“According to my source, he’s willing to consider proposals from anyone who can o er him what he’s looking
for, even a boutique shop so small that he’d be their only client.”
“And did your source say what he’s looking for?” Andy asked, beaming with hope.
“That would’ve been too easy. Why do you think I spend every morning pouring over Paige’s reports?” At the same moment she remembered the missing binder, a sound in the vestibule caught her attention. “Jack! Get in here!”
Jack appeared in the doorway. “Yeah?”
“Where’s the purple binder?” Laurie snapped, too focused on the issue at hand to bother saying hello or even look too closely at her employee.
“Whoa. You okay, Jack?” It was only when Andy asked this, sucking in his breath with a strange gasping sound, that Laurie noted the woman’s unkempt appearance. Odd but unimportant given the missing reports.
Laurie mimed a shut your mouth gesture to Andy. She had other things to get to the bottom of. “The binder. The one you were supposed to guard with your life on pain of torture and dismemberment. Remember that one?”
Reacting at the speed of a bug trapped in molasses, Jack stared at the empty spot on the desk. “It’s not there.”
“You really are the observant one, aren’t you?” Laurie, for her part, was starting to make a few more observations. The rumpled shirt. The just rolled out of bed without brushing it hairstyle. She’d seen this look on Jack once before, the very first time the woman had walked into her o ce. Surely, she wasn’t being treated to another of Jack’s walks of shame, compliments of a night spent with some other woman.
“It’s supposed to be there,” Jack insisted, brow furrowed.
“He said he would do it.”
“Who?” Laurie’s insides steamed like a lobster pot. Had Jack delegated the task to some underling so she could rush
o to a hot date? Impossible. Jack was too low on the ladder to have underlings.
Laurie was on the verge of asking the question again when Toby approached her doorway, waving a purple binder in the air. “Are you looking for this?”
“Ah, there it is.” Laurie’s voice had a singsong quality she hoped would fool Toby into thinking it was no big deal, but anyone who knew her would realize it meant serious trouble was on the way. “I guess we can call o the search dogs.”
Toby laughed, handing the binder to Laurie then clapping Jack on the shoulder. “Everything okay?”
“Yep. Thanks,” Jack mumbled, studiously avoiding Laurie’s gaze even as she sought to make eye contact. Since when were Jack and Toby buddies?
“Okay, gotta run. I’ve got millions to make.” Toby laughed at his own joke as he strutted out.
Laurie breathed in deeply, pu ng out her chest. She released the air slowly before turning to Andy and speaking in a monotone through clenched teeth. “I need to speak to Jack in private. Shut the door on your way out.”
Andy gave Jack a wobbly smile as he tiptoed out of the room. After the door shut, Laurie raised a hand in the air to stop Jack before she had the audacity to speak. She strained to hear Andy’s footsteps as he worked his way down executive row. When enough time had lapsed, she rested her forearms on the desk. “Why did Toby have the binder?”
“I was in a rush to leave last night—”
For her date, no doubt, Laurie seethed silently. “I don’t want excuses.”
“But, I—"
“What I want to know is why the one person in this building who absolutely shouldn’t have access to the information in this binder”—Laurie slammed her palm onto the purple cover for emphasis—“had it for an entire night?”
Tears were welling in Jack’s eyes, but Laurie did her best not to notice. “Like I said, I was in a hurry—”
“Fuck you and your excuses.” Spittle flew from Laurie’s mouth as anger swelled. How could she ever have been taken in by this irresponsible waif, a woman who would hand ammunition to the enemy for the sake of not missing out on a roll in the hay?
“But I…” The rest of Jack’s sentence was swallowed in a sob as salty drops rolled down her cheeks. Laurie closed o her heart, unwilling to care.
“Not only did you give Toby the binder, you were late to the o ce, didn’t answer my call, and then all you can do is stand here and say you were in a hurry. I know you’re young, but I didn’t know you were so unprofessional.”
