Four Reasons to Come

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “Mr. Wellingtons office.” She sounded young. And beautiful.

  “Hi, this is Liz. Is Harrison available?”

  “Who is this?” The woman said with a bit of an attitude.

  “This is Liz. Can I speak with Harrison, please?”

  “Mr. Wellington is not able to come to the phone right now. Would you like me to take a message?” The woman seemed to have no idea who Liz was. It annoyed Liz.

  “No, I will call his cell,” Liz said and hung up.

  She tried to fight her feelings to reach through the phone and strangle the girl. How could she have no idea who Liz was? That annoyed Liz. Why wouldn’t Harrison just tell her that if Liz called she could be put right through? That’s one of the first things he told Martha when she was hired.

  Liz tried not to dwell on it too much as she finally drifted off to sleep. But she couldn’t help but worry something was going on between Harrison and his new secretary. She wanted to trust him, but a sexy guy and a hot secretary were a bad combination. Liz knew this very well.

  Chapter 6

  The next morning when Liz heard her alarm going off she couldn’t even open her eyes. The jet lag had officially set in. Her whole body felt like she had only slept one hour. Not the seven that she had actually slept.

  She tried to get into the shower to wake herself up, but it was minimally effective. Liz dragged herself down to the lobby and grabbed her large cup of coffee.

  Ricardo laughed as Liz moved slowly across the lobby toward the car.

  “It appears your jet lag found you.” He said as he opened the door for Liz.

  “Yeah and it brought a baseball bat.” Liz smiled.

  They sat in silence as Ricardo drove them to the office. Liz felt her head pounding with every bump they went over.

  “How late did you stay last night?”

  “After midnight. But I finished the Australian skyline.”

  “Wow. Pretty impressive. Now just do two more in the next four days.” Ricardo joked.

  He knew how much work the next few days were for Liz. It had taken her almost a month to perfect the original mock up for Australia. He didn’t know if she could do the other two in just four days, but he had to push her to get it done. The whole campaign relied on her getting these finished.

  For the next four days, Liz worked harder than she ever thought possible. Luckily the specifics about the two other campaigns were easier since the first one was finished. But Liz still ended up working fifteen to eighteen hours a day as she tried to get the project done by the end of the week.

  Ricardo was great during the week. Constantly encouraging Liz bringing her coffee and food. He made sure to get her to go for a walk every now and then and helped push her to leave at the end of the night.

  Ricardo didn’t go home early any other night. He decided Liz would need him so he stayed and worked on the other parts of the campaign while she did the design work. This was all just the mock up for the bigger campaign and Ricardo knew it could all end very poorly if the CEO didn’t like Liz’s work.

  Liz tried to call Harrison at the end of the evening on a couple nights, but he didn’t answer his phone. While she worked, she kept her phone turned off so she wouldn’t get distracted and of course Harrison would call her during those times. She hated missing his calls, but she knew he would understand how important her project was to her.

  She plugged away right up until the deadline and walked into the meeting on Friday afternoon with the three finished mock-ups.

  Liz sat in the meeting exhausted and let Ricardo take over with is charismatic personality to show off the three designs. Liz hoped the CEO would like them, but at this point she was so tired she sort of didn’t care if he didn’t like them. There was nothing more she could do, Liz had put everything she had into finishing those designs.

  The CEO sat there looking over the designs with a flat, expressionless face. Liz tried to figure out what he thought about them but just couldn’t read his expression at all. He handed the designs around the table to the others and then stood up from his seat.

  He walked over to Liz and reached his hand out to her.

  “Very well done young lady.” He said to Liz.

  “Thank you,” Liz answered as she looked at Ricardo, who gave her two thumbs up.

  They finished the meeting and when the executives left the conference room Liz couldn’t help but jump up and down from excitement.

  “They like it!” She screamed as Ricardo came over and gave her a hug.

  Liz hugged him back. It was amazing to know she had worked so hard and they had really liked her work.

