Escaping to Ireland

Vinessa

Yup... My boss was Liam Brennan.

If I believed in signs, either the universe was trying to push us together, or it was saying you can't date him; he is your boss.

Either way, it kept my mind off of everything I left behind in Chicago.

It didn't feel like I had left my graphic design job to go sit with Wanda in her house; it felt like I had left my job in Chicago to have a better one in Ireland, and Liam's job paid more than I was making in Chicago, so it was a win-win.

Except for the fact that I was crazily attracted to my boss.

Which would have been easy, except for the fact that I was with him constantly. And if I wasn't with him, I was thinking about what he was doing in his office or if it was something I could help him with. My favorite part of the day was when the mail came in, and he would give me the manuscripts people sent in.

"Isn't there a department at Flyleaf that gets these?" I asked the first day.

He smiled at me. "Yes, there is a department for it, but only the people who labeled it correctly get to go there. Most of these people who sent their books to me just found my name and thought it would be a crazy shot to send it to me. If they can't do their due diligence, then they do not deserve to go to the correct place."

"Fair enough," I said, and something to this response made him smile.  

Working with Liam meant that I knew more about him; he got to work usually thirty minutes early, if not earlier. It had become a competition between the two of us almost, and I was arriving to work forty-five minutes to an hour early just to beat him.

"Vinessa" Liam called out to me. I got up from my desk, smiling. "What is this?" he asked, pointing at the massage table set up in his office.

"Yes. I figured you would be coming in early, and you don't have meetings till ten, so I saw in one of your old assistant folders that you enjoyed a massage once in a while. I noticed you were favoring your left leg yesterday; I'm wondering if it was from your squash game with Mr. Dennis, so I scheduled a deep tissue massage for this morning."

Liam faltered and then looked at me. "Thank you"

"Still impressing you? I hope"

"Yes." I walked out, shutting the door. I had muted his desk phone so the phone calls coming in would not interfere with the massage. To be honest, most of the stuff I did for Liam was easier than my last job; most weeks, I would have to set up a few massages for my old boss, Karen.   

The next morning, Liam arrived at the normal time; even though I had been there for an hour already, I tried not to notice that I was disappointed that I had to wait for him to get into work.

"You have a conference meeting in conference room A. There are donuts, pastries, and coffee already set up in there. Would you like your normal cup of coffee before?"

"No. I'll wait," he said and shut his office door. He didn't say anything more. He stepped out forty minutes later.

"Do you want me to take notes during this meeting?" I asked, hoping he would say yes so I could join him.

"No," he said, his answer once again short and precise. He walked away without looking in my direction.

I had Chinese delivered to the office, his favorite.

I knocked at his door. "Mr. Brennan," I said, opening the door after the second knock. He waved me in, and I started taking his chicken lomein and fried rice out of the sack. "Is there anything else, Mr. Brennan?"

"For the love of God, please call me Liam," he said, and I looked up at him.

"If that's what you prefer."

"Yes, that is what I prefer." He snapped back at me; I didn't know what I had done.

"Okay, Liam," I said, grabbing a fork and sitting it in front of him before walking out of his office. Usually, I waited after him to leave, but I wasn't in the mood to have to deal with him, so instead, I left before him, shutting my computer down before he walked out of his office.

I had been driving Wanda's car the last few weeks without a problem even though her rabbit of a car was forever old, but Wanda never drove it, so it didn't make sense for her to replace it, and it didn't make sense for me to buy myself my own car. I was halfway home when it started to sputter, and a bang at the back of the car made me pull off on the side of the road. 

There were three people I could call, Wanda, who didn't have a car since I was driving it.

Jennifer, who was at work still.

And there was Liam, who would be driving this way toward home already.

I grabbed my rain boots from the back seat and slipped them on, and then I slung my purse over my shoulder and started walking. I would have to figure out my car situation the next day.

Minutes later, the clouds opened up, and I was drenched within seconds. I pulled my hair up into a high bun so I wouldn't have to deal with the raindrops falling off of it.

"Vinessa!" I had heard him yelling at me a few times already but thought my mind was just running wild on me. The car pulled ahead of me and parked on the side of the road. "What are you doing?" Liam demanded, getting out of his car; he was opening an umbrella for me.

"My car broke down," I said to him.

"Why didn't you call me?" He asked, his expression bewildered.

"I didn't want to bug you," and then I added "Mr. Brennan."

He rolled his eyes at me. "You would rather get sick than call me for help?"

"No, I would rather walk home than call you for help."

"That's the dumbest thing I have heard." I shrugged, tired from being up so early. "Just get in my car." We stared at each other for a while. "Please get in my car."

Even with the umbrella, he was getting drenched as well. "Fine" he walked around and opened the door for me. As soon as he got in, he turned the heater on full blast, and I waited for the heat to surround us.

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked him as soon as he pulled away. I had intended to not say a single word on the way to Wanda's, but then my big mouth started talking, and I couldn't stop. "I thought what we had going on at work was working... I enjoy my job, really enjoy it. You are a better boss than my last one, and I love the mail...."

"You love the mail?" He asked, cutting me off.

"That is what you took away from that?" He shook his head. "Yeah, I love all the books and screen writings that you get. I love reading as it is, but there is something special reading rare and raw material that hardly anyone else has seen."

"Have you read any good ones?" He asked me interested.

"A few good ones."

"Any extraordinary ones?" He asked me, making me stop thinking about today.

"Maybe one."

"Why maybe?" He asked, turning his blinker on; I knew we only had a few minutes left.

"I haven't finished it; I have been saving it. Waiting for the right time."

"How do you know when it is the right time, Vinessa?" I knew I was talking about the book, but I had a feeling Liam was asking an entirely different question.

"You just know," I said, hoping I wasn't too cryptic for him. "I really enjoy my job," I told him.

"You are doing a great job," he said to me.

"Did I...." I was going to ask him if I did something wrong, but then I saw him... "Shawn"

It was still raining out, but it had turned to a drizzle but standing outside of Wanda's cottage was Shawn.