C6 Trapped Together

An hour later, we are done with the meeting. I am back in my hotel room, and there is nothing more I would love to do than to sleep right now, but that goes out the window once my phone starts ringing. I check to see who is calling and find out it’s mom.

“Hello, mom,” I say once I answer the phone

“Hello dear, how are you doing?”

“Not so good; how about you.”

“I am fine; what’s wrong, dear?” She asks, sounding worried

“I have been having cramps for the whole day, and Stefano has not been the easiest person to work with.”

“Sorry dear, and why don’t you tell me all about it at lunch.”

“How mom, you are in Miami. How will we have lunch together?”

“You will see,” She says, and I hear a knock at the door

“What do you mean, but hold on a minute, mom? Someone is at the door,” I say and walk over to the door to answer it.

I open the door and find out mom is the one knocking.

“Mom, what are you doing here,” I ask, surprised to see her here

“Why don’t I tell you why I am here over lunch like I said on the phone,” She says, smiling

“Alright, let me get my purse.”

I walk over to the nightstand and pick up my purse. I join mom outside to be on our way to the restaurant. We are going to a restaurant downstairs in the hotel. We take the elevator to the lobby and walk to the restaurant on the ground floor. We take our seats and wait for the waiter to bring the menu for us. While waiting, I ask mom the same question I asked her earlier.

“So, mom, what are you doing in California .”

“I came to see you before I leave.”

“Where are you going?”

“Your grandma had a mild stroke yesterday. I am flying over to Mexico to check up on her”

“Oh my God! I hope she is doing ok” I ask, worried about my grandmother

“The doctors said she is going to be fine, but I still feel like checking up on her myself.”

“Thank God, and once I am done here, I will fly to Mexico to see her.”

“That would be lovely, dear, and you said on the phone that Stefano is giving you a hard time; sorry about that.”

“Thank you, mom, and you won’t believe how much he embarrassed me today. I felt like hitting his head on the wall.”

“Sorry dear, but if you don’t mind me asking, what happened this morning to cause you to feel like this towards him.”

I tell her everything that happened in the meeting room earlier today.

“It seems to me dear that there is more than what meets the eye concerning your problems with him.”

“What do you mean, mom,” I ask, curious to understand what she is saying

“What I am saying is maybe there is something you did to him in the past, and he has not forgiven you for it.”

“You really think so,” I say, thinking to myself if I actually did anything wrong to him in the past. I can’t seem to recall doing anything, but I might have also done something wrong unknowingly.

“Yes, because people are usually rude towards someone for a reason.”

“I guess so, but mom, you know they are some people who are naturally just rude to everyone, and I think Stefano is one of those types. I can’t remember doing anything wrong towards him in the past. I barely even spoke to him while we stayed in Sicily that year.”

“Of course, you barely spoke to him. Every time you saw him, it was like you forgot how to talk. He was my baby’s first big crush; I still remember the first time you realized you liked him,” Mom says, smiling.

“Mom, why are you smiling? It was not a good time for me,” I say, remembering how I use to get flustered around him before.

“He might not have felt the same way you did, but it was still nice for me to watch you deal with your first love.”

“Mom, he was not my first love,” I say, while I ask myself if he was, but I don’t think he was. I was too young even to know what real love meant.

“Oh, trust me, honey, he was, and I am surprised you guys can’t stand each other now.”

“It’s not like I can’t stand him. He just gets on my nerves every time I see him.”

“I know, and I am sure one day you guys will work things out.”

“I hope so too.”

It’s been a few days since I came to California and today is my last day here. I am done with the things I came to do, and all that is left is to get Stefano’s signature on the new contract I drafted, and I will be on my way to Mexico. I am on my way to his office after having lunch with the engineer in charge of the renovation. I am a few minutes late because my meeting with the engineer took longer than I expected. I can already imagine the ear full I will get from Stefano when I arrive. I pay the taxi driver and walk into his office building. I take the elevator to his floor and walk over to his secretary’s desk once I arrive on his floor.

“Hello,” I say to his secretary.

“Good day ma, Mr. Costanzo will be with you shortly. He asked me to tell you to wait for him to wrap up his recent meeting.”

“Alright, and do you know how long it will take. I have a flight to catch.”

“I can’t say ma.”

“Alright, thank you,” I say and take my seat on one of the waiting chairs.

If feeling like hitting Stefano’s head on the wall was terrible, I don’t know what you will call what I feel like doing to him right now. I want to throw him into a volcano till he burns to death and comes back alive to sign these papers so that I could be on my way to Mexico. You won’t believe Stefano kept me in his office for the whole day. I arrived at his office at 1 p.m., and it’s 3 p.m. now. His secretary might have said I should wait a few minutes, but what she meant was to wait for a few hours. I would have left since, but I really need to get these papers signed today to be on my way to Mexico to see my grandma. I am about to give up on seeing Stefano today when his secretary finally tells me the words I want to hear.

“Mr. Costanzo will see you now, ma’am.” She says after hanging up the phone.

“Thank God,” I say, walking towards his office with so much anger in me that I fear I could burst any minute. I don’t even care to knock before entering.

“Who dares enter my office without knocking?” Stefano says with his head buried in papers.

“Me,” I say and walk over to a seat in front of his desk.

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” He says, lifting his head to look at me.

“I would normally ask you what you mean by that, but I am too tired and annoyed to care right now. This is the new draft for the cost of expenses for the new additions to the renovation,” I say, placing the document in front of him.

“This is not the price we agreed on,” Stefano says after taking a look at the document I placed in front of him.

I start to feel a headache coming because I don’t think I am going to Mexico tonight.

“Of course, it’s not the price you wanted. I told you the price you want me to work with would be impossible to make those additions happen.”

“And I told you to find a way to make it work,” He says, handing the document back to me.

“Stefano, that won’t be possible, and if I have to spend the whole day explaining it to you, why you better clear your schedule for the rest of the day because I am not leaving your office till you sign these papers.”

“Be my guest,” He says, with determination in his voice.

Stefano and I spend the whole evening reviewing the additions he would like for the hotel and their cost. By the time we are done, it is dark outside, and it was all because Stefano was unnecessarily difficult during the whole meeting. We walk outside his office and step into the elevator to go home. I am exhausted, and I can’t wait to arrive at my hotel room and take a nice warm shower. I stop in my train of thoughts when something unexpected happens. The elevator suddenly comes to a halt.

“Stefano, is something wrong with……..” I don’t get to finish my statement as the lights go off. “Oh my God, what is going on?” I say while searching my bag for my phone to switch on the flashlight.

“I don’t know, but I don’t need you panicking, so stay calm. The backup generator will come on soon,” Stefano says, and in less than a minute, light comes back. I press the buttons of the elevator, but they don’t seem to be working.

“What is going on? Why are they not working?”

“I don’t know, but I will call for help,” Stefano says and picks up his phone, but the words that come out do not make me feel any better in our situation. “There is no service on my phone? Someone………” He does not get to finish his statement because of the next thing that happens. The elevator starts going down at an uncontrollable speed; it’s moving so fast I am surprised I am still alive once it stops.

“Oh my God, what just happened?”

“I don’t know, but can you let go of my hand,” Stefano says, and that’s when I realize I had a tight grip on his arm. I was so scared that I didn’t even know I held him.

“Sorry,” I say, letting go of his arm.

“Do you have your gun with you?”

“Yes, I do,” I say and retrieve my Glock 43X.

“Be ready,” Stefano says, retrieving his Glock 19.

“For what,” I ask, confused as to what is going on.

“For anything,” Stefano says as the elevator doors slowly open.