  “You did great Liz,” Ricardo said as he hugged her again.

  This time the hug seemed more than just a celebration. Ricardo looked down at Liz and kissed her.

  Liz was in shock at first and didn’t push Ricardo away. She even kissed him back. The long hours and hard work she had done was finally over. Then Liz came back to reality and realized she was kissing another man.

  “Oh, I can’t,” Liz said as she pushed Ricardo away a little.

  “I’m sorry. That was my fault. Totally out of line.”

  “No. It’s fine. I just have a boyfriend.” Liz said as she started to gather her things.

  “A boyfriend? Well, I didn’t know that. Sorry.” He said again.

  “No, really, it’s alright.”

  Liz and Ricardo awkwardly gathered their things and he drove them back to the hotel. They tried to make some small talk, but it was pretty uncomfortable. As Liz exited the elevator on her floor, she stopped and put her hand in the elevator door.

  “It’s my fault. I should have told you. I’m sorry. It really is alright.” Liz smiled at Ricardo and let the door shut.

  She didn’t want him to feel bad about kissing her. It was her fault. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t brought up that she had a boyfriend in the entire week they had been working together. All those long hours, walks, lunches and she never thought to mention Harrison. Liz felt so guilty about that.

  Why hadn’t she mentioned her boyfriend?

  Liz thought that she might have purposely not mentioned Harrison because she liked the way Ricardo flirted with her. But then she thought maybe she had just been too busy and it was an innocent mistake. But whatever the real reason, Liz felt like she had betrayed Harrison.

  She knew she hadn’t really betrayed him. Liz did stop kissing Ricardo and she did tell him about her boyfriend. But the feelings of guilt weight hard on her as she got ready for bed.

  Liz was exhausted as she hit the Skype call to check in with Harrison. She hadn’t gotten to talk to him since the beginning of the week and she wanted desperately to see his face. Not that she would tell him about what happened with Ricardo, but she did hope just talking to Harrison would help her guilt feel better.

  The phone rang and rang and Harrison didn’t answer. It had been four days since she had talked to him and Liz now felt worried.

  Chapter 7

  Liz drifted off to sleep with a feeling of guilt tearing away at her stomach. She left the ringer on her phone set as loud as it could go just in case Harrison called. Luckily it would be Saturday in the morning and Liz planned to spend the day in bed catching up on her sleep.

  Harrison never called.

  The weekend was long and Liz spent it almost entirely in bed. She stopped trying to call Harrison since he hadn’t returned her call. Her guilt about kissing Ricardo filled her days and nights throughout the weekend. So as Monday morning rolled around Liz did not feel as rested as she had hoped she would.

  She met Ricardo downstairs and he had a coffee in his hands for her.

  “Well, you look worse than you did Friday,” he joked.

  “I didn’t sleep well.”

  “Drink this so we can kick some more butts this week. We have a lot to do to get this campaign ready.” Ricardo said in his usual upbeat tone.

  Liz appreciated Ricardo’s light-hearted sense of humor. She was gla
d things didn’t seem awkward today and she felt much better about going to work after seeing Ricardo and his happy face.

  “I’m ready. Let’s do this,” Liz said as they headed into work.

  When they arrived at work, Liz went to the copy room to pick up their work they had left there for the weekend.

  Ricardo headed up to their office. But when he got there he was surprised by a man dressed in a tailored suit standing in front of their office.

  “Can I help you?” Ricardo said as he looked at the man who seemed to be an executive that they had not met before. Well, at least he looked like one in the expensive suit he was wearing.

  “Yes. I’m looking for Elizabeth.” Harrison said as he reached his hand out to shake Ricardo’s hand.

  Ricardo shook Harrison’s hand and looked at him in wonder. Who was this guy and why did he want Liz?

  “She’ll be right up. She is at the print shop,” Ricardo said. “Is there something I can help you with?”

  “No. I’ll wait for Liz.”

  Ricardo opened the office and let Harrison in.

  “Do you know Liz?” Ricardo asked.

