by Mia Ford
“No, Di, not every time. But when in doubt, keep your mouth shut.”
“Okay.” I said. I still felt funny. I couldn’t help but wonder if Joshua wanted me to tell Natasha what he said or if he wanted to see if I’d keep a secret. Either way I got the impression I was doing exactly what he expected. That made me angry.
“How did she meet this guy, anyway?” my mom asked.
“They met in a bar and…”
“Oh, well, there’s your problem right there. You know, my good friend Lerlean, she dead now, she married a man she met in a bar. And let me tell you that there was nothing good that came from that marriage. Doctor Keeley used to tell us girls when we were in nurses training that if you wanted to earn your place in heaven then by all means marry an alcoholic. That is exactly what Lerlean did.”
“I don’t know if he’s a boozer, mom. I mean, he ordered two bottles of champagne between three people that only came to a little over two three glasses each.”
“But do you know how much he had before he got there?”
I could tell by the way my mom was talking that she had made up her mind that Joshua Hewitt was a bonafide alcoholic. It was like wrestling a bone from a bulldog, now.
“No.” I answered her.
“No, you don’t.” she snapped.
“But he didn’t smell like booze.”
“Do you know how much vodka I used to drink in nurses training? Kay and I, you know my good friend Kay, well we used to go out all night on Friday, get back to the dorm Saturday morning and report for rounds at 6:30 a.m.”
“Mom, are you sure you should be telling me all this? I’m starting to get the willies from you now too.”
She laughed out loud on the other end of the phone and that made me laugh, too.
“I’m sorry. You kids forget that your mother had a life before I met your father.”
I sat quietly on the end of the phone.
“Are you alright?” she asked me in that mom tone that almost brought tears to my eyes.
“Yeah. I’ll be okay.” I said. “It just sucks is all. Here we are grown women and this guy is playing this game that throws us back into high school he said she said mode. How dare he!”
“Well, I’m afraid it’s going to be a hard lesson for Natasha to learn. Be thankful he showed his true colors to you right off the bat. Now you know and you won’t be fooled. He can’t hurt you at all.”
“Yeah, I suppose that’s right. Thanks for listening, mom. I better get going.”
“Sure, honey. And just remember, you’ve got your daddy’s money and your mama’s good looks. It may not be as much as Mr. Whats-his-name but it is something and people will always be a little jealous of it.”
“Natasha never was.”
“Well, if she knows you and feels about you the way you feel about her, this guy doesn’t stand a chance. He won’t win.”
“I hope you’re right, mom. I really do.”
“So what are you going to do now?”
“I need to take a shower. I feel the grossness of being around that guy all over me.”
“Do that. Take a nice hot shower and…what? I’m talking to Diamond. What? Oh, please will you…”
I knew immediately what was happening. My father was trying to talk to my mother while she was on the phone with me. Something about if I was coming home for the weekend, which he knew I wasn’t. He did this every time I called. Old dog and new tricks applied here.
“Tell Dad I’ll come home next weekend.” I said feeling the change in scenery would do me good.
“Yes. She heard you. Alright. She said she’ll be home next weekend. Okay. Can I finish talking to her please? Oh, that man. Sometimes…”
“Yeah, I’ll come home next weekend. Maybe there will be something new to report.”
“Oh, I hope so, honey. I do.”
After hanging up with my mom I started the water running in the shower. I know all etiquette books and girlfriend protocol dictated I should say nothing but I didn’t think I could do that.
Sooner or later Nat was going to ask why I wasn’t calling or why we hadn’t seen each other in so long and I would just have to spill the beans. Even if that was what he wanted. I had to tell her what he said. But if he had this whole scene orchestrated to play out a certain way, I could sure throw a wrench into that. Just a little planning was all that would take.
MARTY
“You’ve got to start checking your calendar before you leave, Marty. This new system makes it too easy to miss something.” Denise said to me as I stared out the window.
“Yeah.” I replied. “I’ll try and start getting into that habit. Do I have the documents for the merger in Shanghai and the properties in… where are those new properties again?”
“Do you mean to tell me that you’ve forgotten the whereabouts of a forty-five million dollar purchase? It’s in Montreal, Canada. Remember? And yes, I told you I had put them both on your desk this morning.”
“What would I do without you, Denise?”
“Lose forty-five million dollars for starters.”
I laughed out loud.
“It’s because of Natasha, isn’t it?” Denise asked. She never was a person to mince words.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” I said, smirking.
“Natasha Morgan, the woman who has been making your life easier in the office since she started here a little over five months ago. The woman who has you distracted and focused all at the same time.”
I knew I was blushing.
“So, the secret is out?”
“Hell, Marty, if that’s how you keep a secret remind me to never tell you the pass code to get into my house.”
Denise looked at me over the top rims of her glasses and smiled.
“She’s very likeable, Marty. And she’s a very good secretary considering the distraction she has to face every day.” Denise stepped into my office tucking some random file under her arm and clasping her hands in front of her. “Can I be honest?”
