The Bureau of Holiday Affairs

by Andi Marquette

  Robin waited. “And?”

  “I’m meeting with him at three today.”

  “Excellent. I’ll be all right on my own for a couple of hours.” She tried to sound plaintive, but ended up smiling. “Have you heard anything from Megan?”

  “Not where Frost is concerned, though Brady Herrington was in there twenty minutes ago.”

  “The boys’ club.” Robin shrugged. “Back in a bit.” She went to the elevator, and imagined herself once again suiting up for battle, only this time looking like the Black Widow character in the Avengers movies. That was a badass image and helped settle her nerves.

  “Hey, Megan,” Robin said as she approached. “Mr. Frost left me a message this morning.”

  “Go right in.” Megan gave her a pleasant smile, but Robin saw what might have been pity in her expression.

  Robin opened Frost’s door and was pleased to see that Brady wasn’t in the room. Just Frost, seated at his desk, suit jacket off. “Mr. Frost,” she said as she closed the door behind her.

  “Have a seat, Preston,” he half grunted.

  She settled herself in the middle chair again, presenting as cool and relaxed.

  “I’ve looked into what we discussed on Monday, and I’m afraid overall supervisory status is out of the question.”

  “So what would my position be?”

  His lips twitched, as if he was fighting a scowl. “Primary consultant.”

  “Salary?”

  “Three percent more than your current.”

  “Do you have a job description?”

  His jaw muscles clenched. Clearly, he hadn’t expected these questions. “I’ll email one to you.”

  “When do you need a decision?”

  “As soon as possible.”

  She smiled. “And I’ll make one, once I have the description. When are you closing my current position?”

  “As soon as we can.”

  Hell, she’d quit today, but she wanted to go through the appearance of procedure. “Then I’ll get right on it.” She stood, bypassing his dismissal, and he frowned, because he probably hadn’t expected that, either.

  “Anything else?” she asked.

  He shook his head, and she left, pretty sure that the position description would be in her office email when she got back. Megan was on the phone, so Robin waved at her and took the elevator back downstairs. She motioned Laura into her office to give her the latest then prepared for the usual business of the day. Sure enough, Frost had sent the job description. Robin read it and almost laughed aloud. Basically, it was a professional babysitter with no real influence. Frost would have her decision tomorrow.

  Robin’s personal cell rang, and she checked the number, an area code that looked vaguely familiar. “Preston,” she answered.

  “Good morning. It’s Danielle Paredes.”

  “Oh, hi. Did you get back to Chicago all right?”

  “I’m still in New York. And in an interesting turn of events, Jacob Burns will be here on Monday, as well as the two other members of the selection committee. They’re interested in chatting with you, since they’ll be here.”

  Robin grinned. “Excellent. Can we set up a time, place, and day for that?”

  “Certainly. I’ll check with the others and get back to you with some options.”

  “That’s perfect. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome. We’ll be in touch. Cheers.”

  “Thanks. Bye.” Robin hung up and did a fist pump. Lots of things in motion, and she felt freer and lighter than she had in years. Plus, she was having dinner with Jill. That would get her through the rest of today. More so than all the meetings she had to deal with. She’d make sure everybody had the right figures, that she said all the right things to clients, and that her colleagues were briefed. And she’d do it well. But she didn’t care anymore about the bottom line or possible accounts for Frost. Instead, she’d been reaching out to various people in her networks across corporate America seeing who might be interested in donating some money to an art foundation in Seattle.

  Quite a few, as it turned out. Useful, for the upcoming meeting with the North by Northwest committee. One thing, however, chewed at her. When she put in her notice, Frost could give her all kinds of bad recommendations. He could even bring up the accusations Brady had thrown at her. If the foundation called for a reference, he could do some damage.

  Or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he’d think some podunk arts foundation wasn’t worth a blackball. Tomorrow might reveal how far Frost would go, when she resigned. That would determine whether she’d address calling Frost for a reference with the foundation. Robin put that thought aside and focused on the things she had to do right now, and the client calls she had to make.

  By one-thirty, she was ready to grab a quick bite before her next meeting. As she was logging out, Laura stuck her head in.

  “I’ll be leaving in a few minutes.”

  “Okay. Hope it goes well.”

  Laura started to leave, seemed to think better of it, and instead came in and shut the door behind her. She moved toward the couch where Robin was working. “I just talked to Megan.”

  “And?” Robin moved her duffle bag aside so Laura could sit down.

  “Something odd happened. Frost came out of his office about twenty minutes after you left and wanted to know why Megan had let ‘that man’ into his office.”

  “What man?”

  “That’s what Megan said. Nobody went into Frost’s office after you left. Nobody can get into Frost’s office without Megan seeing them, if she’s at her desk.”

  “So I’ll ask the obvious question, now.”

  Laura didn’t let her. “Yes, she was at her desk, and even if she was on the phone, she’s still positioned to see the door. She didn’t take a break until Frost came out of his office.”

  “Did he say anything else about this man?”

  “No. But it seems odd. Right after you leave, some mysterious man goes into Frost’s office that Megan doesn’t see, and then Frost tells her to go to lunch on the company.”

