Misguided Heart

One

Aston

I walked into my new corner office with a renewed sense of pride. I ran my freshly manicured fingers across the soft mahogany desk as I walked over to the window. My office was right in the middle of downtown Phoenix, and I had the most amazing view of the Phoenix skyline. The sky was strewn in the most perfectly blended shades of grey and white today. The thunderclouds were rolling in quickly, and took over the once vastly beautiful blue sky. I took a few steps back and slouched down in my high back, Italian leather chair as I stared quite intently at the gold letters that spelt my name across the letterhead placed on my desk. ASTON BOYD. I was now officially the senior editor for P.J. Holden and Son Publishing.

I propped up my Louboutin covered feet onto my desk and reveled in my newfound glory. I had finally made it to the top, in a predominately male world. As I glanced around my office in all of its hugeness, a sudden rush of forlornness rushed over me. I was twenty-eight years old and I had nobody to share my life with. Sure I had a great job, a beautiful office, a wonderful assistant, but other than that and my bulldog Bugsy; I had nothing and no one. I had spent the last eight years of my life working my way to the top and now that I was there, I had no one to share the experience with.

I desperately longed for a romantic windfall of some sorts, or a partner here and there. All I seemed to end up with were a couple of one-night stands, and a few boyfriends that I ignored one too many times for them to even care about me anymore. I wanted humorous friends that I could go get a drink with after work, maybe a rowdy rambunctious family that was full of chaos, or even a broken engagement to fill up my half empty stories at the company parties. I had none of that, not even one small ounce of that and I was ashamed to not have it. I had replaced a boyfriend with my job, my family for a 2300 square foot house in Scottsdale, and a child with my three-year-old English bulldog. I was jump started out of my own reverie when my work phone began to ring quite annoyingly. I flung my legs over the side of my desk and pulled myself into it as I answered my phone.

“Aston Boyd how may I help you?” I could hear the bitterness in my tone as I spoke.

“Hi, Ms. Boyd, it’s Annie. I just wanted to make sure the phone was working properly. Sorry to have bugged you.” With that the phone went dead.

Annie had been my assistant for five years now and she was amazing. I never waited for coffee in the mornings, or at night for that matter. She was a beautiful young girl starting out just as I had when I was twenty-two. She had been a prime pupil and I was excited to see how far she could go in this company. Who knows, maybe one day she would take my job. Annie and I shared a four-year age difference, but she was one of the only people that I had celebrated with, when I found out about my promotion. Of course, she ended up going home with a beautiful British man that night and left me all alone, but I was thankful to have her around either way.

A moment later, the five foot four, petite little red head came plundering into my office with my mail. I waved her off as I turned in my chair to face the window. There it stood mocking me, a simple black matte envelope with both of their names above the return address. I slid the envelope onto my desk and sat back in amazement. How was it possible that everyone that I had known, at least since high school, had grown up, gotten married, and had at least one kid? I honestly couldn’t keep track of how many weddings, baby showers, and bridal showers I had been to, or bought presents for in the last decade.

My credit card statements over the years reflected nothing but purchases to Babies 'R' Us, Toys 'R' Us, Children’s Place, Bed Bath and Beyond, Ikea, and once in a blue moon, a purchase at Macys, for myself of course. I was the one constant provider of gifts to all of my old friends and their children. I ran my fingers through my lengthy, blonde hair before reaching for my letter opener in my top drawer. I slid it along the edges and took a deep breath in as I pulled out the gold and black embossed wedding invitation.

Mr. and Mrs. David Thomas request the honor of your presence

At the marriage of their daughter

Sara Rae

To

Nole David Wittmore

Saturday, the Twenty-Sixth of June

Two Thousand and Twelve

Half past five o’clock in the afternoon

At

Desert Botanical Gardens

1201 North Galvin Parkway

Phoenix, AZ

Reception to follow/ Black Tie

Of course it was black tie. I wouldn’t expect anything less from the man who had to make a production out of everything. A hot flash surged through my body and I quickly began fanning myself with the invitation.

“Why was I even invited?” I wondered aloud to myself.

I bet she was happy about that one. I knew Nole all too well, I’m sure he fed her some bullshit line about how him and I are still extremely close, and it would only be fair to invite me because I would invite him.

Liar!

If I had found someone that I could actually see myself spending an eternity with, I would never invite him. Although at one point, my heart had led me to believe that I would get that. If not with Nole, it would have been Darren.

Mmmmm Darren!

After the last and final time Nole and I had called it quits, Darren was there a couple years later to pick the shattered pieces. Little did I know, that he would be the cause for those pieces crumbling to the floor, yet again.

He had been the quintessential boy next door, in all his muscular broodiness. It was a romance straight out of a book. Girl sees guy moving in next door (quite a sight I might add), they finally meet, she spends her time trying to get his attention, all the while guy has wanted her since day one. Ah, if only life worked out like a book.

As much as I had loved Nole and Darren, I had learned that you never mix your past with your present, or future for that matter. Besides that, there was too much left unsaid between Nole and myself. Hi, can you say awkward?

I threw the small invitation along with the envelope into the top drawer of my desk. If I actually decided to attend, I would send in my RSVP later. I spun back around to stare out the window when I felt the tears begin to well up in my eyes. I closed my eyes and counted to ten, took a deep breath in and spun back around just in time to meet my boss’s gaze.

“How do you like the new office Ms. Boyd?” He was holding and scrutinizing my new nameplate as he asked.

“I like it very much, Sir. I just want to thank you again for this opportunity. It means the world to me.” I was sucking up maybe a little too much. I mean I already had the job for crying out loud.

“Well you were the right woman for the job, and I don’t think I had any other choice, do you?” He stared intently into my eyes.

“Um… well I guess not.” I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by this, but who was I to question his authority?

“Well, enjoy the rest of your day Ms. Boyd. I am headed out for the day and I will see you first thing Monday morning.” He turned and was out the door before I could even say good-bye.

If that wasn’t the weirdest conversation I had ever had, I don’t know what was. He was staring at me like a prime rib from Roaring Fork. The Roaring Fork is a gorgeous five star restaurant off of Scottsdale Road. I had spent many dates there wishing I could have gotten in my car and driven as far away as possible. For some reason, every guy who lived out in Scottsdale thought that this was the perfect place to go on your first date. Unfortunately, not every girl wants to eat a steak dinner every Friday or Saturday night.

My boss, Jim, was one of those men. He was as cocky and as arrogant as they come. He stood at a daunting six feet three inches tall. He had smoldering amber eyes, which matched his perfectly groomed hair, and a perfect white smile. Besides the fact that I knew that he went to the gym every day, his body shadowed one of a personal trainer. He looked the part, minus the whole lisp issue, once he opened his mouth and spoke, women would literally run the other way. He had a way of talking about himself and never, I mean never, listening to anybody else.

When I first interviewed for my job, oh a thousand years ago, I was in awe of his looks. If I didn’t want the job that bad before, after seeing him, I definitely wanted an opportunity to work side by side with this gorgeous creature. Of course, this was all before he had hit on me, and tried to convince me that it was okay to sleep my way to the top. I walked out of his office not wanting the job at all. But low and behold, his son had called me the following day to apologize and to assure me that I would work under him and not his father. Now, I had seen his son and I sure as hell had no qualms with working “under” him.

Now, after eight years of devote service, I was finally where I wanted to be. I knew how to handle myself around Jim and I was a successful senior editor in one of the biggest publishing houses in the world. Now all I had to do was muster up the courage to attend my ex-fiancé’s wedding in less than two months.