by Iona Rose
I looked down at the creased pants and jacket I’d thrown on that morning, along with the flat underwhelming shoes. I wore no makeup on my face, my hair tied back carelessly, and my eyes looked bloodshot and swollen.
He noticed too, his nose instantly wrinkling. “You truly got sick yesterday. I thought you just took the day off like we talked about.”
“Has it already been predetermined? The people that he’s going to interview, or chit chat with whatever?”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “He’s just going to call anyone randomly.”
Fuck, I cursed under my breath. Could life batter me any further? The clear indisputable answer was yes. Yes, it could and would. Its sole purpose seemed to be to completely destroy me and so far, it was forging ahead.
“Do you want to quickly head back home to change? Your house is just a half hour away right? You’ll be a few minutes late but I can cover for you.”
That was the last thing I wanted to do. “No,” I groaned. “I’ll just put on some lipstick and brush my hair.”
“Button your jacket too,” he said. “Those creases are a problem.”
“Fuck,” I cursed again, and headed over to my desk but then on my way over, I thought of an idea. I looked to see that my boss Henry was already in, so I knocked on his door.
“Come in,” he said.
I did while tucking curly fly aways behind my ears.
“Oh, Leah.” He lifted his head for a brief glance, but then did a double take. “Are you all right?”
“Just a bit better from yesterday.”
For a few seconds he didn’t know what to say. “Uh, did you get a chance to come up with some copies for the campaign?”
“Still working on it, sir.”
“Well, you need to speed up, the VP wants a progress report before lunch.”
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
Nodding, he returned to the documents on his desk. “Why did you come in to see me?”
“I uh…” I wrung my hands behind my back. “I heard that the new CEO might want to interview some of us today. I was wondering if I could somehow be omitted from the selection. I'm still quite ill from yesterday and certainly not at my best today.”
He raised his head then to fully take in my appearance. “You do look quite unwell,” he said. “But I have no say over that. HR sent all the files to him yesterday so as long as you’re an employee and you’re in the building, if he calls upon you then you have to go. He seems like a nice guy but I'm sure he didn’t get to where he is now at his age by being flowery. Don’t worry too much about it though. It's just a simple conversation. You’ll be fine and I already mentioned your absence yesterday. You’ll probably not even be the one called. There’s seven other people he can choose from. Don't worry about it.”
None of his words were assuring, but there was nothing either of us could do, so I thanked him and returned to my desk to begin my work for the day.
An hour before our lunch break, the intercom phone on my desk suddenly rang.
I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden shrill, my nerves shot to hell at a possible request for the interview. When I saw it was our Content Manager, Aarif’s line, breathing became difficult. I picked up the phone with shaky hands.
“Meeting room four in five minutes. They’ve called a progress meeting for a half-hour before lunch in the VP’s office. We need to collate what we have.”
My head fell into my hands. Could the day seriously get any worse? Why today of all days did they need us making presentations and attending interviews on the executive floor? I barely ever had a reason to be there but on the absolutely worst day of my existence, I was to be paraded on it with my misery.
I felt cheated and attacked.
“Sure,” I said and got my documents in order. The VP was especially on this campaign because it was his first and a personal brief. I understood his diligence but just couldn’t accept it as reason enough for making the team’s life miserable.
Twenty minutes later, the clouds hovering above my head brought down rain. I was on my way up with the Project Manager, Aarif, and Henry.
And I was the center of attention for my half-dead look, and rumpled clothes. I wanted to bury myself into the ground.
“Kudos for not taking the day off,” Aarif said. “I know how you feel right now. I was you all through last week. I couldn’t even attend the RFP meeting. Thankfully, I have you to save my ass.”
Henry gave him a hard look and so did I, but I couldn’t show my contempt for him outrightly since he was above me. I, however, allowed my mind to vent enough to say exactly what it wanted to. Well, fuck you for not taking the initiative to let me remain at my desk.
We arrived at the VP’s office and were invited to sit in his little lounge area. Henry and the rest took their seats, while I stood by the corner.
“Sorry for the inconvenience, but I have a lunch meeting with the CEO in a few minutes and couldn’t afford to come down,” Daniel said, his gaze settling on all of us, one at a time. His gaze however lingered on me.
It was only then when I remembered my concerns about his possible attraction to me. The nausea swirling around in my stomach increased. I wanted to be anywhere in the world at this moment than right here. How had my world become so complicated?
Henry began the progress report, and I paid as much attention as I could so I could answer the marketing research questions as they were forwarded to me. Twenty minutes later, I was explaining the five most effective energy drink campaigns that had come up within the last year and how we had picked them apart so far, to carve out the unique approach we would take with the Vita500 brand, when there was a knock to his door.
I paused then, as we all turned towards the intrusion to watch as his secretary, a plump gorgeous Russian woman, come in with an announcement. “Sorry to interrupt you sir, but Mr. Edwards and Miller have arrived for your lunch meeting.”
