Jamie tossed the envelope on his desk and paced his large office, which was lined with windows overlooking a park and furnished with mahogany and leather. Jamie had chosen this office over the corner office that offered windows on two sides. The corner office overlooked the street, which offered nothing to Jamie other than noise and distraction. The green lawn of the park, people strolling rather than rushing from one destination to the next, offered him relaxation, inspiration, reminders that life was about more than what existed in the four walls of his office.
He breathed deeply, trying to clear his head, and gazed out the window. A young family with two small children bought food from a street vendor and then walked into the park. The mother wiped the little boy’s face, then kissed his cheek. The father put his arm around her as the kids skipped a few feet ahead, and Jamie’s mind went to Jessica. He’d never considered settling down before meeting her. He’d never met a woman who had made him feel so much, want so much—for both of them.
Did it really matter what she did for a living? She obviously played the cello, and he didn’t care if she did it professionally or for thrills and giggles. He saw the way she was carried away when she played, the blissful look that drew her eyes closed and caused her body to move through the motions of playing in an ethereal fashion. She was a beautiful woman, but when she played, she radiated happiness; her movements were fluid and even more graceful. He sighed with the memory, exhaling all of the tension that had buried itself in his muscles. He’d felt the same happiness coming from her when their bodies joined as close as two people could be, their hearts opening more to each other with every embrace, every kiss, every breath.
Jamie glanced at the envelope again and sank into his chair. She’d lied to him. Wasn’t that enough? Shouldn’t he forget her? Move on?
He thought about the issue he was working on and the long journey it had taken for him to reach the pinnacle of his career. The years spent meeting with executives, building capital, working eighty-hour weeks while everyone around him told him he was wasting his time. Spinning his wheels. Going up against an eight-hundred-pound gorilla that no one could compete with. Still he’d pushed forward, driving himself harder, working his fingers to the bone, because after all, Google had started somewhere, hadn’t it? What made the founders of Google better than Jamie Reed?
The people who had been there from the beginning and encouraged him rather than try to dissuade him were Vera, Mark, and his Seaside friends. They believed in him. They’d never doubted that he’d do what he intended. And yet the only people he’d ever spoken to about his most intimate, hurtful time, when he’d lost his parents, were Vera and Jessica. He’d sidestepped the details around even his Seaside friends. But he’d opened up to Jessica in less than a week.
That had to mean something.
The phone on his desk beeped, and Amelia’s voice came over the intercom. “Excuse me, Jamie?”
“Yes, Amelia?”
“The management team is ready to meet with you in conference room three.”
He had to pull his head together and dig deep if he was going to find the root of this issue in miles and miles of code. “Thank you.”
He scrubbed his hand down his face, still thinking about Jessica. He couldn’t reconcile the look in her eyes as being that of someone who was lying. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how much the pieces weren’t fitting together in the real world, in his gut, and more than that, in his heart, he believed she’d been honest with him from day one, despite the fib about the cell phone not being hers. He smiled at the memory of her clocking him in the head with it.
Before going to the meeting, he made two phone calls. The first was to one of Blue’s brothers, Gage Ryder. Gage was a sports director for No Limitz, a community center in Allure, Colorado, where he developed and ran sports programs for teens. He was well connected in the sports world, thanks to having played Division 1 baseball in college and being scouted by the major leagues. His father had played professional baseball, and Gage had seen firsthand how the rigorous travel and practice schedule affected their family. He’d chosen not to go that career route, in hopes of one day having a more stable and less stressful family life.
Jamie’s call went to voicemail. He left a brief message. “Gage, it’s Jamie Reed. I need a favor. Call me when you get a chance.”
The second call he made was to Kurt Remington. Kurt’s brother Sage was well connected in the arts community and could get him tickets for anything at the spur of the moment. He didn’t want to rely on reports; some things he needed to see with his own eyes to believe. He hated to call in so many favors at once, but if ever there was a time he needed them, it was now.
After talking with Sage, he picked up his files, laptop, and the envelope, and headed into the meeting.
Chapter Twenty-One
“FIVE MINUTES.” CHARLIE patted Jessica on the back and lowered his voice. “It’s nice to have you back.”
“It’s nice to be back.” It was Monday evening, and they were already playing the second concert of the week. Although Jessica was prepared, her stomach was queasy and her hands were shaky. Not sleeping and eating very little was not a good combination for such a rigorous schedule as the one she’d had to keep lately, but apparently this was what being heartbroken did to a person. She had no experience with this sort of thing, and she wasn’t enjoying it one bit. Going from hopeful to hopeless, then finding an inkling of hope to cling to again—even if made up in her own head. He’ll call. He’ll hear my voice on his voicemail and miss me just as much as I miss him. She had no idea how women went through this roller coaster of emotions over and over, some starting as young as high school.
Charlie leaned in closer. “I was going to wait to tell you, but it’s too exciting to keep to myself. You’re going to be invited into the Chamber Players. The formal invitation is forthcoming.” He squeezed her arm and smiled, then put a finger up to his lips.
Jessica couldn’t have responded if she’d wanted to. She was stunned silent.
An invitation to play with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players would be the pinnacle of her career, what her mother had always hoped she’d achieve. The icing on her already perfect career cake, and still, her heart ached.
“I…” She couldn’t figure out how to express what she was feeling. She knew she should feel overwhelming joy and pride, but she felt numb. Any happiness she was supposed to feel was buried deep inside her grief over losing Jamie.
“Exciting. I know. We’ll talk.” Charlie hurried off to talk with another musician.
The Chamber Players.
How was she supposed to concentrate now? This was the chance of a lifetime, and she was too heartbroken to enjoy it.
“Put your phone away,” Greg, another musician, said sharply.
She hadn’t realized she had it clenched in her fist. She checked for a return message from Jamie one last time and realized that for a woman who hated cell phones, she’d become awfully adept at texting and checking messages in the last two weeks. She had two text messages. One from Jenna and one from Bella, both telling her they missed her and she should come back to the Cape. Even with the happiness over their friendships, her stomach still took a nose dive when she realized that Jamie hadn’t returned her way-too-desperate message.