Second Chances

Justin.

                           It's been a year. One freakin' year. She stopped using all her accounts and when I looked for other accounts I couldn't find any. I go to my office and I still feel her with me. "Good morning boss," Michael says when he enters the office. "Good morning," I say "Laura, can you come please?" I call her through the telecom. "So, are you ready?" Michael says when Laura comes in. "Ready for what? One minute" I ask" Good morning Laura" "Good morning Mister Justin. Are you free for just five minutes? I would like to revise with you our schedule for today." she says "Yeah, sure."I say and take a sip from my coffee. As Laura says the schedule, I check my email and reply to some of them. After Laura finishes, she says "Is there anything you want?" she smiles "Ah, well actually I sent you an email with everything we need ready for our customer." I say "Okay, I'll check it and tell the crew to just get them ready ASAP." She gets out and then I turn to Michael and then say, " So....what am I ready for?" I ask him "For our meeting with the new clients." "Oh...yeah... I totally forgot. When was it again?" "By lunchtime" he heads to the door and then stops, "Hey, you didn't tell me what happened on your date yesterday." I look at him and then go stand by the window. "You didn't go as usual, did you?" "I couldn't, Michael. I was ready to go and actually got to the place this time but I was just about to get in, I couldn't do it and I got in my car and drove to the shore. I'm sorry man if I've put you in a difficult position." He shrugs and says " It's okay, man. I was pushing you too much."

                           "Justin, we need to go. We're gonna be late" Michael says. "Okay, just let me call for Maria." It has been three months since Rachel was gone. Everything is starting to kind of collapse in the company as Rachel was the one who understood in the most important department which was the design. After a lot of persuasion from Michael, we interviewed a lot of people but the one who we really liked her way of working was Maria. She saved us in less than a week. I knock on Maria's door and she gestures for me to come in while talking to someone on the phone. "Okay....that would be perfect. I'll talk with Michael and Justin and then contact your assistant. See you soon." she hangs up "What's up, Justin?" she says to me "Hey! Are you ready? We need to move now or we will be late." I say "Yeah, yeah...I'm ready. Let's go". When we arrive at the restaurant, we find our clients already there. "Were we late?" Michael says to them "No, not at all. We've just come here too." one of them says. "I'm Michael. I'm the CEO and also the financial manager. This is Justin, our manager and this is Maria, our design manager." We shake and then sit down. We talk about work and then we order food. I feel my phone ringing in my jack pocket."Excuse me. I'll be right back." 

                           I look at my phone to find that it's Roy. I head outside to talk to him. "Hey, Roy. Did something happen?" I ask him "No,no...it's probably nothing but I thought that maybe you should know." he says "What is it, Roy? Is it about Rachel?" "Well....actually yes. I think I saw her across the street 2 hours ago. She was with a guy but I never saw him before but maybe it was someone who just looks like her" he says "As usual" he murmurs but I heard him."It was probably that Roy but thank you for informing me." I hang up with him and go to the table. I hear them talking but as if it was distant. After a couple of minutes, I say "Excuse me." I stand and go to the bathroom. I wash my face and feel like my breathing is getting heavier. She's here. It can't be, can it? Will I ever see her? Will she call me? Ever since she sent those divorce papers with her lawyer, I was sure I would never see her again and that she would stay wherever she was for eternity but maybe she forgave me?  "Are you okay?" Michael asks as he enters the bathroom. "Yeah, yeah man. I am." We stay quiet for a while then he asks "Well, are you coming or what?" "Yeah, yeah...just go ahead. I'll come right after you." I look at the mirror and huff then get out. I check my phone and accidentally bump into someone's chair and knock out her bag. "I'm so sorry," I say to her as I try to put everything in her bag. "It's okay," she says and I pause a little hesitated to look at her face. It's not, is it?  I look at her and I feel as if I'm alive again. I'm shocked, happy, hurt...a lot of mixed feelings. "Hey Rachel" I finally blurt. 

                           I look at her, waiting for her to say anything. Anything. I try to hold her hands but just as I touch her, she withdraws her hand and looks to the direction of the entrance. "I didn't know you were coming back." she doesn't say anything and looking at her, I feel her still aching through her watery eyes. "Rachel? Can we..." I try to touch her hand when she takes her stuff and walks out of the restaurant. "You shouldn't have done that. You know she isn't ready for forgiving you, right?" the guy who was sitting with her, who I didn't notice him even sitting there until he had talked, says, leaves some money on the table and follows Rachel. I look at the door, not able to move and all I could think of is her and whether or not she married that guy. "The client is waiting for you, Justin. Why are you standing here?" Michael says interrupting my thoughts. "I've gotta go." I head to my car and drive aimlessly. I park at my house and start to break everything in the house. It's been a year but she still hasn't forgiven and from her eyes, I feel like the fire in her heart hasn't worn off. 

                           I pour myself a cup of whiskey and then I take the whole bottle with me to the porch. I look at the stars, close my eyes, and see a flashback of when I saw her today. I'm interrupted by a knock on the door. Hoping that it's Rachel, I see that it's Michael. "Hey," he says and I leave the door open. "Are you alright?" he asks but I ignore him and go to the porch to complete drinking. "You're gonna talk eventually, you know that right?" he says again. I don't want to talk to anyone. I just want Rachel right now. I drink again but Michael takes the bottle from me. "Can you give it please?" I ask him handing out my hand for him but he drinks from it and doesn't give it back. "Just give it to me." I take it from him forcefully, drink from it, and then smash it screaming angrily."I hurt her a lot. She didn't even let me touch her for more than a second. She couldn't even look at me, Michael." I start crying. After a minute or two, I wipe my face with a big sigh, "Are you not really curious about what she has been doing for the past year?" Michael asks "No Michael. I don't wanna know." I pause" Maybe she married that guy she was sitting with. He looks like a guy who wouldn't cheat on her. He would take care of her in the right and decent way." We look at each other. Just sitting silently when I go to the house bring another bottle, drink from it, and see again the flashback. I really need her.