by Amy Baker
Sadly the significance hit me a little too late. My office door flew open and cracked against the wall. My head, which was still pressed to the blotter on my desk, snapped up at the sound.
“Steven wants us to brief him on what we plan on saying tonight at the gala. Did you prepare anything?” Stacey, if nothing else, was always direct. I exhaled loudly through my nostrils giving them a little flare. “Don’t start with the attitude, Delilah, this is business.” Stacey threw out a hip and crossed her arms under her boobs hoisting them while she accentuated her point. For some reason at that moment I took the time to assess Stacey. She didn’t have much of a chest but it was there. She was built like a runner. No fat. Lean muscle. All in all she had a nice body and took good care of herself. By the time I was done with my critical perusal and my eyes landed on her face I realized her eyebrows were almost attached to her hairline. “Well?” She asked with annoyance waiting for my response.
“I’m working on it.”
I was working on it. But I had only just started working on it.
“How far have you gotten?” she pressed.
I looked down at the notepad in front of me and read the first line silently. ‘Good evening Ladies and Gentleman.’ Clearly I hadn’t gotten all that far but I wasn’t about to share that with Stacey.
“Give me an hour and I should be done.”
I looked back down at my notepad and picked up my ballpoint pen putting the tip to my lips like I had been mid-thought when she so rudely interrupted me.
I knew I wasn’t fooling anyone because Stacey did that thing where she rolled the tip of her tongue along her tautly tucked bottom lip. That meant she didn’t believe a word I said. But luckily she didn’t verbalize her disbelief. Instead she chose to leave me with a challenge. “Great. I’ll expect it in my ‘inbox’ in an hour.”
Fuck her. Senior year of college I practically wrote my entire dissertation in an hour. A speech was no problem, whatsoever. Stacey turned her attention toward the traitor sitting outside of my office, glaring and growling at Logan.
I knew Stacey had left because I heard the intercom come to life. Psht. “Is it safe to come out from under my desk?” Psht. “Over.”
This I had to see for myself. So I stood, rounded my desk and peeked outside my door. I couldn’t see Logan so I stepped out to take a closer look. His telephone wire was dragged across his desk and then disappeared. I walked around and leaned over to find Logan cradled under his desk clutching his phone. “Pussy,” I scolded.
“She’s crazy,” he whispered. “Over,” he whispered again.
That was for damn sure.
I finished writing the speech Stacey and I would be giving at the gala and emailed it to her with ten minutes to spare. Even though she and I worked together flawlessly and didn’t need to ‘rehearse,’ she still needed time to practice her part. I outlined clearly which portion of the speech was Stacey’s and which was mine. We had done this hundreds of times and this time should be no different. But since our little ‘disagreement,’ I entertained the thought that she might try to switch or change things around. She had only done that one other time. It was the first speech I had written for us. She had said that she wasn’t very comfortable writing speeches and I had said that I didn’t mind. Truth be told, I actually liked writing speeches. So I penned the entire thing not giving much thought as to who would say which part and then divided it up equitably. I didn’t care which part fell on my shoulders because I wrote the entire thing as if I would be saying it. But the first thing Stacey did when she received it was alert me to the fact that she wanted to switch parts. I found her request odd but figured that being a domineering personality she wanted to go first. So I said that it was fine. But as soon as I acquiesced, she immediately switched it back. Maybe she thought I was trying to trick her somehow? I wasn’t sure. But I should have realized then that the fact that she questioned my intentions spoke volumes about her own character.
My stomach started to growl warning me that lunchtime was approaching. Since I still hadn’t heard from Stacey I assumed that she hadn’t had an issue with the speech. But really, I should’ve known better. She was the most calculating person I had ever met aside from Darcy. I got in the elevator with the intention of going to get a sandwich and hightailing it back to my desk to wait for Steven to summon me. Diving head first into the bag strapped to my shoulder praying that I’d remembered my wallet, I wasn’t paying attention to who was in the elevator when I stepped inside.
“Delilah,” the slow southern drawl held a hint of sneer.
