by Amy Baker
“It’s on Broadway. Between 18th and 19th I think.”
As soon as the elevator doors opened, the other woman whom I didn’t know stepped out. I held out my hand for Mrs. Norris to go ahead.
“Thank you, Delilah.”
“No problem,” I smiled. Mrs. Norris and the other woman made a right toward the mailboxes as I hightailed it toward the front door.
On my way out I saw my doorman, Davis. As soon as he caught sight of me he raced toward the front doors of the apartment to summon a cab for me like he did every morning whether I needed one or not. If I were walking he would shoo them away like they had mistaken his hand signals. But given the exhaustion I was feeling, I thanked him accepting the cab and asked if he could keep an eye out for the Fedex guy. I really was desperate for my package. He responded with his usual, “You got it, Dee. Have a good one.”
It was a chilly morning, which translated into a lot less people walking to work. This put a lot more cars on the road, which backed up traffic significantly. After a few blocks of bumper-to-bumper traffic and an excessive amount of cursing on my part and horn blaring on the cab driver’s, I sized up the congestion and decided I would be better off going on foot. I paid the taxi driver and jumped out of the yellow cab with another ten blocks in front of me. I must have put an extra spring in my step because I still made it to my office building in record time. Normally, if I had an extra minute, I would stop and get coffee before I went up to my office. As luck would have it I had more than one extra minute, I had ten. But brisk walking didn’t add up to ten extra minutes. I had been working at this public relations firm since I graduated college and had my commute down to a science. The only thing that I could figure was that my Hugh Rowen Surprise obviously had me finishing my morning routine and on my way out the door a little earlier than usual. Lord knows I hadn’t slept a wink. I walked to the coffee shop that was tucked away behind the escalators in the rear of the lobby. They had the usual quick breakfast fare; buttered bagels, muffins, doughnuts, fruit, coffee, tea, or rolls. Anything that a person could grab on the go. There were a couple of tables set up for those who needed to sit but it was really more of a kiosk than a restaurant. I was digging in my purse searching for my wallet as I approached the line and not looking at my surroundings at all.
That was when I heard my name. “Hey, Delilah,” the voice drawled.
I turned to see who was calling me and recognized the face immediately. It was the guy who worked in the accounting department, Will Krakow. He was nice enough. But I think because he was also from the south he thought that gave us a special connection.
It didn’t.
“Oh hey, Will.” I responded politely.
“You’re early.” He dug both hands into the pockets of his slacks and raised his shoulders simultaneously. My eyes squinted at his remark wondering why or how he knew if I was earlier than usual or not. My one hand still searched the bottom of my bag blindly.
“Yeah. A little bit,” I answered again trying to be polite. My eyes went back to my purse as I was still rooting around in my cavernous bag unable to locate my wallet. I made a mental note to remember the next time I went shopping for a pocketbook to get one substantially smaller than the one I was foraging around in at the moment.
Noticing my predicament Will used his pointer finger to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose and offered a helping hand. “Hey now, don’t go gettin’ lost in there. I’d be happy to buy you that morning coffee if you’d do me the honor.”
“Do you what honor?” I asked absently still searching in my bag.
I heard him clear his throat just as I decided I needed to change tactics. I dropped my over sized bag to the floor, squatted in front of it spreading the opening as wide as it would go and practically stuck my head inside. Luckily the closest thing I blindly grabbed in my closet that morning was slacks otherwise Will would be getting the entire cutchie-coo show. I pushed the contents of my bag this way and that but still couldn’t find my wallet.
Then I heard Will still jibber jabbering about what I had no idea. “The honor of buying you a coffee, of course.”
“Huh?” I asked. I hadn’t heard a word the man said. “What the heck did I do with my wallet?” I asked as if Will might know where I had put it. “It must be in here,” I continued my search.
It barely registered that Will approached the counter and I heard him order a large coffee with cream and sugar. I was still scouring my big bag unwilling to give up on the search. I sighed heavily. It wasn’t in there. “Crap,” I stated and stood at the same time. I hooked my bag on my shoulder as my mind tried to remember where I had had it last.
