Secrets of the Past

Chapter 52

When they got to the office they went straight to the conference room where Jen was waiting along with the head of human resources. Brian recounted what had happened and was assured that Chloe would be dealt with immediately.

They left the office and went to get lunch. Right after they ate Joe and Murray left, but Brian and Sal stayed to talk.

"So what are you going to do?" Sal asked, taking another gulp of tea.

"I don't know. I have to make it right."

"Have you called her?"

"Not since it happened. I'm giving her space. She wouldn't answer anyway."

"How long are you going to give her space? I think you should call her."

"I'm telling you," Brian said, "she won't answer."

"Call from my phone." Sal reached into his pocket, took out his phone and slid it across the table to Brian. Brian stared at it for a minute before picking it up.

"Hello?"

"Please don't hang up," Brian pleaded with her. "Please let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain," she replied and hung up.

"Fuck!"

"I'm sorry man," Sal said. "I hate seeing you like this. Do you want me to ask Rachel to talk to her?"

"No. I don't want anyone else getting involved."

"Ok, ok. I understand. Let me know if you change your mind. They're friends so Giovanna might be a little more willing to listen to her."

Brian ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "I just need to get out of here and think."

"Let's go," Sal said, standing up. He put cash on the table to cover the check and they walked out. "Call me if you need me."

They walked away in separate directions, Brian wandering aimlessly trying to figure out how to get Giovanna to talk to him. He decided he would have to approach her face to face. At least then she couldn't hang up on him.

He drove to her apartment and saw that her car wasn't there, which meant she wasn't home. He moved his jeep so that it couldn't be easily seen and waited for her to come home. He was afraid if she knew he was there she would turn around and drive away.

He sat there for hours, nearly dozing off more than once. It was nearly 6:00 by the time he saw her car pull in. He hopped out of his jeep and waited for her to get out of her car before he approached her.

"Giovanna," he called to her, causing her to jump.

Without saying a word she headed for the door of the apartment building.

"Wait. Just let me talk to you."

"There's nothing to talk about. We're done. Move on."

He caught up to her and put a hand on her arm just as she reached for the door handle.

"Stop. Please." She looked at him, her eyes welling up. She could see pleading in his eyes. She was exhausted and didn't want to fight with him.

"What do you want from me?" she asked.

"I just want to talk to you, to explain what you saw."

"What's there to explain? You and Chloe were kissing."

"Yes, I know it looked like that but..."

"But what?" she asked. "I know what I saw."

"I know but will you please just hear me out? Can we go upstairs and talk?"

She sighed. She didn't want to hear anything he had to say, but she knew he would not stop bothering her until she did. "If I do will you leave then?"

"Yes. If that's what you want I'll go," he said.

"Fine."

She opened the door and entered the building, Brian following close behind her. Once inside her apartment she threw her purse down then sat on the couch. He sat next to her, trying to decide how to start.

"Can you please just get on wth it?"

"I'm sorry. I'll just start from the beginning. We had our meeting and afterwards I stayed behind in the conference room waiting for you. I thought I was the only one in the office, but then Chloe showed up. She said she had also been working late. We talked for a minute then I told her I needed to get downstairs to meet you and I offered to walk her out. That's when she came onto me."

"She what?"

"She came onto me," he repeated. "She was saying that we could stop playing games because she felt the same way I did. I had no idea what she was talking about. She said I was only pretending to be in love with you when it was really her that I wanted. I thought it was a joke. Until she kissed me. What you saw was her kissing me and me trying to push her off. She had her God damn arms wrapped so tight around my neck it took a few seconds. I swear to you I was not kissing her back and I didn't  want any of it to happen.

Once you had gone I asked her what the fuck was wrong with her and she accused me of flirting with her and being extra nice to her, which I will admit to, but only because she's your sister, not because I'm in love with her."

He took one of her hands in his.

"I love you, and only you. There is no one else on this planet I would rather be with. I thought I lost you once before and that tore me up. I would never to anything to jeopardize that again."

She stared at his face, into his eyes, which begged her to believe him. She wanted to believe him, wanted to believe that he wouldn't do this to her a second time. But what he was saying didn't make any sense.

"Why would Chloe just now come onto you, out of the blue?" she asked.

"You'd have to ask her that. I was just as shocked as you were. After you had left it was almost like she was happy you had seen, like she wanted you to see. But I don't know why she would want to do that to you."

"None of this makes any sense," she said, getting up and walking over to the window. She stared out, her mind racing. Why would her sister would do this to her? They were closer than ever now and Giovanna had truly grown to love her.

"I'm sorry," Brian said, now standing behind her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let her go.

She turned to face him, her eyes filled with tears. "Can you just go? Please."

He didn't want to leave her but he didn't want to add to her pain.

"Ok," he said softly. He turned and headed to the door. "I love you," he said, just before he closed the door behind him.