by Leah Leonard
“Okay. I just hope I can reach the pilot, sir. He may be out flying someplace and unable to be reached.”
“I don’t want to hear that, Gloria! Find him!”
“Yes sir. I’ll do my best.”
“And more importantly, I need to have you call the agency…the Lovemore matchmaking service….and get Cindy’s home number for me. It’s critical I get hold of her immediately and I’m pretty sure she’s home by now.”
“That will be difficult to do today, sir. It is Sunday, you know.”
“Just do your best, will you? Try to call them and if we can’t get them today, I guess tomorrow will have to do. And also look up the name Cindy Brown in the Dallas area phone directory and see if you can find her there. Do it now while I wait on the phone if you can.”
“Do which now?”
“The phone number for the girl!”
By now Gloria was more than fully awake and had long since fired up her home computer. She pulled up an online directory and did a search for Brown in the Dallas area.
“There are over three hundred Browns in the area. It’s a big place, not too unlike Los Angeles. There are fifty seven C Browns in the directory, and no Cindy Browns. You would also need to know which area of town she lives in because there are several suburbs there.”
Erick didn’t want to hear any of this. The more he thought about it, the more he was beginning to lose it. He knew if he didn’t get in touch with Cindy at least by phone and get himself out of Europe soon, he risked losing her forever.
“Okay, just make the calls then and get back to me as soon as you can.”
Monday morning found Erick impatiently pacing the terminal of the Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris on, still waiting for his private jet to arrive from California.
The previous day had been a nightmare for him during which nothing seemed to go his way. After lengthy debate and no answers about Cindy’s whereabouts, Erick finally decided to return to L.A. and make plans to travel to Texas later in the week.
His father also expected him back in the office today and Erick had to call to tell him his flights were indefinitely delayed. Reluctantly, he picked up the phone and called. His father’s tone turned instantly ominous when he heard Erick’s voice on the line.
“I need to discuss some things with you when you get back,” Forrest Redmund told his son.
Erick felt his fist tighten at the words.
“Tomorrow, Dad, okay?” Erick said, his head pounding from the stress of his personal life.
“I’ll expect you in my office at 8:00 tomorrow morning,” his father commanded, never once asking about his trip.
Forrest Redmund always acted as though he knew his son well enough to know he always gallivanted around the globe, and always assumed Erick was up to no good as usual. But as far as Erick was concerned, the two men barely knew each other at all.
Erick continued pacing for several more hours until his plane finally arrived late that afternoon, again delayed by weather. When the familiar pilot greeted him, Erick breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that finally he would be able to get back home and get things straightened out once and for all.
Two more hours passed by the time the pilot readied the plane for the return trip to the States, passed customs and had everything inspected properly by French officials. Then they were finally in the air, headed back to California.
By that time Erick had resigned himself to the fact that it would be a while before he could get back into Cindy’s arms, especially after he’d heard from Gloria that the agency was not allowed to give out the personal information about their clients.
From the agency’s perspective, they did their part by introducing Erick and Cindy and setting them up on the date. If Cindy had wanted Erick to have her personal details, surely she would have given them to him herself. It was neither their place nor their policy to give out personal client information; in fact, it would be both an ethical and legal violation to do so.
Erick was furious about it and threatened to sue, but knew there was nothing he could do about any of it now. The battery on his Blackberry was running low and the charger for it was packed away. It would have to wait, and waiting was something Erick simply hated to do.
After ten hours in the air, they landed uneventfully in the middle of the night at the small landing strip near Erick’s home. Erick didn’t want to inconvenience Gloria at that hour, so he had the pilot take him home.
Erick was absolutely exhausted by the time his head hit the pillow at 3:00 a.m. His body ached as if he’d run a marathon and he wanted nothing more than to fall asleep quickly and, for a few hours at least, put an end to the nightmare he was living.
“Cindy, I’m coming to get you tomorrow. Please let me find you.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
By Monday morning, Cindy felt much better. She and Victoria had a wonderful afternoon the day before. Victoria insisted on buying Cindy a new dress, which she wore to work that day to show off her new haircut and makeup.
She hadn’t kept any of the new makeup Erick had given her, but she had some of her own and was able to recreate some of the tips the salon people showed her.
When she walked into the office that morning, she turned heads throughout the firm, instantly capturing the attention of another of the junior partners, Stan, who stood next to the copier and smiled, fogging up his thick glasses. “Hi. You look…great today. I mean really great.” Cindy noticed Stan made no attempt to hide his once-over of her body.
In the office, Cindy was normally shy and reserved, rarely speaking to anyone. But today, she looked Stan directly in the eye and smiled back, running a hand through her new hairdo. “Well, thanks.”
“You really do, Cindy, you look absolutely fantastic. I guess that means you had a nice vacation, huh?”
Cindy wondered how this guy knew she was on vacation, but realized that even in a big firm, it was a small world and gossip travels fast. She hardly knew what to tell him though. Was it a good vacation or was it the worst disaster of her adult life? Both, she realized. Either way, she needed to pretend it was the best.
