It surprised him that in three years, he hadn't been home to visit once, not a single time, mostly due to her. Then, he'd gotten wrapped up in her little scheme to stay in the country, and they'd jetted off to Alaska, where things had only gone from bad to worse, in many areas. He'd realized he loved her there in Alaska, wanted to be with her, and he'd flown home to stop her. She'd left anyway, and that had left him speechless. For a writer and now editor, he had no words for what had happened. Since then, Andrew had spent the last year trying to pick up the pieces of his life. Funny, how something that had spanned so short a time, just a long weekend in Alaska, had such long-lasting effects. Now, as Andrew left Starbucks with his Cinnamon Soy Latte ready to get back to work, he couldn't stop thinking about the events of the last year.
Andrew had just returned from another trip to Alaska, Gammy's 91st birthday, and this year, there were no surprises or fake weddings in store. No, it was quite honestly, a very boring trip home. Aside from catching up with a few friends, Andrew had not done much except relax, read, and well, think. Even Gert had been out of town, which was unusual. After reconnecting with her last summer, he'd enjoyed keeping in touch. There were no romantic feelings there, no, none at all. Andrew had one person on his mind or HAD one person on his mind, and she'd left him for Canada. Oh, Canada, how he now LOATED that place.
It was fine he didn't have an interest in Gert, aside from a long friendship. He was happy for her; she'd met and married a man, a fellow teacher, a new teacher to the area. Stan Lewis had swept Gert off her feet, moving north to teach middle school math. Andrew had met the guy last Christmas when he'd been back in Alaska yet on another trip, and he had to agree the two were a great match. On this recent trip to Alaska, Gert and Stan were off on their honeymoon, albeit to Canada as well-Vancouver not Toronto, a city he LOATED more than any. So, since his fake wedding trip last summer, Andrew had made two trips back home-Christmas and now again for Gammy's birthday. Thankfully, things were on better ground with his parents, but he was aware of the stares coming from his mom and Gammy, watching him "mope" around as they'd both told him he was doing. He couldn't help it. He missed HER.
Andrew missed Margaret, and she'd picked Canada over him.
Over the past year, he'd worked REALLY hard to get over Margaret. It blew his mind that he'd hated her for so long, and like a switch being flipped, he'd suddenly found himself in love with her. Maybe, deep down, that was why he'd stuck by her side for three years, telling her he was the only person who hadn't left her. Except, now, she'd left him.
Andrew had tried dating, taking out pretty much every available girl at Starbucks because they'd all left their numbers for him on his daily cup. He'd tried to drink anything but that stupid Cinnamon Soy Latte, but he found comfort and enjoyment drinking his "Christmas in a Cup." Plus, he wouldn't admit it, but somewhere he felt it made him closer to her, that maybe somewhere in that ridiculous city of Toronto she was drinking the same thing. It had been a long year.
Over the last year, Andrew had tried. He'd put a lot more effort into work, especially now that he was an editor. He loved his job. He hated working for Bob, but there had been a clause in his contract, written in by Margaret, that Andrew couldn't be fired with Bob in charge. He didn't know how she'd managed it, but she had; she'd done one nice thing for him before leaving, really before knowing where he stood because that had all been done before he'd made a fool of himself in front of the entire office, until he'd stood there and asked her to marry him, only to be turned down.
Oh, that image. Andrew shook his head as he walked through the bustling New York streets on his way to the office, latte in hand. He could still see the scene. Sadly he felt it would forever be burned into his memory, Margaret standing there, listening to his proposal, and then turning him down. She'd said she was too scared, was too much of a loner, and that she couldn't do that to him. He knew she was scared, and he'd been unable to stop her.
While he'd envisioned her accepting his proposal and kissing her senselessly, maybe not in front of the entire office, but whatever, he'd found quite the opposite. Margaret had reached over, squeezed his hand, met his gaze, and shrugged, before turning and fleeing to the bathroom. He knew she'd gone there to cry; she'd done that after firing Bob, and he knew that because she'd told him on their Alaskan adventure. Andrew had glanced around and given everyone a sad wave before shaking his head and retreating to the elevators in defeat. Jordan had followed him, his good, good friend, Jordan, and the two had escaped to a coffee shop to just talk. Even now, Andrew wasn't sure how much he'd babbled to Jordan that day, but he was forever grateful to his friend for not making fun of him. Sure, the two enjoyed joking at work. The entire office enjoyed tracking Margaret's every move, but thankfully, Jordan had understood that this, this mess, had really hit his buddy hard.
