A week later I am coming out of a meeting when I spot Eric in the lobby. I haven’t spoken to him since high school. He came to Jacob's defense right before I left. He told me a little about that night. He wanted to apologize for encouraging Jacob to drink so much. He took the blame for everything. He's always been a good friend of Jacob's and I am thankful he had someone to help him when he was learning to be a dad.
I smile as we make eye contact. I am guessing he's here to defend his best friend again. He stands from his seat and comes over to me. "Boy am I glad to see you. I wasn’t sure where to find you and my good looks didn’t work with the receptionist." He laughs. "Can we have lunch?" His eyebrows shoot up as he asks the question.
"Sure, come with me to my hole in the wall first so I can get my purse." He follows me to the elevator. We go up to the fifth floor to my little space. I am kinda nervous not making him wait in the lobby, I am giving him more answers to give to Jacob. He'll know exactly where to find me if he chooses. I have a text and a voicemail, both from Stephen. He wants to me to come over tonight, his meetings are running long and no time to chat until then. Eric acts like he couldn’t hear the voicemail as it played but I can tell he heard.
"So lunch huh?" I finally break the ice.
"Yea, long overdue don't ya think?" He's always been easy going, funny, and loyal to a fault.
We cross the street to the deli and get a table.
"Ok, sooo we haven't had a chat in 5 years, I have a yelling match with Jake last week and you show up again. What's up?" I begin eating my sandwich. I know he's going to make me lose my appetite, I need to eat before that happens. I have at least 6 more hours at work.
"The lawyer, that serious?" What is up with their obsession with Stephen? I dated casually all through college, where were they then?
"Yea you could say that. We've been dating almost a year, since I got the job. Jacob send you? Is he okay?" I worry about him even though I don’t see why I should.
"He doesn’t have a clue I am here. He's fine. He's in a 'I love this girl who hates me' daze but he's fine." My stomach starts churning. I knew he was going to make me feel horrible.
"Listen, he told me about the talk. Sounded intense. But I am glad you all got it out, it was a long time coming. He was stupid but I already told you that was my fault. Egging him on, making him think you didn’t want him so that he would see how awesome single life was. He got roped into all that because I was a dick." His eyes are so sincere. I know he believes this should all be on him.
"Eric what do you want me to do? We just aren't made for each other. We are still in two different spots in life. He needs to focus on his family, " he leans in and looks around and says "I believe that family is you. He needs to focus on you. He focused on Ethan this week, tomorrow he goes back to his witch of a mother. Go see him. Look in his eyes and then tell yourself that it’s over."