by ANDREA SMITH
“What,” Leah asked looking over.
“Oh, uh Mr. Sinclair ordered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” I said. “I can’t imagine one of the partners eating a P.B. & J.”
“Mr. Sinclair is the youngest attorney ever to make partner here,” she said, “Let alone senior partner. He will certainly make a great catch for some lucky girl.”
(Hmmm.)
I finished with the lunch order and faxed it over, requesting delivery at one o’clock as instructed. Just to be on the safe side, I called the deli ten minutes later to make sure that they received the order and instructed them the P.B. & J on the order required strawberry jelly.
Leah told me to go ahead and take my lunch from 11:30 to 12:30. She would cover the phones and respond to any requests from the conference room. I grabbed my purse and went to the kitchen; getting a yogurt and juice from the vending machine. I sat at one of the tables and pulled my
Blackberry out. I had another text message from Trey. He must have sent it from the conference room right after I made my exit.
That asshole Littleton will be lucky if my Size 11 shoe doesn’t end up lodged in his colon before the afternoon is over! You look great by the way. I’m going to fuck you when I get home. Then we will discuss your office attire, Ms. Preston. Are you taking good care of our baby?”
Once again Trey’s text tugged at my heart. I texted him back, figuring his Blackberry was probably shut off but he could read it later:
'Chill about Littleton, okay? NBD. I look forward to the fuck. My office attire is appropriate. I’ve received several compliments on it as a matter of fact. And yes, taking good care of our baby! Eating yogurt and drinking juice like a good girl.'
I finished my yogurt and went back to the vending machine getting an apple out. When I returned to the table, I had another text message from Trey.
He was texting me during the settlement conference?
'I’m sure you have Ms. Preston. I can see that Barry is already slobbering over you like an idiot. What is ‘NBD’?'
It was a turn of events for Trey to be jealous about the attention I got. He was usually the object of everyone’s attention and distraction. I hit the reply button once again:
'No Big Deal. BTW (By The Way) how can you be paying attention to this very important settlement conference while texting me??? '
I finished up my apple and downed the rest of my juice before I heard my Blackberry beep announcing another incoming text message from Trey:
'It’s called multi-tasking, baby. I do it all the time when we’re in bed. Haven’t you noticed?'
I giggled while reading his text at the same time Debbie from reception walked in to refill her coffee cup. She looked around to see if anyone else was in the kitchen. I picked up my Blackberry and purse and headed to the restroom. Once inside the stall, I replied to Trey’s text:
'I have noticed with great delight, Mr. Sinclair. I am heading back to our office to relieve Leah for lunch. I will be serving you your P.B. and J. soon.'
I texted Gina while I was in there asking her if she had any clothes she wanted to get rid of. Gina was a just slightly heavier than me, and being the clothes horse she was, I figured she had stuff she wouldn’t mind parting with. She texted me back telling me she would dig through her closet this afternoon and drop anything she found off before she went to the club with Ian this evening.
When I returned to my work station Leah left to take her lunch. She said she would cut it short if I needed her back at one o’clock when the box lunches were delivered. I assured her that I could handle it. She gave me a stack of messages; apparently Trey’s personal assistant, Tonya, had brought several messages over that she had taken for him while he was tied up. She had asked Leah to make sure that Trey got them when lunch was delivered.
I was glad I was out when Tonya had come by. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her it’s just that I didn’t know if she knew anything about my relationship with Trey. P.A.’s were privy to quite of bit of information concerning their bosses.
I leafed through the standard pink ‘While You Were Out’ message forms that were for Trey. Somebody by the name of Greg Sims from Sim’s Private Investigation Services had called and requested a call back to update progress.
There were a couple of messages from in-house attorneys here returning his calls; then I saw the last message in his stack and my heart dropped to my stomach.
Tess Flannery had phoned this morning at 10:30 a.m.
(What the fuck?)
I felt my blood boil when I saw her name on the pink message form. Why would she call Trey? She must have heard from Landon about our ‘situation.’ Christ, even I was referring to it now as a ‘situation’. I put Tess’ message on the top of Trey’s stack. I wanted to make sure he saw it first.
At ten minutes until one o’clock, Debbie from reception phoned advising that the boxed lunches had been delivered. She asked me if I wanted Josh from the mailroom to deliver. I told her that would be fine. I went to the kitchen and filled another ice bucket with ice. I saw earlier that the conference room refrigerator was stocked with bottled water and various types of juice and sodas.
Josh came down the hallway within five minutes with a cart generally used for mail delivery I presumed with seven boxes stacked in the baskets. I set the ice bucket on it, grabbed the phone messages and walked to the conference room with Josh close behind. I knocked firmly on the door.
“Come in,” one of the attorneys’ barked.
It had to be Harmon or Richardson; I knew that it wasn’t Trey. I opened the door tentatively, holding it for Josh to come through with the cart.
“Gentlemen,” Barry Richardson senior said nodding for Josh to put the boxes on the credenza, “We will take a restroom and lunch break now. We will resume our discussion in twenty minutes.”
