The next day the three of them met in front of Dalton's office, ready to debrief him. The tension could be cut with a knife, realizing that the relationship between Elizabeth and Henry was not good at all. He decided to proceed as if anything and to make them aware of that once the meeting was over and Isabelle was dismissed. "I can tell both of you have been working hard on this. But I think the results would be even better if you managed to leave your personal differences behind and work together as a team. This first time you got lucky, but you need to trust one another. Have I made myself clear?"
Both of them were well aware that Dalton was right. Giving her a side eye, Henry was the one to speak first. "I totally agree, Sir. We'll do our best to work on it." We will have to try…
"Yes, Sir. We won't let you down." Was all Elizabeth said in agreement but she groaned internally. What other choice do I have?
They went back to Elizabeth's office and this time, she was the one to take the lead: "Okay, for the sake of the mission, I'm calling a truce. I don't know you and I don't really want to, but as Director Dalton said, we need to be able to trust each other. Should we start over?"
"We should. I think we never introduced ourselves to each other. I'm Henry McCord." he said, extending his hand out to her.
"Elizabeth Adams." she said while shaking his hand. As they touched, both of them could feel an electric energy coursing through their bodies. They both looked at each other, locking their eyes, but dismissed it immediately and got back to work.
Henry couldn't believe it when he saw her getting the files from her desk and settled into the meeting table that had been his workspace until now. It seemed their new beginning was truly starting.
Since Henry and Elizabeth had called a truce, things at work were starting to improve slightly. They were far from being friends, but they worked together now and with both of their insights they could cover much more intel. Henry was fascinated by how incredibly smart she was. She gathered, interpreted and used complex data to develop actionable steps within their mission. One day over lunch she opened up a bit and told him she was a math major, so all these things came naturally for her.
On the other hand, Henry was not making any progress at home. Things with him and Rochana were strained to say the least. He was putting in a lot of effort to please her but nothing was working: he arrived home in time to prepare dinner but most of the nights she didn't even let him know she wouldn't be home; he tried to talk to her but she avoided the topic every time; he went to get her a couple of times when she got off work taking her home and trying to reconnect, but they just went from unsatisying sex to nothing at all, lately she always dismissed him saying she was tired.
He ran out of ideas at this point. He was beyond frustrated and knew his marriage was falling apart but had no clue on how to fix it, and Rochana seemed to have no interest in making it work.
At one point he found himself lingering at work to avoid going home and that gave him an excuse to get a little closer to Elizabeth. "It's late. You should go home." he said, one night when the both of them were still at work.
She raised her head from the files she was reading and just looked at him. After a while, she turned her attention back to the file in front of her just stating: "I hate going home."
"Why is that?" Henry asked her curiously.
She huffed at the interrogation but thought she better get on with it. "It's so quiet. I don't like being there by myself so I try to stay here as much as possible. Most nights I go for a drink when I leave."
"I don't want to head home yet today… Do you think I could come along?" he asked, hoping she would say yes.
Without looking up from the paper she was reading she answered. "Um… sure, why not. Just know I might ditch you at any point."
"Okay…" he went along as it meant that he didn't have to go home yet. But he kept thinking: What does it mean she might ditch me?
"I'll meet you at the parking lot in an hour. If you're not there I'll go by myself." She stated, focusing again on the paper in front of her.
An hour later, Henry was waiting for her at the parking lot. He was nervous as he was only used to going for beers with his friends from the military. Elizabeth was a coworker but still he felt nervous as they would be alone. He kept thinking why he asked to tag along, and it unsettled him to no end. He was trying to get his marriage back but was so frustrated when he only saw failure. Maybe being able to get out of his comfort zone would help, at least to take his mind off things. The soft clicks of Elizabet's heels on the gravel interrupted his thoughts. He turned around and he had a similar feeling of when he saw her in the pink dress a few days back. His eyes opened widely at her, taking in her black wrap-around heels, the short black leather skirt and beautiful tights, right on up to her soft blue cropped cardigan with a v-neck that was buttoned in the front. He watched her saunter towards him, her blonde curls bouncing slightly as she did so.
"You ready?" she asked, when she reached him.
"Totally." he mustered, his mind still trying to understand how she could change so much in such a short time. How can this Elizabeth be the same that had been working with me all along.
Once they arrived at the bar, Henry figured out pretty quickly that Elizabeth was a regular. The bartender hugged her when she arrived and escorted her to a secluded table in the corner, him following suit.
"The usual?" the bartender asked.
"Yes, please. Two. This is my colleague Henry." she said, nodding her head towards him. The bartender just smiled at him and went to get their drinks.
