Rooms - James L. Rubart [29]
“That’s what I came to talk to you about.”
“So this is the official breakup?”
“Not exactly.”
She stood and walked toward him, drumming her fingers on her arm in a staccato rhythm.
“I’m going to start working from the beach for a while.”
“You’re what?” Julie’s eyes narrowed. “One more time, please?”
“I’m going to split my time between working down there and working up here, mostly down there. Work fewer hours.”
“You are not seriously saying this.”
He leaned in toward her. “Yeah, I am, Julie. I am seriously saying it.”
She stalked to the window, then whirled to face him. “You’re insane. Look around you. It’s not the time to kick back. You think you’re going to telecommute? Yeah, that’ll work great. It’ll infuse the stockholders with massive confidence. Once the press gets a hold of it, I’m sure our sales will go through the roof. Plus it’ll suck the last breath of life out of our relationship.” Julie turned back to the window. “All I wanted was a ring.”
“I’m not breaking up!” Micah said louder than he intended. He rubbed his hands on his pants and glanced at the ceiling, as if it would give him the right words. “I just need to get away from here, do some thinking down there.”
“What will you think about? This company is your life.”
She was right. His entire identity was wrapped up in the company, which made his choice both crazy and exhilarating. What did he have in Cannon Beach? Memories he didn’t want to face, a seriously bizarre house that nearly killed him, and a friend twenty-three years his senior. Where was the draw in all that? Yet there was a draw. Deeper and more alive than anything he’d felt in years.
Julie lifted her palms. “Let’s pretend I agree to something that idiotic and pretend you’re not breaking up with me. What would you do with your extra time? Learn to fly a kite? Start painting again? Cook?!”
“Maybe.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
What would he do down there? He could only take beach runs and hang with Rick for so long. Three weeks and he’d go nuts. His life had been so ordered and driven for so many years he wasn’t sure what to do next. Free time? What was that? His iPhone was almost grafted onto his body. Between his to-do list and Shannon’s reminders, every moment for the past six years had been filled with goals, appointments, setting vision for the company, and worlds to conquer.
Julie sighed, walked over to Micah, and took his hands. “It’s just me. Let’s talk. No partnership. No RimSoft. No stock options. Just me before we gained the world.”
They stared at each other, Micah trying to tell her with his eyes why he needed this. Julie asking with hers how he could put the kingdom they’d sweated blood for on hold.
“I need to be there. Stay a while. Figure some things out.”
“Figure what out?”
“I don’t know. God maybe.”
“God? Are you kidding?” Julie pulled away and scowled. “I thought you gave up the Jesus-freak thing back in college.”
“This place, it’s . . . I’m drawn to it. I need to . . . I want to, find out . . . Come with me to Cannon Beach.” He looked into her eyes. “See what God is up to down there.”
“Wow. The ‘God told me to go’ argument. Insurmountable. And completely whacko.”
“Come with me.”
Julie closed her eyes. “You know that old Robert Frost poem about two roads diverging in the middle of the woods? You’re going down one road; I’m headed down the other.”
“Julie, no.”
She leaned toward him and kissed him on the cheek. “Good-bye, Micah.”
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Micah made it to Cannon Beach by five o’clock, the emotion of his talk with Julie completely faded by the time he arrived. He stopped at Rick’s to gas up before heading to the house. As Devin stretched his undersized dough-boy frame over Micah’s BMW to clean the windshield, Micah snuck up on Rick who was bent over the engine of a late-model Nissan.
Micah slapped him on his side and kept moving around to his right. “Hey, buddy!”
Rick straightened, almost whacking his head on the car’s hood. “What’re you doing here this early