I knew who it was before I even looked. I had spent the better part of the prior evening with my mind vacillating between two concerns, one more terrifying than the other. First, that I screwed up my chances with Hugh and second, Will was fairly delusional and actively stalking me. I had fallen asleep still trying to convince myself that I was overreacting to Will’s comment and he was essentially harmless. It helped that I had a round-the-clock doorman and a heavy-duty deadbolt. But when I looked up to acknowledge Will, he was smirking snidely.
“Hello, Will,” I tried to say with a confidence I wasn’t feeling. I affixed the strap of my bag tighter on my shoulder and shook my head to get my hair untangled from the straps. In an effort to put on a brave face, since I was trapped in a 4 x 5 metal box with him, I straightened my shoulders and flashed a tight grin.
“Have fun on your date last night?” He asked with indignation.
Appalled that he had the audacity to comment on my social life, I exhaled loudly. Just when I was about to turn on him and tear into him he continued.
“I wonder how your boss would feel about you bedding one of our biggest clients.”
Not quite, but I was almost stunned silent. I turned my head with my jaw actually dropped open. “Probably just as critical of one of his employees threatening another, Will.” Feeling the need to confront him further I turned my body toward his and proceeded. “And not that it is any of your business, but Hugh is also an old friend. Whether I choose to have dinner with an old friend has absolutely nothing to do with my work ethic.” I threw my hands on my hips and wrapped up my argument. “And luckily the topic of whom I choose to take to bed will never be one you have to concern yourself with. Asshole.” Luckily the elevator doors opened so I could make a hasty getaway. My hands began to tremble with a disturbing realization. Not only was my coworker stalking me, but now he was subtly threatening me as well. Involuntarily, a thought crossed my mind. I should have listened to Stacey. She was a lot of things but no one could say that she wasn’t perceptive. She pegged Will within ten seconds of meeting him. She actually may have even underestimated him.
I entered my favorite deli to order my favorite sandwich. It had taken me two years to find this place and once I had my loyalty was paramount. It was a good distance from my office building but I was happy to make my daily contribution if it strengthened the deli’s chances of being profitable enough to keep its doors open. Deli’s came and went in the city and I liked my white meat chicken salad with a touch of vinegar and shredded lettuce. It gave the sandwich that extra zing. However the zing I was about to experience had nothing to do with a hint of vinegar. It was far more disturbing.
I left the deli. The bell over the door jingled my departure. It made such a cheerful sound. The antithesis of what I was about to stumble upon. I made my way up 23rd street to Broadway and hooked a left. There were several trendy restaurants in this section of Manhattan most of which I had been to with clients. One of my favorites was a place called Alberto’s. Aside from making the best homemade pasta in the city, they also had the most amazing desserts. As I wound my way through the throng of people who had gathered on the sidewalk on some sort of walking tour, I turned my head to look inside the restaurant. Sometimes I would see the owner and wave or my favorite waiter and smile. But instead, my heart stopped as my eyes absorbed the sight of Stacey stretching across a table and holding both of Hugh’s hands in hers. Her head was t
hrown back in laughter while he sported his sexy smile clearly enjoying her playful banter. It was like I had just been kicked in the abdomen but somehow developed a sudden case of Turrets at the same time.
“That son-of-a-bitch-mother-fucking-boyfriend-banging-whore!” I screamed. The string of expletives left my lips with a heavy burst of air from my lungs. As my anger grew to unmanageable levels, my fists tightened crunching the bag that held my coveted lunch. The longer I stared the more harried my breathing became.
The swarm of visitors whose native tongue I’d guessed was Chinese all turned to see what had me giving them a free lesson of how to effectively string a multitude of dirty words in English. The man next to me cupped his hands around his eyes and pressed his face up against the window to get a better look inside. Just as disappointment ravaged my expression, Hugh turned his gaze complete with gorgeous white smile toward the window. I watched as his smile slowly faltered as he realized the devastation his intimate entanglement had inflicted. I saw him shake his head once defensively but the sight was too awful to pretend I hadn’t seen it or that it didn’t matter. I clenched my teeth together in response to the pain that was searing through my heart and shook my head back at him.