"Do you come here a lot?" Henry asked her, trying to make conversation. Maybe today is the day I get to know her a little better.
Elizabeth thinked about it and sighed before answering. "Mmm… you could say that. Only for a drink or two when I finish at the office."
"Nice place. The bartender seems nice…" Henry said, noticing he was saying obvious things at this point. He wasn't used to being with Elizabeth outside of work. What should we talk about?
Elizabeth settled in the chair as she placed her hands in her lap nervously. "Yes, he is. We've been friends for a long time." This is a little awkward…
With both lost in their thoughts of how awkward the situation was, the bartender came back with their drinks.
"Cheers." Henry said, holding up his glass for her to clink hers against it.
She did and gulped down her entire drink. She rested her glass against the table and asked: "So… why don't you want to go home?"
He took a sip of his drink and said: "I accepted this assignment because it meant I could get back home to my wife. But we're at odds and it's been challenging. I've reached a point where I don't know what else to do."
"How long have you been married?" she asked, curiously. He's married? I'd never seen that one coming.
"Over three years." he said, after sipping his drink again.
"So, why don't you divorce her?" Elizabeth plainly asked. Why the hell did you just ask that?
"What?" he asked dumbfounded. "Because I believe marriage is for life. Maybe I didn't marry the love of my life, but she was going to be the mother of my children. God had other plans though."
Elizabeth looked at him intently, trying to figure him out. "She was pregnant?"
"Yeah… but we lost the baby. I accepted long ago that she resents me because I went to basic training after a few weeks of the wedding and then got deployed, leaving her to deal with the pregnancy and the miscarriage alone… but I was always as supportive as I could be from a distance and she always knew that was the plan. I mean I had a ROTC scholarship… I couldn't evade my duty. But now I feel like she isn't even trying to figure things out. I'm the only one making an effort and I'm tired. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep going…" he blurted out.
Elizabeth placed a hand over his to comfort him. "I'm sorry. You should try and talk to her, but from the sounds of it she has no intention to make things right between you two." she said, as she motioned the bartender for another round with her other hand.
The warmth of their hands touching brought Henry a little bit of the comfort he had been missing lately. "Yeah… I've already tried that. But maybe you're right…" Who knew I could talk to her and she would be so understanding…
The conversation went on and Henry felt like they were getting to know one another for real this time. She was the first person he could talk to about his situation at home and was feeling like the weight he had been carrying was lifted off of his shoulders a little bit. He could breathe better. He felt better. After an hour or so, a group of men entered the bar, sitting heavily in one of the tables in the middle. One of them noticed Elizabeth, and he yelled: "Lizzie! So good to see you! Come here to sit with us!"
They're calling her Lizzie? Who is she really? Everytime I seem to discover a new Elizabeth. Henry thought.
"I'll join you in a minute!" she yelled back from their table. Turning to Henry, she leaned in and whispered against his ear: "Remember I told you I might ditch you at any point? This is it. I'm going to go sit over there and you have two options: you pay the bill and leave or you come to sit with us. But you have to promise me we will never speak of it again. It'll be as if it never happened. Your choice." And with that, she took her purse and her drink and made her way to the other table.
Henry sat there for what seemed like hours thinking about what she just said: he had to make a choice. He could go home and try to catch Rochana awake and talk to her or he could ask for another drink and see what the night would bring. After giving it a bit of thought, he decided he would join the table as he was not ready to go home. At least, not yet.
He sat on an empty chair next to Elizabeth as she eyed him. "Guys, this is Henry. He works with me."
"Glad you joined us! Lizzie here is the best!" one of them said.
"Nice to meet you, Henry!" said another.
"Now that it seems we have a full table, I'm going to get shots!" said another one.
Henry stared at Elizabeth. She seemed like a totally different person. Not the closed off woman he had shared an office with for almost three months but a fun and laid-back gorgeous woman who had everyone's attention. It seemed the guys at the table were fighting to get her attention and were satisfied when she took a drink from one of them or laughed at a joke another one made.
After a few more drinks, Henry saw her leaning into him as she said: "That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow at work. You should check out the brunette at the table behind us, she has been eying you all night."
And with that, her eyes locked with one of the guys and took his hand while nodding to the exit. He took her hand quickly as they made their way towards the exit.
"What just happened?" Henry asked the other guys once they were out the door.
"That bastard got lucky tonight. Man, I wish it were me…" he lamented.
"That right there? He's going to enjoy the best sex of his life…" the other one said, pointing to the already closed door.
Henry didn't have any other reason to be there, so he just got up, paid for the drinks, and made his way home thinking that at least one of them would enjoy the night.
…