Just Me

by Graysen Morgen

  “Hello Miss Sylvan, how is the research going?” She could hear the timidity in the other woman’s voice. That’s it, I need to talk to her about this. I feel terrible, I never thought I’d run into one of those women again. Karma, that bitch has it out for me! Either way, I can’t let her go on like this, I feel smaller and smaller around her. It’s bad enough that I didn’t recognize or even remember her for that matter.

  “I’m down to the point where I’m waiting for the rest of the records that I asked you about.” Trina tried to sound professional. In the back of her mind she prayed Cassidy didn’t hate her when this was finished.

  “I’m in Grand Junction now…” She heard a gasp on the other end of the line. “Are you okay?”

  “Uh…yeah…yes ma’am, I just didn’t expect you to go to the plant.” Oh my god!

  “I told you I’d personally get this information, at this point I don’t trust anyone. I really hope all of this turns out to be just sour bidding on our part.” But my gut tells me otherwise. “Anyway, I was hoping that you’d join me for dinner when I return. I can give you this information and we can discuss your findings so far.”

  Dinner! What the hell? Oh man…this is so wrong, I really need to tell Cass, she’s going to be so mad at me. “Uh…sure, what time will you be back?”

  “Probably around five, but just in case, how about I pick you up at six?”

  “Sure, I’ll bring my notes with me.”

  “Sounds good.” She hung up the phone and tossed her head against the headrest in the back seat. A deep sigh escaped her throat.

  “May I ask, what’s got you so troubled young Wiley?”

  Oh Giles…” Where do I start? How about the fact that I’m completely infatuated with one of my employees, or the fact that I had careless, meaningless sex with the woman that I have scrutinizing the records for my entire company and don‘t even remember her. “I’m just stressed, I’m sure a lot more than dad ever was.” Her voice faded to a whisper, she hoped he didn’t hear the end of that sentence, but knowing Giles, he heard it.

  “You’ve been running around like a chicken with your head cut off lately. Might I make a suggestion?”

  “Please, feel free.” She starred out the window.

  “Slow down.”

  “I can’t, at least not right now.” I know I’m close, I can feel it.

  ~ ~ ~

  Trina stood out front of the hotel watching for the black ‘rich and famous’ looking car. She’d spoken to Wendi again and decided that she needed to talk to Cass, waiting this long was hard enough, she couldn’t imagine not telling her and then letting her possibly find out on her own. Maybe, maybe nothing will come of this. Maybe it was really just poor judgment and not some secret embezzlement scam. The car pulled up, she politely waited for the tuxedoed man to get out and open the door for her.

  “He’s such a gentleman.” She said as he closed the door.

  “That he is, you should see him at home. He keeps me in line.” She smiled.

  Ian ordered a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio to go with their Italian dinner. She tasted the first glass and nodded for the waiter to pour full glasses for both of them.

  “Thank you for bringing me, this place is really nice.” Trina took in the Italian sculptures and paintings, the place looked like a museum of Little Italy.

  “You’re very welcome, I don’t come here as often as I’d like. The chef is magnificent.” She took a deep breath. It’s now or never Wiley. “So…uh…I have to admit I had ulterior motives for bringing you here tonight.” The sandy haired woman felt a lump rise in her throat.

  Oh no! Oh dear god don’t let her be interested me! Trina wanted to down the entire bottle of wine. She starred at the table cloth. Don’t look at her. Don’t look at her. She looked up at sincere blue eyes staring back at her. She looks sad.

  “Katrina, I wanted to…”

  “I’m straight!” She blurted out. “I’m sorry, I mean I’m not interested in you like that.” The confusion on Ian's face made her think she jumped the gun.

  “No, I mean I’m not…well I thought…” Shit! Ian tried to find her voice. “You look familiar, I thought maybe…look, not to get personal, but I went through a rough time not long ago, I thought maybe I’d slept with you and didn’t remember you. I felt déjà vu when I met you a few days ago.” Great Wiley, you look like an idiot sitting here, and you just outed yourself. The woman across from her wasn’t sure what to say or do. “If that’s what had happened, I wanted to apologize to you, and ask you to be please be secretive, I‘m not out to anyone.”

