Their Joke Ended With One Word: Ex Chapter 11

Their Joke Ended With One Word: Ex Chapter 11

I answered: [No. Reception stopped me twice, and I handed over two cards, and I never got near his

office door.] —

Marty wrote back in seconds.

Marty: [So what exactly have you been doing all day?]

I replied: [Rock climbing yesterday, bungee jumping today.]

Marty: [You went out on a sales trip and turned it into an extreme sports tour?]

I didn’t answer him. He knew perfectly well I was doing this on the company’s dime, and he asked

anyway.

I put my phone back in my pocket and walked out holding the railing.

My legs were soft, and I wobbled my way through the exit gate.

When I turned the corner, I walked straight into a wall of a man.

There was a dull thud, and before I could see who it was, I was already falling into him.

I put a hand out to catch myself.

My palm landed flat on his chest.

I pushed myself upright and stepped back. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching.”

I looked up at a face with nothing on it.

He looked down at his chest, where I’d left a faint handprint.

It had dust from the bungee harness.

“I’m sorry.” I dug a pack of tissues out of my bag and held it out. “A wet wipe should take it off.”

He looked at the tissues for two seconds, took them, and said, “Thank you.”

Since he wasn’t making an issue of it, I put my head down and headed for the exit.

Every step felt like walking on cotton.

Two steps in, everything went dark in front of me.

I reached for the railing without thinking, missed it, and went sideways to the right.

My elbow hit somebody coming out of the side corridor.

The coffee in his hand went all over him.

I looked over.

It was the same poor guy again.

He looked down at the dark stain spreading across his chest.

A handprint comes off with a wipe. A coffee stain was beyond me.

“I’m sorry.”

My voice broke, and I took half a step back.

The back of my head hit the post of the exit gate with a solid thud.

I sucked in a breath, and the tears came all at once.

It wasn’t the pain. It was that I was worn out.

I hadn’t slept properly in days.

The drop was still sitting in my body, and then the coffee, and then everything I’d been carrying,

and all of it stacked up and shattered on that one impact.

He stood there holding a mostly empty cup and looked at me.

I crouched down beside the gate.

I put my arms around my knees and cried until my shoulders shook.

After a while, a tissue appeared in front of my face.

I took it and mumbled a thank you.

By the time I wiped my face and stood up, my eyes were swollen to slits.

I looked like something that had been dragged out of a lake.

I sniffed.

“I’m sorry. I’ll pay you back.”

“Text me and send the coffee money over whenever. And one more thing.” He paused. “If you’re not in a hurry, there’s a place to sit right over there. Keep walking in that condition and you’ll take out somebody else.”

I took the card he handed me and looked down at it.

There was a name printed on it.

I stopped.

I looked up at him. “You’re…”

He didn’t answer, and he glanced back at me. “Coming? If you’re not, I’ll assume you don’t plan to pay for the coffee.”

I held onto that card and followed him, and I said it quietly.

“How much is the dry cleaning on your jacket? I’ll send it over.”

He didn’t turn around. “I’ll send you the bill.”

I followed him into a small place at the end of the corridor.

I’d barely sat down when my phone buzzed.

Marty had sent another one.

Marty: [Are you even going back tomorrow? Maybe you should go have fun and let somebody else run this one. That old man snaps at everybody.]

I pressed my lips together and typed back.

Faye: [No need. I got to him. Just now.]

Whether the deal closed was another matter, and he could pray about that part.

Marty: [What?]