“I’m not unprofessional.” Jack wiped her eyes with her hands, sni ng loudly as she straightened her posture. “If anything, I’m overqualified for half of the tasks you ask me to do.”
“Then do I not pay you enough to do your fucking job? Is that what it is?” Up until that moment, Laurie had believed the phrase seeing red was a figure of speech, but as her rage soared, the world around her took on a crimson hue. “I tasked you with this job because I thought you were detail-oriented, the type of girl who knew how to get the perfect foam heart in a cup of co ee.”
“The perfect heart—?”
“No! You don’t get to ask questions.” The truth was, she had no answers. Laurie was as confused by the co ee reference as Jack appeared to be. Why was she bringing that up at a time like this?
Instead of cowering as most people would in the face of Laurie’s temper, Jack crossed her arms as a deadly calm seemed to wash over her. “You don’t get to steamroll me.”
“Steamroll? You think that’s steamrolling.” There was a maniacal quality to her laughter that Laurie wasn’t able to control. “You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
“By all means, do your worst. What powers do you have?”
“I can fire you.” She’d expected fear, maybe groveling.
Instead, there was silence. Laurie’s fists clenched and her breathing grew heavy, but the woman didn’t respond to that either. “Why are you still here?”
“I didn’t think you were done yelling. Please, don’t let me stop you. I’m quaking in my boots.” She shook her hands as if literally quaking, adding in a ghostly woo sound for good measure.
Mockery? Was she being mocked? “You really aren’t bright, are you? I fired your ass. Would you like a memo to spell it out?”
“That’s okay. I don’t need all of my documents printed at 125% like someone I know.”
“At least I’m not a spy.”
“Spy?” Jack cocked her head with a look of genuine confusion. “You think I’m a spy?”
“I think this morning proved it beyond a doubt, don’t you?”
“The only thing that’s been proven is you’re more of a neurotic bitch than the rumors ever led me to believe.”
“How dare you say such a thing to me?”
“How dare you fly completely o the handle for a simple mistake? If you’d let me explain—”
“I don’t want to hear your pathetic excuses!”
“You’re having a conniption over a fucking binder.” Jack shook her head as if in disbelief before fixing Laurie with a searching look. “Or is that really what this is about?”
“You traipse in here on your walk of shame, looking like you’ve been ridden hard all night and put away wet, with your just been fucked hair”—Laurie swiped at her own blonde
locks—“and suddenly all buddy-buddy with the enemy, and you have the nerve to pretend you don’t know what this is about?”
“Walk of… My just been fu…” Jack spluttered, her eyes wide. “Now I know this isn’t about a binder.”
Laurie’s nostrils flared. “It has sensitive information!”
“Exactly! Sensitive information doesn’t belong in a binder. You can’t password protect or encrypt papers. Jesus.
Do yourself a favor and buy a damn pair of reading glasses.
Every woman your age wears them. There’s a lot less shame in admitting you need help than in running from the truth.”
Women my age? In a flash, Laurie’s internal temperature went from feverish to cold as ice. “Why aren’t you leaving? I fired you.”
Jack swallowed hard but stood her ground. “I don’t think you want to do that.”
“Are you threatening me? What do you plan on doing?
Blackmailing me? Too late. You gave my enemy the binder.”
“Jesus Christ. Let the binder go. Why can’t you set your pride aside?”
“If I had any pride, I never would have slept with you.”
Jack blinked, her mouth opening and closing. Whether she was at a loss for a response or simply had enough wisdom not to say what popped into her head, it was hard to say.Laurie pressed on, her anger turning to loathing, not only for Jack but for herself and everything else around her. The universe could burn to a crisp, and she wouldn’t care. Hell, she’d happily light the match. “Do I need to call security, or will you clean out your desk and leave?”
Jack shook her head slowly. “Everyone warned me, but I didn’t want to listen.”
“Let me guess. They told you I was heartless? Well, they were right.”
