“I just had a few questions, and there are some things we found out. Those are some of the things that I wanted to talk to you about.”
“What sort of things did you find out?” Sasha asked. She seemed annoyed and David was curious to know what was going on to make her change so drastically.
“I know why you can’t have children. I found the report and know that you refused to tell anyone what had happened. You would not tell any of the officials who attacked you, but they couldn’t prove someone had forced entry into your home and Martin was not there. It was as if he left you there after what had happened.”
Sasha was shaking. Nancy took a step in between the both of them. He watched as Nancy looked over at Sasha and she shot him a look of disapproval. “You have no right to get her medical information. I can sue you.”
“Nancy, I am getting all the information I need to make sure nothing can be used against her when the divorce is going through. I don’t want Sasha to lose her case because I wasn’t thorough.”
“It is fine, Nancy,” Sasha said, as she stepped forward. “Martin—Martin doesn’t remember anything. I lied to him and told him I was attacked. I went for check-ups and they established that the damage done would make it impossible for me to have a child.”
“Why did he attack you?”
“I was threatening to leave him,” she choked. “He never really stopped drinking. He would get drunk a lot and he was constantly violent towards me. When we were first together, he didn’t touch me. He treated me like a queen, but now he treats me like a punching bag. He hates me for something he did to me.”
“Why did you stay with him this entire time then?”
“Who would want me after what he did? Who would want a woman who couldn’t carry a child? I had been with him since I was a teenager, and I was hoping the man I fell in love with would come back, but he never did. The Martin I knew—he is never coming back.”
“That bastard has already filed for divorce,” Nancy chimed in.
“Great, then you don’t have to. And now you can prove he is in violation of their agreement.”
“Getting his money is not what I am after,” Sasha said. “I want to get back the part of me he took away! I want to be the woman I was before he violated me. That is something I will never get back!”
There was nothing he could say to that. There was absolutely nothing he would be able to do for her. Emily walked in. She had a large brown bag in hand and she looked at all of them awkwardly. She seemed surprised to see them all there in the main part of the office and scurried to her desk to set the food down. It was obvious she didn’t know what was going on, but she had a pretty good idea.
David turned towards Sasha. “That is something that we all know you will never be able to get back, and we know it isn’t fair, but there is nothing more we can do.”
Sasha was wiping the tears from her eyes and nodded. “I know that, but I wish it was a possibility. I want him to know what he did. I want that bitch to know what he did. I want to ruin his life— I want him to hate himself the same way I hate myself.”
Nancy moved closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “We should go and finish this. We don’t need this divorce to drag out any longer than it needs to. I’ll go ahead and take everything you have found.”
David got to his feet and walked to his office. Nancy was close behind him. Emily was sitting behind her desk and still didn’t know how to help out. They were in his office now and Nancy shut the door behind them.
“You haven’t changed a bit, David,” she said.
“You have, and I didn’t even realize you were in Primer. I thought you had moved back down south.”
“Originally yes, but I got a better position out here and that’s why I came back. Would it be too much trouble to ask if we could go out sometime, just to catch up?”
David handed her the file he had and looked into those blue eyes. He finally looked down and realized she was wearing a V-neck. He immediately looked back to her eyes. She bit her lower lip.
“I — I suppose that would be alright. Uh, when would you like to go out?”
“I am staying at the Morton Hotel. I’ll make a reservation for tomorrow night.” She took the file from him and she stepped forward as well. “I hope you dress well.”
She walked out and he stood there strangely confused about what was going on. There seemed to be something she was hinting at, and he was not too sure what it was. He had been friends with her, but they were never very close. He wondered why she was not asking Sasha, but then again, she had a lot going on in her life.
Finally, stepping out of his office he saw that they were both leaving. Emily seemed to understand everything. She walked over towards him after several seconds had gone by.
“Is everything alright? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
He looked at her and he shook his head. “Nancy Shaw is the last person I was expecting to see here.”
“Do the two of you have a history?”
David felt the immediate urge to deny having a past with her, but it was not the same sort of past she was insinuating. “We were friends in college. She was dating Rodney and she became my friend, but Rodney broke it off with her and we stopped talking as much. We spoke every now and again, but we were never more involved than that.”
“It seems as if she feels something towards you.”
“I doubt it. She hated me after I dumped her best friend, and she refused to even say ‘hi’ to me after that.”
“What did she ask you when you were in there?”
“She wanted to meet me for dinner tomorrow.”
“I see,” she said and he realized that she was somewhat upset. “Uh, well you should not let your food get cold.”
“Thank you,” he said, as he grabbed his own out of the brown bag. He always got the same thing and so did she. David looked up at her and noticed she was playing with her necklace. He wanted to let her know there was nothing between him and Nancy. He wasn’t entirely sure why she wanted to talk to him anyways.