“Aren’t you always. Sometimes to the nth degree.” I said, making her smirk back at me.
“If you are going to continue on the path you’ve started with Natasha, I would take her out somewhere. I’ve taken the liberty of making a reservation for the two of you at Angelo’s. It’s quiet. It’s not over the top. It’s for next Friday. That will give her plenty of time to run for the hills if she’s smart.”
“You’re really putting it all out there tonight, Denise. What is this about?”
Stepping further into the office and leaning on one of the chairs in front of my desk Denise became very serious, more serious that I had ever seen her over any issue at work.
“Last week, Wednesday I think it was, I had forgotten my umbrella. Remember, it was raining something fierce out that day. I came up here and heard you and Natasha talking like you had been now for a couple of months together. I peeked in and saw you.”
I could have made a dozen smart remarks to tease Denise about her softer side but I didn’t. From the way she looked I determined she had something worth listening to say.
“It was like I was looking at my own son when he had his first girlfriend over to the house. He wanted his father and I to leave them alone in the family room downstairs. We did, only once in a while checking to make sure things were still vertical. Which they were.”
“Denise. I’m not a sixteen year old boy.” I said gently.
“Neither was he. This is my son were talking about. The girls starting coming around when he was fourteen. He’s got his father’s black, naturally curly hair and my brains. Anyway, my point is that he took out the girls who made him look like that. The ones who made him smile and laugh. You were talking and laughing with Natasha as if you were old friends.”
This was a weird turn of events for me. To get a blessing from Denise on anything that didn’t have to do with signing my name on the bottom line was near impossible. And yet here she was condoning something I was sure sh
e would have disapproved of.
“Can I ask you a serious question, Denise?” She nodded her head and pursed her eyebrows together. “What do you like about her?”
“That shouldn’t really matter, boss. The truth is that I just do. And I think if you are going to pursue her you should make a bold move.”
“You mean I’m not going to get a lecture on dipping my pen in company ink or mixing business with pleasure or any of the other breeches in office politics?”
“It’s your company.” She said, rolling her eyes. “I’m just trying to help you stay the gentleman I know you are. Keep it above the table. Your mom would agree with me.”
Denise turned and left. Shouting goodnight from her desk outside my office she left me with quite a bit to think about.
Natasha had come to my office last night just a little after five to tell me some joke she heard. It was a terrible joke, I don’t remember the punch-line but she thought it was hilarious. As I had been doing for the past couple of months since I had to work late I invited her to stay, help me with some work and join me for dinner in my office.
Denise was right. Natasha did make me laugh and smile when she was here. But she was also serious about her job. But I think it was her total lack of interest in my finances that made the whole thing so refreshing. Never once did she ask me if I went sailing or where my most exotic vacation was. How many cars do you have, Marty? How much did it cost you?
How were people brought up these days? It seemed as if women with any kind of discretion were few and far between.
“Have you been on the conference room floor?” I had asked her one night, just before we parted ways. I was trying to think of something to keep her in my company just a little longer.
“I was just there for a second when I almost got off the elevator on the wrong floor. But I didn’t look around. No.”
Two floors below this one was what everyone referred to as the conference room floor. Twelve conference rooms of varying sizes filled the entire floor. Each one had a view of the city but of course, the main conference room, the one we hosted dignitaries and shareholders in had the most spectacular view. It was beautiful during the day. But at night it was as if a person was on another planet. The lights in the buildings around floated in the darkness as below red tail lights and front high beams made luminous snakes that wove their way across the ground. Stoplights blinked red, yellow and green and store windows made incandescent designs in rainbows of color. But it was the steady glow of the streetlights that I enjoyed to most because there were so many of them. It reminded me of the Christmas village my mother used to set up every year when I was younger. I would sit for house in front of the tiny town, just thinking and making up stories of the things the Lilliputians were doing. And at night, when all the other lights in the house were off the holiday lights would still be lit and give off the same kind of glow the city did every night.
Sometimes, if I had a particularly vexing problem I’d come and sit here alone. There were many times I came there because I was alone. Since meeting Natasha I never realized how alone I was.
So that evening I brought her to the conference room floor. I had made it up in my mind that if she saw what I saw I would pursue her more diligently. But when we got there she surprised me.
“How beautiful is this?” She said in a hushed voice as if we were kids sneaking off from the group at the school dance to some unused room on another floor. We stood there for a few minutes and I felt her hand slip into mine.
I pulled her toward me and in that secret darkness, in that quiet special place where all the city was laid out in front of us I kissed her. I felt her response as she kissed me back. Things could have progressed that evening I’m sure, had I not stopped it.
I pulled two chairs up to the window and we sat next to each other, still holding hands.
“So, I’m in big trouble now.” She said.
“Why?”
“I’m sure somewhere; someone would say that kissing the boss is not the way to get a head at your job.” Her voice had become a bit sad.
“Natasha, you don’t have anything to worry about. Really, you don’t.”