I helped Josh unload the cart. I put the full ice bucket on the credenza, grabbing the empty one and asking him to deliver it to the kitchen. He obliged leaving the conference room. I checked the coffee carafes and there was still plenty of coffee in them.
I turned away from the credenza just as Mr. Littleton brushed against my backside in the literal sense.
Oh God, I hope Trey wasn’t watching.
When I looked over and saw the glint of pure anger in his eyes I knew that he had seen it. I tried my best to flash him a ‘no-big-deal’ look. He was having none of it. He abruptly stood up taking long, angry strides toward the doorway that Littleton had just passed through. I cut him off at the pass.
“Mr. Sinclair,” I called out, waving the pink message slips in the air.
“What?” he snapped, turning to me, and then catching my intent.
His face softened. I knew that he hadn’t meant to snap at me. He needed to chill out though, pure and simple.
“Your messages, sir,” I replied softly, holding the stack out for him to take.
He reached for them, his eyes still locked on mine. I nodded towards the messages, turning as he looked down seeing plainly the one on top. I went over to Mr. Harmon handing him his messages, then to Richardson. I was turning to depart when Barry came up to me; he had grabbed his box lunch from the credenza and a soda from the fridge.
“Hey Tylar,” he said, “You seem to be on top of everything. Great job especially for your first day,” he said, smiling.
“Thanks, Barry,” I replied, turning to see Trey’s face once again not happy.
I made my departure from the conference room, welcoming the sight of my desk in the alcove just around the corner. Leah returned about fifteen minutes later and asked how everything had gone.
“No problems at all,” I lied.
My next assignment for the day was to pull cases from Central Filing. Leah handed me a list of case numbers and then showed me to Central Filing. She instructed me on how to pull the files, mark the register as to the date, case number, attorney that requested the file and expected return date. She told me that five days was max on the ones that I was p
ulling today.
She also told me to fill out a cardboard ‘File Out’ notice with the date and who pulled it, placing it in the hanging file folder that stayed in the cabinets with the case number on it.
The list had about twenty-five to thirty cases. Leah showed me how the files were arranged. Older cases were stored in cabinets up on the mezzanine. She pointed out where the stairs were to access the mezzanine.
“You’ll get your exercise this afternoon,” she said, smiling.
I spent the rest of my afternoon pulling all of the files and making the proper notations on the register and the cardboard cards.
At 3:55 p.m. Debbie from reception called me saying that the front lobby had called up advising that my cab was here. I shut my computer down, locked my desk drawers, and grabbed my purse. I told Leah I would see her in the morning.
Once home, I opened the door to the apartment and kicked off my heels. I could tell that Mrs. Harris and been here and gone. I was glad to have the place to myself for a bit. Our bed was nicely made up; the bathroom clean and scoured.
I felt sleepy for some reason. I took off my clothes, tossing them on the floor. In bra and panties I climbed up on top of the made up bed, pulling a quilt that was folded at the bottom of the bed up over me. I sank down into the soft goose down pillows. I just needed a short power nap. Then I would see about making dinner for Trey I thought to myself as I drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
I awoke with a start from my nap. The room was dark, the sun had obviously set. I couldn’t believe that I had slept this long. I looked at the clock on the nightstand. It read 7:12 p.m. Why wasn’t Trey home from work yet? I heard rustling and the sound of ice clinking in crystal. I looked over to the corner of the room and saw Trey sitting on one of the chairs in the sitting area. His left arm draped over the back of the chair, a glass with ice and a couple of shots of amber liquid in the other.
I sat up abruptly, and switched on the lamp on the nightstand.
“I didn’t hear you come in Trey,” I said. “I didn’t mean to take such a long nap. I wanted to start dinner for you.”
He got up and came over to the bed where I was sitting. He was in his white dress shirt having removed his suit jacket; his tie was undone, and his top button of his shirt was undone. His five o’clock shadow looked sexy and he was in his stocking feet. He sat down on the bed beside me. His face looked serious. I was having difficulty in reading him.
“Tylar,” he said, with a heavy sigh. “I’m not sure that it is going to work out having you working at the firm.”
“Why?” I asked, puzzled. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No, actually it’s me. You simply drive me to distraction. Do you know how very much I wanted to throttle Littleton? Not only that, I am having difficulty tolerating Barry Jr. sniffing around you.”
He took a long swig of his drink, slamming the empty glass on the nightstand. I pulled the quilt off of me and climbed over to where he was sitting. He looked a bit tormented and it bothered me. I sat down next to him, taking his hand in mine.
“You have to know that I didn’t do anything to encourage any of that Trey.”
“I know, baby,” he said, pulling me onto his lap.
He circled his arms around me, rocking me back and forth, kissing the back of my neck. We sat in silence for a bit. He tugged gently on my ponytail, tilting my head back so that he could kiss my forehead.
“I had to let the senior partners know about our relationship,” he said quietly.
“What? I thought you insisted it not be common knowledge?”
“Tylar, you know as well as I do that wasn’t realistic. Hell, both Richardson and Harmon knew something was amiss today in the conference room. They referred to me as acting like a ‘rutting stag’. They were right.”
