Chapter Sixteen

The only reason why I managed to get to work on time, was because Rhys and his very lovely driver dropped me off at the revolving door. Although it's been a crazily hectic and emotional morning, I now feel calm as I take my seat behind my desk. You see, I have a little morning ritual at work.

Sit down.

Turn on my computer and monitor.

Place any messages that have been written down and awaiting my attention to the right hand side of my me.

Take out my mobile phone and turn it to vibrate before putting it to the left hand side of me.

Open left hand draw and take out a single antibacterial wipe and rid my desk of any dust that lingers there.

Put wipes back in draw.

Finally, check that no cheeky bugger has nicked any of my pens from out of my sweet little vase that keeps them all prettily tidy.

I don't have OCD, I just like things to be done in an orderly fashion at work. At home, I am quite the opposite—disorderly and relaxed.

This silly work ritual kind of sets me up for the professional day. It doesn't matter whether there is washing up in the sink or dirty washing on the bedroom floor at home. Here, everything is just as it should be.

"Hey, Clara, how did it go?" Jess is leaning over her desk that is positioned directly opposite mine. With curious and bright eyes, waiting for me to spill the beans about my interview weekend with Rhys.

"It went really well." I tell her, hoping that I don't sound overly smug or confident. It's going to be hard enough telling Dex about my personal involvement with Rhys, I certainly don't want my colleagues getting a whiff of anything going on between us either—at least not yet. "He was very cooperative and very nice." I add a little professional flattery, not wanting to sound too suspiciously evasive.

"His concerts are amazing, what did you think of them?" Obviously, Jess is already a big fan of Rhys Ryan. I think out of everyone in the office, she was probably the most gutted to have not been chosen by Dex to do the interview.

Lifting out my folder, the one that has the entire interview safely within it's plastic sleeve, I smile back at Jess. "His concerts were incredible. His voice was just as incredible." I have to casually stop myself there, not wanting to gush too much about him because he really was incredible at both of his concerts. Incredible, is exactly what he is.

"Was he just as sexy in the flesh?" Jess grins across at me, waggling her brows in her quest to know more.

Heat rushes straight to my cheeks, trying to silently push away the thrilling thought of Rhys being in only his tight little boxer shorts as he cooked me breakfast this morning. "I think it's safe to say that he's a pretty good looking guy in the flesh." I wryly tell Jess, restraining the smile that wants to be bold and audacious in front of her. Holding the folder protectively against my chest, I promptly stand. "Better get this on the bosses desk." I say, tapping the folder with one of my fingers.

Jess nods, still smiling. "Yes, you had." Her head of baby blonde highlights then lowers, no longer interested in talking to me as she starts paying more interest to what she needs to type next on her keyboard.

With carefree strides, I walk towards Dex's office. He too, has a morning work ritual; checking all of his beloved cactuses and succulents. With a quick rap on his see-through door, I carry on with my carefree strides into his transparent glass office. "Morning." I cheerily greet him, smiling broadly with the folder still in my hands. "Here's the first draft of the interview for your perusal." I just as cheerily say, placing the folder down onto his desk with glowing pride. "I'll sort out the photos next."

Me and my carefree feet are about to turn to leave but Dex is in an unusually chatty mood as he's turning a few cactuses in their pots, ensuring they have an equal amount of sunlight. "You're awfully cheerful this morning." His remark is gravelly, almost grumpy.

Surprised that he's even noticed my light mood, I am smiling but my eyes widen. "Staying in here for a little too long with you, just might tarnish my very good mood." My reply is inoffensively witty.

Dex slowly turns, watching me with a careful eye. "Everything went well, then?" His careful eye then wanders back to another row of his cactuses.

My response is quick and honest. "It went really well."

"Good." He approvingly says, whilst inspecting his favourite cacti on his desk. Surprisingly, he then glances back up at me. "Well done, Clara." His grey eyes look on proudly and his crisp nod confirms his proudness. Dex is a man of few words. He only says what he has to. He's straight to the point, no chit-chat in between. On a personal level, he's not the warmest of people. But on a professional level, he will give you more than enough to let you know when you are doing well. Even if you do something wrong, Dex isn't someone who will belittle you in order to get it right. He will arm you with the knowledge and the facts to do it right. Which is why I, and all of his other employees, have the greatest of respect for him. "Get the picture editors to take a good look at what photos you have." He adds, sitting down in his comfy swivel chair.

With yet another broad smile, I eagerly answer him. "I'm on it! Just going there now." Turning on my heels, I walk towards his pristine glass door.

"Clara?" Dex calls out from behind me.

Twisting slightly with my hand remaining on the door handle, I jovially ask. "Yes?"

"Are you on drugs?" Dex suddenly asks, humour lifting the corners of his maturely wrinkled eyes.

Laughing, I go right on and tell him the truth. "Nope! Just happy." He doesn't need to know why I am. He only needs to know that I am. "Let me know what you think of that interview." I say, no longer laughing as I open the door to leave. Dex is watching my every move. I can almost feel his curious grey eyes upon my back, following me from his glass domain until I am completely out of sight. Turning into the corridor that will take me in the direction of the picture editing room, I am still smiling to myself over what Dex just said to me. Feeling around inside the deep pocket of my pencil skirt, I retrieve the memory card that has all of the wonderful images of Rhys on it. Holding it tightly within my palm, I smile again. It's going to be really hard to not react like a lovesick fool when I show everyone the photos of the man that makes my heart flutter with flightless feelings of desire. As soon as I see him on the screen, I fear that my smitten smile will reveal all that I feel for him. That my irrepressible smitten smile will announce to the world that I really do have feelings for Rhys Ryan, and I can't let that happen at the moment.

It's not about keeping us a secret, it's about being discreet. The relationship we are about to embark on, is one that is full of uncertainty. We don't need our uncertain relationship to unfold beneath the relentless glare of the entire world. It only needs to unfold to the world when we are ready for it to be. We just need the time to be 'us'. A private 'us'. We know the uncertainties are there, yet we still want to try; we still want to try and see whether we can actually work.

We don't even know when we will see each other again. Rhys did mention something about me flying out and spending some time with him in LA, but when that will be, I honestly don't know. Besides, there is my little fear of flying problem that I will need to contend with first. Deary me, I will certainly have to wear my brave knickers on that flight, that's for sure.

This morning, Rhys and I talked about so much in the short amount of time that we had. We also made promises to one another; promises we both want to keep.

One promise, is to trust one another.

The second promise, is to Skype every single day.

For now, those simple promises are all that now bind us. They are all that we have to hold onto, when time and distance keeps us apart.