She looked at me in the darkness and I could see the silhouette of her face.
“I don’t know what I’m doing.” She whispered. “But I think I need to be honest with you about something.”
“You’re married?” I guessed, hoping that was not it.
“No.” She giggled.
“You were once a man?”
“Oh, my gosh no! Did that happen to you? Because no one would bring up such a possibility unless it happened to them.” Now it was me laughing out loud.
“No. And I’m sorry to interrupt. Please. Go on.”
She took my hands in hers and pulled me a little closer.
“These past couple months you’ve made work so incredible. I enjoy my job and I am really amazed at how this business works. You’ve taken the time to explain everything and Denise, well, she scares me but in a good way. Like my mom still scares me. I love her but I would never cross her, you know.”
I nodded my head trying to predict where this was going.
“But the truth is that I’m not married or engaged or even going steady with anyone. But, I am seeing other people. I’m single, Marty. I can go out with other men and judge who I have the best time with and well, you are still my boss. Don’t you find all this weird?”
“I find you weird.” I said, seeing her smile in the glow of the lights below us. “But right now I’m not your boss. I’m Marty Reid. And I’m not with an employee. I’m with this beautiful, amazing woman named Natasha Morgan who has been like a breath of fresh air in my life.”
We sat quietly for a few minutes.
“I think I better be honest with you, too.” I said firmly.
“You were once a man?” she asked.
“Very funny.”
“I’m sorry, you just sort of held the proverbial door open for me to walk right through it.”
“Yeah, yeah. Now be quiet.”
She laughed again.
“I am a very successful businessman. This work is more than just my job. It is years of history in my family. Some of it good. Some of it not so good. It has been the top priority in my life for years.” I swallowed hard not quite sure what I was saying but feeling the need I had to say it. “This place is my whole life and it will always come first.”
She was quiet.
“So…”
“So, now that you know what you’re getting into, do you think you’d still like to join me for dinner in my office tomorrow?”
She turned to me and I thought I saw tears in her eyes. Maybe it was just the flicker of the city lights playing tricks. But she smiled and leaned in to me. We kissed. I felt her small hands on my arm and thought how much I wanted to hold her tighter. Pulling back she gasped just a little as if her breath had been taken away. I hoped it had.
“I’ll meet you for dinner tomorrow in your office. If that is what I have to do to be alone with you then I’ll do it.”
We kissed again and again until the moon high in the sky shined down into the conference room windows.
So, as a businessman I was proceeding with this union in a slow and steady manner. I had been upfront with Natasha about my life, my intentions. Almost everything was on the table. But as I looked at my desk calendar I realized my time was running shorter than I thought.
It wouldn’t be long before the shareholder meeting when all the executives would be present, including my brother. It was unfortunate timing.
NATASHA
“How did you not know?” Diamond asked me leaning back in the booth as if bracing for my answer. I hadn’t seen her in several weeks. She kept giving me excuses whenever I asked to get together. Finally, after waiting for such a long time I stalked her after work, waited outside her building like a love-struck freshman and cornered her. It was actually kind of exciting since I had been dodging photographers and re
porters as well. Dating a billionaire who liked to be seen out and about the town was apparently very interesting to a lot of people.
“I need to talk to you.” I begged. “You are my best friend. Even if I had all the money in the world it would never change how I feel about you. Life is just dull without my sista.” Joshua’s words about friends getting jealous stuck in my head like a bad pop song.
“I’m sorry, Nat. I know I’ve been busy. And, well, three is a crowd, you know. I didn’t want to get in the way. That’s all. No one can ever accuse me of getting all bent out of shape over a girl wanting to be with her man. You know, we hate those kinds of girls.”
She was smiling when she said it. I could tell there was something she wasn’t telling me. But, I also knew that with Diamond it was no use trying to push her into doing anything she didn’t want to. Her head could be as hard as her namesake.
“Yeah, we do.” I said, bumping her with my hip. It took a little sweet talking and the promise of a lift home in the limo if she’d have a drink with me and just talk. So much had happened and what was being printed in the papers was rife with inaccuracies. But since when has the press ever cared about getting a story correct? That fad went out with bell-bottoms and communes.
“I saw your picture in the paper.” Diamond said. “In fact I’ve seen quite a few pictures of you. In each one you look amazing.”
“Oh, you think? I always think I look ridiculous. They purposefully try to snap a picture when you are yawning or have a sneeze coming on or in the middle of chewing food.”
“Well, I wish I looked that good when I was yawning.” Diamond said, elongating her mouth out extra wide, bugging her eyes and stretching her arms over her head. Of course, we both laughed. It was interesting to me. I hadn’t laughed like that in a long time. I hadn’t realized but the last time I cracked up was when I was with Marty. But we weren’t talking about Marty right now. We were talking about Joshua. Or were we talking about Marty? No. We were talking about Joshua, the newspapers and the constant stream of undertakings that were becoming more of an annoyance than adventures.
