Office Gossip
Chapter 14

Having a friend from high school come into the office and start regaling stories from the past would have been embarrassing enough, but when it revealed the entanglement of her three bosses, Joan found it shocking and salacious. She could not get enough of Bryce's tales back then, and every afternoon over sandwiches or take-out, she enjoyed his recounting of the early life of three of Dallas' most respected and respectable entrepreneurs.

When he told her that Chris and Elena were each other's first love, she thought he was joking, and told him so.

…
"Chris and Elena dated in high school?" Joan skeptically responded to the new guy's comment. "You're making that up."

"No, I'm not, and not just high school," Bryce clarified. "They dated into their thirties."

"Their thirties? No! They're in their thirties now."

"I know. They were still dating, like, seven years ago—right up until he went to China," he informed her.

"When he emailed saying he was working in Asia for a while, I assumed Elena went with him. Then a few months later, my sister calls and tells me to sit down for the picture she was texting me. I was driving the baby around in the car trying to get her to fall asleep, and had to pull over when I saw the picture was of Elena and John Ross kissing at a nightclub downtown. I must have forwarded that picture to everyone in my address book-well, everyone except Chris. Two years later, my wife and I went to Chris and Rebecca's wedding where Elena was the maid of honor."

"NO!"

"Yes! It was crazy. Next thing you know, Elena and John Ross married, both couples are having babies, and the three of them start a company together. It was the juiciest gossip in town."

"Bet it was," Joan mused aloud as she tried to make sense of the large amount of information.

"I can't see those two together like that. They're obviously good friends, but they don't act intimate around each other."

"Not now they don't, but they're married to other people. She can't very well sit on his lap while they share a beer."

"I cannot imagine either of them being that informal anywhere with anyone. John Ross? Absolutely!" Joan declared. "But those two?"

After pondering the thought of her bosses being young and in love, Joan crinkled up her nose.

"I wish you hadn't put that image in my head."

Bryce laughed at the face she was making. "Yet, that is the way I picture them all the time. She always sat that close to him—always. I don't know if it was out of possessiveness or insecurity, but, if they were both in the room, Elena was within inches of him," Bryce revealed.

"I'd lean toward possessiveness," Joan theorized. "She's like that with John Ross, and she has nothing to worry about with me. Hell, I don't even feel like having sex with my own husband, like I'm gonna have it with someone else's!"

There were not many men to whom Joan could say such a thing, which is why the long-time human resources manager enjoyed Bryce's company and the two became instant friends.

Joan asked why Chris and Elena never married.

"I don't know," he honestly answered. "I asked once when we were at a Cowboys game. After getting us a couple of more beers, he sat down and promptly changed the subject to the kick-off that had just occurred. He had me so caught up in the criminal assault charge the kicker was being accused of, the game was over before I realized he hadn't answered my question."

After explaining he was not going to strain their friendship over something Chris obviously did not want to talk about, Bryce gave a glimpse into the relationship that he doubted even Chris and Elena could verbalize.

"They knew everything about each other. Chris could tell you stories about her family back in Mexico. If he was running late, Elena ordered for him at restaurants. They irritatingly finished each others' sentences, but if you asked about their relationship, it was as if they were strangers.

"When separately asked, 'When are you two getting married?' it was amazing how different their answers were. At my first wedding, about a year after college, Elena answered, 'We want to get through grad school, and then we will.' Chris said, 'There's no rush. Someday.' At my second wedding, which was only 8 years ago, Elena told me with complete confidence it would be soon. Chris answered, 'I don't know. I guess when we decide to have kids.'

"I felt so bad for her, that I told him that he really needed to talk to Elena about the future, because they were not on the same page. A few months later, he emailed from China."

…
In the years since Bryce first reminisced about high school, Joan often took note of Chris and Elena's interactions with each other. One did not have to work there long to notice that they spoke often, but Joan never noticed anything untoward between them. They were friends, very close friends.

"That's it!" she blurted aloud, snapping out of her reverie. As fast as she could in high heels, she ran back to Bryce's temporary office and swung open his door.

"They didn't get married because they were just friends!" Joan announced, so proud that after years she had finally put all the pieces together.

"The spark wasn't there, but they didn't realize that until they met someone else and it was."

Bryce quickly burst her bubble. "Not buying it," he told her, shaking his head. "The spark was there. Trust me; it was there right up until the end."

Catching a glimpse of Elena out of the corner of her eye, Joan panicked.

Oh, shit! she thought, but her mouth quickly spoke the first thing that came to mind.

"Yes, Chiapas was a very poor area, but thanks to Ewing Energies, now 100% of households have running water, indoor bathrooms, and electricity."

When he saw Elena pass his open door, Bryce loudly announced he would let Joan know if he had any further questions and then gave her a wink.

"Thanks, that was a close one," he mouthed, before Joan nonchalantly walked back to her office with more questions instead of answers.

Copyright 2014 tbimh

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