  “Why?”

  “She doesn’t know. That’s what he told her to do.”

  Robin frowned. A similar thing had happened to her, when Agent Tolson first stopped by. Laura didn’t see her, and there was a weird time warp effect. Did the Bureau send someone to visit Frost? That made no sense. It wasn’t Christmas. They only opened cases at Christmas. Or did they? She’d seen Decker and Lady Magnolia since Christmas. “Well, as long as he’s buying lunch for people, we’re probably all okay. For now.”

  “Just be careful,” Laura said, and she sounded genuinely concerned. “Megan said he seemed upset.”

  “I will. Thanks. And shouldn’t you be getting ready to go uptown?”

  Laura stood and smoothed her skirt. She’d worn a very professional dark brown suit. “I guess I should. You never know what the trains are going to do between here and there.”

  Robin smiled. “Good luck. Let me know how it goes.”

  “I will. And thank you.”

  After she’d left, Robin decided she had just enough time to grab a sandwich. She did, thinking about Frost’s mysterious visitor, and she wondered if it was a dapper man with a German accent and a nicely fitted suit. Well, if it was Krampus, Frost no doubt had a lot of crap to go through. She almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

  On her way back through the main lobby of her building, her personal cell rang with another call from Danielle. “Preston,” Robin answered, moving out of the way of people coming in from the street.

  “Hi. Danielle again. Do you have any time Tuesday morning at ten? Say, a late breakfast meeting? The committee will be involved in other things the rest of the day Tuesday and Wednesday, and they have to fly back to Seattle on Thursday.”

  “Yes. Where?”

&nbs
p; “There’s a restaurant near the building they’re meeting in.” She gave the name of the restaurant.

  “I know it. Ten o’clock, Tuesday. I’ll see everybody there. I can be reached at this number if anything comes up.”

  “Great. We’ll see you then. Cheers.”

  “Thanks. Bye.” Robin smiled and nodded to herself as she entered the appointment into her phone’s calendar. She went back to her office. Just enough time to eat half her sandwich before the meeting. This one would include Brady, but Robin didn’t care. After all, she was seeing Jill tonight, and she had a meeting in a few days with North by Northwest. Things like Brady didn’t bother her anymore. She stepped off the elevator and went to her office.

  “I like how this dinner ended.” Jill pulled Robin against her, both of them sweaty and breathing heavily, once again tangled in the sheets on the bed above the gallery.

  “Who said it’s ended?” Robin kissed her.

  “Good point,” Jill murmured against Robin’s lips as she started moving beneath her again.

  Much later, Jill was wrapped around Robin, and Robin stroked her hair, wondering how things had gotten to this point, and what kind of luck that took. Maybe luck had a little help. How did one send a thank you card to the Bureau?

  “I’m really enjoying this,” Jill said.

  “Well, sex can be a lot of fun, if you do it with the right people.”

  Jill laughed and nuzzled Robin’s neck. “I believe I am.”

  “Same here. It’s amazing. And mind-blowing.”

  Jill propped herself on her elbow and looked down at Robin. “Amazing and mind-blowing?”

  “And stupendous. Plus the Chinese word for whatever’s better than that.”

  Jill lightly nipped Robin’s neck, and Robin groaned involuntarily.

  “I really like that,” Robin managed.

  “I know. So tell me more about your revelations this past month.”

  “I’ve told you most of them.”

  “Most?” Jill nipped Robin’s lower lip.

  “Some day, I’ll tell you what really happened with my red pill decision. A lot of it I’m not sure about, because it’s extra weird.” And she wasn’t sure how much of it was real, though she didn’t want to think about that.

  “Try me.”

  “I did. I have. I hope to again.”

  Jill chuckled. “Same here.” She brushed Robin’s hair out of her eyes and stroked her face. “Okay, how about this? When you decide to tell me your red pill story, I’ll tell you mine.”

  “Did yours make you wonder if you were going totally nuts? Like you might possibly be delusional?”

  A shadow of a memory flickered in Jill’s eyes. “I did think that was a possibility. But sometimes, things just happen, and the best you can do is go with it and hopefully learn something, even if it might defy imagination. I went with it. Still learning.”

  “Me, too. Took a major kick in the teeth, but I think I might be getting there. More work to do, though.”

  “There always is.” Jill brushed her lips across Robin’s. “I couldn’t believe when you just kind of appeared next to me that day.”

  “Same here,” Robin said wryly. “Do you ever think that there are—I don’t know—forces beyond your control that sometimes do things to get people on the right track?”

  “Like the red pill contingent?”

  Robin laughed. “Okay, yeah. Like that.”

  “I do sometimes think that. Because otherwise, what are the odds that you would be in that spot at that time on that day?”

  “Not very high.” None, if Magnolia hadn’t intervened.

  “Exactly.”

  Robin pulled her close. “Why the hell did you invite me to your opening?”

  “I don’t know. Seemed like the right thing to do. And honestly, being that close to you again, I just fell into old habits. The ones I like.” Jill pressed her lips against Robin’s shoulder. “There were flashes of the you I remembered in there. But you seemed a little raw, like you’d just been through something.”