He knew.
And he knew that I knew.
I turned to make a hasty getaway but found my efforts stymied by the crowd, which were huddling even closer to get a glimpse of the Hugh and Stacey Show.
“Excuse me,” I murmured but no one moved. “Pardon,” I tried but still they seemed to just spin in concentric circles. “Scuze me,” I uttered again but their numbers seemed to be multiplying. I was getting frustrated and really needed to get out of there pronto. “Move!” I hollered. I saw a frail older woman jump at my outburst, which only added ‘guilt’ to the laundry list of negative emotions pulsing through my body. Just as I started to make some headway through the crowd, I felt a large hand wrap around my upper arm.
“Delilah,” the deep voice rumbled. “It’s not what you think.”
I turned to look at the hand on my arm and then followed the appendage to the face of its owner. I couldn’t help the tears that had begun to well. I was a frigging mess and I was in no way, shape, or form prepared to deal with Hugh at that juncture.
I steeled myself as best I could and gave him the coldest shoulder I could muster. “It’s exactly what I think, Hugh. Stacey’s a good time. Have at it. Everyone else has.” I ripped my arm from his grip and turned on my heel. I tried to control my steps so it didn’t look like I was staggering off like an injured lamb. But whom was I kidding? Even the Chinese gentleman who had witnessed the entire ordeal could see that I had just been gutted. His open hand clamped over his dropped jaw was a tell tale sign.
I dragged my kicked-ass up to my office and tossed my perfect chicken salad sandwich into the trashcan next to Logan’s desk. It no longer held any appeal. “Hold all of my calls,” I ordered without inflection.
Sensing my devastation, Logan knew enough to keep his mouth shut and just hand over the stack of missed messages that he had intercepted before they reached my voicemail. I lamely grabbed them and shuffled into my office. I grabbed the door with the tips of my fingers and swung weakly. The door didn’t latch but it was mostly closed so I left it alone and retreated to my desk. My forehead got friendlier with my blotter as I contemplated how my day could get any worse. After about three minutes I sensed the presence of another soul. I slowly lifted my head and raked my hand through my hair to get it out of my face. There stood Logan with a steaming cup of Pumpkin Scented Latte topped with an extra dollop of whipped cream.
“Limited time offer,” he teased. So maybe Logan wasn’t the complete waste of oxygen that I had labeled him. “You looked like you could use this.” He took a few steps in and placed the beverage on the corner of my desk.
I sniffled back the threatening deluge of emotion and nodded instead.
“She isn’t worth it, Delilah. And all of her deviousness will catch up to her sooner or later. I know you know that already but sometimes it helps to hear it from another person,” he added.
I nodded again because he was right.
“Want to tell me what she did this time?” he asked in a brotherly fashion.
I swallowed loudly and shook my head.
“Okay. Well if you need me I’m right outside,” he offered. In that very moment Logan didn’t seem so inept. He actually seemed to have his finger on the pulse of what was going on in our little nucleus. I plastered on a half-hearted smile communicating my appreciation just as Logan turned to leave my office. Then he went and ruined the entire moment with one simple word. “Over.”
Okay, so maybe he wasn’t the genius that I was giving him credit for. But I had to admit what he shared seemed very mature and fairly perceptive.
Steven approved the speech I’d written and seemed very pleased with the way things were progressing. He asked if Stacey and I could start off the evening with a toast, which of course sounded logical. Then we should introduce the CEO of each company who would announce the details of the merger. I nodded with each bullet point he made relaying that I understood his wishes.
“Where is Stacey, anyway?” He asked as he sat on the corner of his heavily carved, mahogany desk.
I shook my head trying to rid my mind of the image that I’d so devastatingly witnessed on my lunch hour. But it was a difficult task given Stacey’s glaring absence. Every thought that ran through my mind had some component of Stacey luring Hugh from lunch and then riding him like a champion female bull rider.
“I don’t think she ever returned from lunch,” I shared skipping the provocative yet revolting images that ran through my brain.