Daniel raised his wrist to check his watch in wonder. “It's already 1 pm? Damn it.” He turned an apologetic gaze towards Henry. “We’ll have to continue this after lunch. I can’t keep the CEO and CMO waiting. I might lose my job.”
The room laughed at his joke.
My heart skipped a bit at the mention of the CEO. He was outside. Oh, dear God.
“We’ll wait for your call, sir,” Henry said, and rose to his feet and so did the rest of our team.
I prayed that the VP would go out before us, so we wouldn’t have to meet the company’s top executives on our way out, on the day when I looked more like the janitor than anything. Henry immediately began to exit the office however, and tears burned my eyes.
All I needed was something or someone on my side, but it seemed more than ever that no one else could see me, and the fact that I was crumbling. And neither did they care enough to hide me just for one day. All that was on top of their minds was saving their heads and advancing forward. I felt so alone.
We strolled out of the office, but to my relief, Daniel called me back.
“Leah, just a moment please.”
I turned to watch him as he grabbed his suit jacket from where it had been draped around his chair. The rest of my team filed out of his office and I was left alone with the Vice President.
He came over to me. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You don’t seem well at all.”
If only I could have a hundred dollars for the number of times I’d heard that today. It perhaps would have made up a severance package big enough to get me out of here. “I’m still under the weather but I'll be back to normal in no time. I apologize.”
“For what?” He asked.
I didn’t bother answering.
His concern just felt more exhausting than consoling, as it seemed quite disingenuous and more of a ploy to curry some kind favor.
“Let’s walk,” he said.
I followed him out of the office.
“How about taking the rest of the day off?”
“I can’t, sir,” I rep
lied. “We have a presentation with you after lunch.”
“I’ll move that,” he said. “You need to rest.”
We stopped then, and for a moment, my gaze was completely zeroed in on him. What truly was his intention? Was this his usual treatment of employees or was this just how he was going to be treating me? “No, sir,” I replied. The last thing I needed was to earn favors from anyone to further complicate my life.
It was then when I removed my gaze from him and sent a polite glance towards the two executives I could sense standing by us in his reception area.
The plan had been to nod politely, with my gaze to the ground and that was what I did, but then a pair of hauntingly familiar green eyes struck me with recognition
My head shot up in shock before I could walk away and I felt my heart come to a complete stop.
Chapter 21
Carter
She looked miserable.
From the moment I had found out that her team was just beyond the door in Coghlan’s office, the entire world, beyond the pounding of my heart as it scrambled for some semblance of balance, ceased to exist.
The CMO had continued speaking to me, but all I could offer him were polite smiles and gentle nods. Until the door was pulled open. Her team had walked out and I’d been almost relieved that she wasn’t amongst them.
Meeting her again agitated me, because it would demand the verdict that she solely had the power to give. And judging from the past, I didn’t expect her to do things as was needed. When it came to our relationship, she gave up easily and I didn’t understand why. Perhaps it was due to some incident from her past. I wanted to find out. There were so many things about her I wanted to take my time in getting to know. So much so that I had uprooted my life and come all the way to her. If she didn’t make the effort to at least meet me halfway, I didn’t know if my pride would allow me to even take a step forward.
Right now however, as she stared at me with shock in her eyes, all I wanted was to go to her. To pull her into my arms and to demand why she looked the way that she did. She looked so fragile, so close to collapse and it tore at my soul.
I broke her gaze, and couldn’t help the hostile one that I turned on the VP. “Why does she look like this?”
He looked unprepared by the question, but I didn’t care. Not until I saw her move.
She nodded slightly to the three of us and instantly went on her way.
My lips parted to call her back but I came to my senses, and remembered where we were. She stood at one of the two elevators, waiting for the cars to arrive and as soon as one of them did, she jumped into it.
I could see her move to the control pad to quickly shut the door, but Coghlan called out to her. “Hold it, Leah,” he said and the three of us embarked.
“I’ll take the next one,” she said.
Before she could walk out, I grabbed onto her arm. “No need,” I said, and leaned over her to press the close button. The elevator slid shut, and we were on our way down.
“The restaurant we’re taking you to sir, has the best sandwiches in the entire metropolitan area,” Miller said.
“I look forward to it,” I replied, just as the elevator arrived on her floor.
She immediately stepped out of it.
And so did I. “Miss Peters, wait a moment,” I called to her.
She was forced to come to a halt.
I didn’t miss the venomous glance however brief, that she sent my way. “I’ll be right down.” I told the other men. “I have to reschedule the meeting I planned to have with her after lunch today. It’ll only take a minute.”
The elevator doors dinged shut, and I was left standing with her.
We weren’t alone, however, the entire floor of cubicles and cabinets filled with employees, some of whom I was sure had noticed us, and had their eyes trained on our interaction.
