Chapter 4

With a body-shaking yawn, Dan roused himself, squinting through the car windshield at a growing orange haze amid swaying trees. A steady rumble announced the early morning freight train rolling past. After a stretch, he raised the driver’s seat and looked through the windshield. Well-lit at night, the cracked asphalt commuter parking lot would soon begin to fill. A quick shake of his head to clear the last of the sleep was followed by a slow roll of his achy neck. After a final stretch that had ligaments popping, he started the engine.

“Yippee, time to get to work,” he murmured before weaving the car past incoming drowsy-eyed workers.

Since splitting from Daisy, his mind had been wholly focused on the new job. The one that had led them to this city.

“And had taken us along that goddamned highway,” he grumbled as downtown loomed in the distance.

Although the sun remained a dim orange smear, it promised to be a bright morning. The night had been warmer than the last few. Life in a car was challenging, and to hammer the point home, the radio announced evening storms.

“Great,” he grumbled.

Not that he was sure he could return to the same place. Sooner or later, somebody would notice him. Although a big box store’s vast lot was an option, it was further from work.

A lengthy sigh escaped him as the vehicle merged onto a larger street. Why stay? With Daisy gone, what was the point? The job had been to support them. Their future. Kids. One day, a decent house.

“Well, fuck. All that’s history,” he growled through gritted teeth while halted at a blinking red traffic light.

Nothing remained but painful memories. Return home? Along that same fucking highway? His fists squeezed the wheel so hard they shook. Or start over somewhere else? Alone, because...

“Never trusting another damn woman.”

However, at the sight of the gleaming steel and glass office tower, his grip relaxed. Perhaps he’d stay. Although he was only a junior project manager, Global Business Ventures remained his dream job. Sure, it was challenging, but in a good way. Plus, watching Mr. Grainger run GBV ... it was inspirational.

With a wolf-like demeanor, hinting of restrained power, the man in his mid-40s possessed a legendary force of personality. Dark wavy hair displayed only hints of gray at his temples, as if it knew better than to push beyond “distinguished.” Dan chuckled. Besides all that, he was a towering presence at any meeting.

“The guy’s got every woman drooling over him,” he mumbled, then scoffed while glancing at his wedding band. “More power to him.”

Once more, after rolling into the dark concrete parking garage, he did a swift scan. Nobody around; he yanked a battered gym bag from under a crumpled blanket on the passenger seat. After entering the building’s deserted atrium, only the distant whir of a buffer broke the silence. A short walk across the glossy tile found him entering a small, but well-equipped, company gym.

A few diehards occupied machines, but he paid them no mind while heading for the locker room. After opening the blue metal door of his locker, he shoved the bag inside, beneath a row of business suits. Again, he rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles. After a short workout and a decent, if lukewarm, shower, he shaved and dressed in one of the suits.

“Not fancy,” he murmured while fixing his tie. While standing back to inspect his reflection in the locker door’s rectangular mirror, he chuckled. “But the price is right.”

Also, convenient. No more long commutes from the fancy suburbs. By the time the main overhead lights clicked on above a maze of cubicles, he was already sipping coffee inside his office. It was small. No windows. The door locked, kinda. But it was his. Well, the company’s, but as he scanned it, he let the tiniest grin appear.

It lasted until he found Daisy’s framed picture. In a lush mountain meadow, beneath a bright blue sky, she was smiling. A white and yellow flower-print dress and long golden-blonde tresses swirled around her. As the blurring room closed in and gained a red-fringe, his chest became icy steel.

“Why?” His shaking fingers reached for the golden frame. “Why do I keep this?”

Right before his fingertips would’ve touched it, he drew them back with a hiss. The portrait was a reminder. Not only of his loss, but as a talisman for the future. Never again.

Just then, amid men’s laughter, quiet giggles erupted on the floor. After looking up, he spotted a trio of guys walking with Natalie. The sharp admin assistant supported him and a dozen others, including her three companions.

In a customary, curve-hugging charcoal pencil dress, the diminutive young woman sported glossy, blue-black hair. Long in the back, its bangs were a thick curtain, hugging thin eyebrows. Wide, dark eyes and a button nose on a slender, porcelain face revealed an Asian heritage. From the simple kanji prints in her cubicle, she was of Japanese descent.

Although he and Natalie had arrived at different times, they’d attended the official onboarding with forty other new hires. Everyone from techies like him to the well-dressed marketing types suffered together. Two grueling weeks of classes on benefits, procedures, rules, and the company vision; the usual.

“Hey there, Dan,” she called out.

After a quick wave, the slim woman disappeared into a nearby cubicle. It wasn’t close enough for the jasmine and lilac perfume to find him. But his nose flared anyway. She was cute.

“So what?” he muttered before returning to the computer.

On the way, his eyes detoured, finding Daisy’s photo again. That was the past. Then they inspected the ring he remained unable to remove. The past, indeed. She was gone. Yet, he still checked for more of her texts. Not to read. Nope, to delete. Just like the voicemails. Only once, he’d called, notifying her of the upcoming Europe trip. Why?

“Yeah, why, you idiot? None of her goddamned business,” he grumbled under his breath. “I’m a fucking wreck.”

“You psyched, Dan?”

At Natalie’s voice, he jerked from the blurring memories to find her grin. It sent warmth through him. Wrapped around the doorframe as usual, she was tugging on a loose black tress.