Miss Christmas Carols

"What in the world is he trying to pull now?", said Jayde looking at his phone while driving to the parking lot near the bar that Weston invited him to. He parked his car and started walking to the exit while trying to call Weston, but he wouldn't pick up, that bastard. Jayde was wearing a suit that was neatly ironed for the Monday meeting but with no tie, he might need to iron it again for the meeting.

As Jayde walked towards the bar, his phone's notification went off and it was a message from Weston."Are you here yet?".

"Yes you moron, pick the goddamn phone or call me asap," Jayde texted back. "No need, I'm coming at the entrance to greet you. Get here fast".

Jayde puts back the phone in his pocket and after a little walking, he sees Weston standing at the bar door talking to the guard. "Oh there you are, took you long enough. Let's go party bitch," said Weston and it seemed like he was drunk. "What! Party, you kidding me? You dragged me here because you couldn't drink alone."

"Stop nagging like a 5-year-old, come on let's meet some old colleagues," said Weston as he took Jayde by force. "Wait a second, chotto matte, what did you say? Old colleagues?" asked Jayde as he tried to resist his drunk friend. Weston took his unwilling friend to a table on the second floor where a woman in her late 30s and a young guy with blonde hair sat drinking.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting. Here, I present to you our guest of honor Mr. Jayde Williamson," said Weston as he imitated firing a party confetti. "Good evening people," said Jayde as he shook hands. "Let me introduce you guys, he is Brandon, a newbie. He just joined the company yesterday," said Weston as he patted the young man's back who was excellently dressed. "And then her, Caroline. Remember her dude? We used to work together back in the good old days". The woman smiled back and nodded her head at Jayde in agreement but he was confused. "Wait what old days, what is Weston even talking about. Did we used to work with her? I haven't seen her face before," Jayde thought to himself.

"It's so good to meet you, Sir, I can't believe I'm having a drink with my superiors on the second day of my job," Brandon said as he filled up a glass with scotch. "Sucking up to the boss already eh," said Weston mockingly to Brandon. "No sir, it's just my gratitude towards..." Weston interrupted "He'll go a long way. I have faith in him. Fill her glass as well". "No no, my glass is half full," said Caroline. "But it's half-empty as well, let me do it," said Weston as he took the bottle of scotch whiskey from Brandon's hand and poured her glass full. "Weston you haven't changed even a little bit," said Caroline with a sigh followed by a smile.

"I'll take that as a compliment. Drink up Jay why are you sitting so quiet, saw a ghost or something?". "No, well I didn't plan this meeting you did so you should lead the conversation," said Jayde. "Well speaking of meeting, Brandon I want you to meet someone. Come with me. You guys talk, we'll be back in a minute". Weston took Brandon with him and left the two awkward people alone.

"I can't believe you are still friends with him after all this time, guy is a man-child," said Caroline jokingly. "Yeah, why am I still friends with him? I wonder about this question on many occasions….He is not really a bad guy though," said Jayde. "I didn't mean that, he is definitely a good guy," said Caroline as she took a sip and looked at Jayde who seemed quite puzzled.

"You don't have the slightest clue do you, am I that forgettable….I am just kidding, don't try this hard. I am not really a remarkable person so it's totally understandable that you don't remember me," said Caroline.

"Umm, no that's not it, I am not really good at remembering people..."

"Yeah I know, why to bother remembering people when you can remember every piece of hardware and tech that humankind ever created, right?" said Caroline and she saw Jayde's expression change from 'Who the hell are you?' to 'What did you just say?'

"I am really sorry, but I think that statement is a little too exaggerated..."

"Nah I don't think so, I won't be surprised if you tell me the serial number of the computer that you used to work on back in the company," said Caroline with her cocky but sweet voice. Jayde started getting annoyed and a bit insecure because of the conviction in her voice and her fairly accurate statement because that sounded exactly like Jayde. Moreover, he did remember the serial number and recited it in his brain.

"How do you know Weston, are you guys good friends?" Jayde asked. "Changing the topic are we," said Caroline smiling but she realized that Jayde seemed a bit uncomfortable. "Okay, I'll help you out because now I can see your confusion through your face". "Okay go on," said Jayde as he poured himself another drink.

"I used to work in the finance department as a financial analyst just a floor above you in your old company. We were in the same company for 9 years for god's sake before you left the job to get a position in the company you are in now...rang any bells?". As she was telling the whole story, she saw Jayde's face slowly lit up.