  “Miss Wiley…” Damn it…do I tell her about Cass? Son of a bitch, she thinks she slept with me. “Let me assure you, we never slept together. That I can be sure of, I am very in tune with men.” She smiled shyly. “I do need to be honest with you though.” She downed the entire glass of wine that was sitting in front of her. Ian took that as an opportunity to finish her own glass. The waiter appeared to pour them two fresh glasses. “Although you’ve never met me, we have seen each other. So you’re not going crazy.” She smiled and Ian laughed.

  “Well then, where do I know you from?” She asked as she sipped her wine, then she moved the glass to make room for their entrees that had arrived.

  Oh man, well, it was fun having a career while it lasted. I’ll never get another job in this line of work again. “I was here on a weekend ski trip with some friends about two months ago.”

  “Okay?”

  “You saw me at the Snow Drift ski lodge bar. Do keep in mind, I had no idea who you were, actually, none of us did. It wasn’t until I met you the other day, that I realized I had seen you there.”

  “Did I talk to you? I don’t remember when I saw you. I’m very good with faces, that’s why I remembered seeing you. I just wasn’t good at anything else during that time of my life, I’m very sorry if I was rude to you or anything.”

  “Oh no, no, you didn’t speak to me, you did however, talk to one of my friends. Truth be told, you did not sleep with her.” Ian’s fork slipped from her hand and bounced off of the floor. Oh no.

  “I…uh…so you’re…uh friends with Cassidy Harland?” She didn’t have to see the other woman nod, she knew she was had. Great, you’ve seen my alter ego. Could this fucking state possible get any smaller? Talk about degrees of separation. Not only does the damn girl work for me, but I hired her best friend to examine my company's records, including the accounts of her friend.

  “Please don’t be mad, I tried my best to keep the confidentiality that you strongly desire.” Nervousness went to an entirely different level, she was now scared. Her green eyes felt moist, she ran her hand through her sandy colored hair and wiped the small tear from the corner of her face. My job is going down the toilet as I sit here and force myself to eat this two hundred dollar dinner.

  “I’m not mad at you. Wait, you didn’t…oh know Katrina, please tell me that you haven’t said anything to Cassidy.”

  “No, I…Miss Wiley, she’s my best friend.”

  “Yes.”

  “I know she’s not the person that you’re searching for, I’ve been through everything that involves her. I’ve known her for ten years, she’d never…”

  “I know she’s not the problem, but she is involved, she is one of my Directors. I can’t have anyone find out about the audit.”

  “She will hate me when she finds out.” Another innocent tear fell, Ian wanted to reach out to the woman. Hurting Cassidy was the last thing that she would ever want to do.

  “Let me tell her.”

  “Oh no! She’ll be so mad at me.”

  “Well, she’s going to be seriously pissed at one or even both of us, let her be pissed at me. Hell, they’ll all be pissed at me when they find out, but this is the only way.” She squeezed her eyes closed. Part of her wanted to act like a giddy teenager and ask if Cassidy had ever talked about her, or even told her who she was. “All right, you can tell her, but not until your work for me is completed. On
ce I have your report, I can go on my own to try and figure out the rest of this puzzle. I’m not telling anyone until I know for sure what caused my company to lose the deals. When you’ve submitted your report she’ll be cleared of any preferential treatment during the investigation. Miss Sylvan, as far as I’m concerned, we never had this conversation.” She finished her second and last glass of wine.

  “Yes ma’am, I agree with you.” Trina also finished her last glass. Don’t say anything, it’s not your business. Cass can handle herself. She swallowed the thought of telling Ian how bewildered Cassidy was over her.