“Ugh! I left it on my ice cream table,” I grumbled and slapped myself on the leg. I always got my cab fare out of my wallet before I left and held it in my hand. I knew how much the cab fare cost and I was afraid that I would drop my wallet while we were darting in and out of traffic bouncing all over the place as we headed downtown. That’s how it was in a New York cab. It would be impossible to count how many times I had dropped the contents of my bag on the floor of a taxi throughout my years of commuting to work. I had finally learned my lesson and it wasn’t going to happen ever again. Opening your bag in a taxi was a no, no. Lesson learned. “I can’t make it through this day without…” I turned and saw Will’s hand extended holding a coffee out to me. I looked at it and back to Will.
“Is that for me?” I asked inquisitively.
Will nodded. “Yes, Delilah, it’s for you. Cream and sugar, just how you like it.” He smiled as he gestured again that I should take it. I didn’t ask how he knew how I liked my coffee. I truly didn’t want to know the answer.
I swallowed hard before I wrapped my fingers around the paper cup. “I’ll getcha back tomorrow,” I promised.
“No worries,” he smiled. “I know where you live.”
I figured he was joking. At least I hoped he was joking. “Aren’t you going to have any?” I asked just before I took a sip of my morning savior.
He just shrugged his shoulders again. “I drank mine already.”
I took a moment to assess Will. He was wearing a crisp white button down. Underneath you could see that he had on a short sleeve undershirt. It occurred to me that he was well put together even if he really wasn’t my type.
“Mmm. Thanks, Will.” I took a generous swig.
Will nodded and walked with me toward the bank of elevators. Once there we ran into my partner, Stacey.
“Hey,” she greeted.
“Hey,” I greeted back. “Do you know Will?” I was relatively certain Stacey had met Will on several occasions but the chances that he registered on any level with her was unlikely. Will was nothing to write home about. He was nice, clean cut and an average looking guy. He was kind of funny but not really, sort of tall but for some strange reason you didn’t remember him that way. There was nothing about Will that was memorable. If one were asked to describe him, a big fat ‘um’ would linger from their vocal cords because it would be impossible to point out any definitive qualities. All that said, Will was the consummate southern gentleman and responded accordingly to Stacey.
“Nice to see you again, Stacey.”
Stacey’s eyes squinted and ran down and up Will and then her head sort of nodded and shook at the same time. Clearly he wasn’t ringing a bell.
I figured by her reaction that she wasn’t only unsure if they had met but didn’t care one way or the other. So I tried to smooth the situation over before Stacey embarrassed the both us and hurt Will’s feelings at the same time. “From Accounting?”
“Oh!” She half smiled. “Of course.”
She was bullshitting.
She and I worked together like a well-oiled machine. I knew her like the back of my hand. She had no idea who Will was nor would she remember him the next time she ran into him. She made no effort to remember people who weren’t possible relationship material or essential in advancing her career. Sometimes, she would say if she wer
e lucky, they fit both profiles. I, on the other hand, didn’t like using people at all. It felt like another job to me and I just didn’t have the energy. But where our values were different our work ethic was the same. We both gave our jobs one hundred percent. And the bonus was that she loved to do the things that I detested and I loved to do the things that she detested. We split the responsibilities right down the middle and our work was flawless. We were a perfect business couple.
Our similarities stopped there.
Avoiding any further conversation about Will she started a topic anew effectively cutting Will from our little circle. “Did you hear?” She asked.
“Did I hear what?” The elevator doors opened and the mass of people that had collected while we waited for an elevator car moved in unison toward the entrance.
“About the merger,” she continued. Will stepped in behind us with his hands at the bases of our spines. I could tell Stacey didn’t care for his herding technique because one eye squinted while the opposite side of her mouth twitched with grin/grimace combination.
“No.” We turned around to face forward using socially acceptable elevator etiquette. Since he had ushered us in, Will ended up in front of us when we faced forward. Stacey took the opportunity to make eyes at me questioning Will’s intentions. I shook my head and tried to get us back on track. “What merger?” I brought my coffee to my lips while I awaited her answer.
