Happy Ever After

Chapter 9

Matt went into the office after Alana left. He didn't see the point of waiting around in an empty apartment staring at reminders of the last 12 hours. It was Saturday and the office would be quiet, giving him a chance to catch up on other business before Monday came. He grabbed his wallet from the bedside table and reached for the keys which fell through the crack between the bed and the table to land under the bed.

Cursing at the delay, he bent to pick them up and saw one half of a gold earring glinting in the dark corner. Its pair was further back along the wall. He remembered Alana wearing them last night, but not this morning. He picked up both earrings and dropped them into the bedside drawer before heading out. It was a small thing, but he was holding them hostage until she agreed to see him again.

Twenty minutes later he was standing in his office in a downtown high-rise overlooking Wall Street. He went through the messages Sandra, his EA, had left on his desk while his laptop powered up. She'd already updated him on urgent matters and passed on other requests to Tony. He picked up the remote and pressed a button. The wall panel slid open to reveal an entertainment center with a flat screen TV. Skipping through the news channels he paused when Sports Center came on. Turning the volume down, he opened the corporate mail client to view his flagged emails and spent the next hour clearing out his inbox.

Soon he was all caught up and started to review reports from the business analyst in Sydney. Delaney Enterprises was considering an expansion of its media division in Australia and these reports was the first of the due diligence process they'd go through. Matt was making notes in the margins when there was a knock on the open door.

"Hey." Tony stood at the doorway holding baby Samantha. He placed her carrier on the floor and walked further into the office to take the seat across the desk.

"Hey there, gorgeous." Matt smiled at Sam as she reached for the shiny globe on his desk. She was a tiny thing with a thatch of light red hair and the face of a cherub. He'd been there when she was born and at her christening when he'd stood as her godfather. "What're you doing here? It's Saturday," he asked Tony.

"Lisa and the girls are having a Spa day. Sam and I were out for a stroll and thought we'd check in with you."

"How'd you know I'd be here?"

"Please! It's Saturday. Where else would you be?" Tony stretched out his legs and passed Sam over to Matt when she held out her arms to him.

"Are you calling me a workaholic, Tony?" He winced when Sam grabbed his hair and pulled. He reached up to remove her hand, turning her around so that her back was to him and handed her a closed pen.

Tony shrugged. "You saw Clancy's report?"

"Just reading it now. What do you think?"

"I'd need more info, but it looks promising." Tony handed Matt a baby wipe when Sam started chewing on the pen. "Did Alana find you yesterday?"

"What?" Caught off-guard, Matt looked up from where Sam was trying to eat his pen.

"She came here yesterday looking for you. Mad as hell. So, I gave her your address."

"I wondered how she knew where I lived. Figured she'd kept tabs on me."

"You mean the way you've kept them on her all these years?" Tony took Sam when she started to cry. He took out a gel-like ring from the bag and plopped it her mouth. "Teething ring," he explained when Matt stared at the colorful toy. "Does she know?"

"Does who know?"

"Alana. Does she know that you didn't just walk into that restaurant on the off chance you'd run into her?"