Lost Appetite

Rae saw Wes Warren hanging out with the same woman again in the bar, and she was heartbroken.

That woman was Miranda. And that Wes wasn't really him. It was his stand-in robot. The real Wes Warren wasn't even there.

A few days ago before Rae saw Wes and Miranda again, Wes Warren actually suffered an even bigger blow before Rae did.

After visiting his parents on the weekend and having the revelation that he should just focus on Rae, Wes Warren came in to the office with spring in his step, definitely happier than the previous week.

He has decided to pull the plug on his revenge plan. He just wants to tell Rae about everything and take her out on a date again.

Wes stopped in front of Samantha's desk in the morning, grinned.

"Hi Samantha. Would you please book two business plus tickets to Los Angeles? Round trip. Flying in on Thursday," Wes started to list what he needed. Samantha typed down his request on her computer.

"Doesn't matter what time the flight is, we just need to arrive by evening and leave by Friday morning. I need a driver from the local limo company but I don't need a limo, just their most regular size sedan. A table or two seats at Beverly Hill restaurant whichever still available Thursday night, that should be it, thanks." Wes walked away from Samantha's cubicle, but he remembered something and walked backwards for a few more steps, smiled again.

"What are some of the stores women buy their nice dresses?"

Samantha is astonished by the question, but she quickly closed her half open mouth and said, "I... I really don't know."

"Please ask around for me, would you? Pick two or three of the stores and let them know ahead if a woman named Vienna Rae Novak showed up and purchased anything, have them send the bills to me. Let me know if you want me to spell her name out for you."

Wes Warren sat back down in his office, and was about to text Rae when a business phone call from another company came in and asked if their conference call could be moved a half hour earlier than the original scheduled time. Wes looked at his watch, it was 8:56, which meant the call would start at 9:30, he agreed. So he started to prepare the conference materials and information he needed for the call, and forgot to text Rae.

When he finally got a little bit of down town, it was almost two in the afternoon. He finally picked up his cell phone and ready to text Rae, telling her to ask for Thursday off, because he was going to take her to a movie premiere night in Hollywood. It was going to be a great date night.

The phone on his desktop suddenly rang. It was Samantha calling from her extension phone line. He picked up.

"Hi Wes, a girl named Vienna called earlier and I took a message for you, I wonder if you'd like to hear her message now?"

"What? She called the office?"

"Yeah, um, a little out of the blue."

"Why didn't you put her through?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't sure if you were available to take the call."

Wes breathed, trying to stay calm, "Well, next time just tried putting her through. You should know I have no meetings right now."

"My apologies."

"What's her message," Wes asked, feeling very nervous. He quickly had a scenario in his head that Rae must have lost her cell phone and therefore lost his phone number. So she tried using the business number. But it had to be hard to go through layers of his company, because people can't just call the Wind Chime and asked to speak to him. Oh, she must have something important to tell him so she patiently navigated through different assistants to get to his office.

"May I come in to your office? The message was a little personal and I don't feel I should read it out loud here."

"OK, come on in."

In a few seconds, Samantha stepped in, her face looked serious.

"What did she say?"

"So, her message was, please tell Mr. Warren to never contact me again. I've already deleted his number so I'm done. He needs to be done, too. I wish him well."

It was like someone just punched him in the guts. His heart sank into his stomach and he suddenly felt a severe ache, like someone stabbed him.

"Did she say why?" Wes's voice was quiet.

"No. Just that. I wanted to ask more but she just hung up." Samantha now looked sympathetic. She shut her mouth tightly, watching Wes's face.

"OK. I get the message now. Thanks. Um, please cancel the flights and all the arrangement." Wes looked away.

"Already did, Wes. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, thanks," Wes had a shallow smile but he wasn't looking at Samantha.

That was the reason why Wes Warren hasn't stopped using the look-alike robot. Originally, he planned to have the robot tell Miranda they are done forever on that same day he decided to take Rae out to Hollywood. But now, his plate is full with all the broken heart pieces in front of him. Just entirely broken.

He didn't stop the robot not because he still wanted to carry on the revenge. It's because he simply lost an appetite for doing anything other than work. He didn't need the revenge. He couldn't care less about it now. He just needed Rae to tell him in person why she so cruelly "broke up" with him.

He thought about waiting outside her apartment to get her to talk to him. But he thought that might be too creepy. He didn't want to act like that obsessive jilted lover. When Miranda cheated on him, he was heartbroken but he moved on. Didn't think of going to her apartment asking for an explanation.

Now that Rae is terminating whatever the relationship they just started, he felt so much more pain.

Because he thought she was different. He's not mad. He's just very sad.

But he didn't know, there was never that phone call. Rae never called his office. He was misled by his own assistant, Samantha.

*** **** ***

Today is Monday. Z has told Rae to go to a local community event in a smaller town near Boston on her day off.

"Why?" Rae is curious.

"Because there you should meet someone that could be your love interest. Oh, wink, sorry I can't wink right now," Z says.

Rae calls Marina and asks if she wants to go. But Marina sounds very down.

"What's wrong?"

Marina just sighs.

"Tell me, Marina."

"I went out with Zach Evans Sunday morning actually."

"Oh!" Rae is curious, because Zach said he might be too busy this weekend, "How did it go?"

"It was OK. He's cute and all. Gosh, really cute. I was hoping he would warm up a little, you know , since we've already met at that penthouse party, you know."

"Right. So, how was he behaving?"

"Just very appropriately and politely. I guess you could say he was being a gentleman. But we girls can tell when a guy likes you, right?"

"And... he didn't seem like it?"

Marina sighs again, "No."

"Well," Rae scratches her head, "Sometimes it's really hard to tell though. You think someone might like you by being close to you and all, but he actually isn't," Rae feels like she's talking about her own experience with Wes now, "So maybe Zach is just nervous and wanted to be polite."

"Yeah," Marina sounds a little relaxed now, "That's true. I do appreciate it, but I guess I've only met guys who are handsy that I forgot a real gentleman could exist. Or....,"

"What?"

"Or he probably likes that Nikki girl a lot better so he didn't want to lead me on."

That's right. There's another girl. Rae shakes her head, "Did you ask him about Nikki?"

"I did. He said it was just work. Nikki might be doing some promotion for their products." Marina sounds a little flat now.

"Hey, Marina. Let's go out today. That's actually why I called you. There's an event to help local emergency crew raise money. I mean, I need to raise money for myself really," Rae laughs, "But we could go check it out, just get out of the city for a bit."

"Oooh, that sounds fun. Are there cops and firefighters that kind of thing?"

"I think so."

"Ooh, I hope we can bump into a hot one."

"I don't expect anything less." Rae laughs.

That's actually a town Rae grew up in. Went to school there and all. She bets most people have moved out of town, just like herself. But, she didn't expect that one guy is still there.