“Norstride is merging with Jubilee,” she finally revealed. The information that she shared was bigger news for me than she could possibly know. Another choking fit ensued as I had just started to swallow a sip of coffee.
Stacey took her turn of pounding me on the back. “What the hell,” she stated. “Take it easy, Dee. This is good news.”
“They’re merging?” Cough, cough, cough. “Where will their headquarters be?” I asked still gasping for breath.
“The whole company is being relocated to Virginia. Can you believe that? I guess we will finally start accumulating frequent flyer miles.”
I just stared at her blinking. Stacey held her hands out, palms up and facing the heavens like I had suddenly developed a mental disorder. “What the hell is wrong with you? Did you leave your brain at home?”
Will half turned around to answer. “No. Just her wallet.”
Stacey twitched her head irritated that he had the audacity to put in his two cents.
Norstride was our biggest pharmaceutical client. We had others but it was the mainstay of our client list. We handled all of their press releases, company news, and corporate announcements. Jubilee was a southern company that manufactured medical supplies. Many of my friends’ parents from the town I grew up in worked for Jubilee when I was a kid. I knew the company had grown but I didn’t realize that a merger was on the horizon. Jubilee was also the place of business of one Mr. Matthew (a.k.a. Hugh) Rowen. He had joined their legal team a couple of years ago.
“Are you certain?” I asked as my heart began to race faster.
“Yes! Don’t you check your emails before you go to bed? It was announced late last night. The function that we are attending Friday is when the big announcement will take place. Both companies will be represented,” Stacey finished talking just as the elevator opened on our floor. Will stepped out allowing us to pass. He held one arm in front of the elevator door to prevent it from closing and one arm out showing us the way.
“Bye, Delilah,” Will whispered as I walked past him.
Even though my mind was reeling with thoughts of Hugh, Norstride, Jubilee and the merger I heard Will’s parting words and answered him robotically. “Bye, Will. Thanks again for the coffee.” He gave me a smile as the people behind me pushed me forward while others who had let them pass by piled back inside to keep going. Will was one of them. He worked on the floor above.
“He’s weird,” Stacey blurted luckily after the elevator doors closed and we were halfway down the hall.
“He’s not weird!” I defended fervently. “He’s southern.” I don’t know why I was getting all riled up over Stacey’s opinion of Will.
“So all guys from the south are weird?” she asked.
“No, Stacey! He’s polite,” my southern accent showed up inexplicably. “Something that you aren’t used to from the guys around here who grunt at you all day long and then expect to get laid.” Now I was not only standing up for Will with my southern accent but I was unnecessarily putting down the locals at the same time. Truthfully, Will was a little strange but he had also demonstrated that he could be sweet and endearing. His thoughtfulness in my mind gave him a redeeming quality in a geeky sort of way. Sort of. Well kind of sort of. Not for me but for someone. And he appeared to be relatively harmless and he had bought me coffee when I was in dire need.
“I like grunting,” she responded as we approached the door to the office we shared. No surprise there.
“Well, then, that’s why you find Will to be weird.” I accentuated my point with a wave of my hand. “He actually knows how to have a conversation and then he buys a girl in need a cup of coffee.”
Stacey turned to look at me instead of entering. “Then he fucks her?” She raised her eyebrows asking me if that meant I was going to fuck Will.
“No,” I stated flatly and then sighed heavily realizing I was shoveling sand against the tide. Stacey was set in her ways. I pushed past her and walked straight to my desk. I turned on my computer so it could warm up while I tucked my enormous bag in the bottom drawer of my desk and changed my shoes.
“Just so you know, Delilah. All guys, even Will, just want to get laid. Mark my words,” Stacey educated.
My ass had barely hit the seat of my chair when our intercom crackled. I knew what that meant. Before it started spurting instructions my eyes closed and my hands covered my face in frustration.
“Conference room.” Psht. “9:20.” Psht. “Over.”
