Tread This Fantasy

“Holy. Shit. Mel.” Tara, another assistant, stuck her head inside Mel’s office.

Mel’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Who is he?”

“What?”

Tara stepped inside, adjusting her skirt and watching Mel with a mischievous grin. “Your man.”

Mel furrowed her brown and put down the pen in her hand. “He’s non-existent. What in the world are you talking about, Tara?”

“The fucking flower garden that has taken over the reception desk. Barb said it’s for you and asked me to let you know since she’s tied up on the phone.”

“It must be a mistake.” Mel stood up and came around her desk to follow Tara out into the reception area. As soon as she turned the corner she saw the wide vase holding an armful of gorgeous flowers. The bright green of the hydrangeas and orchids were offset by brilliant pink and lavender flowers. “Jesus,” she said under her breath.

“You must be the most amazing lay EVER,” Tara whispered.

“Tara! Shut up. These are totally not mine.”

Barb, the receptionist, raised her eyebrows at Mel and pointed at the arrangement on the desk. The phone was pressed to her ear, so she couldn’t say anything else. Mel stepped forward and plucked the card from the plastic holder sticking out of the sea of flowers. Quickly, she flipped open the envelope and turned the card over to see who the bouquet was really for.

Mel, thank you for all of your help. I appreciate the impromptu class on investments. S.C.

“What?” she whispered to herself, reading the card a second time.

“Who sent it?” Tara asked, looking over Mel’s shoulder to read the text. “Who is SC?”

“Uh, I... this. I mean...”

“Wait, did a client send you this?”

Mel could only think of one SC she’d talked to recently. Sidney Crosby. There was no way Sidney Crosby was sending her flowers. Much less the most gorgeous floral arrangement known to man. Then again, he was the best at everything else; he might as well be the best at thank you’s and ordering flowers.

“Spill it, Melanie. Is this really from a client? Compliance would lose their shit if they know you were getting flowers from a client.”

“Can it, Tara. It’s nothing. Just a friend. Probably playing a joke on me or something.”

Tara stuck her hip out and looked at Mel with suspicion in her eyes. “For serious?”

“For serious,” Mel confirmed. “It’s nothing.” She wrapped her arms around the vase and carefully slid it off the reception desk. Barb looked at her like she was going to drop it.

“I’ll spot you while you heave that thing back to your office,” Tara said.

Mel rolled her eyes. “I’ve got it,” she grunted, shuffling back around the corner and down the hall.

She settled the vase on the corner of her desk with care before shutting her door and leaning back against it. “Oh. My. God.” The notecard was still clutched in her hand. Thank you for all your help. SC. Sidney Crosby. Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. She had to be dreaming. Her heart was hammering a thousand times a minute.

Two quick knocks on the door made Mel nearly jump out of her skin. She whirled around to face the door and took two steps back.

“Hey, I was thinking. Maybe we should do one of those intake forms on the annuity. I’m not real comfortable...” Mike had started talking as soon as he opened her door, but he stopped abruptly when he saw the vase on her desk. “Wow,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s bizarre.”

“Not really the word I was thinking of,” he replied. “Who sent it?”

“That’s the bizarre part,” Mel said. She handed Mike the card.

“SC? Is this from a client?”

“There’s only one person I’ve talked to in the last week that asked me questions about types of investments.”

Mike was smiling, enjoying her discomfort. “If it’s from a client, you better hide the vase under your desk before they make you fill out one of those forms and get someone in here to appraise the damn thing to make sure the value doesn’t exceed fifty bucks.”

“I think it’s from Sidney Crosby.” She cringed after she said it, looking at her boss.

His eyebrows went up and his mouth opened and closed like a fish. “Really?”

“He’s the only SC I’ve talked to recently.”

“He called for you?”

“A few days ago. Wanted me to explain his portfolio since he says he doesn’t know much about it.”

Mike crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. He looked amused. “Really? Interesting.”

“What?” Mel looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Is this all a big joke?”

“Maybe he’s got a crush on you.”

“Yeah right,” she snorted. “Stop making fun of me.”

“I’m not,” he replied, holding his hands up. “I swear. But those are awfully nice flowers to thank you for a phone call.”

“I know,” Mel said, sitting down in one of the guest chairs. “It’s... bizarre.”

“Probably want to keep it under wraps as far as compliance goes,” he said quietly.

