“You never could,” he said with a sneer. “You’re weak and pathetic.”
My heart pounded as I gripped the back of the chair for support and leaned the upper half of my body toward Jayson’s desk. “And you’re an asshole who doesn’t care about anyone but himself! I hope all your clients see you for who you are and dump your sorry ass.”
He barked out a mean laugh. “I make them way too much money, they’d never leave me.”
“You mean, they make you money,” I shouted incredulously, my temper rising to an all-out boil. “Not the other way around. They don’t work for you, Jayson. You. Work. For. Them. No wonder you’re so screwed up.”
He snorted. “You’re so naive. You’ve just signed your own death warrant in this business, sweetheart.”
“We’ll see about that,” I shot back with confidence, but wondered how much weight he truly held outside these office doors. “And don’t call me sweetheart.”
“Get the fuck out of my office,” he shouted, spraying spittle all over his desk.
“Gladly,” I said coldly. “I quit.”
I turned around as quickly as my shaking legs would move and slammed his office door with all my strength. Something in his office rattled and crashed to the floor as I stalked to my desk, and I allowed myself a satisfied smile.
The office was eerily silent. All my coworkers were standing up in their cubicles, peeking over the partial walls with wide eyes focused on me.
I grabbed my clutch and the few personal items I kept here as well, and walked hastily toward the elevator. A few hesitant claps broke out in my wake, but the rest stayed quiet. My face burned as I wondered what they were thinking.
In the parking garage, anger seared through my veins, charring everything in its wake. Even the tears that threatened to fall failed to form, choked out by my anger and the adrenaline that still pumped through me. Reaching for my cell phone, I dialed Walker’s number. It didn’t even register at the time to think it odd that he was the first person I wanted to call.
When he answered the phone by crooning my nickname, Sparkles, the tears sprang free. I couldn’t speak; I just sobbed. I needed to get it together, but I had no idea that hearing his voice would affect me like that.
“Madison, I was kidding,” he said quickly. “I won’t call you that anymore. Are you there?”
When I sniffled, he breathed out a sigh into the receiver. “Are you crying? What happened? Madison?”
“I just quit my job,” I managed to get out before repeatedly sucking in jagged breaths.
“You quit?” He paused for a moment, and I could hear him breathing. “What happened?”
“C–can you come over?”
He paused, but it was too long a pause. I’d made a mistake in calling him. I was just about to tell him to forget it and tell him I was sorry for bothering him when he asked, “Can you meet me out here instead?”
I nodded.
“Madison?” He repeated my name, obviously unable to see me nodding through the phone.
I nodded my head again like an idiot. “Yeah. I can meet you there. Where?”
“The Ripcurl Café in Malibu. You know the place?”
My heart stopped beating and I nearly dropped the phone in my lap. Yeah, I knew the place. I hadn’t thought about that restaurant in years, and now that he was suggesting it, I wanted to throw up. I couldn’t go back there. I’d vowed never to step foot in that place again. And I hadn’t. Not since I was a teenager.
“Can we go somewhere else?” I said, my voice shaking. “I’d really rather not go there.”
He’s going to think I’m crazy.
“It’s my favorite spot. You don’t hate it, do you? You can’t hate it.”
“I don’t hate it,” I murmured, my mind sorting through the memories I’d locked away tightly all those years ago. Every single one of them flooded over me and I started to hyperventilate. Concentrating on my erratic breathing, I willed myself to calm down. It was only a restaurant and it had been a lifetime ago. Surely I could go eat there with my new friend, and not completely lose my shit over it?
I hoped.
“Madison?” Walker’s voice broke through my semi freak-out, instantly calming me.
“I’m here.” I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. Just because I’d had my heart ripped out at that café as a teenager didn’t mean that I needed to act like one now.
Grow up. You need to move on.
“Can we go there? I’d really like to take you there.” His voice was overly chipper and I suddenly wanted to smack him for it.
“Fine.”
Walker sighed. “I have a feeling that when you say ‘fine’ you’re just giving in, but that doesn’t mean you’re happy about it. I promise you’ll be happy about this. Meet me there in an hour.”
“Fine,” I said again, and hung up.
The moment I pulled my car onto Pacific Coast Highway, my chest tightened. Being in Malibu hadn’t made me feel like this in years. It wasn’t the town bringing back all the memories, it was the venue.
Turning right into the café’s gravel lot, my heartbeat quickened. As I pulled into a parking space, I thought about turning right back around and leaving. I’d simply tell Walker that I couldn’t do it. We’d have to meet somewhere else. Shaking my head as I took deep breaths to calm myself, a quick rap on my window caused me to jump and my breath to catch.
Walker’s hazel eyes greeted me through the glass, their familiar color imprinting on me again. I narrowed my eyes as I examined the flecks of green and brown in his, their soulful depths virtually calling me home. Or maybe just to the bedroom.
“You all right?”
I collected my thoughts at the sound of his voice and pressed the button to roll down my window. “Sorry. Give me a second.” I breathed deeply again, reminding myself that I could be here. I could do this. I’d make new memories here, today. Starting now, I’d no longer associate this place with pain from the past. My old remembrance of it would be replaced with memories of Walker and happiness, and how he was there for me when I stood up to my asshole boss and quit the first job I’d gone to college for.
When I got out of the car, Walker’s hands were instantly all over me, one hand tangling in my hair while the other pressed against the small of my back, pulling me into a warm hug. His body closed the space between us and everything in me shot to life. I was hyperaware of every touch of his skin on mine and grateful for the break from my past fears.
“I’m so sorry about your job,” he said. “I want to hear everything.” He leaned his mouth next to my ear, kissing and nibbling at it between words. “I’ll fucking kill your boss if you want me to. I know people,” he joked with a flirtatious smile.
At least, I hoped he was joking.
He dipped his chin and looked deeply into my eyes while caressing the nape of my neck. “So, what happened?”
I shook my head, so many issues bombarding me at once. “I don’t even know. One second I’m blissfully happy, and the next I’m telling my boss what a raging asshole he is and how much I hate the way he runs his business. Then I quit.”
He smiled and gently squeezed the back of my neck. “You were blissfully happy?”
“Really? That’s the part you heard?” I pressed my lips together and raised my eyebrows.
Walker let out a big laugh. “No. I heard the rest. I just liked the blissfully happy part the best. Although I gotta admit, you’re sort of a badass, babe.”
Babe? Sigh.
“Thanks.”
I glanced up at the weathered blue-and-white sign in the nearly empty parking lot, and then back toward the old wood entrance where a surfboard hung above it. In all the years that had passed, the café hadn’t changed one bit. My stomach lurched at the memories shaking their way loose, and I gripped on to Walker a bit too tight.