  Chapter 11

  Another month passed, the audit was over and Ian sat in her fathers’ study reading the fifteen page report. The only findings were a few small deals that never went through over the past two years, leading up to the four major deals that Ian originally ran into. All in all, seven million dollars worth of deals scattered over a two year period were turned down before they ever made it to production. This left her completely puzzled, somewhere, somehow, someone was benefiting from these deals. Why else would Wiley Steel give up a deal, production and logistics weren’t even aware of the deals, therefore they weren’t to blame. Someone stopped these deals. Who? I know you have something to do with this ‘rat bastard’. I know it and I’ll prove it.

  ~ ~ ~

  Christmas was less than a week away, which meant Cassidy’s birthday was also a week away. Her parents had decided to go on a European Tour for the Holidays, so they sent her birthday and Christmas gifts a week early and gave their love through the phone line. She guessed this meant it was time to grow up and get her own life. They just tried to put it mildly. She knew they had planned and saved for this trip for almost three years, she was happy for them.

  “Hey, ‘soon to be’ birthday girl.” Wendi smiled and toasted Cassidy. Trina held her glass high too. “So, what are we doing for your birthday?”

  “What?”

  “Well, your parents ditched you, so you get to celebrate the big three ‘oh with us.” Trina and Wendi held their heads together and smiled from ear to ear. They had already decided what to do, both of them knew the anxiety their dark-haired friend was going through with her boss being the one person to take her breath away with only a simply smile.

  “I don’t know, I mean I have a few extra days off since Wiley Steel is closed the day before and after Christmas, but I don’t know what I want to do.” She sipped her drink and sat on the couch. They were all standing in the kitchen of her apartment.

  “We have it all figured out. Have your bags packed, we’re leaving after work tomorrow.” Wendi announced.

  “Okay? And where are we going?” She didn’t like it when those two got together to conspire against her.

  “Aspen”

  “Oh hell no, we are not! Huh ugh, no way!” She shook her head from side to side.

  “Yes we are. We booked three rooms at the Snow Drift. We’re going snowboarding and snowmobile riding for three days, along with celebrating your birthday and Christmas, of course.”

  “Do you guys remember what happened last time we were there? I do not want to go through that again. Besides, what if she’s there?”

  “So what, you’ve told both of us how she’s been very nice to you at work, what’s the big deal?”

  “That’s just it, work, she’s my god damn boss, I have to have a work relationship with her.”

  “Okay?” Trina looked at Wendi. Her breath caught in her throat. “Oh.”

  “Yeah, big oh, I can’t get her out of my head. She’s driving me nuts!”

  “Well if she’s there then we’ll run interference. Won't we Trina?” She nudged the dazing woman next to her.

  “What…uh…oh yeah, yeah we’ll take care of her for you.” She was thinking about her involvement with Ian and wondering how it would go when Cassidy finally found out about it.

  The next evening Cassidy, Wendi, and Trina were all sitting at a table in the bar at the ski lodge listening to Christmas Carols on the jukebox. Cassidy had a glass of Soco in front of her, the other two had various Martini’s. It wasn’t until Ian walked up to their table, that any of them realized she had walked in. Cassidy immediately noticed the difference in the precocious blond when her business suit ‘costume’ was on the hanger in her closet. Ian was dressed in blue jeans, a white long sleeve tee shirt and a black leather jacket. This is the real you, the you that makes the blood rush from my head to my crotch faster than I can speak.

  “Hi Miss Wiley, Merry Christmas.” Cassidy tried to be as professionally polite as possible.

  “Cassidy, how are you?” She examined the matching glass in her hand. The brunette smiled shyly when she saw Ian compare their drinks.

  “I’m good.”

  “Tomorrow’s her thirtieth birthday, she’s celebrating.” Wendi butted in. Cassidy kicked her under the table and Trina spit her drink back into the glass. Ian laughed out loud.