  “Yes,” Harrison said. Not offering any more information.

  When Liz got to her office, she couldn’t believe what she saw. There was Harrison sitting at the desk talking to Ricardo.

  “What are you doing here?” She exclaimed.

  “Oh just thought my girl might be working too hard.” Harrison stood up just as Liz came barreling toward him and almost knocked him onto the ground as she hugged him.

  “I missed you.” She said. Then realized Ricardo was staring at them.

  “I missed you too babe.”

  “Ricardo, this is Harrison. Harrison this is my partner on the project.” Liz said.

  The two men shook hands again.

  Ricardo was surprised at how old Liz’s boyfriend was. He had to be close to forty. But again, he seemed pretty rich and Ricardo knew how well a rich guy could get whatever he wanted. He decided it wasn’t all that surprising that Liz was dating this guy.

  “Nice to meet you,” Harrison said.

  “You too. This is some hard worker you have here.”

  Ricardo pointed to Liz.

  “I’m so happy you’re here Harrison!” Liz couldn’t hold back her excitement.

  She hugged Harrison again.

  “Well, I know you are busy. So I just wanted to stop by and ask you on a date.”

  “Sure thing,” Liz said as she smiled from ear to ear.

  “How about I swim back by here at six o’clock?” Harrison moved toward the door as he started to leave.

  “Yeah, six o’clock sounds good,” Liz said as she looked over at Ricardo, who shook his head yes.

  “It’s a date. I’ll see you then my lady,” Harrison said.

  He reached down and grabbed Liz’s hand and pulled it up to his. Kissed it and then turned to leave the office.

  “Well, that was pretty fairytale-ish,” Ricardo said as he went back to his desk and sat down.

  “Yeah, I’m still in shock.” Liz looked at her desk and then back to Ricardo.

  What had just happened? Harrison had just flown across the world and surprised her at her work. She wasn’t even sure how he had found out where she was working at. Well, she certainly didn’t feel insecure about their relationship anymore.

  The rest of the work day flew by. Liz worked fast and hard to make sure she would be done with everything she needed to be done with by six o’clock.

  Ricardo was polite and the awkwardness between them was totally gone now. He seemed perfectly fine with Liz having a boyfriend and totally respected her boundaries. He even teased her a bit about how fast she could work when there was the promise of a date at the end of her day.

  “Perhaps we should keep your man here in town until the project is done. You work pretty damn fast with him as motivation,” Ricardo joked.

  “I’m so excited he’s here. I was worried about this new secretary he has. It was stupid really.”

  “Oh is she a hot young thing?”

  “I’m not sure. But she sounded like it. She is just filling in for Martha but still made me nervous when I couldn’t get a hold of him.”

  “Well, obviously nothing to worry about. A guy who is banging is secretary doesn’t go out of his way to fly around the world to see his girlfriend.”

  Liz felt better after talking to Ricardo. She even felt silly for thinking something would be going on with Harrison and his secretary. Liz had only been gone a little over a week. He wouldn’t forget about her that quickly. Plus, Liz had been so busy with her work it was Harrison who was probably worried.

  At six o’clock on the dot, Liz was standing outside the building waiting for Harrison. She couldn’t wait to kiss him and touch him. She had missed him horribly.

  Harrison jumped out of the car and ran around to open up the door for Liz.

  “Your charity my lady.”

  Liz grabbed him and pulled him close to her.

  “I missed you,” she said.

  They kissed and Liz felt home again. His body pressed up against her. His lips touching hers. Liz knew everything would be fine now that she had Harrison’s arms around her again. She had a hard time letting go so he could get back in the car.

  “Babe, we have plenty of time together. Let’s go check out this restaurant.”

  “Alright. If I must let go,” Liz smiled.

  “You’ll love this restaurant. It’s right in my hotel and supposedly has some amazing seafood.”

  Harrison had some a pretty strong investigative team that had found where Liz was working, but he had not been able to figure out which hotel she was at. He finally decided on the best five-star hotel in Sydney.

