Of Course, It's You

Chapter 15

CARMEN

Carmen got to the conference room early Friday morning. Too early, even by her own standards.

She smoothed her green button-down shirt and tugged at her sleeves, scanning her black pants for any wrinkles. Not that she expected to find any. She'd changed her outfit three times before leaving the hotel.

It was just another meeting. Another all-hands gathering. Nothing crazy or out of the ordinary. No one would really be paying attention to her fifteen-minute spiel about projected figures. But, there was this itch under her skin. A sense of anticipation mingling with restless nerves.

She hated that she knew exactly why she was nervous.

As people began filing in, Carmen rolled up her sleeves, needing something to do with her hands for the moment. She told herself it was to feel less stuffy, less confined. But she was lying.

Because there she was. Hannah.

Carmen couldn't help it; her eyes were like magnets, helpless against the pull.

Hannah wore her hair half up in a small bun, loose waves cascading over her shoulders. Her shirt was the kind of blue that made her eyes glow, the lenses of her brown-rimmed glasses only making her look more annoyingly irresistible. Carmen noted the dark circles under her eyes, partially hidden by makeup and those glasses, but not enough to go unnoticed.

If she hadn't been staring, she might have missed the tired slump of her shoulders. The way her hands clutched her notebook a little too tightly. The forced smile she offered to the coworker beside her. And the way she avoided eye contact with everyone.

There was a feeling rising in Carmen's chest. Not quite sympathy. Not quite guilt. There was something heavier, tinged with envy. For not being someone worthy of knowing what kept Hannah up at night. Of knowing how to fix it.

Hannah didn't look up from the table in front of her.

Carmen blinked and shook herself out of it. People were seated and waiting. She stepped forward and gave her presentation with all the polish she could muster, conscious of the sound of her own voice and how it might land across the table.

After fifteen-minutes, she returned to her seat allowing Larry to take over. He was able to outline the operations side of things, and the room settled into a familiar rhythm.

"Any questions?" Larry asked as he finished.

Carmen nodded, catching his eye, prepared to close the meeting, when a woman near the back raised her hand.

The woman with a braid over her shoulder. Carmen squinted, trying to place her name. Was it Laura? Laurie?

"Hi everyone. I'm Lauren from Marketing and Advertising." The woman said as she stood. Ah. Lauren. Carmen repeated it in her head to memorize the name.

"Since we're all here, I just wanted to give a quick update on the upcoming fundraising event. If you signed up for the 5K, the shirts just came in and are ready for pickup." Lauren reached under the table and revealed a few boxes Carmen hadn't even noticed. Probably because her entire field of vision had been narrowed to a single person.

Lauren continued, "All proceeds will go to the charity that won our company-wide voting contest a few months ago—Freedom Alliance. We can thank our very own Hannah Nelson, for nominating it."

Carmen looked up sharply.

Hannah's smile was modest, her cheeks flaring pink. Carmen bit the inside of her cheek. It was too adorable, it was maddening.

"Hannah, would you be willing to share what the charity supports?" Lauren asked.

Hannah startled. "Oh! Um... sure, yeah."

She sat up straighter, though didn't rise. She swallowed hard as her fingers clutched the edge of the table.

"This is a charity that means a lot to me," she began, her voice soft. "Freedom Alliance provides scholarships to children of fallen and disabled veterans."

Carmen's breath caught.

She hadn't been expecting that. There was always a softness to Hannah's presence, but this was something far deeper than that. A stillness behind her eyes that didn't quite match the bright, witty exterior of the woman Carmen had met. The blush on her cheeks, now faded, replaced by a quiet tension like a thread pulled taut.

Something cracked in Carmen's chest. She had been so wrong about her. And if she hadn't messed everything up, she wondered if they would have been able to run circles around the rest in this business.

Lauren began handing out the shirts, pulling them from the box with a cheerful chatter. Carmen barely heard a word of it until one landed in front of her.

"Oh, I didn't sign up for one," She said, trying to hand it back

"We got extras." She smiled sweetly and kept moving.

Carmen looked down. The fabric was military green and Mills Record Label Charity Day was printed across the front. On the chest, her last name in black ink was placed just like a name patch

Then she heard Hannah let out a quiet, shaky breath. Carmen's head snapped up immediately.

Lauren had stopped beside Hannah's chair, handing her two shirts. One clearly much smaller than the other. Hannah blinked, lips parting slightly as she held up the smaller one.

And Carmen saw the name printed across the top.

Not Nelson.

But, Gallo.

A quiet beat passed before Hannah stood and wrapped Lauren in a hug. Her voice was a bit too high when she said, "You guys! This is so sweet!"

Carmen didn't understand.

The name. The shirts. The look plastered on Hannah's face–something too complex to put a name to. She wasn't crying, but her eyes shone, rimmed in pink, and she blinked like she was fighting back a storm.

Whatever it meant, Carmen knew she didn't have the right to ask.

Not yet.

Later, when the room had cleared, Carmen lingered behind, packing her things slowly.She filled her water bottle at the fountain near the elevators—partly because she was thirsty, but mostly because it gave her an excuse to walk past Hannah's desk on the main floor.

She'd been doing it all week. Subtle laps in a minor detour just for a glimpse. It has become a habit now. This quiet ritual she hadn't told a soul about.

She paused when she saw it. The small green shirt, draped over the back of Hannah's chair.

But the name on it wasn't Nelson. It was Gallo.

Carmen blinked as she stared at it.

There was something she was missing. Some puzzle piece she couldn't quite fit into its place. The name, the charity, the cracks in Hannah's smile... there was something bigger beneath the surface.

Before she could linger too long, she forced herself to move. Pushing her feet forward as she walked away.

She took the long way back to her office, only to find Hannah headed to the opposite fountain, just a few yards away. The fountain that was closest to Carmen's office, not her own desk.