Privacy Denied

Privacy Denied

By Skye Ballantyne

Dedicated to:

Jennie Earl

Chapter 1

Grey storm clouds loomed ominously overhead, threatening to spill their wet cargo onto the heads of the little town. The cold air blew Gabriella in through the door of the dentist office where she worked, and caused the autumn leaves to swirl around her feet in their own little tornado cloud.

Looks like we’re in for quite the storm, Gabriella shivered as she hung up her coat on the nearby coat rack.

She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to brush out all the tangles and make herself look presentable, but it only served to make her hair look more like a rats nest than ever, as she went to pour herself a cup of coffee to try and warm herself up.

The storm is no excuse to cancel the date you have planned for tonight, Nadine warned sternly, giving her a school teacher look that said Nadine would punish Gabriella mercilessly if she even so much as thought about cancelling the date Nadine had planned for her.

The date YOU planned, Gabriella emphasized, not going to be intimidated by Nadine’s stare.

After three years of working with Nadine, Gabriella had learned that Nadine was all bark and no bite. Sure, Nadine could seriously be intimidating in the heat of the moment, but when push came to shove, she had absolutely no follow through and couldn’t hurt a fly, let alone a person.

YOU were the one who set it up, remember? Gabriella continued as she set up for the day.

Still, Nadine warned, No cancelling.

With an amused smile, Gabriella lightly shook her head and turned to her work. Nadine and her fiance, Dmitri were constantly trying to set her up with someone, with little to no success.

Gabriella had been set up with at least a hundred men, ranging everywhere from lawyers to fast food workers, funny to overly serious, overweight to slim as a bean pole, and everything in between. Somehow, each one had been worse than the last. Gabriella was sick of going on date after date with nothing to see for it. She was sick of the dating game, or as it seemed to be in her case, the blind dating game.

Gabriella wasn’t looking forward to this new blind date. She was hoping that today would finally be the day that time actually stopped and she would really be stuck at work forever. However, the time seemed to mock her and fly on by and within moments the hands on the clock made their way to the position that said that it was time to go home.

As she drove home through the storm that had worsened throughout the day, she prayed that the slick roads and the pouring rain would cause something to happen that would make her unable to go home and therefore make it impossible for her to go on this date. However, luck didn’t smile on her today and even with the storm raging around her, she managed to make it home in record time.

Dressed in a simple, but flow-y black dress with a string of pearls around her neck and low heels, she headed for the restaurant where she was going to meet ‘the one’ that Nadine and Dmitri had picked out for her.

Rather than decreasing the people willing to come out, it seemed as if the weather had brought people out in droves. Gabriella had never seen the restaurant so alive before. The buzz of conversation rang through Gabriella’s ears, but the volume and sheer quantity of voices made it impossible to make out any individual conversation.

Gabriella! Nadine stood up and called Gabriella over to their table, I’d like you to meet Tony, Nadine gestured to the young man on her left as Gabriella made her way to the table.

Gabriella sized up the man standing before her. He certainly was one of the more attractive, if not the most attractive man, that she had been set up with. His sandy blond hair was cut short, extenuating his prominent jaw. He had a golden tan that matched his toned and athletic body to perfection. He seemed to have no flaws. It was like standing next to a Greek god. In his presence, Gabriella started to feel dowdy and frumpy. She had to mentally review her reflection, trying to reassure herself that she had put in an effort.

Her short, chocolate brown, mousy hair, made her skin seem even paler, and compared to Tony, she felt like a vampire. While she wasn’t exactly a chubby person, seeing Tony’s washboard abs made her feel like a hippo and she sucked in the chub in her stomach. She wasn’t normally a self-conscience person, but standing next to Tony made her recognize all of her flaws and somehow they seemed to multiply and get worse the longer they stood.

With a sense of uncomfortable dread settling in on her, Gabriella sat down, keeping to the edge of the chair while she sat up as straight as possible, as if her posture would make her feel better about herself. She wrapped her ankles around the legs of the chairs, giving her something to ‘hang’ onto to settle her nerves.

It’s nice to meet you, Gabriella smiled nervously, reaching for her glass of water, as more of a reason to do something than because of actual thirst.

You too, Gabby, Tony smiled, showing off a row of perfectly white, straight teeth.

Seriously? Did the man have no flaws? It was aggravating. No one could be that perfect. If only she could find one thing, maybe she’d be able to get through this date without feeling like a lump of coal the entire time.

It’s Gabriella, actually, Gabriella smiled, but behind that smile, her teeth gritted together, as she tried to keep from murdering her date.

She hated being called Gabby. It always made her feel like she had been talking too much, or that she was some kind of talking toy doll. Usually, she would let the Gabby nickname go for a first date, but Tony was rubbing her the wrong way and she found she couldn’t let it slide.

Testy, testy, Tony said, taking a sip of his Scotch.