“Oh,” he said with a hint of surprise. “Well. Maybe she is preparing for the evening ahead,” he surmised. “This is very exciting news, Delilah. For some of us more than others.”
I thought his last remark sounded somewhat cryptic but I was too busy trying to extricate the image of Hugh banging Stacey in a utility closet somewhere in New York City that had taken root in my head. So, his remark didn’t really register at the time. He slapped his hands on his thighs and stood, which was my cue to leave.
I nodded as I stood and thanked my boss for his support and guidance. “See you tonight, Steven.” I know my parting words sounded deflated but I just couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm that I’d had for this event only days before.
I unpacked the box that had arrived the night before, which held the much-anticipated dress that I’d been waiting for. The dress was wrinkled but I knew once I used my steamer, the wrinkles would fall away and the dress would be perfect. I admired the material as I ran the wand gently over the fabric to smooth it out. Delicate navy lace fluidly cascaded over an even darker blue background. Scattered intermittently was a dainty fleck of a sequin, which would catch the light just perfectly. The front of the dress was conservative with fitted three quarter sleeves and a neckline that rested just below my collarbone. The back of the dress, however, was super sexy. The fabric loosely fell to a deep ‘v’ revealing my entire back. It was fitted through the hips and hemmed just above the knee. I piled loose curls on top of my head strategically leaving wisps of hair around my face. My lip color was subtle but I did my eyes with a heavy hand creating a smoky effect. Overall, I was happy with how the entire look came together. I slid on my navy peep toe heels one at a time and straightened in front of my mirrored closet doors. I turned this way and that making sure I wasn’t unknowingly showing any undergarments. As I crossed my bedroom heading toward my handbag, which sat on the bed, I heard my intercom come to life. I left the handbag and walked briskly to the intercom assuming it was Davis who was thoughtful enough to anticipate my need for a cab.
“Hello, Davis,” I answered breathlessly.
“Hello, Miss Dee. You have a visitor,” he surprised me with his announcement, as I wasn’t expecting anyone. “Should I send him up?”
“Um.” I wasn’t sure who it could be so I hesitated
afraid that it was Will who had deluded himself into thinking that I was his date for the evening. “Who is it, Davis?” I asked instead.
I heard a scuffle through the intercom and then a different voice through the speaker.
“Delilah, it’s me. Let me up.” Then I heard the voice talking to Davis. “Back off, man. I’m telling you right now.”
“Hugh?” My voice went up a few octaves in disbelief.
“Yeah,” he clarified then I heard a bang like something had banged into a wall.
I sighed heavily and heard what sounded like Davis in the background but his voice sounded different. Almost hoarse. And maybe a little squeaky. “Should I call the police, Delilah?” He sounded like a combination of Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse.
I hurried to answer him picturing Hugh’s large hand wrapped around Davis’ little neck. Images of Davis helplessly pressed up against the paneling in the lobby by Hugh’s formidable body assailed me. “No, no, Davis. Just send him up.”
Then I heard more scuffling and Hugh barking orders at Davis.
“Buzz me in, damn it,” Hugh demanded and I felt my heart begin to race at his tone.
I heard the buzzer sound which unlocked the interior door. I guess Davis had given in.
“I don’t like you one bit,” Davis shared not realizing I could still hear their exchange through the intercom. “You’re not good enough for my Delilah.” I could hear the volume of his voice escalate indicating that Hugh made his way through the door and closer to the elevator.
Aw, that was sweet of Davis. He called me his Delilah.
Then I realized I should stop eavesdropping on Davis and prepare myself for Hugh’s arrival. Too late. My time was up. I heard the elevator ding. So I did the only thing I could and inhaled a cleansing breath. I let it out slowly trying to control my rapid heart rate. Hugh knocked on my front door forcefully. I stared at it a moment and then decided in that very instant to turn around and go get my bag on my bed. Yeah, it was a bitchy thing to do but I was still experiencing flashbacks from the sight that marred my virgin eyes at lunch. I heard him bang again while he simultaneously instructed me to ‘open up.’ Unhappy with his aggression toward Davis and assertiveness now with me, I called out for him to wait a minute. And I didn’t say it nicely.