“Thanks, Tom. I’ll get to those phone calls in the afternoon. I think I’m going to go for a run first. Just to clear my head.”
Tom nods and is just about to leave the room when my friend Jay walks in. He has two tall cups of smoothies in his hands.
“You read my mind,” I say and we greet each other with a smile.
“On your way out, Tom, my man?” Jay exclaims and Tom scurries away. “I don’t think that guy likes me very much.”
“Tom is not the friendliest guy, but he’s great at his job,” I reply and take one of the cups from him.
Jay sits down at the breakfast bar on one of the stools and spins like a kid would.
“I wasn’t sure if you were going to be back today but I thought I’d check in anyway.”
“Yeah, got back last night. I signed on the Ruby Reds; did you get my email?”
Jay nods while he drinks some of his smoothie.
“Yeah, I read through some of the drafts, pretty good deal.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking maybe it’s time for me to push the brakes and take it easy for a few weeks.”
“Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
“I want to take a break from work.”
“Is this about that girl?”
“I can’t get her out of my mind,” I admit, emptying the smoothie down my throat.
Jay is the only person I have spoken to about what happened that night and how I feel this crazy urge to find Ella. I don’t even know what I’ll do when I find her. Especially since she made it so clear that she didn’t want to be pursued or found.
Jay taps his knuckles on the marble top.
“That is never good news if you ask me.”
“It’s like she played some black magic trick on me. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same again.”
“So, what are you going to do now?”
“Try to find her. I’ve got Tom on the case.”
“But I thought you said she didn’t want to see you again.”
I look up at my friend, and he sighs, shaking his head.
“I can see your brain churning. You’re trying to come up with a plan.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet,” I admit.
Jay clenches his jaw. “You need to be careful, man. I know you think she belongs to you or whatever, but one of you could really end up hurt.”
“How?” I growl. I don’t want to believe it.
“Maybe you don’t know what it’s like to be rejected by someone you want. She’s already rejected you once.”
“She won’t reject me twice,” I state.
“You don’t fuckin’ know that,” Jay almost shouts the words, then he calms down in the next instance. “All I’m saying is that you need to be careful. You said she’s younger than you. Much younger. She claimed she was on some kind of personal journey. Maybe she doesn’t want what you want.”
“I just want to see her again and find out if she’s changed her mind. That is it. Why is that so difficult for you to understand?” I snap at Jay.
He shakes his head again like he’s disappointed.
“Oh, how the mighty have fallen!” he exclaims, and the air lightens up in the room again. He’ll get it when he sees Ella. I’m sure of it. He’ll know what I’m talking about.
Tom doesn't take long. Two days later, he finds me in my study while I’m pouring over some research material and drinking Scotch. It’s late in the evening, and I thought he had already gone home. When he knocks on the open door and I look up, I can see his satisfied expression.
He’s found her. I know it.
“Tom?”
He comes up to me holding out a slim folder.
“I think I have what you’re looking for, Mr. Silvers,” he says, and he takes pleasure in saying those words.
“Excellent. I knew I could rely on you.”
I take the folder from him and he is already backing up to the door.
“I’ll hang around for a while if you need anything else, Mr. Silvers.”
“You’ve done enough for today, Tom; go home. Take the morning off tomorrow. I’ll be fine. I’ll email you if I need you,” I reassure him. However, I know he is not going to leave the house for at least half an hour. Just in case I need something urgently.
Honestly, I don’t know how I will ever repay him for the work he does for me.
He shuts the door behind him and now I’m alone in my office clutching a folder marked “Ella Davies.” I am able to picture her bronze shining curls, the way her eyes glittered in the fluorescent lights of the arcade that night. It’s been six months, and I only met her once, but I feel like I know her face by heart.
I open to the first page in the folder and it’s a blown-up copy of a photograph of Ella. It is her. Tom must have found it on social media because it looks like a happy casual photograph with a group of people who are cropped out of the picture here. So I’m just staring at Ella. She looks a little younger. She has a big smile on her face. The sun makes everything look bright around her. It’s like she’s staring right back at me with her hazel eyes.
I feel lost for a few moments. I’m thinking about those kisses. How delicious she tasted, how I wanted more, and I know I will keep wanting more until I can have her.
I have to force myself to flip through the rest of the folder. I need to move on from staring at her face.
What I find literally shakes me. I can’t believe it. I have to re-read it several times before the truth finally sinks in. Ella lives in Chicago. She went to college here. Majored in history. Worked at some small firm in the city before she quit that job seven months ago.
She has a family comprised of parents and a younger brother. She grew up in a small town but her parents also live in the city now.
Tom has done good work. He’s given me enough information to paint a decent picture of Ella’s life.
I think I’ve ended up going through the folder at least a dozen times. I may not know every intricate detail of her life, but I feel like I know enough. It’s been over an hour since Tom brought the folder over to me, so I’m sure he’s gone home.
I step out of the study and at the end of the hallway, I see him scrolling through his phone. The light from the screen illuminates his face. He hears me and looks up.
“Yeah, it’s her,” I say, and he nods. I wonder how much he knows. How much he’s figured out. He has to have an idea that Ella is not a business associate.
I walk back into the study and I know he’s following me in there. I grab the folder off the desk and hold it up.
“That’s good work. I’m not going to ask you how you dug up all this.”
“It wasn’t very difficult. She isn’t overly protective of her information online.”
“But you couldn’t find an email address or a phone number?”
“No. I searched everywhere, Mr. Silvers,” he says. I nod.
I am pacing around the room with my hands behind my back. I need to come up with a plan to see her again.
“Do you know if she’s back in Chicago? As far as I know, she was traveling around Europe six months ago.”