A Husband by New Year's

by Sean D. Young

  “But, I thought…” Cara started to say, but didn’t finish.

  Renee nodded. “Yep, he lied to me,” she said, dropping her head.

  “Oh, Renee, there must be a good explanation for why he lied. Did he say why he didn’t tell you?”

  “No, I haven’t spoken to him in over a week now.”

  “So that’s why you’ve been moping around here,” Cara said, standing. “You decided to let Julia win the bet because of it, I’m guessing.”

  “It’s just not worth it to me. I’m going to leave it alone and continue to focus on my work,” she said before glancing up at the clock. “I hate to end our conversation, but I’ve been invited to a meeting shortly with Priscilla, Julia, and some others.”

  “Uh oh. I saw that on your calendar and thought it was about the response to the brief.”

  “It could be, who knows? I don’t trust Julia, so I want to be ready for whatever is thrown at me.”

  Cara stood. “Okay, we’ll touch base later on about the gala.”

  Renee got up from her chair and rounded her desk. “Thank you so much for all you’re doing for us, Cara,” she said, pulling her into a warm embrace. She was so grateful for Cara’s assistance in helping her family with their event.

  “I love planning events. It’s a headache sometimes, but it can also be a lot of fun,” Cara said. “And I love your family like my own,” she added, releasing Renee. Cara’s parents died in an automobile accident while they were all in college, and she didn’t have any siblings. The McClendons had become her surrogate family.

  “Like I told you before, I’ve got three sisters already; one more can’t hurt.”

  Cara left the office and Renee looked at the clock, thinking about the meeting in twenty minutes. She opened a web browser so that she could scan through the newspaper. As she clicked through to the local section, a photo stood out to her. She read the caption at the bottom. “Transportation Pioneer, James Dunlap, Dies.”

  Renee’s heart started beating wildly in her chest. She frantically scanned to see where the article started. She saw the company name and then Patrick’s name as a survivor right beneath it. The man in the photo was Patrick’s father.

  As she studied the photo of a younger James Dunlap, he reminded her so much of Patrick, but Mr. Dunlap was a dark-skinned man. Renee concluded that Patrick must have gotten his coloring from his mother. Overcome with profound sadness, she continued reading the beautifully written article about the black man who successfully started his own limousine business back in the 1970s.

  She could only imagine how Patrick must be feeling. She looked over at her phone, yearning to contact him, but she didn’t know if it was the right thing to do. Glancing at the clock, she had fifteen more minutes before her meeting started. It was only right to have compassion and empathy for someone she cared about, even though they weren’t together.

  Renee lifted the receiver and called Patrick to offer her condolences.

  “Renee, good to hear from you,” Patrick said.

  “I’m so sorry to hear about your father,” she said.

  “You heard about Pop?” Patrick asked.

  Renee thought it was cute that he had a nickname for his father besides Dad or Father.

  “Yes. They did a really nice article on him in the About Town section of the newspaper.”

  “I’ll have to look for it,” Patrick responded.

  There was an eerie silence between them, Renee wanting to say something comforting, but not knowing what. She knew he had something to say to her, since he’d left her several messages, but she guessed he didn’t know how to say them now that they were on the phone together.

  “I know that you’ve probably got a ton of things to do, so I won’t keep you,” she said. After waiting a few more seconds and he still didn’t respond. “Patrick, are you there?

  “Yes, baby, I’m here,” he said, his voice low and husky.

  Hearing him call her baby conjured up memories of the time they spent in each other’s arms. She remembered the whisper of his voice caressing her neck as they snuggled together. But she’d called to say that she was sorry about the loss of his father, nothing more.

  “I’m going to let you go now. You take care,” she said.

  “Thanks so much for calling me. I hope to see you soon,” Patrick said.

  Now Renee was the one left without a response, so she repeated herself. “Take care of yourself, Patrick.”

  “You too, baby. And Renee,” he called out.

  “Yes?”

  “I love you,” he said before disconnecting the call.

  With all the yearning that welled in her heart at his revelation, Renee didn’t respond. Yes, a thousand times, yes, she loved him too, but she just couldn’t bring herself to say it. She was relieved that he’d ended the call first, because she probably would have just held the phone until it was time for her to go to her meeting.

  Glancing at the clock, she still had ten minutes left to print out some notes and put them in a folder. She needed to make all thoughts of Patrick Dunlap and his declaration of love go far, far away from her.

  * * * * *

  Since the meeting was being held in Priscilla’s office on the other side of the floor, Renee waited until three minutes till the hour to leave her office. She deliberately passed Julia’s office to see if she was in today, and she was sitting behind her desk.

  “Renee,” Julia called out to her.

  Renee wanted to ignore her, but she would only get louder, so she went back and stood at the threshold of Julia’s office door. “Yes, Julia?” Renee said, leaning against the door jamb.

  “I wanted to talk to you before we went to the meeting,” Julia said, standing.

  The statement and the proper way Julia addressed her confirmed that the meeting was probably nothing but some shenanigans that Julia cooked up. The woman was always in self-destruct mode, and Renee didn’t want any part of it.