Andrew was grateful for the good friend he had in Jordan, along with others at work. Over the last year, he knew there had been grumblings about Margaret, but no one in the office had mentioned his failed proposal. With as much as the office gossiped, he had Jordan to thank for that. He didn't know what was said or what had been threatened to keep people from commenting to him, but no one had. He'd come to work the next day and started to move offices. He's settled into work, and that had been it. He had felt eyes staring at him, but no one had a word related to Margaret for him. Work was work, and he'd thrown himself into it.
In early spring, talk started about an office softball team to join a local league. Andrew, who had played pretty much every sport possible in school, decided to not only play, but head up the team. He'd recruited many, including Jordan, to be on the team. That had been a great outlet for him as well, and he realized just how much he not only enjoyed playing, but coaching. After the season ended in June, Andrew decided that he would pursue coaching and had stopped by the local rec center to volunteer to coach kids' baseball. He had done that most of the summer, enjoying it all. Andrew had started with eight-year-old boys, and while it frustrated him how little they knew, he had them coming along nicely by the end of their little season. He was already looking forward to their fall season and grateful for this new distraction in his life.
Andrew continued dodging people, finally making his way to work. His commute was a little longer because in all of this, he'd moved. After visiting his family in Alaska, Gammy and his mom had come to visit. They'd fussed over his small, but tidy apartment, and before leaving Gammy had left him quite a sizeable check. Trying to convince her she would take a major tax hit, she'd waved him off, telling him that grandmothers are supposed to spoil their grandkids. He'd accepted the money with the promise that the next trip, Gammy and his mom would have a much bigger apartment.
So, as Andrew arrived at work, he thought back over the last year, realizing he'd done a lot-a lot of growing, a lot of changing, and still, the one thing that hadn't changed was hearing a word from Margaret. Not only had she up and moved to Toronto, she'd changed her phone number. He hated that she had done that. The address she'd left for her things, well, that had turned out to be a storage facility that when he followed up, she'd emptied and left no word of a forwarding address. Margaret wasn't tech savvy, so thinks like social media-she didn't use them and had no interest in them. He knew he could have dug deeper, even hired someone to track her down, but Andrew had decided that if she had gone to these lengths to hide from him, he had to let her go.
Yes, this recent trip to Alaska had brought back many memories, and now that it was over, it was time for him to get back to work. He had a lunch date with a writer, and he had a dinner meeting with an illustrator. Andrew made his way upstairs, and as he stepped off the elevator, he ran smack into one of the mail guys.
"Come on!" Andrew exclaimed, shaking the hot latte off of him. He looked down and let out a bellow, "UGGGH!" His shirt and tie was covered in coffee. He had a spare in his office, but that shirt was a little tight, and this was already going to be a long day. He looked to the floor and saw that his new shoes were also now spotted in coffee. He glared at the mail guy who waved an apology and disappeared quickly. Andrew had not been exactly "chatty" with the office the last year.
He waved off people as he walked to his office. He made eye contact with Jordan who was flirting with the temp, Valerie, Andrew believed. Jordan hadn't found a girlfriend either, but he'd certainly been trying more than Andrew. Jordan's gaze puzzled Andrew, and he nodded to Jordan and gestured to his shirt, pointing out he'd chat with him after changing.
Once inside his office, Andrew started to change his shirt. He balled up the soiled one and threw it hastily at the floor. As he did that, he about jumped when he heard a voice coming from the adjoining kitchenette area. Two editor offices were linked with a small kitchenette, mainly a small fridge and a sink.
"I see some things haven't changed, have they? Still can't walk and drink your coffee at the same time, hmm?" Margaret said, as she stepped into his office from the kitchenette area. Andrew's eyes narrowed.
"Margaret," he said quietly, now reaching for his new shirt, trying to still all of his emotions as they hit him at once. He locked eyes with her, but he was still clearly irritated as he did so. "I see that my plea to the United States Government didn't work. They still let you back into the country."
"Hmm, funny," she smirked. "I leave for a year, and when I get back, I find you are on vacation? Hmm, you're slipping, Andrew. Looks like we need to go over some expectations if I'm going to be your boss again."
Andrew stopped buttoning his shirt and looked to her again. He'd heard no mention of her returning, of being his boss. He tried to school his surprise.
"Well, isn't this just a great start to my day," he seethed as he hastily finished with his shirt and added his tie.