First Sight (3 page)

I looked pointedly at her. 
“What about your rule of never dating a coworker?”

“Oh, well the
re are exceptions to every rule,” she said,
taking a sip of her coffee
.
 
“
Just because I no longer date coworkers doesn’t mean that you can’t try it out
.”

I shook
my head in disbelief
at Marissa’s persistence
as I
walked back to my desk
.  “
You know
,” I said as I sunk
down into my chair
, “
this is one time that I totally agree with you
r crazy rules
.”

“
Very funny,
Maddy
.
 
Maybe I should try to set us up on a double date
. 
You
know,
me and Mike, you and Travis….”

“You do that,” I said,
roll
ing
my eyes at her
.

She laughed as
I
logged into
my
computer.
  “Do you think
his email account is set up yet
?  Or
maybe
I could just give him a quick call
….
”

“Ha, ha,” I said
sarcastically
, not looking up
or
even
answering
her
question
as
I
stared
at
my computer screen
.
  I started
scrollin
g through
my email messages
and noticed t
here was one from my mom
near
the top.

Good morning Sweetheart
!

I didn’t hear from you last night.  Hope you had fun with
the girls
.  Call me to let me know that you got in safe!

Love, Mom

I typed a quick note back letting her know that I was still alive
and already at work,
and then
I
checked my next message. 
A
new
email
from
Elizabeth
had
popped up
,
so
I clicked on
it
.

Good Morning
Marissa
and
Maddy
,
Can you come to a welcome lunch for Travis today?
  Let me know so I can make reservations. 
Elizabeth

“Are you going to
that
lunch for Travis?”
Marissa
suddenly asked.

“
Yeah, I guess so. 
I just
got
Elizabeth
’s note.  She
didn’t
mention
it when I saw her earlier
.
 
I guess she
wanted to check with Travis first.
”

“Okay, I’ll tell her we’re
both
coming
,”
Marissa
said, key
s
tapping
as she spoke
.

“Ask her where they want to eat
.
”

I wondered if
Elizabeth
wanted
just
the four of us to go or if she was inviting
other people
from the office
as well.  Then again,
we’d all be spending
the most time together, so it
made
sense to have a small welcome lunch
so
that
we could all get to know each other
.

“They want to go to the Italian place on the corner.  Is that okay?”

“Sure, that’s fine.”

“
’Kay,
I’ll let her know.”

I spent the rest of the morning
editing a couple of reviews
that our freelances had submitted last
week
.
I still needed to write something about the art gallery we’d visited last night, but I would start on that later. 
Elizabeth
and Travis came by at noon so
that
we could all
walk over to the restaurant together
.
 
Marissa reintroduced herself to Travis
as I stood up and put on my coat. 
I heard Travis’s deep voice mixed in with
Marissa
’s laughter, but I
didn’t catch what they were saying because
Elizabeth
was telling me something about
a
restaurant review
she was working on
.  I grabbed my purse, and the four of us headed out
the door and down the hallway
.

We
exited the building and
walked down
the
block to the Italian restaurant
with
Elizabeth
leading the way. 
I pointed out the coffee shop on the corner, telling Travis that
wa
s where we
go
t our caffeine fix in the morning. 
He nodded in approval, and
Elizabeth
told him about a few other places
that
we passed. 
She stopped suddenly as we
reached our lunch destination—a little Italian place, complete with a red and white checkered awning above the door.

“Here we are,” she said, gesturing toward the restaurant.

“The food smells terrific,”
Travis
said as he
pulled the door
open
and motioned for us
all
to walk inside. 
Elizabeth
stepped
in first, followed by
Marissa
and me
.

“He’s so polite!
”
Marissa
whispered
to me
as she walked
past
.

“
Shhh
!”
I hissed back at her.  That was all I needed
—Ma
rissa
to start
up again over lunch about Travis
.  She’d prattled on all morning about how
I needed to
start dating
again
,
evidently convinced that
Travis would be perfect for me.
 
