Two
I returned to the office fractionally calmer, but filled with a restless unease. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing miles away from home at my local coffee shop.
I put Natasha our receptionist’s coffee on her table.
‘Have you been…crying?’ she asked tactlessly.
‘Got some dust in my contact lenses,’ I explained, and walked toward the lift. Stopping by Jen’s desk I put her cappuccino down and she gazed intently at me.
‘What’s with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
That stopped me cold. She was right. I had. I had just seen a ghost from my past. One I thought never to see again.
I smiled weakly. ‘Didn’t sleep very well last night.’ I turned away and began to walk toward my office.
‘Hey, you know all those mysterious negotiations to buy out our firm?’
I turned back. ‘Yeah?’
‘It’s done. I just got the email. We’ve been acquired. Some American firm. The big head cheese is in town, and we’re all going to get a chance to meet him at two p.m. in the green room.’
My blood ran cold. What were the chances?
‘Who is he?’
‘Miko Barokas.’
‘Right,’ I said slowly and walked toward my office. It seemed the most incredible thing that after all this time he was entering my life with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. I went into my office, sat down, put my coffee and purse on my table, and tried to think.
To dissect the situation.
Could it be a coincidence? One of those bizarre synchronicities that sometimes happen—someone wants to buy a plum Toyota 2.2 and the next day a man they once met calls them up telling them he is selling his plum Toyota 2.2. Just stupid luck, coincidence and random events colliding like logs in a river.
It had to be.
One thing for sure, he had definitely not recognized me. No one from my past could. Not after all the plastic surgeries I had been through. I could barely recognize myself. The big nose was gone and in its place a narrow, straight as a blade little cutie. So: if I had no fear of being recognized as the date he took to a freak party—the memory was surprisingly fresh and bitter—all I had to do was play it cool.
He would only be at that one meeting to introduce himself anyway. After that, a jet setting, highflyer like him would be gone for good. Miko Barokas had better and more important things to do than hang around one of the firms he had acquired.
I picked up the phone and dialed my sister.
‘What the hell was that all about?’ she demanded.
‘I was standing in front of Miko Barokas when you called.’
‘What?’ she shouted so loudly into the phone I had to hold the receiver away from my ear.
‘I bumped into him at my local coffee shop.’
‘No way!’
‘Hmm…’
‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m still in shock.’
‘Did the bastard recognize you?’
‘Of course not. I’d shoot myself if he did. The girl he remembers is overweight, with dark hair, a big nose, and metal braces in her teeth.’
‘But what in heaven’s name was he doing in your local?’
‘Apparently he seems to have acquired our firm.’
‘Wow! Talk about bad fucking luck.’
I sighed.
‘Are you going to be working for him?’
‘I don’t think so. But he is holding a meet and greet this afternoon.’
‘Are you going?’
‘My absence will be far more conspicuous. I’ll just quietly sneak in and find a seat at the back of the room.’
‘You’ve changed your first name, but will he recognize your last name.’
‘First off, Willow, I don’t think I made any kind of impression beyond being the perfect date to a freak party. So I’m willing to bet my entire month’s wages that he has totally forgotten the entire episode. And if for some reason he possesses outstanding memory skills that allow him to remember every name he has ever heard, Johnson is actually the second most common last name in America. So I’m pretty safe with that one too.’
‘Lexi?’
‘Yeah?’
‘You don’t…er…care about him anymore, do you?’
‘Are you kidding? I hate the guy!’
‘Right. Good. Just checking.’
There was a pause and then she awkwardly asked, ‘How’s Nigel?’
‘Fine,’ I answered quickly. ‘Ah, I better get back to work. I’ll call you tomorrow and fill you in.’
‘Good luck, babe.’
I killed the connection and sat staring at the phone as if it was a scorpion.
Fuck it! I was not over him. Not by a long shot. That was as obvious as hell. The way I had reacted to him was more than just shock. The truth was I had swooned like a lovesick teenager. Oh God, if he ever found out! I covered my face with my hands. I would have to die with embarrassment. I looked at the time. It was eleven a.m. I had three hours to get my act together. I picked up the phone and dialed.
‘Hello, darling,’ Nigel said.
‘Hey,’ I said softly.
‘Is everything all right?’
‘Mmnn… Just wanted to hear your voice.’
His voice deepened. ‘Oh, darling. How long I’ve waited to hear you say that.’
Immediately I felt a pang of guilt. I didn’t love him and what I was doing was cruel. I had the sensation that my life was spiraling out of control. I clutched the phone harder and closed my eyes.
‘I’m taking you out to dinner tonight,’ he said cheerfully.
‘That will be nice.’
‘Where would you like to go? I’ll make reservations.’
‘Could I decide in a bit and call you back, Nigel?’
‘Of course.’
‘All right. Speak soon.’
‘Lexi?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Nothing. I’ll tell you tonight.’
‘OK, talk later.’
‘Bye, bye, darling.’
I replaced the receiver and stared out of the window. My phone buzzed. I looked at it and took a deep breath. I depressed the buzzer and Janey Masters’ glib, self-serving voice, a voice that knew how to put my teeth on edge, filled my office space.
‘Come in here, can’t you?’ she whined.
‘Be right in, Janey,’ I said, and getting off my swivel chair made for her office.
Janey Masters was reed thin and very chic. She wore her hair in a shining bob, painted her lips and nails French red, and loosely draped exorbitantly expensive scarves around her scrawny neck. She had decided many years ago to retain only a small portion of her soul.
‘Close the door,’ she said, not taking her eyes away from some papers on her desk.
I closed the door and went forward.
‘Have you seen the email about this afternoon’s meeting with Miko Barokas yet?’
‘No, but Natalie told me about it.’
She raised her head. ‘The takeover was all very cloak and dagger. Bit odd if you ask me. Have you heard anything on the grapevine?’
I shook my head.
‘Right. Well, will you go a little earlier and save me a seat up front?’
I bit my lip. Shit. There went my plan to sneak in and hide somewhere at the back. ‘Of course.’
‘Thanks,’ she said and dropped her head to her work.
I stood there uncertainly. ‘Was there anything else?’
‘No, you can go now.’
Honestly, she could have told me on the phone. Sometimes I didn’t feel like middle management at all, more like her girl Friday with her constant efforts to make me get her lunch and pick up her dry cleaning ‘since I will be in the area anyway’.
~~~~~