At the gate, Amanda reconnected with Sheila who had somehow managed to pick up a 4th bag which Gavin ended up shipping back to the States for her.
Sheila gave her a warm hug. “Did you have a nice time with Viktor?”
“Yes,” Amanda replied as she began to cry again.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” Sheila asked, concerned.
“I don’t want to leave him,” she cried.
“Aww,” Sheila put her arm around her as they sat down together. “Vacation flings never last. It was bound to happen. In a few days, you’ll be over it.”
“What?” Amanda asked, feeling very confused by Sheila’s response.
“You’ve had a good time with him and you don’t want it to end.”
“Yeah, but …” Amanda felt a little lost and wasn’t sure if she and Sheila were on the same page.
“Coming back to real life sucks,” Sheila sympathized.
“Yeah,” Amanda agreed, still feeling like Sheila had a different meaning to what she was saying.
“You’ll meet another guy that you have just as much fun with. Trust me,” Sheila tried to comfort her while clearly not understanding the situation at all.
“He’s coming to Boston,” Amanda informed her. “In a few weeks.”
“That’s great! See. That will be nice. What’s he doing in Boston?”
“Visiting me,” Amanda answered, finding it curious that the answer wasn’t obvious.
“He’s coming to visit you?” Sheila repeated, sounding a little surprised.
“Yeah.”
Now it was Sheila’s turn to be confused. “So why are you upset?”
Stupefied by Sheila’s take on the situation, Amanda just sat looking dazed and confused. She began to doubt her own sanity but then remembered that Sheila never had long term relationships. Every man she ever dated was a passing fancy. She never formed any real attachment to any of them.
“You’re right,” Amanda just smiled, knowing that Sheila would never understand how she felt.
“We’ll get drinks on the plane,” Sheila suggested. “You’re going to be fine.”
“Yeah,” Amanda replied, finally feeling like she actually believed it. She nodded her head and smiled as she reflected on the fact that she and Viktor had something real, unlike Sheila and Gavin. “Yeah.”
Chapter 14
Returning to normal life back in Boston was harder than Amanda had anticipated. Missing Viktor amplified the loneliness she occasionally experienced and her first day back to work was a brutal reality slap to the face. Still jet lagged, she overslept and ended up being 10 minutes late, which only added to the stress of coming back to work after 3 weeks abroad.
She was scrolling through hundreds of emails trying to prioritize which ones still needed a response when Sam came over to her.
“Welcome back,” he greeted her.
She took a deep breath and turned her chair towards him, taking a break from the tedious search. “Hi Sam.”
“Good to be back?” he asked, knowing the answer already.
She rolled her eyes. “Hardly.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok. It’s to be expected,” she reasoned.
“Did you meet the new guys?” he asked.
“New guys?”
“We hired 2 new employees last week.”
“Oh. No, I haven’t seen them. I got here late and have just been trying to get settled and on top of things. I feel a little overwhelmed.”
“I bet,” Sam sympathized. “New guys are Derek Richards and Randy Davis.”
"So they're finally doing something to lighten our load?"
"I wish," Sam replied. "We took on two new clients."
"You're kidding! How many users?"
"One company has over 30 employees. The other has almost 100."
Amanda looked utterly disgusted. "Two techs will hardly make a dent."
Sam shrugged. "Better than none."
Amanda just sighed as she resigned to her fate. “Are they any good?”
Sam made a face like he wasn't sure. “They’re still new.”
“So, no,” she translated his words.
“Derek has potential. Randy … I don’t know.”
“Slow?”
“Odd.”
A quizzical look crossed her face. “Odd how?”
Sam shook his head with a nervous grin. “I can’t explain it … but you’ll see.”
She laughed. “That sounds ominous.”
“Well, you’ll be busy so you probably won’t have much contact. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“Works for me. I have enough to worry about anyway.”
“Let me know if you need anything,” Sam said.
“Will do. Thanks, Sam.”
As Sam walked away, Amanda received a text from Viktor.
I miss you, he texted.
I miss you too, she replied. How did your meeting go?
No resolution, as expected. Try again in a few days. How is your first day back at work?
Stressful, she answered. Got here late and am completely swamped.
I’m sorry. We’ll talk tonight, he offered.
Won’t you be sleeping? she asked.
I’d rather talk to you. I’ll sleep after. :)
She couldn’t help but giggle with delight. Okay. Sounds great!
Ok. Talk later. Have a good day, he texted back.
You too.
A few hours later, needing a break from her screen and something to stay awake, Amanda headed to the lunchroom to make herself a coffee. Thankfully someone had just brewed a fresh pot. She added cream and savored the smell before taking a sip. Closing her eyes she slowly exhaled, trying to relieve some of the tension built up over the rough start to the day.
When she finally turned to leave with her coffee she came face to face with a young man who apparently had been standing behind her for an unknown amount of time. He was a little heavyset and was already losing his hair even though he couldn’t have been older than 25. She was startled a bit and jumped but managed to save her coffee from spilling.
“I didn’t know anyone was there,” she said, feeling it was a little strange that he hadn’t announced himself when entering the room. She wondered how long he had been standing just staring at her.
“Hi,” he replied with a weird smirk.
“You must be one of the new guys,” she surmised.
“Yeah.”
She waited for him to introduce himself but he just stood there with that awkward smile, not saying anything.
“I’m Amanda,” she finally said, while wishing she could quickly extricate herself from this horribly awkward conversation.
“Randy,” he replied.
She nodded and smiled, now realizing exactly what Sam had meant. “Nice to meet you, Randy. I better get back to my work.”
“Okay.” He remained in the same spot
