Page 33 of She Likes It, Hey Micah
October 17
After three days of nottexting Fischer and mostly avoiding him outside of necessary work conversations, I am more than a little surprised when my phone lights up with a message from him on Thursday night. Mostly because I figured he was relieved that I wasn’t bugging him anymore.
Fischer: Would you rather have fire powers or water powers?
I sit up, struggling a bit to get out of the blanket burrito I’ve wrapped myself in while I watchParks and Rec. This is surprising. His other questions at the park were more normal, but this feels like he’s trying to play my game the right way. But why?
Me: Water powers! Next question.
Fischer: Would you rather fight a hundred duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?
Okay, well, he stole that one from the internet, but at least it’s interesting.
Me: A horse-sized duck sounds terrifying! Especially because I’m afraid of birds already.
Fischer: Why?
Me: Because I got attacked by a goose when I was six and my brother Sam just laughed at me instead of helping!
Fischer: My brother did the same thing to me, only it was a dog that wouldn’t stop humping my leg.
My jaw drops. Fischer has a brother? In fact, this might be the first time he’s ever mentioned family. Honestly, I didn’t even know if he had a family because he seems so alone.
Fischer: Would you rather I give you an apology over text or in person when we go up to the Greenwood Lodge tomorrow?
“Oh,” I say out loud. “Well, that’s unexpected.”
I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised because he’s apologized to me before, but I wasn’t sure he was even aware that he’d hurt my feelings this time around. I’ve been trying not to dwell on the way he called me out on my flirty nature, but he poked at one of my biggest insecurities. I’m friendly, and guys seem drawn to that. But if I had any other qualities worth pursuing, one of them would have stuck around, right? No one ever seems to see past the surface.
Me: What are you apologizing for, exactly?
Fischer: Multiple things. Right now, for judging your sunshine. You can’t help that people are drawn to you when everything about you is warm and welcoming.
Something bubbles up in my chest, like a little ball of lava spreading heat through me. Is that really how he sees me? I thought for sure he found my perky personality to be my worst feature because it’s so different from his broody self.
I should probably answer his original question.
Me: I don’t need you to apologize, but if you feel like it would be helpful to you, you can save that for tomorrow.
It would probably be easier for him to do it in a text, but I would love to see his expression when he does it. After a few days of texting me, he was starting to loosen up and have some real expression on his face. I’m still waiting for a smile, but maybe my strategy was working better than I thought? One relapse isn’t enough to make my efforts a failure.
Fischer: Is everything ready for tomorrow? I didn’t get a chance to ask you today.
That’s because I was avoiding him when the team made a plan to head to the lodge and make more detailed plans for everything. The renovations are done now, so Fischer said the Ember team should make a trip to see how everything is laid out.
Me: The Ember team is good to go. What about Grant?
I haven’t seen Fischer’s boss since his divorce was finalized on Wednesday morning, which meant Fischer was handling all of the details from the Bradley side. In case anyone is wondering, it’s really difficult to ignore a man when he takes charge the way Fischer has the last couple of days. It has me wondering what he did before he started working for Grant because I can definitely picture him running his own business.
Fischer: Grant will be there tomorrow.
It’s not exactly a confirmation that Grant will be helpful at all, but I guess I can’t blame him for being off his game after going through a divorce. My dad has been through that a couple of times, and it wasn’t easy on him. When he and my stepmom Carla split up when I was fourteen, Dad was pretty depressed for a few months. He threw himself into his job and was around even less than he was before. It wasn’t until he met his current wife, Stella, that he broke out of whatever funk he’d fallen into and started living again.
Maybe that’s what Grant needs. Someone to remind him why love is worth the heartache that might come from it.
Though I’m tempted to ask Fischer more “would you rather” questions, I figure we should both get a good night’s sleep tonight. Tomorrow is one of our last chances to make sure the reopening goes exactly how we want it to, so we need to be on our game. After the planning meeting we weren’t invited to on Monday, I’ve had to secretly add things to the plan and cancel other bad ideas, which has made this whole thing a lot more dangerous when it comes to my job. I’m not nudging anymore; I’m straight up dipping into insubordination and subterfuge. If Lila finds out what I’m doing before the event happens next week, she might actually fire me this time.
What would I do then? Start all over with another company and waste another two years working my way up?
