All by Chance {Brollins}

/ Chapter 3 \

Just as quickly as the weekend began, it came to an end. Rebecca found herself back at the coffee shop, picking up four drinks instead of two. She made her way into the largest building in the town, heading up countless floors in the elevator until she made it to the top.

The doors opened, and Colby stood in front of her, with his arms crossed. "Tisk tisk, Miss. Quin. You're late and lucky if I don't fire you."

"You don't have that power." She smiled and stepped out of the elevator, grabbing a cup of coffee out of the tray. "I guess I'll just keep this then."

"Nope, would hate to see it go to waste." He swiftly took it from her. "Sucking up, are we?"

"Not sucking up." Rebecca walked through the halls, knocking on a closed door. "Just being the child they wished they had."

"Ouch, Quin. Ouch." He shook his head. "No need to rub it in."

"Come in." The familiar deep voice that always filled the halls responded, and Rebecca smiled, opening the door.

"Good morning Mr. Lopez, good morning Mrs. Lopez." She beamed as she walked in, quickly being greeted by the couple.

"Ah, Rebecca. Lovely to see you as always." Mrs. Lopez hugged her before Rebecca handed them their respective coffees. "You know you don't have to keep addressing us so formally."

She laughed, "Can't let the others know I have that much of a leg up on them."

Mrs. Lopez waved her off, "We're in the office."

Rebecca nodded and put her hands up in surrender. "Well, in that case, good morning to you both Ron and Holly."

"When are you going to get my boy to pick up his slack?" Ron smiled, "He hasn't even closed the job on Dundas Street yet."

"The library?" Rebecca laughed, looking over at Colby, who was in the process of rolling his eyes. "C'mon, Lopez, renovations aren't even that difficult to plan. If they were demolition blueprints, I'd give you some more leeway..."

"I'll get 'em done." He shook his head, "Stop ganging up on me."

"It's all out of love, you know that." She smiled, patting him on the shoulder before waving to the adults and walking out.

Colby put his hands in his pockets and his head down, trying to cover up the grin on his face, and looked back over at his parents. "When are you gonna get it done?"

He sighed, "I'll get the plans done today. I promise."

His mother smiled, "That's not what he's talking about, dear."

"Rebecca." His father said, and Colby raised an eyebrow, "When are you going to at least take that woman on a date?"

"We're friends." Colby shook his head, "Always have been, always will be."

"Your father is my best friend." Holly smiled, "And we're married."

"Doesn't mean we have to be." He fumbled along with his words, not knowing why they chose then to start bombarding him.

"Okay..." His father smiled as they both just stared at Colby knowingly.

He shook his head with a small smile and started walking out before his mother spoke. "Do you want us to tell you we told you so before or after you tie the knot?"

Colby just closed the door and laughed to himself before looking up and pausing right outside of it. He glanced down the hall and watched Rebecca as she moved around the staff kitchen.

Colby just watched silently for a minute until she looked up and noticed him. She smiled, and he made his way over to her. "Hey, I hope you didn't get in too much trouble about the job on Dundas. I was only joking. It can get tough."

"No, no. Don't worry. It wasn't that." He laughed, and she nodded.

"What was it?" She asked, and he panicked, trying—despite his self-sabotaging habits—to remain calm.

"Nothing. You know them." He smiled nervously, "Asking if I'm taking care of the house, vacuuming the baseboards, dusting the blinds."

"Got it." She laughed before handing him a small pile of papers. "Mail for you."

"Ah, thanks." He grabbed them as she started walking toward their desks.

The two sat down at their desks, which were directly opposite each other. After some time passed with hard work, Rebecca looked up at Colby and watched him with his hand on his head, reading through some of his mail.

He didn't look enthralled, and he looked up at Rebecca, rolling his eyes. "Bills, bills, and more bills."

"The house?" Rebecca questioned, and he nodded.

He sighed, "When Sarah..."

"Stole." Rebecca finished the sentence off harshly.

"Stole." He nodded, "More than half of my money, I tried to do something about it, but she had access to my account. So the bank said they couldn't do anything about it because it was shared."

Colby stared back down at the papers, "Now I'm still stuck dealing with payments while she's off scot-free."

"You don't deserve any of this. I'm so sorry." Rebecca stood up and walked around, wrapping her arms around him.

"Why didn't you tell me that the bank wasn't helping?" Rebecca whispered, "I could've come with you to try and get into logistics."

"That's exactly why." He placed his hand over Rebecca's. "You've got enough on your plate."

She smiled to herself, appreciating his thoughtfulness, and kissed the top of his head. "That's why I'm here, dummy. I wanna know these things."

He sighed, "I'm sorry for not telling you. It's just a little overwhelming."

"Understandable." She nodded as she made her way back to her seat. "But you don't have to keep it from me."

"I know, I know." He sighed, "It's just... my parents already doubt me, and this would be another thing to add to the dissatisfaction list."

Colby paused, looking over at Rebecca, "I- the one thing I didn't want, more than anything else, was for you to think of me the same way."