Chapter 15: Silent Hold

AVA

The next day was a big one. It started with the Diane Payne presentation, which actually went surprisingly well.

She was absolutely smitten with the design, and she praised my calligraphy over and over. She even mentioned in passing that she would contact me again when she published her sequel.

My team was very proud of me, which made me feel like a million bucks. Being a new hire meant I would be trying to prove myself to them for months to come, but we seemed to be off to a good start.

Cyrus was at the presentation too. He sat all the way over at the farthest end of the conference room table, his chin resting on his folded hands.

I’d been avoiding his eyes the entire time. I wasn’t sure what would happen to me if we made eye contact, but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be good.

I felt kind of ashamed, almost dirty, about how his jacket had made me feel the night before.

I had lunch at the coffee shop across the street with Ella. I felt like we hadn’t ~really~ talked in ages. I told her about my date, but in this rendition of the story, I left out all the details about Cyrus.

Ella seemed excited about me and Tobias, and I decided to just ride that wave until I felt the same way.

I hadn’t talked to Tobias himself all morning, but I figured we’d catch up tonight at our redemption date.

After lunch, I worked on the children’s book illustrations for a while, until it was time to get some more coffee.

Since Ella had already had her one cup of the day, I made the second one for whoever came to get it first. It turned out to be August. We had our coffees standing there together, chitchatting.

“So, you and Tobias, huh?”

I shrugged.

“Do you like him?”

I tilted my head to the side, half because of his sudden interest in my dating life, half because I needed to think about how I was going to answer that question.

“He’s great,” I said finally.

“Sure.” August sounded less than enthusiastic. “How well do you know him?”

I narrowed my eyes. August and Tobias got along pretty well. I wondered where this was coming from.

“I’m…working on it,” I said.

“Make sure you figure out his personal life before you become a part of it. Thanks for the coffee, Ava.”

August turned around and walked back to his desk. ~What the hell?~

I went over everything I knew about Tobias, which wasn’t much. A bunch of siblings, some of them from his dad’s second marriage. A cat named Sushi. Played football in high school.

I shook off the confusion and went about my day. I promised myself I’d pay extra attention tonight when Tobias talked about his personal life.

I worked the rest of the afternoon, until Tobias popped his head around the corner.

“Ready?” he said.

I nodded and grabbed my purse and coat. We walked toward the elevators, where we found a few fellow Brentstone Publishing colleagues waiting for the elevator.

Cyrus and Martha were among them, and I felt my cheeks heat up slightly at the sight of him.

“It’s going to be a busy ride down,” one of our colleagues called out. “Three of the elevators are out of order for maintenance.” He pointed to a sign plastered onto one of the elevator doors.

The elevator suddenly chimed. The doors slid open, and we entered. Cyrus and Martha walked past us, toward the back of the elevator, while Tobias and I stayed somewhere in the middle.

Two floors down, an acquaintance of Tobias’s entered, and he turned to talk to her. I took out my phone and started replying to messages from friends back in Seattle.

At every level, more people entered the elevator, which was getting increasingly crowded and forcing me further back.

I glanced up at the button panel. It stated that twenty-eight people was the maximum. I did a quick head count. Nineteen so far. I took another step back, and my foot hit another foot behind me.

As I stumbled—trying to literally not step on anyone’s toes—I felt the faintly familiar sensation of two large hands caging my waist to steady me.

I slowly looked behind me and found Cyrus standing there with his eyes closed. I watched him as I felt his hands slowly release me. He opened his eyes but didn’t look at me.

I scanned the elevator, but nobody seemed to notice what was happening. It felt strangely intimate, like we were in our own little bubble.

Voices around me suddenly sounded muffled, and all I could hear clearly was Cyrus’s breathing. I could feel it too, fanning over the back of my neck and down my back, into my blouse.

I inched backward even more, until our bodies were touching. It was an innocent move. I could easily blame it on the people crowding around me if I had to. But I didn’t.

Cyrus didn’t say anything or move away. He just stood there, breathing warm breaths down my neck, his front to my back.

Suddenly, our bubble popped as the elevator reached the first employee parking level and the doors opened.

Tobias turned around to find me, and as our eyes met each other’s, Cyrus moved away from me and strode out of the elevator and into the garage.