"Miss Christmas Carols…. didn't recognize you there, your face, and you have short black hair instead of long brown," said Jayde with glinting eyes.

"Finally, but please don't take that name, the nostalgia is painful, and I knew you couldn't have forgotten me this easily. After all, you gave me that ridiculous name. See, you even remember the color of my hair," said Caroline. "Didn't Weston have a crush on you back in the days? It's crazy to believe that you guys are in touch after all these years". Both laughed a bit in reminisces of stupid things Weston did to get her attention.

"Yeah, I remember that but that's not it, like umm... I approached him recently because I needed him to refer me to a job."

"Wait like...," Jayde now understood the big picture. "Yes, I will be joining you guys in your company from next Monday….You will be my boss along with Weston," said Caroline in a low voice nodding her head with an apologetic smile.

"Well, that's...great, where were you working before this?" asked Jayde.

Tons of glasses broke a few tables away as a waiter carrying drinks made friends with the floor. "Poor guy!" said Caroline. "Looks like he tripped, such a waste of expensive champagne," said Jayde. Caroline looked at the waiter who was trying to pick up all the broken glasses and then resumed the conversation, "Looks like he didn't hurt himself that bad. Oh yeah, you were asking me about..," said Caroline. "I was just asking which company did you leave to join ours."

"Oh I wasn't working ....unemployed for over 3 years. I took a break from the corporate world for a while and now I think I am ready to make a comeback," said Caroline with fake enthusiasm.

"Yeah I understand, even I feel like I should take a long break because this constant pressure burns you out and you become a living zombie, apparently 60% of Americans hate their job," said Jayde as he imitated being a zombie.

"Yeah, I know after a while you start losing interest in the very thing you thought you loved. Did you ever get bored with...umm tech?" Caroline asked.

"Not really, it's never the same because things keep on developing and a new piece of hardware or software comes every now and then and we see great advancement like you know…." Caroline interrupted Jayde at the right time or he could go on for eternity.

"Yeah, I got it. Let's calm down and take deep breaths," said Caroline and chuckled, Jayde joined her after a few seconds, and then awkward silence surrounded them.

"Umm you have a son right. I don't remember his…"

"Yes, Dexter, his name…," said Jayde. "How old is he now," Caroline asked.

"He is 12, soon gonna be 13," said Jayde.

"That's great, even Weston has 2 little daughters, one is 9, and the other is 7, hard to imagine a guy like him to be a responsible dad," Caroline Laughed a bit after saying that.

"Well, he is doing a great job, although once he did forget his younger daughter at the convenience store and went halfway home."

"It's such a classic one isn't it, like I am sure every parent has done that once in their lifetime," said Caroline with a little elevation in the mood until Jayde shook his head in disagreement followed by another wave of awkward silence.

"What about you… your kids doing fine," Jayde tried to break the silence.

"Oh no, I don't have kids. I live alone, all by myself," Caroline shook her head and then took a sip.

"I thought you were married," said Jayde.

"I got divorced from my husband 4 years ago," said Caroline with a sad smile.

"I am sorry I didn't..."

"No no, no problem It just….happened," said Caroline.

"Is that the reason why you took a break… sorry, I shouldn't have asked….," said Jayde. "No, it's okay... it's part of the reason". Both looked at each other then Jayde filled Caroline's glass and then his own glass, then asked a waiter for another bottle of scotch.

"He wasn't a bad guy, my ex-husband and I …. umm….," Caroline seemed a bit hesitant.

"It's totally understandable that you don't wanna talk about it," Jayde said as he stopped Caroline from forcing herself to talk.

"No, that's not it, it's just….," Caroline sighed and said, "that we couldn't have kids". "Oh, I am…. sorry."

"Don't say sorry so much. When did you become a guy who apologizes for every little thing," said Caroline with a fake smile. Jayde made an 'I don't know' sign with his hand.

"Hmm, nothing against him I mean my ex-husband, actually I am infertile so it wasn't his mistake. He wanted kids and I couldn't bear one so... you can do the math or computing maybe," said Caroline, keeping up the fake smile.

"Didn't he know before the marriage that you couldn't...," Jayde asked as he thought to himself what kind of idiot would do something like that.