  “I had.”

  “And you will tell me all about it some day.” Jill’s lips moved against Robin’s neck.

  “Yes. Some day.” She stroked Jill’s back, marveling at the warmth of her skin and how something as simple as touching her could inspire such emotion. “I was thinking that night that you were how I remembered, too, but with all of these new and interesting layers, combining in different ways with who you were when we were in college.”

  “I like that image a lot.” Jill’s fingers tracked between Robin’s breasts, sending a cascade of sparks down Robin’s spine.

  “So how exactly did we end up here?”

  Jill’s laugh, husky and warm, soaked right through Robin’s skin. “Do I really need to answer that?”

  Robin grinned. “No, come to think of it. I’ll just go with it.”

  “Good.” Jill’s fingers trailed over Robin’s abdomen. “You’re a really nice mixture of your old self plus the pieces of you I don’t know yet. I get that you have things to think about and things to do, but I like what you’ve got going on, Robin Preston.”

  Robin laughed. “Good. Because I like what you have going on, Jill Chen.” And she did. So much.

  “We need to do this again.” Jill’s hand moved lower, much to Robin’s delight.

  “You mean the extended dinner?”

  “Yes. That.”

  “It’s a date. Text me the time and place.”

  Jill smiled against Robin’s mouth. “I will.” And she ended further conversation.

  Krampus found the affairs of mortals mostly tiresome, but he did enjoy the sheer variety of cultures and the types of drama each engaged in. Humans were, however, remarkably similar at their deepest levels, driven by very basic things such as fear, lust, anger, and hunger, much like other species. Except humans imbued these things with often strange meanings, as if seeking to understand their very essence. Which, he thought, only made things exceedingly complicated.

  He entered Tolson’s office. She was on the phone, a heavy black thing that he recalled from offices in the UK in the late forties. Tolson held up a finger, signaling that she’d be done in a moment. She didn’t bother motioning at the chairs, since he never sat down when he visited her. He’d been working with her a long time, but she’d figured some things out about him early on, and he liked it when a human was intuitive.

  Tolson hung up. Her suit today was a lovely olive, her nails neutral. “Mr. Rampus. I trust things are continuing to move smoothly.”

  He clasped his hands behind him. “Yes. Ms. Preston continues to engage the choice you had hoped, and with little urging. I must admit I’m a bit surprised by that.” He saw by her smile that she was not.

  “Sometimes humans are easy to understand, Mr. Rampus. You have to look for the logic within the irrational.”

  He pursed his lips, puzzled.

  “Ms. Preston’s early years were formed in a context of love and support, even within circumstances that were less than ideal. Ms. Chen comes from a very strong support network, but it was and remains constrained in some respects. She was drawn to Ms. Preston because of the latter’s ability to adapt to changing situations and her spirit of exploration, no doubt acquired from her mother. Ms. Preston, for her part, was drawn to Ms. Chen because of the sense of stability and security she offered, instilled by her own background. Ms. Preston, as you know, didn’t have much stability, as hard as her mother worked to provide it.” Tolson leaned back in her chair.

  “Fascinating.” It was. Humans provided him much food for thought.

  “The Bureau, Mr. Rampus, exists to effect change in as unobtrusive a manner as possible. We may seem limited in scale, but for every one person we reach, there may be change across myriad generations. It’s one of the many intriguing things ab
out this work, and it’s why we’re relatively selective with our cases. After all, one can only do so much. As you are well aware.”

  He nodded once but did not respond, since Tolson rarely expounded on the duties of the Bureau, and she often had interesting things to say.

  She tapped one of the folders on her desk. “Chen and Preston complement each other very well. Together, they can accomplish great things. Which may not be at first visible, but change doesn’t need to be of large magnitude to have lasting effects. It can build momentum over time.”

  “Ah. This makes sense as to why we have expanded the parameters of Ms. Preston’s case.”

  She regarded him for a moment, and Krampus marveled that he found her so difficult to read. “Sometimes the Bureau must take a few extra steps to point a case in a direction that hopefully allows a freer expression of change.” She tapped the file with her finger again. “And sometimes, certain parties within those parameters must be made less effective, shall we say.”

  He inclined his head, signaling his understanding.

  “I appreciate your discretion in this matter.”

  “We shall see, I suppose, whether my methods with said party were effective.”

  “I did like the approach. Not your usual style, but I think it was appropriate for the situation.”

  “I can be versatile as necessary.”

  Tolson smiled. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Rampus.”

  “Of course.” He turned and was out the door in less time than it took to blink.

  CHAPTER 16

  The afternoon cityscape out her office windows held Robin’s attention much longer than usual. She’d never really looked at how sunlight bifurcated some of the taller buildings, or how it sparkled off the surface of the river at this hour. Somewhere in that pale blue sky, Jill’s plane was on its way to Seattle, taking both Jill and a part of Robin with it.

  She set her coffee on the floor and took several photos with her phone. It really was an incredible view. Someone knocked on her door.

  “Come in,” Robin called. She turned from the window as Laura entered and shut the door behind her and joined Robin.