  “Well, I should leave you ladies to it then.” She reached over and laid her hand on top of Cassidy's. “Merry Christmas, to all of you, and Happy Birthday Cassidy.” Her blue eyes twinkled and she walked back over to the bar.

  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she’s into you Cass.” Wendi spoke the truth as always.

  “I can’t believe you told her about my birthday, and how old I am, damn it Wendi!”

  “Oh calm down, she doesn’t care how old you are, although, she is younger than you.” Trina added.

  “How do you know?” Cassidy shot her a look.

  “Uh…I…she looks young…”

  “I think she’s twenty six.”

  “Okay, that’s not bad Cass.”

  “She’s my god damn boss!” That came out louder than she intended it to, and just as the songs were changing so the bar was particularly quiet. She dared not look up towards the bar. Of course Ian was sitting there and heard the entire statement. She looked in their direction and Trina shrugged her shoulders. “I’m tired, let’s go to bed.” Before I embarrass myself even more.

  ~ ~ ~

  A soft knock on the wooden door woke Cassidy out of a restless sleep. Morning already? Yeah Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, woo fucking hoo! The sarcasm was scary. “Who is it?” She called out as she looked through the peep hole. The picture on the other side was a distorted forest. “What the hell?” She pulled the door open, thankful she was wearing a pajama top along with pajama bottoms. The person at the door had a giant bouquet of yellow roses mixed with baby’s breathe, a card, and a small package wrapped in red and green foil paper. She took the items into her room, thanked him with a tip before she closed the door. The flowers had no card so she opened the enveloped card.

  Cassidy,

  I hope you like the flowers, they reminded me of you. Happy Birthday! The gift also reminded me of you. Merry Christmas! P.S. I would like to invite you and your friends to my home for Christmas Dinner, my Butler makes entirely too much food and I would enjoy it if the three of you would join me. He’ll be in front of the ski lodge at five p.m. If you don’t want to go, I will understand completely. I do ask that you let him know so he’s not waiting around. By the way, I know I’m your boss, although the entire bar didn’t know who you were talking about. Again, Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas!

  Signed. I.L. Wiley.

  “Holy shit.” She sat on the edge of the bed and tore the paper open to uncover a thin black velvet box. Oh no. She opened the box, three front row tickets to the Harry Connick Jr. concert for the following week were in the box. “Wow!” She couldn’t remember telling Ian that she was a huge Jazz fan. Trina had mentioned it to Ian when they were in the restaurant, she was trying to come up with a way to soften the blow when she told her about the work that she was doing for Ian.

  “What’s with all the noise?” Wendi and Trina were beating on the door. Cassidy opened it with shimmering eyes and a wide smile. “What’s gotten into you?” They both took in the flowers on the little table, torn up wrapping pape
r on the bed, then the thin expensive looking box in her hand.

  “What the hell?” Wendi stared at her.

  “It’s her, all her. It’s like she knows me.”

  “Her?” Trina looked around for someone else in the small room. “Who?”

  “Ian Wiley.” The other two women gasped at the same time.

  “She did this?”

  “Yeah, the flowers, the card,...”

  “What’s in the box Cass?” Trina’s heart was pounding.

  “Three front row tickets to Harry Connick Jr. next week!” She was squeaking like a small child.

  Holy shit! “Wow, that’s really nice of her.” I never said Who, I just said she likes jazz, blah, blah, blah. I never even went into any details about it. How the hell did she know? Lucky guess.

  “That’s not all, she’s invited all of us to have Christmas Dinner with her at her home. The butler will be here at five to pick us up.”

  “Whoa!”

  “I know, we don’t have to go, the gesture was certainly nice though.”

  “We are so going!” Wendi was all about seeing the inside of that mansion.

  “I don’t know guys, she’s my boss, and she’s already gone kind of far, don’t ya think?” She gave them a questioning look.

  “Girl, you better have your ass ready to go at five or I’m going without you.”

  “Me too.” Trina added and shrugged.

  “What the hell do I wear?” Wendi and Trina looked at each other.