Second Chances

Unfinished Business

Monday morning back at work, halfway through her second cup of coffee, Maddy churned through her emails, deleting dozens of them and responding to as many as she could. Despite doing her best to stay on top of her correspondence while she was out of the office, her inbox was full. Her boss, Kendall had a bad habit of hitting "Reply All" with every email she sent, whether or not the information was remotely relevant to the majority of recipients.

Subject line: Trash Collection

Delete.

Subject Line: Sumatra or French Roast?

Delete.

Subject Line: Server Upgrade

Delete.

Bursting out of a meeting, Haley rushed Maddy's cubicle. "So, was it super romantic?"

"What?"

"Your San Fran trip?"

"What about it?"

"You heard me. Was it super romantic?"

"Incredibly."

"Details." Haley nearly hyperventilated. "I need graphic details."

"Graphic? It wasn't anything like that."

Sophie popped up in the adjoining cubicle to listen in.

Haley pressed. "Is he the slow, gentle, talk-you-out-of-your-panties type? Or did he--"

"You're a terrible listener."

Leopold approached in long strides down the aisle toward Maddy's cubicle. "Who called this meeting?" He stroked his scraggly beard, his dull eyes shifting from Maddy to Sophie, then finally coming to rest on Haley. "You probably weren't paying attention when we were reviewing the project scheduling board, so let me summarize: there's a lot of work that needs to get done if we're gonna hit our deadlines. We don't have time for girl talk."

"Girl talk?" Maddy cringed. "You're actually serious?"

"Let me summarize," Haley said. "Go away."

"You know what Kendall always says about deadlines," he continued. "Miss a deadline, miss an opportunity."

"It's like the ventriloquist died and the dummy keeps talking," Haley growled.

Maddy cracked up.

Red-faced, Leopold hung his head and trudged away.

The receptionist, Desiree, buzzed Maddy's phone. "Maddy, I've got a Nathan Garvey here to see you. He says he doesn't have an appointment."

Maddy sighed. "Okay. I'll be right up."

"Who?" Haley asked.

"Nathan."

"Your Nathan? Nathan, your ex?"

"Yep."

Sophie asked, "The guy in the toy department?"

"I was wondering when he'd show up," said Haley.

Maddy responded, "Is this like a thing everybody is talking about?"

When Maddy approached the reception area, she found Nathan joking with Desiree. With an exaggerated but sincere grin he said, "So, you're welcome, Maddy."

She shrugged.

"The dinosaur? The professional wrapping?"

"Oh! Yes, yes. Thank you."

"When you didn't call to tell me how amazing the package looked, I thought maybe it was delivered to the wrong address, or stolen by Somali pirates."