That was Logan. Our assistant.
We explained to him on several occasions that the intercom wasn’t a walkie-talkie but he was under the misconception that his curt and concise responses followed by an ‘over’ made him sound more serious or dedicated or some other bullshit like that. When what it really did was make him sound like a four-year-old assistant.
Since Stacey hadn’t sat down she walked to the doorway and peeked her head outside where Logan sat. “Get me a cup of coffee.” Then she made the ‘psht’ sound with her mouth and said ‘over.’
The intercom crackled again. “Say, please.” Psht. “Over.”
Stacey’s head was still outside of the room. “No,” she answered speaking to him directly. Then she made the ‘psht’ sound again and said ‘over.’
“Bitch,” he stated through the microphone. Psht. “Over.”
Stacey came back to her desk and sat with a huff. “Didn’t we fire him at some point?” Stacey questioned. It wasn’t the first time he had called her a bitch.
“I thought so but he keeps showing up and he keeps getting paid so make of that what you will,” I answered still completely distracted by the overwhelming news of the pending merger.
Stacey dropped the subject of Logan’s dismissal and forged on. “We should bring all of our notes on Norstride to the conference room. I have a feeling we are going to be briefed.”
I peeked through my fingers to look at Stacey. “Yeah,” I agreed. Stacey could be called a lot of things, most in the category of offensive or insulting, but she was always prepared and well versed for a meeting.
I felt her eyes burning a hole in the top of my head as I mentally began the process of pulling myself together. “Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on with you?” Stacey asked as she organized herself and her files.
I swallowed hard because I wasn’t sure what, if anything, I would share with Stacey. I knew first hand that she couldn’t be trusted and I had never told another soul about what happened with Hugh. The only person who knew all the gory details was Julia and she had lived through it with me. I dropped my hands f
rom my face and let them fall to my desk like they weighed a hundred pounds each. I looked at the clock to see how much time we had. Ten minutes. Not nearly enough time to craft a reasonable story.
“I’ll explain after the meeting.”
I decided to postpone offering any explanation to Stacey. Waiting would also give me time to concoct a story to share with her. That was if she even remembered that something was bothering me in the first place. It was always hard for me to remember because we worked so closely together. But Stacey and I were not friends. We were nothing more than associates at a P.R. firm.
Nothing more.
“Okay. Well then snap yourself out of it for now. I’m not going into a meeting for our biggest client with your mouth dropped open like that. You look ridiculous. So chop, chop.” She snapped her fingers at me to get me started. One thing about Stacey, she always meant business. But sometimes that was just what I needed. I did what she said and snapped myself out of the bowels of fear that I was drowning in.
“Focus,” I told myself. So I did my best impersonation of a professional PR Executive who was focusing on the job at hand. I started to gather my files on Norstride and any information I had on Jubilee. My thoughts about Hugh Rowen and how he might tie into this merger would have to wait.
Chapter 5
“Stacey Horner. I would like you to meet Hugh Rowen,” I heard my boss begin. “He is heading up the legal team that will be handling the merger for Jubilee and Norstride. Hugh, this is Stacey and her partner…her partner…”
My boss Steven Smith was looking for me. But I was too busy trying not to drop dead while I plastered myself up against the wall outside of the conference room. To say that I was totally panic stricken would be a massive understatement. My hands were so sweaty they were sticking to the wallboard.
As soon as we had approached the conference room, I caught a glimpse through the glass windows inside that room. At first I thought I was hallucinating but then I realized that Hugh Rowen was sitting at the table. So naturally, I instantly stopped breathing and went into full panic mode. I wasn’t prepared to see Hugh ever least of all in a conference room where I worked. So as soon as my brain registered that it was the love of my life parked at that conference table I scooted past the door and threw myself against the wall so he couldn’t see me. I remained paralyzed there while Steve was beginning introductions. I could hear the entire conversation. I could even tell that Steven was circling left and right trying to locate me in the room. Then I heard him say, “Hugh, Stacey has a partner who you will meet. She must be running behind.”
