managed to narrow the field down to a few choices before the doorbell rang.
I wasn’t expecting anyone, and my home was too far removed from the street for casual salespeople or neighbors to drop by. I knew Alec was back in the treatment facility with no access to a car, unless Mom and Dad had picked him up and brought him over for an impromptu family get-together.
Curiously, I got up and answered it, not expecting to see Teddy brightening my doorstep. I felt an instant relief just knowing that she was okay. It had been torture knowing she was out there by herself, worrying about her court case. I knew her first court date was over and done with, but I had no idea what the outcome was.
“Teddy,” I said, standing aside to usher her in.
We didn’t hug or kiss, but I wasn’t going to leave her standing out in the cold any longer than necessary. She ducked inside, a huge grin on her face. It seemed like the past drama was at least momentarily forgotten. We were both excited to see each other, and that boded well.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, more curious than anything.
“I brought a peace offering,” she said, holding up a tub of vanilla rum brickle.
I blinked twice, surprised that she remembered an offhand comment from months ago. “That’s my favorite.”
“I know,” she said mischievously. “I used to be your assistant, remember? It took me two hours to find it. You know it’s only available at Moo-Licious downtown. But the first one I went to was sold out, so I had to drive to their second store all the way on the other side of the city.”
“Thanks,” I responded, unsure what this meant. Obviously, she was trying to impress me, and I was suitably impressed. But beyond that, was she trying to get back together? Or was this really just an apology and nothing more? “Come into the kitchen,” I offered, showing her the way even though she was quite familiar with my home.
“You look good,” she said, following me through the foyer.
I stopped at the kitchen island and turned to face her. She wore a conspicuously frumpy dress designed for librarians or kindergarten teachers. It was outdated and somewhat stiff, as if it had been pulled from a hanger at the back of her closet after years of neglect. Despite the odd choice of attire, she still looked amazing.
“You do too,” I said. “Did you just come from court?”
“Yes,” she confirmed my suspicions. “I wanted to fill you in on what happened.”
“Please,” I said, opening up a drawer to grab two spoons. Handing one to her, I opened the lid of the pint and scraped my spoon along the top. The ice cream was delicious, but too sweet to eat very much.
I pushed the carton toward her and watched as she climbed up onto one of the island’s bar stools and licked a bit of ice cream into her mouth. The vision gave me all sorts of ideas, none of which were appropriate at the time. There was very little chance that we would fall into each other’s arms again. Not after the last fight we’d had. Teddy wasn’t there to service me; she was there to bring me up to speed on her court case and to extend an olive branch. I needed to keep my mind out of the gutter.
“I lost,” she said succinctly, with much less emotion than I expected. “But the settlement was much less than a million dollars.”
“How much?” I asked.
“Three hundred fifty thousand,” she answered.
She passed the ice cream back to me, fitting the entire spoon into her mouth to suck the remains from its backside. I nearly salivated, and it had nothing to do with the ice cream. Watching her lips close over the rounded metal tip made me feel warm in places I thought were dormant. I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate on her words if she kept doing that.
“I’m sorry I offered to pay that money for you.” I picked words out of the fog that was swirling around inside my head. One of the reasons we’d fought before was that I had offered to pay Nikki off for her. Teddy had acted as if I was trying to bribe her or railroad her into choosing a particular course of action. Neither of those things were true, but I could see how the suggestion could have been misconstrued. “It wasn’t that I was trying to pay you off. I just know that the money doesn’t mean as much to me as it does to you.”
“I know,” she said, reaching for the ice cream tub like a child. “I’m just proud.”
“That’s one of the things I like best about you,” I replied, feeling a jolt of momentum sweep through the room. It felt like we had become unstuck from whatever was holding us back before. We were on our way to reconciling. I don’t know how I knew it, but I did.
The problem was that I didn’t know if we should. Things had been rocky during our first few weeks together, and we’d fallen apart. I wasn’t sure if what we had would be strong enough to face what was coming. I was selling Retro, so that part of my life would be over. But there was still the business with Nick Pierce. That wasn’t going away anytime soon, and Nick was likely to get very nasty.
I wanted to protect Teddy from that, but I also wanted to protect myself. It hurt to have her walk away, and I didn’t want to experience that again. No, it was better to just nip it in the bud. If we never got back together, then we wouldn’t break up again. I could focus on my pursuit of Pierce, and she could focus on her job at the gallery.
“I’m glad you decided to fight Nikki’s charges,” I said, unable to shake the feeling that we were making progress. It felt easier to talk to her than it had just moments ago. That was a good thing, but a dangerous one at the same time.
“I wanted to give in,” Teddy said, licking the spoon with that wicked tongue action.
I exhaled, trying to pay attention to her words.
“But I couldn’t. When it came down to it, I couldn’t do that to you.”
My heart leapt. She’d listened to me. The whole time I thought I had been berating her into the ground, she was actually listening. I nearly came unstuck from the floor in that moment and scooped her into my arms. I could see myself doing it, but for some reason, I forced myself to stay in place. I needed to think rationally. This wasn’t a good idea.
“Thank you,” I croaked.
“My lawyer says the ruling could negatively affect your case.” She set the ice cream down and pushed it across the island toward me.
I looked at it as if I had never seen ice cream before in my life. Some of the lust simmered down as her declaration took hold. Teddy had done her part and fought for both of us, yet the judge’s ruling was likely to have negative consequences.
“I can still write you a check for $350 thousand,” I said stupidly. We were broken up. What was I doing offering to pay her legal fees?
“That’s okay,” she said without getting angry. “I’ll figure out a way. I’m just happy that it’s over.”
I didn’t trust myself to walk over to her, so I stayed on my side of the island. Without anything better to do to occupy myself, I took another bite of ice cream. Since I was having so much trouble watching her eat, I decided to put it away. We could finish it later after satisfying some more carnal needs. Or not, as the case might be.
“What do we do now?” Teddy asked, echoing my thoughts perfectly.
I closed the freezer and turned to face her. I still didn’t trust myself to get very close. Standing awkwardly behind the counter, I spoke my truth, laying it all out in the open for Teddy to see. “I love you, Teddy. I’ve never stopped loving you. But I’m not sure if that’s enough.”
She nodded quietly, and I could see tears sprout in the corners of her eyes. I hated that I was the cause, but I didn’t know how to reverse the tide. So instead of comforting her, I continued to explain.
“When things got hard, you ran in the opposite direction,” I said.
She opened her mouth to argue but then shut it quickly. There was no denying the obvious. I wasn’t reading anything into the situation or manifesting any personal demons. Things had happened exactly like I said, and that was the whole problem.
“If we’re going to be a couple, you’re going to have to trust me. You’re going to have to let me help you, or at least accept the fact that I want to help you.”
“I do,” she whispered.
“The ice cream is a nice touch,” I said. “I had to put it away.”
“Why?” she asked, her eyes wide and shining.
“Because you look too good licking the spoon,” I answered honestly.
She laughed, and all the pain in her gaze fled. I still didn’t want to move, feeling safer with the island between us. But I didn’t feel the need to shut the conversation down anytime soon. Whether we were going to get back together or not, Teddy was fun to be around. I reached for a bottle of wine, something just as dangerous as the ice cream but less graphic. Pouring us each a glass, I passed one over to Teddy.