I slipped my hands into my pocket to control the urge seemingly burning through my skin to reach out to touch her. I didn’t realize just how intimately my body reacted to hers. I had to constantly catch myself from sliding my arm around her waist to guide her, and from brushing my hand down her slender arms. I wanted to brush away the tendrils of hair from her face, and once again take her lips with mine.
I had absolutely not been mistaken. This woman held a power over me that little else could contend with. “What’s wrong?” I asked, trying my best to keep my voice down. “Why do you look so ill?”
She took a massive step away from me, her gaze quickly going towards our slowly growing audience across the floor.
“I’m doing fine, sir,” she said, with the saddest smile I had ever seen. It broke my heart. “Have a great lunch, sir.”
An arm’s length was not severe enough to attribute to the distance she was currently putting between us. Physically, emotionally and mentally. It felt like an insurmountable concrete wall had been permanently erected between us and it nearly sent me into a mode of panic. “Take care of yourself,” I told her, unable to keep the harshness out of my tone. I turned around and returned to the elevator.
I didn’t look back until it arrived, and I turned around inside of it. I watched as she headed down the hallway back towards her cubicle.
“Run,” I muttered under my breath. “Run all you want, but I will be seeing you again… soon.”
* * *
Leah
I headed straight to the bathroom in a daze.
I needed a minute to myself to process what had just happened, or even thirty seconds, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to get it.
Jeremy came after me, and although I tried to increase my pace as quickly as I could without flat out running, his long legs, and shrill voice called out to me. “Leah! Leah!”
I turned around to face him.
He withdrew with a hiss of breath through his teeth.
His reaction crushed me even more and brought tears to my eyes. Carter had seen me this way! For the first time in more than a month, we were seeing each other again, and I looked like a homeless stray cat. I wanted to bury myself into the ground.
“You met the new CEO?” He asked excitedly. “How was he? Does this mean no one else from our team gets to meet him?”
“I didn’t meet him,” I replied. “I just ran into him on the way down from the VP’s office. They’re going to have lunch.”
“Oh, alright then,” he said. “He’s super handsome right?”
My stomach lurched and my hand shot across my mouth to keep the vomit inside of me. I rushed to the bathroom, found the nearest stall, and spilled my guts into the toilet, multiple times.
“Leah, are you okay?” Jeremy’s voice called from beyond the bathroom.
I didn’t want to respond. I couldn’t even respond.
When the last bout of nausea had passed, I collapsed to the floor and stared ahead at nothing.
My life didn’t seem real anymore and for a moment, I started to suspect that perhaps I was in some sort of dream but I wasn’t aware of it. They usually felt this real when you were in the midst of them right?
Maybe after that night when he had stood me up at the restaurant, and I returned to the hotel room to fall asleep… perhaps that was when this entire nightmare had begun. Maybe I was still stuck back in that time.
I spewed into the toilet again, and it seemed as though the last of my energy was also discharged along with it.
Please let me return to that time, I pleaded, tears rolling down my eyes. What the fuck was he doing here? How and why was he the fucking CEO?
It was an acquisition, not a merger. Did that mean the company had handled the transaction and then sent him here to take control?
But how could it be exactly this same company that I was in? Was it a coincidence, or had he actually…
My mouth fell open. I couldn’t believe it.
Had he followed me here?
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and it made me jump.
“Leah?”
“What?” I growled in
response.
Silence.
“It's Sarah,” my cubicle neighbor said. “Jeremy says that you’re throwing up?”
I wiped the vomit off the side of my lips, and fought to rise to my feet. My grip weakened on the toilet seat and I almost fell back to the ground. I managed to catch myself in time, and pulled the door open with a ready smile.
“I’m fine,” I told her as I immediately hurried over to the sink. In no time, I had the faucet running and my hands covered in soap. After making sure they were clean, I splashed water on my face, and gargled some in my mouth before straightening to face her.
“Here,” she said as she watched me, pity in her eyes.
“Thank you,” I said and took the paper towels from her.
“You need to go home, or to a hospital,” she said. “I’ll speak to Henry.”
I wasn’t going to even spend a second arguing. I needed to be out of here before he returned from lunch. I was definitely not ready‒either physically or mentally‒to face him.
I followed her out of the bathroom to meet Jeremy waiting by the door for me. “Don’t make a scene, I'm fine,” I said at the worried look on his face.
“I’ll take you home,” he offered.
I shook my head. “I’m fine. Go back to work.”
“It's lunch time.” He gave me a weak smile
I nodded with a smile. I walked away from him to the Human Resources desk and got my needed slip to leave.
A few minutes later, I was in my car and headed back home. When I arrived, I was barely able to stand but the sudden craving for some yogurt hit me. Luckily, I had some in the fridge so I poured some into a mug, and collapsed on my sofa.
For the longest time I couldn't move, and thought to call one of the girls, but it was just early in the afternoon and the both of them would still be at work.
My only other option was to sleep the time away because I didn’t want to process anything. I was just about to head over to my bedroom however, when the doorbell rang.