“No, that’s where they were wrong.” Jack’s quiet tone made Laurie wish she would yell instead. For someone who had just been axed from her dream job, it was unnerving how calm she was. “I thought you were di erent. Better. But you’re not.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Ms. Kennedy.”
“Genius can come across as heartless when in fact it is simply calculated, necessary. That’s what I believed, anyway.”
Laurie bristled, lashing out. “You think you’re smarter than I am?”
“No, not at all. I’m saying you’re as ruled by your heart as anyone else, just as blinded by jealousy, just as scared and quick to lash out.” Jack shrugged, staring silently with a look that seemed to see all the way through Laurie, seeing the truth like no one else ever had. Laurie feared she would wither and die beneath the disappointment in the younger woman’s eyes at what she had found.
Turning away, Laurie picked up her phone, holding the receiver in the air. Inside, she was numb. “You have three seconds, Ms. Kennedy. Leave, or I’ll have you tossed out on your ass.”
C H A P T E R S I X T E E N
THE DEN OF CUBICLES THAT MADE UP BAY STATE BANK AND TRUST’S
main floor were unchanged from when Jack had started her finance career there, but the fifth-floor o ce Carmen led her to, with a wall of windows overlooking the park, was something entirely new. It hardly seemed real, but the nameplate on the door was labeled Jack Kennedy, clear as day. Maybe she was still in bed and this was all a dream. If it weren’t for the uncomfortable way Jack’s shoes were pinching her toes at the moment, she’d have been tempted to believe that.
Carmen held an arm out to each side, showcasing the o ce like a game show hostess revealing a valuable prize.
“Welcome to your new home.”
“An o ce?” Jack whispered as if saying it too loudly would wake an evil genie, who’d take it away. “This whole thing is for me?”
“Of course. What did you expect?”
“To be shoved into a broom closet,” Jack replied as she hung her overcoat on the back of the door.
“Maybe that’s how it was at Emerson, but around here, we treat our portfolio managers right. Go on. Take a seat, and see what you think. They’re very ergonomic.” As Jack sank into the most comfortable chair she’d ever had,
Carmen’s grin slowly faded, replaced with gentle concern.
“How is your mom doing?”
“I’ll catch you up later.” Jack waved the question o , not wanting to go into the details during what was meant to be her orientation time. She searched the top of her desk for where to begin, but there wasn’t a single piece of paper to be seen. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a desk this clean. What do you want me to do first?”
“I’m serious, Jack. She gave both of us a scare the other night, and it’s important to me to know how you’re doing.”
Carmen lowered herself onto the spare chair across from Jack’s desk and studied her with an earnestness that made Jack wriggle in her chair.
“I appreciate what a good friend you’ve been, Carmen.
Helping with my mom, and now coming through with a job even though I’d turned you down.”
“It’s not just because I’m your friend. It’s Bay State company policy that family comes first. Most everyone around here has spouses and kids. This isn’t the kind of place where we believe in sixteen-hour workdays.”
Jack gripped the arms of her chair, gauging whether or not Carmen was done with her pitch. It was one of her things, talking up the company and trying to convince outsiders that Bay State wasn’t the typical finance behemoth that swallowed employees’ souls in search of profits. She was forgetting Jack interned there long enough to know Carmen’s words were half true at best. Still, a job was a job, and after the shock of realizing Laurie was seriously firing her without even the chance to explain, Jack was grateful for anything that kept a paycheck coming in.
Finally, Carmen’s sales pitch ended, and she stopped talking long enough for Jack to get a word in. “Honestly, I’m still feeling out of sorts. I left her at the ER on Friday
morning just long enough to get fired, then found out she was being admitted for testing.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t stay longer at the ER the other night. What did the doctors finally determine?” Carmen’s face pinched with worry. “Was it a heart attack like she thought?”
Jack breathed in slowly so as to keep her temper in check.
“Seasonal allergies.”
“Are you fucking with me?” Carmen’s mouth hung open.
“Nope.”
“How is that possible? I read through the warning signs of a heart attack on the hospital website while we were waiting, and she had every single one.”