(Okay, I have no clue what a rutting stag is but it doesn’t sound as if it belongs in a law firm.)
“Why would they say that?” I pressed, hopefully to understand what it meant.
“Jesus Christ, they know me well enough to see how I acted whenever you came around and another man talked to you or brushed against your ass!”
“Let me ask you something Trey. You understand that there is a difference between Barry being friendly and simply chatting to me as opposed to Mr. Littleton brushing against my ass on his way out of the conference room, right?”
“Of course, but it all pissed me off!”
“The point that I am trying to make is whether or not you would have been concerned had Mr. Littleton done the same thing to Leah, or perhaps Tonya instead of it being me.”
“It was inappropriate behavior no matter who is at the receiving end of it. The fact that it was you enraged me.”
“I’m really glad to hear that, Trey,” I replied. "I think that you had every right to call Littleton on it because none of your female employees deserve that type of harassment. Was anything said to him?”
“Oh yes,” he answered, nodding his head. “Harmon saw what happened too and he called him on it."
"That’s one of the reasons I decided that I needed to let the rest of the senior partners know about you and me.”
“What do you mean?”
“The partners saw what Littleton did, and they wanted HR to get involved to talk to you to make sure you understood that it was being handled. They also saw my reaction and are aware that I called HR on your behalf for the job. I needed to let them know the extent of our relationship.”
“Do they know I’m pregnant, that we live together?”
He nodded affirmatively.
“Do they want me out of there? Is it a conflict of interest?”
“Actually our company handbook does not have a policy regarding fraternization. There are a few married couples who are associates at the firm. Given our relationship, you can never work directly for me. It is also customary for you to sign a statement indicating you won’t hold the firm liable for sexual harassment claims in the future involving me.”
“What?”
“It’s simply a precaution, Tylar. It’s the only way you can continue to work there.”
“I’ve got no fundamental issue with signing that Trey, but what about everyone else knowing about us, you know?”
“No, this is definitely not going outside the senior partners, at least for now. If our status should change then I fucking want everyone in that place to know that you are mine. However, that remains your call as you well know.”
“What about Barry, Jr?”
“What about him?” Trey asked, not even trying to hide his irritation.
“Well, his dad is one of the senior partners and they know, so maybe he will know as well?”
"Are you worried Tylar? Are you worried if he finds out about you and me he won’t be drooling over you anymore?”
“You are being ridiculous Trey."
I started crying. I couldn’t bear to think that Trey considered me to be some sort of a player. I jumped off of the bed and went to my closet and put my robe on. I exited the room, totally disregarding Trey who still sat on the bed, sulking. As I was coming out into the living room, the doorman was buzzing the intercom.
“Yes?” I said, my voice cracking with emotion.
“Gina is here for Ms. Preston.”
“Send her up,” I replied.
I retreated to the kitchen to make something to eat. I was famished. I opened some cupboards finding an assortment of canned soup. I located a can opener and pan and emptied the contents of the chunky soup into it and set the stove burner to medium.
The doorbell chimed; I let Gina in who had a large plastic garbage bag full of what I could only hope was clothes.
“Where do you want this, in your bedroom?”
“No, Trey’s in there just leave it here,” I replied, hurrying back to the kitchen before she noticed I had been crying.
“I have to stir my soup, Gina.”
She came around to the doorway of the kitchen, leaning aga
inst it with her arms folded, watching me.
“Okay, spill. What has the Hot Nazi done to you this time?”
As usual, Gina’s timing left something to be desired. Trey was coming around the corner to the kitchen just as the words left her mouth. He threw her a nasty look on his way past her.
“Gina,” he nodded, going to the refrigerator and grabbing a bottle of beer.
“Trey,” she replied, her tone almost accusatory.
Gina had balls, I gave her that.
“Would you mind stirring Tylar’s soup so that I can see what the fuck she is so upset about?” she snapped.
Before Trey had a chance to reply, Gina took me by the hand, pulling me down the massive hallway into the master suite. She went into the bathroom, returning with a cold damp washcloth.
“Here,” she said, handing it to me. “Your mascara is down to your chin.”
I took it from her placing it across my cheeks and wiping gently.
“So? What happened? Did the Nazi fire you on your first day?”
I provided Gina with the ‘Reader’s Digest’ version of the day’s events.
“So essentially what you are telling me is that Trey got his nose out of joint because some visiting lawyer brushed against your ass and he felt like kicking his? Ty that is what boyfriends, husbands, lovers do - get it?”
“I know,” I said, stifling a mini-sob, “But he also sort of thought I liked it when Barry flirted with me.”
“Well, did you?”
“No, but – “
“But what?”
“I liked that it bothered Trey I guess.”
“I see,” Gina replied, smiling.
“It’s not funny, Gina. Now Trey and I are in a fight sort of. He had to tell the other senior partners. Eventually they will find out that I’m pregnant. I’m sure I will be regarded as some gold digger that wanted to trap the handsome, rich attorney, using the oldest trick in the book.”