Supernova

Nova just stared at me, dropping her arm. Her eyes were wide and I tried to look at anything but them.

“So you weren’t lying,” Elias said with a laugh. “You really do know this young lady!”

I just nodded and sat back down, taking a long drink from my coffee. I hadn’t expected to run into her at the Starbucks. She didn’t like coffee when we were growing up….

“Where would you like me to sit?” she asked, her voice shaking a little.

“Well, how about your old pal?” James asked, sitting across from me and glaring at her.

I glared at him. I knew he wasn’t excited about having a female on the board but he and Michael would have to get over it. When Elias told me he heard of a young woman who was making leaps and bounds in the accounting industry over in England, I had no idea he was talking about Nova. After what happened, she cut off all communication with me.

I couldn’t blame her.

She sat beside me but didn’t look at me. Elias, picking up on the tension in the room, passed around the contract.

“Well, this is really quite simple,” he said, trying to be his normal chipper self. “It should be self-explanatory.”

Nova was reading through it. “Yes, it is. All I have to do is sign my soul away,” she joked and Elias laughed.

I smiled. At least she hadn’t lost her sense of humor over the years….

“Just for three years at a time,” Elias joked back. “Seriously, though, you cannot go and work for any other accounting firm or talk about company related information with them.”

She frowned. “Is competition that fierce?”

He smiled. “No, my dear. Having you as an employee is that fierce.”

She blushed and took a pen from her purse. “Well, I’ve done my research and you guys seem like a solid group of men.”

“All of us?” I mumbled, staring at my coffee cup.

“Yes,” she said as she signed the papers. She cleared her throat. “Where do we begin?”

“Well, I want you to go on a tour of the company,” Elias said. “Let’s get you to your new office, first.”

She stood up immediately and followed him out. I groaned and put my head in my hands.

“Shit,” I moaned.

“Man that girl is hot,” James said and I snorted. Hypocrite. “How do you know her?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said.

“She’s even got an accent,” Michael pressed. “Did you live in England?”

“It. Doesn’t. Matter.”

Elias called for me and led me into his office. He closed the door and his cheerful smile fell. I looked away.

“Okay, time for you to be honest with me, Mr. Preston,” he said, crossing his arms. “The tension between the two of you is thick enough to be cut with a knife. You said you never dated.”

“We didn’t,” I said. I hesitated. “Nova… we were friends growing up. Before she moved to go to school in England, we were in a car accident. I was…. We had argued and I wasn’t paying attention. A semi ran a red light and I found out too late.” I rubbed my chin. “I hydroplaned. I was fine but Nova….”

“What happened to her?” he whispered.

I shoved my hands into my pockets.

“I think that’s something she should tell you,” I muttered. “Anyway, we were both in the hospital for a month which made her late for school. After she left, I never heard from her again.”

“I was going to have you give her the tour since you said everything was fine,” he frowned. “Would you rather I do it?”

I looked at the closed door. I thought for a while.

“No, that’s okay, Elias. If what I’ve heard is right, she’s different. Maybe we can bury the hatchet….”

“All right. Give her the tour then bring her back up here for a briefing.” He shook his head. “As for your fellow board members, leave them to me.”

“Thanks,” I said. “We’ll be back in an hour or so.”

“Okay,” he said and I knocked on Nova’s open door.

“You ready?” I asked.

She put her purse on her desk and pulled on her sleeve. I tried not to stare.

“Yep,” she said happily.

I led her to the elevator and tried to think of something to say. I wanted to apologize. She never gave me the chance before she left. From what Sandy had said, she didn’t want to talk to me so I didn’t bother trying to contact her on Facebook.

I missed her, though. I missed her a lot. I had truly loved her and I still do. But that wasn’t the question. The question was if she could truly forgive me for what I did to her.

“We’ll start on the first floor,” I said and cleared my throat. “If you need to take breaks, let me know.”

“I should be fine,” she said, keeping her back straight.

Not if you’re still as stubborn as you were in school.

The elevator let us out on the first floor and I put my hands in my pockets again, nodding to Jenny when she beamed and waved.

“The first floor is mainly check in,” I explained and pointed at the paper. “When people have appointments, they sign in here. We have a café over there,” I added, pointing down a hall. “Er…. Are you able to-?”

“I’m kind of hungry,” she said, leading the way and I smiled a little.

She always did that in school, too. I jogged to catch up with her.

“Usually this is where we go for the days we don’t want to go out to lunch,” I explained.

“Is it mandatory to eat together?” she asked and I felt a little insulted.

“Well, no, but I was hoping-”

“James and Michael don’t seem very pleased that I’m here,” she said and I shook my head.

“Ignore them,” I muttered, grabbing two apples and handing a dollar to the woman behind the register. “They’re just….”

“Misogynists?” she suggested and I laughed.

“Exactly.”

I handed her the Granny Smith and she blinked.

“You remember?” she whispered.

“Of course I do,” I muttered and we went back to the elevator.

I pressed level two.

“We can take the stairs,” she muttered when someone rolled their eyes.

I pressed my lips together. “No we can’t. Don’t be stubborn.”

“I’m not stubborn,” she said and I scoffed.

“Floor two is where people go when they need help filing taxes,” I said, leading the way. “We have five accountants that help with that. Do you still like doing taxes?”

She smiled a little. “Yeah, I do. It’s my favorite.”

I nodded. “Sometimes they’ll need our help during tax season,” I explained, leading the way back. “I’ll tell Elias to put you on there if you want.”

“Sounds like a blast.”

“Floor three is where we manage our more… sensitive clients,” I said quietly. “No, don’t,” I added, taking her left elbow when she tried to get out of the elevator.

“Why not?” she asked but I groaned as a door opened.

“Nova Harrington?” another high school friend, Kevin Harper, said.

“Bye,” she said and slammed her finger on the four button.

The doors closed before Kevin could get to us and I laughed.

“I wasn’t sure you would remember,” I admitted.

“It’s only been eight years,” she said softly, looking at her apple. “There are some things and some people that you can never forget.”

I was about to say something but the doors opened and I led her out.

“Floor four is for businesses,” I explained. “We have more employees and offices here.”

She was frowning. “Wait. It didn’t say anything about businesses on the website.”

“It’s a new branch,” I said. “This used to be the floor where the board members are but, when Elias reached out to businesses, floor five became ours.”

“What was floor five before that?” she asked when we got back in the elevator.

“Storage,” I said. “It took about three years to get it where it is today.”

She nodded and I took her back to the office. I watched as she put the apple on her desk and looked around. The others were in the main conference room waiting and I cleared my throat.

“When are we going to talk about it, Nove?” I whispered.

She looked at me. “When we’re not on business hours, E.”

I could only nod as she walked back into the conference room.