This chapter is another favorite of mine. 💗 Building the set and posing everyone for this was a joy! 😊
Maureen's boldness continues. :lol: And it may seem like unrealistic boldness, but I will say this: I have legit met women in my life, a couple are dear friends (ok one is my older sister 😊 ), who are just as driven and brave as she is. I envy this trait they have (sometimes 😉 ). They've inspired me to get out of my shell and work even harder to accomplish my goals. This chapter I dedicate to those women. ❤
And let's find out a little more about the handsome Alan shall we? 😏
Enjoy!
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❄Chapter 4❄
Alan Anderton leaned up against the corner of the elevator with his hands in his pockets and his feet crossed. It was just another early morning at the office and his smile never faded as he gazed around the empty elevator. Life never felt so great; he had everything he ever wanted and then some.
The office floor was approaching so he adjusted his tie for good measure.
The pleasurable silence was interrupted when his phone rang. He promptly answered it.
“Hello? Hey Bart how are things going over there?” Bart was one of the company’s many distributors. “Uh huh,” he said as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, right into the grand office. “Yes. That’s right.”
“Good morning sir,” the receptionist greeted him, handing him many “missed call” pink slips. Alan took them without greeting her back, mostly because he was on the phone with someone. More employees greeted him, without acknowledgement, as he made his way to his personal office.
His office had the best view the skyscraper building had to offer; floor to ceiling windows behind his desk chair made it feel like he was sitting on top of the world. The opposite and side walls were painted a grayish white, divided into panels with trim, and hardly any pictures hung upon them. The floor was graced with a blue gray, professional grade office carpeting. Tall, fake plants adorned each corner of the room.
Shutting the door behind him he threw down the pink slips onto his grand black desk in the middle of the room and finished up his call with Bart.
Once the call ended he took a seat at his desk and leaned back in the chair a bit, supporting his head with his woven together hands. He drew in a deep breath and very slowly let it out. He loved the smell of his office. It smelled of achievement and money. He’d been trying to fight it, but found his thoughts wandering back to the strange young woman who appeared at the old house inquiring about his Grandpa.
Chuckling he was just thankful that she wasn’t some young chippy whom his Grandfather slept with after his Grandma’s passing and she was seeking him out again. He’d be lying if that wasn’t his first thought, that’s why he was so interested in hearing her long story.
But what she presented to him seemed so unrealistic that he thought her to be a crazy person. He still had doubts about the card’s authenticity. Then again, if the card wasn’t legit why would she take the time to investigate and travel two hours to the big city to confront a complete stranger about a love letter he wrote 50 years ago? That took guts and she did seem pretty passionate in her endeavor to find the answers she seeks. Guts and passion is not something one usually finds in a literal crazy person.
“Hmm,” he mumbled as he heard a knock on the door. He instantly sat up. “Come in.”
The woman behind the door opened it up like she owned the place. “Hey,” she said with a smile, coming toward him strutting in those tall heels that Alan always enjoyed seeing her wear, along with the form fitting suit. Her auburn hair lit up like flames from the many rays of light coming through the windows and her lips stood out like a dark red rose. She was carrying a thick file folder and purposely leaned over to place it down onto his desk. Alan didn’t mind catching a glimpse of her cleavage and that’s why she always did it; to indulge him. “Here are the morning reports as usual,” she said.
“Thank you Amber,” he said in a professional tone with a smile. In his mind he certainly lucked out in the Secretary department. The two would casually flirt with each other in the privacy of his office, go out to lunch sometimes where there would be some playing footsie under the table, but nothing had ever been made official between them. Mostly because of the job. Alan had always been the career driven type and it sure paid off because he was the youngest CEO of a major corporation for a year now. Marriage wasn’t ever in the agenda. Dating on the other hand...
Amber sat herself down upon the edge of his desk and crossed her legs together. “So when are we going to try out that new coffee and deli shop that just opened up downtown like you suggested we should?”
“I dunno,” he answered, looking through the contents of the file folder. “I’m kind of swamped right now before the holiday. It’s going to be even worse when Christmas rolls around. I usually end up working all through lunch.”
Amber was a little disappointed, but she refused to let it show. “Speaking of,” she began, “got any plans for Thanksgiving?” She caressed his arm a bit.
“Yeah. Spending it with my family like I always do.”
“Oh you can easily get out of that.”
He finally met eyes with her. “No, I really can’t,” he admitted. “Thanksgiving and Christmas are pretty much the only time I get to spend with my family all year. I made a promise to my mom that I’d never miss them. She’s always liked to keep us close.”