  “We’re going to be late. It’s already two minutes till.”

  Julia waved her hand. “They can wait for us five minutes,” Julia said. “It’s important.”

  “You’ve already accused me of going behind your back and talking to Priscilla, so there’s nothing else we need to talk about,” Renee said, taking several steps inside.

  “I thought we were supposed to look out for one another,” Julia said, walking over and closing the door behind Renee.

  Releasing a loud sigh, Renee pressed her lips together, then tried to word her feelings carefully. “Julia, say whatever you have to say so we can get to our meeting.”

  There had been too much going on that day for Renee to become frustrated with someone who really didn’t matter. It wasn’t that she was going to be mean or rude to Julia like Julia had been to her, but she didn’t have to listen to her nonsense.

  “I have an idea, Julia. Why don’t we go to the meeting and see what comes out of it, and then, if we need to, we can reconvene and discuss our next steps? Right now, we’re late.”

  When they came out of the office, Renee could tell they had been talking loud enough for some of the other staff members to hear their conversation. A few heads turned, and someone snickered when they walked past the cubicles on their way to Priscilla’s office at the end of the hall.

  Renee worked hard to project a professional image at Vine. She had gained a reputation for being a hard worker who was serious about her craft. There had never been anyone who spoke negatively about her work. She wasn’t being fake or putting on a front for people. She wanted to be herself, but also wanted folks to see how dedicated she was to the company.

  At the end of the day, she wanted to be an entrepreneur, securing her own future by doing what she loved. She couldn’t allow Julia to jeopardize all of her hard work.

  Julia was so manipulative that Renee wouldn’t be surp
rised if she was setting her up for failure on this soda brief. Getting to this point was a great win for the company, and Renee wanted her team to get the credit they were due. She couldn’t understand why Julia might want to sabotage that, since she was on the team as well.

  Renee tried her best not to get angry with Julia, but she was tired of using her energy to defend herself to a woman who never listened. Julia was trying to destroy her reputation at the company. Why else would she do and say the things that she did?

  Priscilla’s office was situated in the southwest corner of the floor, where there was less noise. As Renee passed the frosted glass wall, she could see that the other attendees had already arrived, so she and Julia were the only two people left.

  “Hello, everyone,” Renee said, taking a seat on the sofa to the left of Priscilla’s desk.

  “Is Julia coming?” Priscilla asked.

  “She should be,” Renee said. “I just left her office.”

  Priscilla shuffled some papers on her desk. “We’ll give her a few more minutes and then get started. I won’t keep you guys too long, but I had to share some great news.”

  Renee kept her eyes on the door for Julia’s arrival. She couldn’t imagine what was taking her so long, but being late for meetings was classic Julia. From the smile on Priscilla’s face, the announcement wasn’t negative. Maybe Julia was just being paranoid.

  A few minutes later, Julia strolled into the office. “Sorry I’m late, I was on a client call,” she said, sitting in the empty space next to Renee.

  Renee adjusted herself in her seat and crossed her ankles, all the while watching Julia out of the corner of her eye.

  “I wanted to let you all know that I participated in a call early this morning, and the soda company loves the idea of starting a creative newsroom for their new soda. They want to try it out for the Grammy Awards in February, so kudos to you all.”

  Renee couldn’t have hoped for better news, since the CNR was her idea and Julia had assisted in the staffing. Pulling together the right people who could watch all media outlets for content relevant to their client’s product and be able to disseminate it to all social channels was no easy feat. It was just as she suspected. If Julia kept the drama out, did her part, and left everything else to the rest of the team, they would succeed.

  “So what are our next steps?” Renee asked.

  “Renee, I’d like you to lead this project, and Julia, I’d like for you to be the resource manager on it. I think you two work really well together, and if this is a success we can do this for our other clients.”

  Julia’s face lit up brighter than the Christmas tree in the reception area. “This is so awesome!” she exclaimed.

  Elated that the work that they’d done had garnered recognition, Renee only wished she didn’t have to work with Julia. Having another heart-to-heart talk with her would just be a waste of time and energy. But in the interest of presenting themselves as a collective unit, she would talk to Julia. If she didn’t listen, Renee was getting rid of her, point blank, period.

  This single project could put them both closer to becoming Vice President. For Renee, it could bring her closer to opening her own firm. She just hoped that Julia didn’t spoil it for them both.

  “Does anyone have any more questions?” Priscilla asked.

  Renee scanned the faces of all the people in the room, and they seemed to be very pleased with themselves. She had to make sure they had the same enthusiasm for the duration. Manning the newsroom would require a lot of man hours and everyone had to take ownership to make it work. This couldn’t come at a better time for Renee, since she was trying to get over Patrick. Focusing on her work should do the trick.

  “On behalf of the whole team, thank you so much, Priscilla, for this opportunity,” Renee said.

  “Awesome job done by you and your team, Renee,” Priscilla said, extending her hand to the attendees. “At four o’clock we’ll have a happy hour to celebrate in the Global Café.”

