Come Back to Me

Chapter 34: Present Day

They both took another drink of champagne and waved for another. I laughed. "Regretting this game you started?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Marci arrive along with a stunning blond woman. Marci had on a gorgeous blue dress, long and sleek, that showcased her lithe figure, her short dark hair slicked back and tucked behind her ears for the occasion. Noah saw her and raised his hand in greeting as they approached.

"Marci, Viv. I'm so glad you were able to make it," Noah greeted, dipping to kiss Viv on the cheek.

Joshua shook hands with Marci. "Regan, you know Marci from work, and this is her gorgeous wife, Vivian, or Viv for short."

The curvy blond waved off his compliments and shook my hand, then immediately took Marci's in her own. "So nice to meet you, Regan. I've heard quite the stories about you."

"Viv," Marci scolded quietly, a little embarrassed that she had been talking about me with her wife.

I was a good sport and smiled, unconcerned. "Considering the entrance I made on my first day, I'd be shocked if you hadn't heard about me at all."

That earned a laugh from everyone and Marci relaxed. "As if I wouldn't tell Viv how the new owner not only told off our head of security in front of everyone but also put that brat Melody in her place."

Noah passed a quizzical look over me. "What happened with Melody?"

Marci jumped in and began telling the story, highly animated with her gestures and even imitating Melody's irritatingly girly voice. When she got to the part where she repeated my displeasure at being ordered around by her or Noah, she clapped her hands together loudly. "And boom. Total shutdown. It was awesome."

"Sorry, I missed that." Joshua smirked into his glass, his eyes on me over the rim.

"I probably shouldn't have done that where everyone could see. It wasn't very appropriate."

"Please," Viv spoke up. "No one likes her in the office. The only reason she's still there is because Riley and she were smashing it, but now that he's dead – " She clasped her hand over her mouth, eyes wide. "Shit, I'm sorry! Sometimes my mouth gets ahead of my brain. That was really stupid."

The mood suddenly shifted, my smile becoming tight-lipped. I wasn't mad at her, she was quite endearing. But I couldn't tell her it was okay because it wasn't. Nothing about Riley being dead was okay. Noah didn't miss a beat, though, and started telling his own story about how I handled William in the meeting yesterday. I couldn't help but notice how proud he sounded. By the end, Marci and Viv were both nodding as if they were listening to a play-by-play.

"And boom. Total shutdown," he ended, stealing Marci's words, which she loved.

"Damn, Noah, your new girl is kind of a badass." Viv giggled.

He looped an arm around my waist and pulled me close. "Yeah, Viv, she kind of is."

Someone was waving to Marci from across the gallery, so she and Viv threw some goodbyes our way and headed over to say hello. A few other people from the office came over to introduce themselves to me and offer condolences for Riley. Everyone seemed very nice and welcoming; a couple of others also joked around about my first-day meltdown, trying to make light of a fairly humiliating first impression. I appreciated their efforts to make me feel better about the whole thing and some even shared some embarrassing stories about Riley to make it even. Noah and Joshua joined in on a few of them, and it was nice to laugh with them while remembering my brother.

Sean was in the midst of a rather engrossing story about a time Riley had gotten into a heated argument with a client over their internet campaign and had thought he muted his phone before calling him a 'fucking tragic human trash hole' when Melody came gliding over, effectively killing the jovial mood.