Fearless Heart (EDITING)

Part 5

The flowers sat on her desk, extravagant and pretty, as she walked into her office Monday morning. She had an article due for the magazine and had been constructing sentences in her head on the walk up from the car park. She hadn't expected to see flowers.

The card read only:
I'm sorry,
Vince.

Collapsing in the office chair she contemplated her options. She could ignore that he'd sent them and get on with her life without the admiration of someone who could rip her heart into pieces and not even notice and possibly find a nice guy that was actually looking to settle down. Or she could acknowledge the flowers and accept Vince's apology and be a stupid, vulnerable adult.

What did he even mean by 'I'm sorry'? What was he apologising for? The kiss? Overstepping his boundaries? Letting her fall for him like some love struck teenager?

She opened her phone and called Clive, explaining the situation.

He chuckled on the end of the line.
"Well it seems obvious to me that you should accept his apology. I mean that's what adults do. Here, you got a pen? Let me give you his number and you can either text him, like a coward, or give him a call."

Harriet stared at the number in front of her. Suddenly the possibility of Vince and her seemed all too real and she was scared.

"Love you boo." Clive said before hanging up the phone.

After staring at the dial pad for what felt like an eternity, but was probably more like a couple of seconds, she tenderly typed in the digits and dialed the number.

"Hello, this is Vince. Who is this?"

Harriet took a deep breath and spoke.

"I got your flowers thank you."

The line was quiet on the other end.

"Harriet?" His voice was uncharacteristically small, "did you like them?"

Harriet looked at the bouquet and down at the card, smiling.
"They are a bit extravagant, but they'll do." She chuckled lightly, "how did you find out where I worked anyway?"
"I asked Clive for the address."
Harriet nodded, even though he couldn't see her.

"Look Harriet," he started, "I didn't mean to overstep any boundaries the other night, I was drunk and stupid. You were right. I'd just split up with Lexi and I was in a difficult place."

"That's alright. I just wish you hadn't put me in that position." Harriet swallowed hard, not knowing whether he was saying there was a future for them but she presumed that Vince wouldn't want ties, with his work and general demeanour, he was a single bachelor for a long time before he'd met Lexi.

"I just think that maybe I should be by myself for a while. Being with Lexi taught me that I need to learn how to be me. I'm sorry if I led you on."

"Of course not." Harriet strained to say with a straight face, her nose crinkling. Why was she getting so emotional over some arrogant guy she'd met at a party? "I think you're right to want to be by yourself. How can you expect to be happy with someone else when you're not happy with yourself?"
"Words of wisdom from Harriet, it's almost as if you've been reading those self help blogs on your website." He chuckled on the other end of the phone, the sound of cars passing in the background.

"Have you been stalking me?" Harriet laughed, looking out of the window to the streets below.
"Ah shit have I given myself away?" He mocked, "actually no, I have a few friends who I found out recently follow your blog. Turns out you're a big hit and everyone wants to talk about you. I'm getting a bit sick of it if I'm honest."
Harriet laughed, "oh that makes a change, normally it's all Vince did this, Vince did that."
He chuckled on the other line.
"Look I'm in the area and I'm dying for a coffee, did you want to join me?"
Getting mixed signals, Harriet wasn't sure whether she wanted to put herself through the torment of seeing Vince again but agreed to meet him for one coffee.
"This will be strange. I don't think I've ever seen you sober." She joked before she hung up, grabbing her handbag and strolling out the doors to the coffee shop a few streets over.
Ordering a caramel latte she took a seat and began checking her emails on her phone.
"I always pictured you'd be very business like at work." Vince sat down in front of her wearing his usual tight leather trousers and a plain white vest top with all manner of rock necklaces and bracelets, as if he'd just stepped out of an Aerosmith gig in the 1980's. Harriet assumed that he was still hyped from the night before when he was probably at some rock concert.