“I won’t say anything if you don’t.”

Mike nodded. “Deal.”

***************************************

“Your boyfriend is coming in this afternoo,” Mike said after knocking on the doorframe of Mel’s office.

She looked up at him, eyes wide. “What? I didn’t see him on your calendar.”

“Surprise visit. He’s leaving town for a few days--games in Florida against the Panthers and Lightening. We thought it would be best to get everything sorted out before he leaves so we can proceed with any trades. Plus, that annuity is still a pain in my ass.”

Mel looked down at her outfit: a black pencil skirt and a crisp white blouse. Her peep-toe satin heels were hidden beneath the desk.

“Worried you don’t look nice enough for your boyfriend?” Mike asked, grinning.

She scowled at him. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Where did the flowers go?”

“I took them home. Tara was being nosey and I didn’t want to deal with questions from Compliance. Remember when the Millers sent me that gift card?”

“Yeah, they made you return it.”

“So awkward. I can’t leave that garden of flowers outside Sidney Crosby’s door.”

“Want me to come up with a reason for him to come in here and see you?”

Mel grabbed her pen and shuffled through the paperwork on her desk. “Don’t be silly, Mike. I’ve got work to do.”

“Sure,” he replied with a smile before retreating to his office.

She spent the next three hours trying to focus on her work, but all she could think about was Sidney Crosby. She dreaded the awkward conversation about the flowers. Maybe they could forget about it. Obviously he was trying to be nice. Maybe nice to someone with millions of dollars was a massive bouquet of flowers. Unfortunately, Mel knew that was a lie. She worked with people every day who had millions of dollars and not one of them had ever sent her flowers.

Voices in the hall made her ears perk up. It was him. She could hear his unmistakable voice and then that adorable, but strange, laugh. The door to Mike’s office shut and the silence descended on her office again. Instead of pretending to work, she pulled up a celebrity gossip website on her computer and browsed through pictures of Justin Timberlake canoodling with his wife, Jessica Biel. She’d been single too long. It made her wistful.

The door to Mike’s office opened. Mel immediately closed the browser window and shoved her face into the file on her desk.

“Hey, Mel. A little help?”

She looked up to see Mike with Sidney Crosby’s face just over his shoulder. Jesus. Maybe she could crawl under her desk. “Sure, what’s up?”

“Since Sid is here, I thought maybe you could do a conference call with him and RiverSource about the annuity. Get some details so we know if we can wiggle out of the contract without taking too much a of hit.”

“Uh, yeah.” She stood up and motioned to the chair in front of her. “Have a seat, Mr... um, Sid.”

Sid stepped around Mike and lowered himself in the seat gingerly. Mike gave Mel a wide smile before backing out of her office and pulling the door almost completely shut.

“Hi,” Sid said once they were alone.

She smiled at him and picked up her phone to set it in the middle of her desk. “Hi.”

“So, were the flowers completely out of line?”

His question caught her off guard. “I, uh, no. I mean, I was surprised. I don’t think the phone call merited flowers. But, um, thanks. It was sweet of you.” Mel inwardly cringed at her stumbling answer.

Sid smiled and she felt like her heart stopped. “Sometimes I think I’m probably the most awkward person ever. I know hockey, but not much else.”

“It’s fine. Really. They were beautiful.”

“Too much?” he looked pained, like he really did regret sending them.

Mel chuckled. “Maybe a little too much, but I liked them. Actually, I took them home so I didn’t get in hot water with our Compliance department.”

“Oh,” he frowned. “Did I get you in trouble?”

“No, no,” she replied. “I just can’t accept gifts from clients. It’s firm policy. And even if they allowed it, any gifts with a value of more than $50 need to be logged with FINRA. They frown on it.”

Sid looked surprised. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

She waved away the concern. “Don’t worry about it. I took them home so I didn’t have to answer questions.” She paused before adding, “They look gorgeous on my dining room table, though. So, thank you. Really.”

He smiled again. “You’re welcome. Anytime.”

“So, about this conference call.”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll call them together. The rep will ask you to answer a few security questions and then ask you to give permission for them to speak with me about the contract. I’ll take over from that point.”

Sid nodded. “Sounds good. Let’s go.”