  “I can’t wait.”

  “By the way, I missed you too,” Harrison said as they drove off toward his hotel.

  Chapter 8

  At dinner, Harrison couldn’t stop kissing Liz. He had missed her just as much as she had missed him. He couldn’t concentrate on his work and finally decided he could work just as well in Australia as he could at home. It wasn’t like he met with many clients anymore. Most of his time was spent running the business end of things.

  “So tell me about this guy you’re working with.”

  “Well, his name is Ricardo.”

  “Ricardo?” Harrison laughed.

  “What?”

  “He sounds like some Latin singer,” Harrison kept laughing.

  Liz could tell Harrison was a little jealous. Ricardo was pretty handsome, in that Latin lover sort of way. But Liz was head over heels in love with Harrison. Plus, Harrison was much more Liz’s type. She liked his talk, dark and handsome thing he had going on.

  “He’s been with the company for over five years. A real top player.” Liz continued on, ignoring Harrisons comment.

  “So he’s your boss?” Harrison questioned.

  “Not really. We are working on the project together. But he is in charge of it.”

  “That’s cool. He’s not getting frisky with you is he?”

  Liz smiled and tried not to give away the truth. She wasn’t about to tell Harrison that she and Ricardo had kissed. Harrison wouldn’t feel comfortable at all with Liz staying and working alone with him.

  “Yeah, he’s cool. I think he’s gay or something,” Liz lied.

  “Hmm, I didn’t get a gay vibe from him.”

  “Well I don’t know, but certainly keeps to himself.”

  Liz and Harrison enjoyed their dinner and when dessert came Harrison couldn’t help but let his hands wander up Liz’s legs.

  She froze and looked around as Harrison moved his fingers higher and higher.

  “We should go up to my room,” Harrison suggested.

  “Yes. I think that would be a great idea.”

  Harrison motioned for the check from the waitress and went back to playing with Liz’s thigh. He was happy he had decided to sit next to her instead of across from her. It m
ade playing with her so much easier.

  “I’d like to have you for dessert,” Harrison said as he started kissing Liz on the neck.

  His fingers rubbing up against her as he moved his lips up and down her neck.

  “Mr. Wellington. Mr. Wellington.” A cute young woman came walking swiftly across the restaurant.

  Liz looked at her and instantly knew who she must be.

  “Yes. Sarah.” Harrison said as he quickly stopped kissing Liz.

  “You have a call from the Boston office. They say it’s an emergency.”

  “Alright.”

  Harrison grabbed the phone from Sarah and walked away from the table to talk.

  “Hi, I’m Liz,” Liz said as she stood up to shake the woman’s hand.

  “Yes. Oh Yes. I know. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Sarah said as she barely made eye contact with Liz.

  “So you came with Harrison? Interesting.” Liz did not think it was interesting.

  In fact, Liz was about to totally freak out on Harrison. The only thing keeping her together was the fact that they were in a restaurant.

  “Thanks, Sarah. I think it’s handled now.” Harrison said as he handed Sarah the phone back.

  “Okay. I’ll see you in the morning. Nice to meet you, Liz.” Sarah said as she turned and headed back out of the restaurant.

  Liz just sat there waiting for Harrison to say something. Anything. But he went back to eating dessert and grabbed the bill to pay it.

  He turned to Liz and let his hand slip back up her thigh before she stopped it.

  “I don’t think so,” Liz said curtly.

  “What?”

  “Really? What? Are you kidding me?” Liz stood up and was getting ready to leave when Harrison grabbed her arm and pulled her back into her seat.

  “She is just filling in for Martha while she spends a couple weeks with her daughter helping with the new baby.”

  “Why on earth did you bring her here if you were coming to surprise me?”

  Liz could feel the anger as it bellowed up inside of her. She didn’t want to be one of those women who freaked out on her man. But she seriously couldn’t understand why Harrison would need this temporary secretary to come with him to see her.