Amber slightly rolled her eyes. “Well, then--”
Alan’s phone rang and it was the receptionist; he pressed the speakerphone button. “Yes?”
“Sir there is a Maureen Young here to see you,” the receptionist informed.
Amber gave Alan a look of curiosity as it took him a moment for the name to register. Once it did, his mouth formed into a hard line. “Send her away,” he ordered.
There was a minute pause on the other end as Amber whispered, “Who’s Maureen?”
“No one important,” Alan whispered back.
“Sir,” the receptionist chimed in again, “Miss Young refuses to leave until she speaks with you. She says it’s urgent and that you know why.”
Alan facepalmed. You've gotta be kidding me! “Fine,” he sighed. “Send her in.”
Amber slid off the corner of the desk and stood facing the doorway with her arms folded. This girl she had to see.
In no time at all the receptionist opened the door and held it open as Maureen walked in. “Thank you,” she said as she gazed around the office while approaching the desk. “Wow,” she addressed Alan.
"This is quite the office you have.”
Amber sneered at Maureen, judging her every feature from head to toe.
“Amber will you excuse us, please?” Alan requested.
The fiery red-head stared at him for a moment and then begrudgingly left the office. Maureen now stood before Alan with a nervous look in her eyes.
“What are you doing here?” he frankly asked her. “And how did you find me?”
“Well,” Maureen began, twirling a strand of hair to suppress the nervousness, “I had a little chat with the Realtor who’s been trying to sell your Grandpa’s house for the past couple of years now. I told her I was interested in it and would like to speak with the owner about its history. Lo and behold she gives me your number and after a little online search, I discovered your last name and also...you have quite the reputation in this city Mr. Alan Anderton. The CEO of MetroCorp...Wow.”
He couldn’t tell if she was mocking him or not. “Why didn’t you just call me?”
“Because this is something better discussed in person,” she said. “Besides, I don’t do conversations on the phone with strangers if I can avoid it.”
Alan shook his head and fiddled with some papers on his desk to look busy. “I thought I told you let this whole thing go.”
“Yeah, well...I can’t,” she declared, bravely standing her ground. “I set out on a mission to learn about my Grandma’s lost love and find answers to all my pressing questions and I will not rest until they are answered.”
Alan glanced up at her, somewhat impressed by her resilience.
“You hold the key to many of the answers I seek and I’m very sorry to show up and bother you like this, but I’m begging you,” she paused, trying to hold back her emotions, “please help me find out our Grandparent's story? I know you have to be just as curious as I am.”
“I’m really not,” he said fiddling with the papers again.
“Why? I doubt it’s not only because you’re a busy man. Is it because of the fact that you weren’t very close to your Grandpa? Was he a je'rk to you or something?”
“No,” he answered, “and yes to your first question.”
Maureen hoped he would reveal more. “But you wanted to be?” she encouraged. When he expressed an annoyed sigh she then said, “Okay, think of this as a way to get to know him better. Learning about your family history is fun and we’d get to solve a mystery at the same time! C’mon, what do you say?”
Alan looked her straight in the eye, not with an angered look like she expected. “Look, this situation just really doesn’t interest me okay. My mom could better provide the information you seek, but,” he paused, “she and my Grandpa had a falling out for some reason after my Grandma died, and I don’t think she’d be up to having a chat about him. Especially something as trivial as an old lover of his.” He didn’t mean to sound rude. “I’m sorry, but we can’t help you. Maybe you should just let bygones be bygones and be on your way.”
And with that he went back to fiddling with some papers again, this time actually studying something important on one of them.
Maureen looked down at her clasped hands and really tried hard to hold back the tears now. She just couldn’t leave his office without saying one more thing, in a last desperate attempt. The firmly locked gates of her heart slowly began to open.
“I loved my Grandma,” she began, “she and I were very close, especially during the last few nights of her life…
...She told me so many stories about her past and it pains me, that despite how close we were, she chose to keep your Grandpa a secret from me. A man she clearly loved, and he her, never uttering a word about him even in the final moments of her life. And if I’m being completely honest with you, that bothers me! It hurts me! Like she couldn't confide in me." She held her hand to her heart as tears rolled down her cheeks. Alan froze, unsure of what to say. She went on. “I have to find out their story because if I don’t it will haunt me for the rest of my life. I don't expect you to understand, but...I know you can help relieve me from this excruciating pain.”