Conveniently,
she hadn’t mentioned him after they’d interviewed all the candidates a few weeks ago, but knowing
her,
she’d probably
forgotten about
him
and spotted some other cute guy
right after they met. 
It didn’t matter
anyway
though
, because
while
I
had noticed
Travis last night
at the art gallery
, I wasn’t about to start da
ting a coworker or
even
waste
my time discussing it
.

Elizabeth
gave her name to the h
ostess, and we all followed her to a
booth in the back. 
The restaurant was busy with the lunchtime crowd, and most of the tables were already filled.  Laughter erupted around us
, and patrons seemed to get even louder
as they talked
over one another to be heard. 
The air was filled with the heavy aroma of lasagna and garlic bread
, and I realized how hungry I was as I slid into the booth
. 
Marissa
made sure to
sit
next to
Elizabeth
, leaving Travis
nowhere to sit but
beside
me
.  I took off my coat
as he started to sit down.

“Do you want me to hang that up for you?” Travis asked
politely
in his deep voice.

“Sure, thanks,” I said, passing my coat to him.  He hung it from one of the hooks attached to the side of our booth.  I realized that he wasn’t wearing a coat and briefly wondered if he was cold. 
He hadn’t been wearing a coat when I firs
t saw him this morning either.
 
As he
slid in beside me, I caught a whiff of
the faint scent of
his
aftershave.
 
It smelled masculine but not overpowering, kind of a
clean,
outdoorsy scent.  His broad shoulders towered over mine, and despite the fact that he was wearing a
suit,
I could tell that he was in good shape. 
I actually felt a little small sitting next to his large, athletic frame, but in a good way, like I would be safe
beside
him.

“Aren’t you cold, Travis?”
Marissa
asked, wondering exactly what I had just a moment earlier.

“No, i
t’s not that cold out today,” he said with
a shrug.
“I’m from New York.”

Marissa
laughed and shook her head.  “It’s freezing outside—like 40 degrees or something.”

“That’s not exactly freezing,”
Elizabeth
pointed out
.

“Oh
,
you know what I mean,”
Marissa
said.  “I’m sure
Maddy
agrees with me.”

“
That’s true
, it’s a good thing you’re not sharing an office with
her
,”
Elizabeth
said
, eyeing me knowingly.

“Why, you don’t like New York?” Travis asked, looking over at me with an easy smile.

“No, no, New York is fine,” I said.  “I’m just always cold.  I have a space heater next to my desk.”

“Our office
is
freezing,”
Marissa
agreed.

“Well
,
as long as you don’t have a problem with New York, I’m sure we’ll get along just fine,” Travis teased.  I felt myself blushing a little under his gaze, but I could see that his dark eyes had a gleam of humor in them.  As I finally looked away, I wondered if anyone
else
noticed that I had been staring
into them
for just a
bit
too long.

The waitress came over
then
and handed
out the menus. 
As Travis
opened
his,
I
noticed his
strong hands
, the way
the tendons bulg
ed out
beneath his tan skin. 
He must exercise outdoors even in the winter.  How else would he be so tan in the middle of January
?
 
T
he waitress
took our drink orders and returned a few minutes later with
our
beverages
and a basket of bread.  Travis’s fingers brushed against mine as he passed the basket to me, and I felt a surge of warmth
rush
through
my body
.  I didn’t even know him, and here I was already finding myself attracted to him.
 
He was obviously handsome, but
there was something about his warm personality that I liked
as well
.  He seemed so at ease around people, and it
felt
like he was being genuine when he spoke.
  I remembered when he shook my hand this morning, how he
focused solely on me.

We each placed our order, deciding to get stuffed mushrooms
and
bruschetta
to share a
s
appetizer
s
.  Travis and I both ordered the lasagna
, while
Marissa
got a
Caesar
salad and
Elizabeth
selected chicken parmesan.

“See, you guys do have something in common,
despite your differences in opinion on the weather,
”
Elizabeth
joked.