So Tony, what do you do for a living? Gabriella asked, ignoring his comment as she gritted her teeth together even harder.

I’m a personal trainer.

The answer opened up a can of worms that Gabriella hadn’t been expecting. For the next fifteen minutes Tony talked about his work as a personal trainer. He thrust out his chest in pride as he boasted about himself and all the fabulous things he had done to help other people on their fitness goals.

You should try it sometime, Tony finished up right as the waitress came around to take their orders, I mean you could really use it, Tony looked disdainfully down at Gabriella before ordering his meal and handing his menu to the waitress.

After ordering the healthiest meal she could find on the menu, Gabriella spent the rest of the evening self-consciously nibbling at her food while Tony continued to talk about himself. He didn’t even bother to wait for Gabriella to respond to what he was saying. He was too busy flapping his gums to even care that Gabriella wasn’t listening to him. By the end of the night Gabriella was hoarse from just listening to Tony talk. She couldn’t wait to go home and listen to the peace and quiet of her own little apartment.

Chapter 2

Exhausted by her latest dating ordeal, Gabriella immediately kicked off her heels as she entered the front door and padded into the kitchen to make herself some tea. With the water heating on the stove, she went to change into something more comfortable.

She had just padded back into the kitchen when she heard the chime of her phone, alerting her to the fact that she had an incoming text message. Rolling her neck and shoulders to relieve the tension that had been building up since that morning, Gabriella grabbed her phone from the counter.

‘Aren’t you tired of this charade?’ the message read.

She checked the name. Unlisted. She shrugged her shoulders and set the phone down. Tiredly, she placed her head in her hands and leaned against the counter, and stayed there until the whistling of the tea kettle alerted her to the fact that her water was ready. She had just created the perfect tea when she received another message.

‘They say there are plenty of fish in the sea. But you are fishing in all the wrong places.’

‘Who is this?’

Curiosity settled in on her. She wondered which of her friends was trying to mess with her, or if it was some kind of scam. Either way, she was bored, and this might be entertaining, at least for the night.

‘One of the fish that you’ve been ignoring.’

Devon, she decided. Yes, Devon was behind the texts. They had been friends for years, and this kind of thing was just up his alley. She wasn’t sure what he was trying to get at, but she would play his little game. After finishing the last bit of her tea, she slipped off to bed, hoping that Nadine would grow tired of trying to set her up and this would be the last blind date ordeal she would be put through.

Chapter 3

Gregory tried to keep his eyes open as his boss droned on and on about their sales and numbers. It was too late in the day to be caring about any of that. He wasn’t the only one who wanted to clap as their boss finally closed the meeting and let them all go free.

Do you think he purposefully makes all his meetings that boring? John asked.

I hope so, Gregory said, Although, knowing him, I think it’s his personality that’s boring.

It was unfortunate, but true, nonetheless. Their boss was the most boring person on the face of the planet. He could make fire sound boring to a firedancer. He was great with numbers, and had helped lead their team to perfect sales this past quarter, but he had no passion, and could incite no excitement. Even when they were supposedly celebrating their victory, it felt more like a funeral service.

A couple of guys and I are going to the bar after work tonight, you want to come? John asked, clapping Gregory on the shoulder.

I can’t, Gregory said, I’m taking Aislinn to dinner.

Finally going to ask her to marry you? John asked with a playful nudge.

Gregory and Aislinn had been dating for over a year now, and they didn’t seem any closer to marriage than they had been when they had first started dating.

No, Gregory said.

Marriage wasn’t even on his radar at the moment. Aislinn had known when they had met that Gregory’s career came first. He needed to get his feet underneath him and be financially stable, and preferably have risen higher in the company, before he could even contemplate marriage. Aislinn had seemingly understood where he had been coming from, and had agreed to take things at his glacial pace.

Good for you, Mr. Andrews said, clapping Gregory on the back, Don’t need an old ball and chain weighing you down, now do you?

After a bitter divorce broke up a 35-year marriage, Mr. Andrews had become anti-marriage and hated to think that his protege would even consider falling into the trap that was marriage. For Mr. Andrews, the opposite gender was a curse and only there to torment men. No one needed marriage. They needed a career. They needed drive. And Gregory had that tenfold. He would keep Gregory on the straight and narrow career path if he had to drag him down it with his teeth.

I think I’ll get a beer with you, Mr. Andrews said.

Mr. Andrews smiled as he saw the wheels spinning in Gregory’ head.

If Mr. Andrews was there, it could be the perfect opportunity to talk shop. It would be the perfect opportunity to plant in Mr. Andrews’ head that Gregory was the best person for the new promotion that was coming up. They would be making their decision in a week, and Gregory couldn’t afford to let such an opportunity slip through his fingers.

You know what? Gregory said, making his decision, Maybe I will join you for a beer.

What about Aislinn? John asked.

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