Alan looked down at his desk, unable to meet her gaze. “Alan please,” she implored again, stepping a little closer to his desk, “there’s a reason this card showed up at this time; maybe because God, fate or whatever you believe in wanted their story to be made known. It’s no coincidence; I feel that deeply in my heart. And no matter what we find out, at least we can feel like we had one final moment of closeness with our Grandparents.” She shrugged. “Please, if you’ll help me with this I promise I’ll never bother you again. For good, forever.”
Hearing that, Alan let out a long, drawn out sigh as his eyes begged to meet with Maureen’s again and when they did, he just couldn’t say no. There was a certain cuteness within her teary, doe-eyed look and no doubt she was easy on the eyes, but more than that he knew that she wouldn’t ever leave him alone if he didn’t help and that’s the last thing he wanted.
Surrendering, he held out his hand to her and said, “Ok. I’ll help you solve this mystery.”
Grinning brightly, Maureen took his hand and shook it, sealing the deal. “Thank you,” she expressed, wiping at her eyes. “I really appreciate it! So,” she sniffed, pulling herself together, “where do you think we should start?”
“Well,” he answered, “I already mentioned my mom most likely having all the information you need so--” The receptionist’s ringtone interrupted again and he held a finger up to her as he pressed the button. “Yes?” he answered.
“Sir Paul Naples, the regional manager from the Bluebell branch, is on line 2 for you.”
“Alright. Put him on hold and I’ll be right with him.”
Maureen smiled a bit watching him there, all serious and professional. He really was handsome, even if he was a bit haughty.
“Ok,” he addressed Maureen again, “how long are you in town?”
She paused for a moment. “I took some time off work so...I can stay here as long as the day before Thanksgiving if need be.”
“So you do have other more important things to do in your life?” he said with a wink. She just shook her head at him with a slight smile. “What kind of job do you have?”
Maureen playfully held her chin up high. “Well you may not believe this, but I’m a Veterinarian.”
Alan was impressed. “Why would I not believe that? I could tell you're smart and you’ve certainly proven you’re determined to accomplish what you set your mind to. That’s a great quality to have,” he glanced down at his watch.
Maureen hoped she wasn’t blushing at his compliment.
“So how about you meet me at my parent’s place tonight at 5:30 and we’ll try to have a chat with my mom; they should be available. I gotta take this call, but I’ll write their address down for you here and maybe you could give me your phone number in case my parents are busy and we need to plan for tomorrow?”
“Sure,” she said, thinking of how long it’d been since a hot guy asked for her number, but this wasn’t that kind of situation.
During the call Alan wrote down the address, while Maureen wrote down her number and they exchanged papers. He lipped a “Thanks,” to her.
“Thank YOU,” she whispered with a grateful heart and gave him a little wave goodbye before exiting his office.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
With the office getting ready to close up, Alan gathered up some things into his briefcase and then sat down to call his mom. He hardly ever called her, never felt like he had the need or time to, so it took him a few seconds to plan out what he was going to say.
He dialed their home phone number and couldn’t deny the uneasiness he felt while listening to the ringing on the other end.
“Hello?” his mother answered.
There was a pause. “Hi mom,” he said, “it’s me.”
He swore he heard a gasp that was unsuccessfully suppressed. “Alan? How nice to hear from you dear! How have you been?”
Alan rubbed at his eyes. “Good,” he replied, cutting to the chase. “So mom...are you available this evening for a chat?”
A lump formed in her throat. “You aren’t telling me you’re going to miss Thanksgiving are you? Because I thought I made it clear--”
“I know, mom. And no. This stranger came into my office today with something that involves Grandpa from their family history and they want to know more about him.” He didn’t mention the stranger being a girl because he didn’t want his mom getting any ideas, as she definitely would! “It’s really an intriguing story and I told them you could provide more information than I can so...I thought the two of us could talk to you about it tonight? They’re only in town for a short time.”
“Oh…,” came the reply. “Umm...sure.”
“You alright with that?” he asked, sensing her emotions. “I know things were a little rough between you and Grandpa for a while.”
“Yes,” she replied, “I’m available. You’ve got me curious.”
“Yeah,” he almost didn’t say, “I’m curious about it too…”
“So what time can I expect you both?”
“Five-thirty?”
“Great! I’ll just plan dinner for a little later then. It’ll be great to see you dear, especially before the Holiday.”
“Yeah...see you soon mom.”
“Alrighty. I love you.”
“...Love you too.”
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