“Yes, she did,” Jack agreed dryly. “And she listed them to two nurses and a doctor in exactly the same order as they were posted on the website, which is what tipped me o .”
“So, she made it up for attention?” Carmen shook her head slowly as if in disbelief.
“Not exactly.” Jack tilted her hand back and forth, not willing to be unfair to her mother, no matter how much trouble she’d caused. “Let’s say she’s always had an active imagination and is highly open to suggestion.”
“That’s putting it mildly.”
“She really did have some tightness in her chest from the allergies, but instead of starting by looking up her most prominent symptom, she Googled how do I know if I’m having a heart attack? It kinda snowballed from there.”
“And then she called an ambulance?”
“In fairness, she called the hospital help line first, but by then, she was convinced she was dying, and you know how persuasive she can be when she believes something is true.”
Jack gave a resigned shrug. “The nurse really had no choice but to tell her to come in immediately, based on what my mother had said on the phone.”
“Let me see if I’m following. Your mom called an ambulance for hay fever.” Jack couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like Carmen was trying not to laugh. “I have to give it to your mother. She has style no matter what she does.”
“There have been many times when I’ve wondered if she lives in her own fantasy world. Always claiming she knows the rich and famous, and all her crazy theories about how dad was a long-lost cousin of the Kennedy clan…” Jack flicked a hand in the air. “Still, this might be a new personal best for her.”
“Let’s pray she doesn’t try to beat her own record.”
“Amen. I’ve already lost my job over this incident, and honestly, that might have been the easy part. Mom has been running me ragged since they released her. Demanding tea.
Ice cream. And, she has to have her pillows flu ed just right, or she can’t get a moment’s rest.”
“Ooh la la.” Carmen rolled her eyes. “She’s worse than the princess and the pea.”
“She’d better get over her brush with death soon.” Jack made a sound halfway between laughing
and crying. “I honestly don’t know how many more foot rubs I have in me.”
“Does that mean I’m out of luck? Did I not mention that’s part of your contract?” Carmen winked, shaking her head in amusement. “Speaking of contracts, I need to get you over to Paula in HR to fill out your new hire paperwork.” Carmen stood. “Ready?”
“Absolutely.” Jack rubbed her hands together. “Thanks, Carmen. You’ve always had my back. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay everything you’ve done for me.”
“Oh, I have some ideas about that; don’t you worry,”
Carmen responded slyly.
Jack shot her a suspicious look. “Not the foot rub thing?”
Carmen laughed but didn’t elaborate as she led Jack to the human resources o ce by way of the trading floor. Given the stock market hadn’t opened yet, the dozen or so people in the room hung around casually, and there seemed to be a celebratory mood in the air. Jack was taken aback by a welcome banner hanging along one wall.
Carmen paused when they reached the center of the room, clapping her hands loudly for attention. “Everyone, this is Jack Kennedy.”
A smattering of enthusiastic applause caught Jack entirely by surprise. A few people even came up to shake her hand and introduce themselves.
“Hope you don’t mind the fanfare,” one man said, clasping her hand in an iron grip, “but it’s not every day we meet a legend.”
“We’ve heard so much about you,” the woman beside him gushed.
“Oh… thanks… this…” Jack’s gaze panned the room and its occupants as she wondered why she was being treated like a war hero coming home. “This is unexpected.”
Carmen wrapped an arm around Jack’s shoulders. “I told you guys she’s the salt of the earth type, who blushes if you simply say hi. It’s one of her qualities I adore. Nothing stops her from getting the job done, and she requires zero fanfare.”
Jack plastered a smile on her face, but as soon as they’d left the trading floor, she whispered, “What in the fuck is going on?”
“They’re having some fun. I told you we’re a family here, Jack.” Carmen showed her to the door of an o ce not much larger than the broom closet Jack had anticipated being assigned herself. A middle-aged woman sat behind a cluttered desk, chewing the end of a pencil. “Paula, this is that special hire I told you about on Friday.”
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