"He did, I was in a relationship with him for over 8 years before we got married."

"Wow, that's quite long... If you guys were together this long, how did you end up going apart?" Jayde asked and immediately regretted asking such a question.

"Well, we were together for so long…. You know, I was in the second year of college when I first met him. We just clicked, kind of like a match made in heaven. Within two weeks after meeting, we were officially dating. It was a good time back then," Caroline's face lit up as she narrated the little love story.

"You know the feeling of love when you first find it. It's just so profound that it transcends every beauty, I love the feeling of being loved...I am sorry I sound like a hopeless romantic," Caroline said with a genuine smile.

"Yeah, I know the feeling, it's certainly the best feeling that our kind can feel," said Jayde.

"Yeah exactly….," Caroline smirked. "I still remember when I first told him that I am infertile and can't get pregnant. Guess what his first reaction was," Caroline asked. Jayde shook his head as if he was saying that I don't know you tell me.

"So we can do it without protection right!! ?" Caroline tried to make a man's voice impression, well it was quite bad but acceptable.

"Isn't that every college guy's dream," said Jayde and tried to match the energy of Caroline but he was still in a bit of awe by her statement.

"I guess so… everything was so good, like the best part of my life but, after we got married he changed. I know people change with time but he became a totally different person," Caroline said with a bit confused and sad face.

"When people are together for so long they sometimes fall out of love," said Jayde.

"It was different with us, actually we decided that we will adopt after we get married but something came upon him and he was like I want a kid of my own blood and this and that, we started arguing and fighting and then after two years of marriage things became very...ummm what do you say…."

"Unbearable," Jayde added. "Yeah, kind of you know, toxic. We were together because we loved each other and cared for each other, but I think he started blaming me for…. that we couldn't have a child and once he even said that 'can you even call yourself a woman when you can't do the only thing women are supposed to do' ". Caroline looked infuriated and her face turned red as she took a big gulp.

"What... like what does that even mean, are women only for producing an heir and if they can't bear a child, put a tag of 'useless' on them and toss them aside in the alley". Caroline took a deep breath, it seemed like she was about to cry. "And I know he said that in the heat of the moment but at that point of time I didn't think that this one line would set the tone of our future relationship."

"And before we could get a hold of things, I guess he just stopped trying and the last thing we knew was that we were signing divorce papers," Caroline definitely had tears but she didn't allow them to surface and Jayde wasn't looking quite good himself.

"I don't know what to say. It's your fault that you are… infertile," said Jayde and Caroline felt bad that he had to see this side of hers on the first day they met after so long, that she might have overshared.

"I am really sorry to bombard you with my sad life story. I don't know what happens to me sometimes….it feels like I am lost or something," said Caroline apologetically. Jayde wanted to say something that would ease her but at that point of time, his mind was blank. "Maybe it's the alcohol," he thought.

"You know I also felt lost when Sarah left me. It was like I couldn't breathe the same, I couldn't see the same, I couldn't feel the same, everything changed overnight, but….I didn't want my son to see me fall. I mean, that's the last thing a son wants to see, to see his hero fall and I couldn't let that happen now could I?" said Jayde with a smile then laughed a bit.

"I heard that your wife... you left the company after that, you were quite famous so that was the only thing people could talk about for weeks after you left."

"Oh really, I didn't know that I was famous," said Jayde as if it was a surprise to him.

"Yeah right," said Caroline and her face seemed more relaxed. "I read one of her books 'Not completely lost', it was quite an amazing novel. I really loved the way she narrated stuff," said Caroline.

"It was the last day of that book's launch when I met her, 'Sarah Jones'," said Jayde in a faint reminiscence of the day.

"How did you guys meet," Caroline asked. "Umm… that's kind of a long story."

"So I have to take that left, right?" Weston asked Brandon. "Yes sir, that left, then straight for 200 meters and we will reach my apartment," Brandon said.

"That's like what? 8 miles from the company?"

"Yeah, around 8.5 miles," Brandon answered. "That's quite close, not bad". "Sir, but I thought you were going to introduce me to someone…" Brandon smirked. "That was a fucking lie, didn't you see it was a setup for them to meet," Weston said. "Yes sir, I put that together after we started heading towards my house," said Brandon, and Weston started laughing but it seemed like a fake and a forced one.

"I knew you would go a long way," said Weston as he lightly punched Brandon.