“Emily, is there something wrong?”
“No,” she lied. “I was just curious about what was going on. I know that it’s none of my business, so I would like to apologize, Boss.”
“You don’t need to apologize. Emily, there is absolutely nothing between me and Nancy. I don’t have any intentions of being with her.”
She seemed bewildered by what he was saying and shook her head. “It is none of my business,” she said. “I hope you don’t think of me as being jealous.”
David couldn’t help but be confused and looked at her. “Emily, I am sorry if I said something out of line, but I just— I don’t know what to say. I am bad with this.”
She was using a plastic fork with her food and shook her head. “Boss, there is nothing you should be apologizing for.”
Walking towards his office, he nodded and shut the door behind him. He seemed to always know how to make things awkward. Putting his food down on his desk, he only looked at it. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to go out there and tell Emily how often he had been thinking about her. He wanted her to know she was special to him and that she made everything so confusing for him.
Taking a deep breath, he was prepared to go out there and tell her everything. He wanted to admit that he had feelings for her and as he was getting the nerve to do so, the phone rang.
###
He was sitting at the pizza joint with Rodney across the way from him. They both had open beers and Rodney knew now what was going on. However, he only knew his sister was getting a divorce and that was the extent of it. David realized it was not his place to go ahead and say anything to him about what Martin had done to his sister. Rodney finally cleared his throat.
“We have been attempting to hold a conversation, but we have proven that this is just awkward. Now can you tell me why you really picked up the phone and called me?”
> “I don’t know what is going on with my life.”
“What do you mean? I thought you were set with what you were going to be doing. You seemed so psyched to get out there and start working these cases.”
“I didn’t think my line of work would be as dull as it is,” David said, as he was taking another sip of beer. He knew he could not disclose anything to Rodney. He wanted to, but he had to keep everything confidential. “I want something more from my life than what I currently have.”
“You have freedom and success. You can make your own hours and you don’t need to answer to anyone other than yourself. How does that make anything dull?”
“The types of cases I work are predictable and I want something more than that.”
“You will eventually get what you want, but you will have to wait for that to happen,” Rodney moved slightly and shook his head. “Is there something else you want to talk about?”
“Yeah. I want your opinion on a girl.”
Rodney was intrigued and swigged some more beer. He smiled. “I never thought you would talk to me about a girl again. You know, not after Shannon anyways.”
“Well, Shannon and I were not really serious. We had a fling together that lasted a couple of months and that was about it. And speaking of a fling, did you know that Nancy was in town?”
“Yes, I know she is back. She just got a job in my office. How did you know that she was back?”
“She stopped by my office earlier and she invited me to dinner tomorrow.”
“Please tell me that you didn’t accept. Man! Is that the opinion on a girl you were wanting?” He didn’t even wait for a response before he spoke again. “Look, Nancy is beautiful, especially now, but she is not what you need. She is too; what is the word I am looking for? Ah! Impulsive and just overall crazy. She is also self-absorbed and just not the girl you should be with.”
David shook his head and glanced at the beer in his hands. “Alright, I will take your advice. Anyways, how have you been with Emma?”
“I am thinking about marrying her.”
“Really? It’s not even been a year yet. You don’t think you are rushing into it?”
“Nah. She is one of those girls that make you want to lock in, that way she can’t move on. She makes me feel as if I’m not good enough and I’m all thumbs and awkward around her. I want to give her everything and she is worth it.”
“Maybe I should meet her sometime.”
“You should, but when you do meet her, just keep in mind that she is only mine.”
David smiled and leaned back in his chair. “So how has business been for you at the firm?”
“Lucrative to say the least. I mean a lot of the cases that come into my office are, well, spouses seeking a divorce. Probably some of the ones that you have helped separate, now that I think of it. If it wasn’t for you, my firm probably wouldn’t be as successful as it is. That is way hearing you aren’t happy with it is somewhat depressing.”
“There are plenty of other investigators that I’m sure would love to take that business. I haven’t made a final decision to close up shop though. I might take another case or two and see what happens.”
“But that isn’t what you want, you just said so. Why would you want to keep working on cases that drive you crazy? Oh,” he said, after a brief pause. “I get it. There is more to it, huh? Someone you want to keep around maybe? Is it that secretary that works for you? She is gorgeous. Is that the girl you wanted advice on?”
“I do like her, but she is my coworker and I ought not to indulge in my feelings for her because that could ruin our working relationship.”
“There are some people that are worth the risk, but it’s up to you to make the decision if it’s worth it.”
“How do I make that decision?”
“I can’t answer that for you, because it’s up to you. You will just know one day if it is worth the risk.”
