First Sight (8 page)

“Hello?”
I said sleepily, wondering why anyone would call so early in the morning.

“Hi, Sweetie!” came my mom’s voice from the other e
nd of the line.  My mom
sounded as
bubbly as always, and
I wondered how long she’d been up
.  My parents were both retired and lived about an hour outside of the city. 
They were happy to wake up at the crack of dawn and spend the morning relaxing with coffee and the paper. 
In the summers my mom spent most of her time gardening and my father
doing various landscaping projects around the
ir
yard
.  I wasn’t sure how they spent their days in Jan
uary, but they seemed content.

“Hi Mom,” I said, turning
down
the TV.
  “Why are you calling so early?”

“
Sorry S
weetie, I figured you’d be up by now. 
How was your day
yesterday
?  I tried
calling
you
in the
afternoon
, but you weren’t home.”

“I went skiing with
Marissa
and some other people from the office
.  Did you try my cell?
”  My parents had met
Marissa
several times, taking us out to dinner
once when
they were
visiting me
, or inviting us both out to their house for dinner
on a couple of weekends.

“
Oh, I didn’t think to call your cell phone. 
You went skiing?
 
When did you learn to ski?
”

“
Yesterday
,” I said with a small laugh.  “
It was h
arder than I expected, but I didn’t fall down too much.”

“Did you take any lessons?”

“Yeah, I took a beginner’s class.  It was only an hour though.  I think I’d have to ski for several days in a row to actually get the hang of it.”

“Your father and I used to ski all the time before you kids were born,” my mom mused.

“Well, you should have skied
after
I was born
,
too—then I’d know how to ski.”

My mom laughed
.  “That would have been expensive with two kiddos.  Besides, we did things that you kids wanted to do.  Neither of you ever seemed interested in skiing.”

“
No,
I guess not,” I agreed.

“Did
Marissa
or any of the others
know how to
ski
?”

“Yeah, they
all
could ski.  I was definitely the odd man out.”

“Oh my,” she said
,
sounding worried.  “I hope they didn’t
take you out on all the advanced runs with them—or leave you alone on the beginner slopes!
”

“No, no.  On
e of my coworkers
skied
with me.  He
showed me how to ride the chairlift, ski down the bunny slopes, etc.  He was actually a big help—and very patient.”

“
He
?”
  My mom asked, picking up on that one little word out of
my entire description of skiing
.

“Yes,
he
.
 
But we’re just friends
, and we work together, so don’t get any ideas.”

“I met your fathe
r at work,” my mom reminded me.

“Yeah, I know,” I said with a sigh.  She and
Marissa
could start a matchmaking service to occupy their spare time with all their dating ideas.  I changed the subject, asking her about her weekend instead and what my dad’s latest home improvement project was.  Before long,
my mom was saying she had to
finish getting ready
to meet
some friends for brunch
.  I said goodbye and promised
that next time I’d
let her know
before
I went away on any skiing adventures.

***

“That was a fun weekend
,
”
I heard
a
deep voice
say
behind me
on
Monday morning as I stepped into the elevator.
  I
glanced
back
over my shoulder
and smiled
when I spotted Travis
.
  He was wearing a black leather jacket
, dark shirt,
and charcoal grey pants—a bit more dressed down than when I’d seen him
sporting a suit one
week ago but still incredibly handsome.
  His dark hair was
tousled
with gel, so that it looked slightly
damp
, and I noticed him clutching a pair of black sunglasses in his hand.

“
It was, but
I was exhausted after all that skiing.  I
t felt so great to sleep in yesterday.
”
  I pushed the button for
the
seventh
floor as Travis stepped into the elevator next to me,
smelling faintly of soap and aftershave, and
standing a little closer than he needed to since we were the only two people on it.

“Yeah?
 
I slept in
,
too.  I probably should have been unpacking
on Saturday
, but skiing was a lot more fun.”
  He smiled down at me, and I noticed the tiny little crinkles around his eyes.

“That’s probably true,” I said with a laugh.
  “Moving is never any fun.”

“I hope no one min
ded my tagging along,
”
he continued.

“Of course we didn’t mind.  Besides, how would I have learned to ski without you there?”

