Tap. Tap. Tap.

The knocking shook my out of my daydream. I looked up to see my assistant Cheryl standing in the doorway.

"Here's your morning caffeine fix." She walked towards me and placed a tall cup of coffee on my desk. "Mr. Harris called and wanted to talk to you about plant ergonomics. I told him you would call him back as soon as you could."

"Thanks, I haven't had a chance to look over that file yet."

"Oh, and the boss wants to see you asap."

I let out a soft groan and reached for the coffee.

My boss, Bob March, is a wonderful old man of about 75, who just didn't want to retire; he loved his job. Most of the time I enjoyed working for him; but two things about him drive me absolutely crazy. First off, he has this annoying tendency to call me Gabi. All the time! It's one thing if a close friend does it once in awhile, but a totally different thing for someone I work with to do it all the time. It makes me feel unprofessional. Damn it, it makes me about 10 years old. If that wasn't bad enough, he is a closet romantic, except he's not really in the closet. He thinks that everyone should be in love and married. So recently he has taken to setting me up with men under the charade of business; which makes it worse, because I can't take the chance that it's not business and say I have plans.

Last time it was the son of one of our major clients. I don't know what Bob told the guy, but he called me for three weeks after we met trying to persuade me to go out with him. And I would have, if it weren't for the fact that he was really boring and kept telling me how much money he was going to inherit. Yuck! And now I just have this feeling he was going to try again.

"Maybe you could just make up a boyfriend so that he won't set you up any more."

"Thanks for the suggestion Cheryl, but with my luck Bob would ask to meet him. And then I'd be in a tight spot. Only thing to do is grin and bear it."

"Let me know if he's cute. Maybe you can give him my number."

With that, Cheryl walked out of my office. I stood up, smoothed out my skirt, and headed for Bob's office. Better to find out now, then at the end of the day when I'm all psyched up for a quiet evening at home.

---

"So the Harris account is under control?" Bob inquired.

"I'm going to look over the file this afternoon and give Mr. Harris a call to go over the details."

I looked up from the notes I had been taking. So far the whole meeting had been about ongoing projects. Maybe I'd get lucky this time. "Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

He stopped for a minute to ponder my question. "Actually …"

I knew I shouldn't have asked. I should have just left. Was that my phone ringing? Cheryl calling my name? The fire alarm going off? Nope. Wishful thinking.

"I am meeting an old friend who is thinking of contracting us for a multi-million dollar job. But his son is in town and, so if I want any chance of talking business, I need someone to keep him company. Are you busy tonight?"

He must have caught my grimace because his next comment sealed the deal.

"I don't think I need to tell you how important a contract like this could be."

That did it; I was going to be stuck with yet another guy for yet another tedious dinner. At least I could hope this one wouldn't slurp his soup or knock my wine into my lap.

---

I made my way into the restaurant and towards the hostess. After work I had rushed home to thrown on something more dinner appropriate. Actually, I pulled on a new black dress I had bought the week before. Clothes were my weakness, I just couldn't help myself; in this case, it came in handy.

I looked around; this place was definitely upscale. Good thing I wasn't paying, since I had blown my month's budget on the dress; that and not having to make dinner were the benefits to this fiasco. Cooking for one was not the most fun.

The hostess led me to the table; there were three men already sitting down. Bob and another older man were facing toward me. That must mean that my "date" is the blond with his back to me.

"Gabi."

Bob greeted me, and the blond turned his head. I could feel my jaw drop. There sitting at the table was Ryan Evans, one of my friends from high school.

---

Halfway through dinner, Ryan turned to me. "So Gabriella, this is where you've been hiding yourself. I never thought dinner with my dad and Bob would bring me to you."

Apparently, Bob and Ryan's father had gone to university together and got together every time they were in the same city. Business always came up but nothing was ever decided; at least according to Ryan.

I should have known that eventually the conversation would turn to my disappearance out of the old crowd. In my mind it always made sense that the last girl to join would be the first to leave; even if everyone only became friends after I arrived. I braced myself for what I knew was coming.

"We missed you at the reunion. Everyone else made it and we had a great time relieving some of the old days."

I looked down at my plate while the lie slipped out.

"I wanted to go, but I was out of the country for work."

Well, I was out of the country on work. It was the part about wanting to go that was the lie. Actually, after I got the invitation I was dreading it; but planned to attend because I didn't have a feasible excuse. And then I had the opportunity to oversea a job in Europe and jumped at the chance to get out of the reunion. I couldn't face the people that used to be my friends. Things had changed; I changed. But mostly, I couldn't be reminded of what Troy and I used to have. And the whole weekend would have be a reminder, besides, what if he had turned up with a date, or a girlfriend, or even a wife!

"It was great. I even have some gossip for you. Zeke and Sharpay have gotten back together."

Zeke, a friend of Troy's, and Sharpay, Ryan's twin sister, dated on again/off again for most of high school. They used to fight and break up all the time, and then a few weeks later they would get back together. Whenever they were together, Sharpay and Ryan would hang out with Zeke who hung out with Troy and I. After our somewhat tumultuous start, where Troy and I got the lead in the musical over Ryan and Sharpay, Sharpay and I had a rocky friendship. There was bitter competition on her part whenever tryouts were on but most of the time we got along okay. As far as I could remember, Sharpay and Zeke had broken up the summer after graduation; neither wanted to be tied down.

"Wow. That's great." I hope that he couldn't tell how fake my enthusiasm was.

"Yeah, it's hard with her in California and him trying to set up the new restaurant here, but they're making it work. Oh! Hey, you should come to the grand opening of the restaurant. Everyone is going to be there. We all decided at the reunion that 10 years was too long so we're getting together next month. It's going to be great!"

With that announcement, my heart sank. There was no way out of this one. I was going to have to come face to face with my past.