David sat there and wondered if he had already made that decision, but he knew he hadn’t. He wasn’t too sure he was going to ever make that decision. He wasn’t too sure what he was going to do at this point. He looked at Rodney. “Do you think that I’m crazy for wanting to close up shop?”
“No, I don’t think it’s crazy. I think you want to get something more from your life than this and you should go for it. Do what makes you happy and never make decisions that affect your life because of someone else. That is all the advice I can give you.”
David sat there and thought about it. He had never put anyone ahead of himself before and now he wondered if it was wrong of him. Rodney had always put others ahead of him and he was still rather successful. Maybe David needed to change.
###
He met Nancy that following night. She was wearing a revealing black dress. Now that she had the body, she was able to use it to her advantage. She was beautiful when they were in college and now she was just breathtaking. She walked over towards him and put her hand into his.
“I am happy that you showed.”
“Well, I did tell you I would be here. Did you expect anything less?”
They walked past one of the fountains to a small table and sat down. She smiled at him and took in a deep breath. “I didn’t, but I wasn’t too sure you wouldn’t stand me up. I mean I was dating Rodney after all, and I am sure he didn’t have too many good things to say about me.”
David remembered the sort of things Rodney had said about her when they were in college, and they weren’t bad things. The things Rodney would tell him were the sort of things he would never repeat. He smiled, “Rodney doesn’t like talking poorly about other people.”
“I know. So what is new and exciting in your life?”
There was nothing much for him to talk about, all he was able to do was shrug. “Nothing really. It has been completely dull and predictable at work. Once something like that happens I guess you start looking for something more exciting to get into.”
Nancy smiled and the waiter came to their table. He took their drink orders and had brought them a menu. “So are you happy to be back here?”
“Sort of. I moved back for various things. The pay is better and the town is much smaller. I am happier and have more people I know here.”
“Yeah? Well, that is good. Everyone needs a support system.”
“Yes, we all do. So, is there someone special in your life?”
David moved in his chair. He was becoming rather uncomfortable and shook his head. “I want there to be, but I don’t think it will work out.”
“You have that as your flaw,” she said as the waiter came around with their drinks. She tore open her straw and took a sip of her lemonade. “You think about if it would work out versus attempting to see if it actually will. All you need to do is throw yourself at a woman and not think about the long-term.”
“Well, thinking long-term is sort of what I do.”
“I know and that is why you and Shannon never worked out. You wanted more than she did. I mean, in college people want to experiment and you were ready to settle down.”
“I have no idea what Shannon told you, but that is completely false. I was into a fling.”
“Sure, David… do you know why I really asked you here tonight?”
He looked over the rim of his glass at her and watched as she played with her straw. It seemed somewhat seductive, but he was sure he was just reading into it. He shrugged. “To catch up?”
She bit her lower lip and he could not help but feel something. “Would you mind if I showed you?”
There was hesitation on his part. He didn’t want to go with Nancy anywhere because in the back of his mind he was thinking about Emily. He shook his head. They were coworkers and they would never be together in that way either. And of course he could not deny how attractive Nancy was. He finally nodded. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt anything.”
Nancy smiled and they got up from their seats. She threw down twenty dollars
and he followed behind her. They were heading for the elevators and there were people in there with them. David wished the elevator would move quicker. Nancy took him by the hand and led him out on the third floor.
They walked towards a room and she took out her card key from her bosom and his eyes could not help but look. She was big breasted and always had been. Even with the weight loss her breasts didn’t seem to change in size. She pushed open the door and he followed her.
Closing the door behind them, she pushed him against the door. Her lips were pressed against his. He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt as he was thinking about Emily.
Chapter 7
Three Months Later
There had been no cases, but at least there were less angry people calling in. That afternoon he was on the couch in his office; Emily had bought him a television that he had hooked up, and he had been watching countless movies and a series of shows to pass the time. All the while he had been waiting for someone to walk through the doors, or to even e-mail Emily, but nothing had happened. Nothing had transpired and he was becoming irritable.
He heard his landline ring and shot up, getting to his phone as quickly as he could. “David Orlando,” he said into the line.
“Hey David, this is Nancy. I was just calling to check in on you to see if maybe you wanted to get together again.”
He was silent for a moment as he thought about it. Part of him wanted to go out with her again. She was a great distraction, but he was not in the mood. He wanted to take a break from her and finally found his voice.
“Uh, right now I am sort of busy. How about I call you and then we can make arrangements?”
“Sure, I suppose. Well, goodbye then.”
She hung up. David looked at the phone for a moment. He needed to change this number for more than one reason now. He hung up the line and heard Emily knocking on the door.
“Come in,” he said.
“Boss, I think we need to talk about something.”
Promised Box Set Page 58