“Good point.
  At least this way I made myself useful.
”

The elevator
doors
opened, and we walked toward the
entrance
of
our reception area.
  Travis pulled open the door for me, and as I walked in, I
found it hard to believe that
it had been
only
one week ago that I’d see
n
him standing here
. 
I hadn’t even
know
n
who he was as he’d
spoken
with
the receptionist
then
. 
How quickly things had changed.

“
Wow,
I’ve been here a week already,” Travis mused, his mind obviously on the same thing.

“Time flies when you’re having fun,” I
joked
.

“Right
,” Travis said with a laugh.
  “
I always have fun at work
.”

“You must be crazy then,”
Marissa
’s laughing voice
called out from behind.
  I turned to see her walking toward us in brown tweed pants, a cream turtleneck sweater, and red wool coat.

“Hey!” I called out.  “I didn’t see you.”

“I took the stairs.”

“Cute jacket
,
” I said, reaching out to touch the fabric.

“I’m not awake enough yet to take
the stairs
,” Travis joked.

“
Oh
, neither am I,”
Marissa
said
. 
“It was painful.” 
She turned to me.  “We should definitely go grab coffee this morning.”

“Sure, let me just drop my stuff off first.”

The three of us
walked
down the hall together
until we reached
Marissa
’s and my
office. 
Travis
declined our invitation to go out for
coffee
because
he was new and didn’t want to run o
ut first thing in the morning.

“That’s very dedicated of you,” I said seriously, nodding in agreement with him, a smile tugging on the edge of my mouth.
 
Travis seemed surprised that I was teasing him, as it was usually the other way around, and he had a
little
smile on his face
as he looked at me
, as if he were pleased by this turn of events.

“Really, no one will mind,” Marissa insisted.

“
No, I better get to work. 
I’ll go with you guys next time,” Travis said.

“
Okay, if you insist,” Marissa said with a shrug.  “We’ll s
ee you later
.
”

I waved goodbye to Travis and f
ollowed
Marissa
into our office. 
Marissa
’s phone was ringing
when we got inside
, so while she answered the call,
I turned on my computer and opened my
email
. 
I clicked through a few messages and saw that m
y friend
Emily
had sent a note to
Marissa
and me.

Hi Girls,

Happy Monday! 
Drinks tonight at 6:00?

Em

I smiled as I
email
ed her back, asking how her weekend had been. 
Emily and I had been roommates in college, and after I’d introduced her to Marissa, the three of us had started going out together.  She’d even come to our office happy hours a couple of times, but tonight it would just
be
the three of us. 
It had been a
couple of weeks
since
we
had gotten together, so it would be fun to meet up for drinks.
 
I finished my reply and
scrolled through the rest of my
email
s, selecting those from my friends
first
before getting
to the work-related messages.

A few minutes later
Marissa
asked if I was ready to head down to the coffee shop.  We
took the elevator back downstairs
and hurried down the block in the cold.
 
“I
’
m dying for a
latte
,”
Marissa
said
.

“Me too.
  Actually, any form of caffeine will do.”

“My legs are killing me
,”
Marissa
muttered as we hurried along.

“Why did you walk up seven flights of stairs?” I asked with a laugh.

“Because I always do on Monday morning.
  It helps to justify the
vanilla lattes
that I buy
.
”

“But you
don’t go skiing every weekend,”
I pointed out.
  “That’s
gotta
count for something.”

“No, I sure don’t
,
”
Marissa
grumbled, wincing slightly in pain as she pulled open the door.  A long line snaked from the counter to the back of the store. 
We joined the back of the l
ine and slowly inched forward.

“You’re coming out with
Emily
and me tonight, right?”
I asked.

“Tonight?”

“Yeah, didn’t you see her
email
?”

“I haven’t even turned on my computer.  I was on the phone with Mike, remember?”

“He calls you first thing in the morning?” I asked as
Marissa
pulled out a tube of pink lip gloss and swiped it across her lips.

“Crazy, right?” she asked, pursing her lips slightly.

“Crazy that he’s into you?”
I joked.

“Ha, ha,” she said, elbowing me playfully in the arm. 
“Crazy because we just started dating.  Oh, but let me tell you what we ended up doing yesterday afternoon.”  She launched into her story
of their date
as t
he line moved forward again
.
I glanced down at my watch, seeing that it was only
9:
15
a.m.  It felt like
6:00 p.m. would never get here.