“Yes, it was great. Thanks for asking.”
“Where did you go…Africa or something?”
Wow, these people sure are nosy.
“Morocco, actually.”
“That sounds incredible. Would you like to have lunch today? I would love to hear all about it. I’ve never been to Africa before.”
Cindy suddenly felt so worldly, so international. It was an amazing feeling to know she’d now visited a place so few had and the fact the experience itself was enough to garner the attention of someone in her office was quite remarkable to her.
“I’m not sure. Let me see how the day looks and I’ll let you know, okay?”
What the hell am I saying?
Cindy knew she should have just refused him outright, but something about the mere idea of having a date in Texas excited her. She had never been noticed by anyone at work before. She had to admit she was flattered.
“Yeah, sure; I’m at extension 345.” Stan smiled at her, picked up his copies and walked back to his desk.
“I know.” Cindy walked confidently through the corridors and into her office, closing the door behind her. She had just taken her seat when Victoria walked in.
“You look great today! How are you feeling?”
“Better, thanks.”
“That’s good, and I heard you might be going out to lunch today with Stan, huh?”
“How did you hear that? I hadn’t told him either way, and he just asked me few minutes ago.”
“I know. He told me. He knows we’re friends and asked me to come in here and put in a good word for him. Look, I know you just got back and you’re heart is broken, or whatever, but you need to move on now, get back in the saddle and go out. It’s the best way to get through tough times like this. Believe me, I know.”
Cindy wanted to be offended by her friend’s harsh dismi
ssal of her heartache, but the more she thought of it, she realized Victoria was right. She needed to get her mind as far away from Erick as possible. It was already Monday, she’d been home for two days now and had not heard a single word from him, and probably never would. Erick was a pipe dream and she knew that going in to the situation. She needed to take the best of what she learned from him and move on.
“Okay.”
“Are you going?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Okay then, good for you. I want to be the first to hear all about it when you get back.”
Ignoring Victoria, Cindy walked back to her desk and dialed extension 345.
“Stan Field.”
“Stan? Cindy. I, uh, checked my calendar and I am free today if you still want to do lunch.”
“Yes of course. How about 11:30?”
“Sounds great.”
Two hours later, Stan knocked on Cindy’s door.
“Ready to go?”
They walked down to a local neighborhood deli known for over-the-top fresh food, and picked a quiet table in the back.
“You look great, Cindy. I know I said it before, but I mean it; you really do look fantastic.”
“Thanks, I guess a little R & R helps sometimes.”
“It must have. You know, I’d been meaning to ask you out for quite a while now and I’m happy you said yes. It’s busy in the office, you know, and I don’t always have time to even eat when I’m working.”
“Yes, I know what you mean. Our department handles a lot of your files.”
The truth was Cindy normally never even opened the door to her office and spent most of her lunch hours alone behind her desk, not because of workload, but because of the shyness she seemed to have suddenly shed.
“So tell me all about your trip. I want to hear every detail.”
Cindy hardly knew where to begin or what to tell him, or not tell him. Certainly every detail would be out of the question, so she settled for what she would soon call the office version of the story.
“It was really spectacular.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet. So what made you decide on Morocco?”
Good question, Cindy thought, wondering how to answer him, realizing honesty was always the best policy.
“I was on a blind date there, actually. A film producer needed someone to join him there for a film festival. It was really something…”
Her voice began to trail off and Cindy could feel the lump forming in her throat. She didn’t want to cry and took a sip of water to compose herself.
Thankfully, Stan didn’t seem to notice her emotional discomfort.
“A blind date….interesting.”
An awkward silence followed which Cindy wanted to fill, but she could only smile at him and sip her water again.
“So… did you ride camels there and all of that kind of stuff?” Stan finally asked.
“Yeah, I did, actually.”
“How was it?”
“Nice.”
My God, could I be any more vague?
Stan took a bite of his food and they smiled at each other some more. Cindy wished she was anywhere but here and looked at her watch. It was only noon.
“Got to get back?” Stan asked.
“Uh…no, not yet.”
“Good. So have you traveled a lot?”
“Who, me?”
He laughed, which didn’t help matters any.
“What I meant to say is no. I’d never been out of the country before, actually. What about you?”
“I’ve traveled a bit, but never to anywhere like Morocco. I’ve just mainly been around Europe. England, France, Germany.”
Cindy listened as attentively as she could, but inside her head, she was far away, her heart still trapped by the only man she’d ever really loved in her entire life: Erick.
Each passing moment, knowing he hadn’t even tried to call her, made her feel more and more like a fool. She couldn’t believe how absolutely stupid she’d been to fall for him.
Stan was proving a nice temporary distraction for her. If nothing else, he showed her that her trip to Morocco had made changes in her that were clearly noticeable to the people around her. That was a good thing, as far as Cindy was concerned. Time was the only thing now that could mend Cindy’s broken heart, and from the looks of it, she was going to have plenty of that on her hands.