She dialed the number and they waited on hold few almost a minute before someone came on the line. Sidney provided answers and permission and Mel took over, asking questions to get more specifics on the contract. Within ten minutes, she had jotted down all the relevant information and thanked the woman on the other end for her help.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Sid asked once she’s hung up.

Mel looked over her notes. You’re not out of surrender for another six years. It’ll cost a pretty penny to get out now. We might need to bide our time until we can get the surrender change down to three or four percent.”

“I don’t understand,” he said with a self-deprecating grin.

“If you pull your money out now, then they’ll charge you six percent of the value. You forfeit that amount. If we wait until that percent goes down to three percent in a couple more years, then paying the fee to get your money out will be worth it because we’ll be able to make it up with a better use of the cash. The annuity has ridiculous costs associated with it, so pulling out early will probably benefit you in the long run.”

Sid put his hands up and spread his fingers as if in surrender. “You’re the expert.”

She laughed. “Hardly.”

“Hey, you are. You know a lot more about this than I do.”

“I deal with it every day. You know a lot more about skating than I do.”

He leaned forward in the chair and put his forearms on the edge of her desk. “I told you I could teach you to skate in a day. I bet you’re a fast learner.”

“I’m a klutz.”

He chuckled. “Naw. Don’t be so modest. Have you tried before?”

“A couple times. The entire office went skating over at PPG Place right before Christmas. I stayed at the edge and held onto the wall.”

“Did you fall?”

“I would have if I hadn’t held onto the wall,” she replied, laughing.

Sid smiled, showing his white teeth and beautiful lips. “You haven’t really skated until you’ve fallen down.”

“That sounds like bullshit,” she said. A fraction of a second later, she slapped her hand over her mouth, eyes wide. “Sorry, that was inappropriate.”

He was outright laughing, the high-pitched giggle rolling out into her office. “That was *totally* appropriate. But I’m still right. You need to at least fall on your ass once.”

“I’m too much of a girl.”

“You’re probably right. I wouldn’t want to see you bruise something that pretty.”

She was looking at him when he said it. They both immediately dropped their gaze in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry,” Sid said. “That really was inappropriate.”

Mel shook her head before looking up at him again. “Far be it from me to be offended by a compliment. That *was* a compliment, right?”

“Oh yeah. Totally a compliment. A compliment from an awkward guy who doesn’t know how to talk to women.”

“Now that’s bullshit. You’re probably a playboy under cover.” His playful eyes and shyness were making her flirtatious side come out.

Sid laughed and shook his head. “No, I have zero game off the rink. I think that’s pretty obvious.”

“Well, you should. Half the single women in this city would crawl over broken glass for a chance to go on a date with you.”

“I don’t know about that,” he replied. “But I do want to hold you to that skating lesson. Maybe one day when you’re not busy.”

Mel shook her head. “You mean one day when you’re not busy. I think your schedule is a bit more jam-packed than mine.”

“I’ll make time, if only to witness your first fall.”

She chuckled. “Gee, thanks.” They both fell silent for a moment. Finally, Mel looked up at him, almost shyly. “You know, you’re super easy to talk to.”

“I am?”

“Yeah, which is weird because I feel like I should be more intimidated than I am. I mean, you’re Sidney Crosby.”

He rolled his eyes at her. It was almost enough to make her laugh again. Instead, she smiled at him. “That’s Sid to you,” he said. “So, when are you going to let me teach you how to skate?”

“You are not going to teach me to skate. You don’t have time for that,” she said, giggling at his serious expression.

“Oh, I am.”

“Shut up,” she said, covering her eyes in embarrassment. “Don’t you have Captain things to do?”

“Oh, shit,” he replied, a look of concern crossing his face. “What time is it?”

“Almost three o’clock,” she said, glancing at her watch.

Sid jumped up out of the chair. “I have a flight at four. We’re playing Tampa tomorrow.”

Her eyes widened. “You better get out of here or you’ll miss the flight.”

He opened the door to her office and pointed at her before he left. “Seriously. Skating lessons. You pick the date. My schedule is pretty much public, so you can tell me what works best for you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mel replied, waving at him as he rushed out. She tilted her head to the side, looking at his ass as he walked down the hall. He was too perfect.

“Lot of laughing going on in there.” Mike was standing in his doorway, watching her.

Mel rolled her eyes. “Don’t start.”

“Skating lessons?”

“He was joking.”

Mike nodded. “Sure.”

Notes