  “This is awesome!” Michaela, an intern, exclaimed.

  Priscilla smiled. “Yes, it is, Michaela. If there is nothing further, thanks to everyone for their hard work.”

  Renee started to stand, but Priscilla stopped her. “Wait, Renee. I’d like to talk to both you and Julia.”

  The others filed out of the room with the last person closing the door behind them.

  Priscilla pulled a file folder from her drawer and opened it. “I wanted to share with you a note that I received from Dennis Engel, our General Manager. He had a meeting with the bigwigs over at the soda company. He sent this to me this morning.”

  Renee shifted in her seat, and for the first time since she walked into the office, she was nervous. “Are these comments about individuals or us as a group?”

  “Both,” Priscilla said, picking up her reading glasses from the desk. “Okay, Renee, you’re up first.”

  Renee threaded her fingers together, ready to process the client’s view of her work.

  Priscilla cleared her throat, then began reading. “Renee has been instrumental in leading the charge with the community managers at the agency, quickly creating a fun and open environment for shared learning and best practices to bring the more junior team members together. With her varied experience in community management, social strategy, and creative newsroom, Renee is the ideal person to lead this charge for Vine. We’re excited to watch this group grow and thrive under Renee’s mentorship. She’s a trusted and valued advisor to the team, and continues to make a great impact on the business.”

  Renee smiled, proud of the work she’d done for the company.

  “Julia, here are your comments. Julia provides solid, strong, strategic recommendations. She could be superior in client service, but she sometimes acts out of character when under pressure. She can sometimes seem unprofessional.”

  Julia stood. “What do they mean, unprofessional?”

  Renee didn’t look in Julia’s direction, she stared straight ahead, hoping that her facial expressions didn’t tell how she felt. She really wished that Priscilla had given them their information in private. On the other hand, she understood that by revealing the information for both the team leads, each of them would know where the client stood. The only advice she had for her frenemy would be to pull herself together.

  “Sit down, Julia,” Priscilla said before standing. She went around the desk, pulling one of the armchairs closer to where Julia and Renee were sitting. “Listen to me carefully, Julia. You can still move up in this company, but the one thing you’ve got to work on is your attitude, especially when it comes to constructive criticism.”

  “But—”

  “No, I want you to listen. You’ve just proved what they said about you.”

  “If you think so lowly about me, then why put me on the creative newsroom?” Julia wanted to know.

  “I did it because I see your potential, and I know that Renee will help you.”

  Renee jerked her head in her boss’s direction. She didn’t know why she was being brought in to help a grown woman, especially one who was actively trying to destroy her.

  “Priscilla, I need to say something here,” Renee began. “Julia and I started out here at the same time. We’ve known each other for years and at one time, called each other friend. But now, I think we both need to assess our own professional goals and be accountable for our own behavior.”

  “I agree, and we are holding each person accountable,” Priscilla answered.

  For a few minutes they all sat quietly as Renee waited for Julia to respond, but she didn’t, and that was all Renee needed. She was getting out of there and not giving any more time and energy to a dead situation.

  She stood and looked at Priscilla. “Do you have anything else for me?”

  Priscilla shook her head slowly.

  “Well, I have some other work I need t
o complete, so I’ll let you two ladies talk.”

  Renee excused herself, then strolled out of the office, and back down to her own. She would let Priscilla handle Julia’s behavior problem while she focused on putting together the best creative newsroom ever. She would check with Priscilla in a few days to see if Julia would need to be replaced or not. If she did… “Oh well,” Renee said out loud as she walked into her office, closing the door behind her.

  * * * * *

  After thinking about it thoroughly, Renee had made a decision to speak to Julia later that afternoon. It was time to sever their toxic relationship. Julia sat at her computer working when Renee knocked on the door. “Can we talk, Julia?”

  “Come in, Renee.”

  It didn’t make sense to take a seat, since she didn’t plan on being there for any length of time. She wanted to say what she needed to say and get out of there.

  “Julia, I honestly don’t know what your problem has been with me over the years, but I don’t care anymore. I’m walking away from you and our relationship. If you’re going to work on my team, you have to come with a professional attitude,” Renee continued, noticing the rising anger on Julia’s face.

  The negative facial expression didn’t move Renee, nor did she care this time about hurting Julia’s feelings. “I’m not worried about you getting the work done, it’s all the extra stuff that I don’t want or need. This is a big job, and at the end of the day I have to be accountable to the company, no matter who didn’t do what. I’m not planning to be the scapegoat, and I’m no longer volunteering for that position for you.”

  Renee didn’t wait for Julia’s response, she just walked out of the office, and her old friend’s life, for good.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  It was one of the most important days of his life, yet Patrick couldn’t move a muscle. Time to say goodbye to his father, his friend, the man who raised him to be the person that was staring back at him in the mirror. All he wanted to do was get back in bed, pull the covers over his head, and sleep for a couple of days. He hadn’t been able to do that because every time he closed his eyes, he saw the image of his father lying on the gurney in the hospital.