“…and then we went to the Eiffel Tower and back to London. It was a neat trip,” Stan said, finishing his travelogue at last.
Cindy hated to think she missed the last several minutes of what Stan was saying, but she couldn’t help it.
“Sounds interesting. I’ll have to check those places out sometime myself.”
Please, let this date be over!
Cindy realized that rogue or gentleman, Erick was the only man for her. She wished she could see him again, to ask him why he betrayed her, but as soon as she thought it, she knew she had to let it go.
It’s hopeless.
Chapter Thirty
Erick hardly moved a muscle until he heard his phone ringing the next morning and opened his eyes just enough to see it was 8:45 a.m.
“Where are you?”
His father’s shouting on the other end of the line made Erick’s head pound and he wanted nothing more than to hang up on the old man.
“You were supposed to be in here forty-five minutes ago!”
Erick groaned as he rolled to one side and started to push himself up, realizing there was no getting away from him. Sooner or later, he would have to talk to his father.
“I didn’t get here until the middle of the night, Dad. I was stranded for nearly forty-eight hours in the airport.”
“I don’t care; I need you in here right now. I’m sending a driver over and you’d better be ready when he arrives, do you understand?”
Erick hated the way his father treated him, barking orders as if he was some kind of servant. But the more he listened to Forrest, the more Erick realized he was starting to become just like his father in the way he treated his employees.
Cindy had opened his eyes to a new, better way of being. She had been a calming and loving influence on him, just the kind of influence he needed to break free of his behaviors and turn over a new leaf. He was obsessed with finding her and that’s what he intended to spend the bulk of today doing, not worrying about whatever his father wanted from him.
It was too late to tell Forrest any of that now, though, since he’d already slammed the phone in Erick’s ear. He shrugged and began suiting up; ten minutes later, he heard the horn of the corporate BMW honking in his driveway.
Erick went into the office, unsure of what the hell could possibly be so urgent and too tired to really give a damn anyway. He walked slowly down the long hallway to his father’s office, taking his time in spite of the urgent demands.
Forrest Redmund sat squarely behind a huge mahogany desk, his typical scowl on his face as he looked down at what looked like a newspaper. Offering no hello or small talk, he immediately broke in to a tirade.
“What is this? And this?”
His father shouted as he held up the National Enquirer and turned it around on his desk for Erick to see. It was a familiar déjà vu, and one Erick had hoped he would never have to face again as Forrest clicked on his office television with the remote and there it was in full color – Entertainment Tonight.
He and Petra were kissing for the entire world to see and their locked lips frozen in time on the front cover of the Enquirer with the headline: Will he ever stop? Millionaire playboy on the Prowl in Africa…Details Inside!
Erick stood speechless in front of his father’s desk unable to say a word.
“Is this what you call leading a more respectable life, son?”
“Dad, it’s not what you think… I….”
“Are you mocking me? Are you purposely trying to make our company and me look like fools?”
Erick stared at him realizing that there was nothing to be said, at l
east not yet, that would change his father’s already made-up mind.
“Answer me, Erick! What do you have to say for yourself? Or did one of your bimbos cut your tongue out while you were away? No, don’t tell me, I don’t even want to think of what kinds of kinky activities you were involved in. You turn my stomach!”
Dad needs to get laid, big time.
As he thought about his father’s uptight behavior, Erick started to laugh, infuriating his old man even more.
“What are you laughing about?”
“Actually, Dad, you need a date. You really do. You need to lighten up.”
“Don’t you go changing the subject on me, son. You were in direct violation of our agreement and for all the many reasons I should disinherit you, I should do it for insubordination alone.”
Forrest’s face was red and Erick was still laughing, although he half hated to. He really wasn’t purposely trying to make his father angrier.
“It’s not what you think, Dad, but I don’t expect you to believe me. As I told you, I went to Morocco with a lovely and decent woman and was caught in a situation by those wicked photographers. Petra and I have been friends for years, and only friends, but like I said, I don’t expect you to believe me.”
“Who is this woman and what is her name?”
Erick looked down at the desk, and choked to fight back tears for the first time in his life.
“Her name is Cindy; Cindy Brown. She lives in Dallas and is the best woman I’ve ever known. I love her, Dad, I really do, but that’s just it: this whole thing got blown out of proportion and she left me. I have no way to find her now.”
“What kind of games are you playing with me, Erick? Is this a ploy to get your inheritance back? Well, let me tell you something. You are finished, do you understand me? Finished! I’m going to call the lawyers and tell them to redo my will immediately.”
It was December 11 now, meaning Erick had only two more weeks to get a wife, but he didn’t care about any of that now. He was heartbroken, and the only thing he could think of was Cindy.
“Fine; I don’t want your money. I never wanted it anyway. You don’t get it. I love Cindy and there is nothing I want in the world now but to get her back,” Erick shouted as he walked from his father’s office and back down the hallway into his own. He hated to shout in earshot of the employees, but he couldn’t help it. The whole situation was an absolute mess.
