Isn't It Time

by Graham, Susan J.

  “It’s 5:01. You hardly kept me waiting.”

  “Well, I feel bad anyway.” He stretched up on his toes and looked out over the tops of the cubicles. “Is everyone gone already?”

  “Of course. It’s Friday afternoon. There is no lingering on Friday afternoons.”

  “Okay, good,” he said, sounding a little distracted. “Are you ready?”

  “Yep. Lead on,” I said and followed him to his office.

  He unlocked the door and gestured me in ahead of him. “Have a seat,” he said, closing the door behind him. I sprawled into one of the chairs in front of his mammoth desk while he walked around to the opposite side, removing his jacket and loosening his tie as he did so. There was no Casual Friday for poor Jack. He tossed the jacket in the general direction of his credenza, knocking over a haphazardly-piled stack of paperwork in the process, and rolled up his sleeves.

  “Ah, that’s better,” he sighed, as he settled into his own chair and gave me a grin.

  I returned the grin and asked, “So, what’s up?”

  “It’s actually two things…” He trailed off and took in a deep breath, leaned back in his chair, exhaled and then leaned forward again, clasping his hands together on top of the desk. He looked nervous and I studied him, wondering why. It wasn’t like him.

  “Okay, here it is.” Another deep breath followed by another long exhale. “You know that I love you and that I’d do anything for you, right?”

  I was starting to feel a little worried about where this was heading. “Yes, and you know I feel the same.”

  “Right. So, there’s all this love between us…” He paused at that point, just long enough to smirk at me. I smirked right back, and then he continued, “We get along great, we’re nearly identical in our likes and dislikes – we were even both named after songs, for Christ’s sake.”

  “Yes, all true. That’s what makes us friends, Jack,” I said.

  “Yeah. But how do you think that would all come together if we were in a…a different kind of relationship?”

  I tilted my head slightly and eyed him warily. “Exactly what kind of a different relationship?”

  “The intimate kind,” he said, looking me straight in the eye.

  I straightened out of my sprawl and squeaked, “Together?”

  “Well, yeah, that was the general idea.”

  Being sure to enunciate clearly, I asked, “Are you out of your mind?”

  He actually laughed at that. “No, wait. Just hear me out before you dismiss the idea completely.”

  “Okay, I’ll listen, but I’m telling you right now - this is going to require some serious convincing.”

  “Understood.” He looked down at his clasped hands and I saw his lips twitch slightly, the way they did when he was trying not to smile, and I had to wonder what was so amusing. “Ah, hell,” he muttered. “I’ve already got my ass swinging in the breeze, I might as well put it all out there.”

  I was still staring daggers at him when he looked back up. “First of all, how do you feel about submission?”

  I arched an eyebrow and replied coolly, “I’m against it.”

  “Let me be clear. I don’t mean submissive as a lifestyle. I mean submissive strictly in the bedroom.”

  “Still against it,” I retorted stubbornly, folding my arms across my chest and giving him a look that dared him to continue.

  He accepted that dare and went on, almost as if to himself. “Well, that wouldn’t be a total deal breaker, I suppose. It’s something that I like. A lot, actually. But it’s not something that I need.”

  Oh my God. I feel like I’m in the middle of a really bad romance novel.

  “Oh my God,” I said out loud. “I feel like I’m in the middle of a really bad romance novel.”

  “What?” He blinked a couple of times and looked confused.

  I uncrossed my arms and leaned forward. “Jack, you’re a hot guy with a little kink and a lot of money. All you have to do now is tell me that your parents were both tragically killed when you were young, leaving you to be raised by a sadistic guardian, which, in turn, has left you emotionally unavailable, and you would be the perfect romance novel hero.”

  He burst out laughing. “You think I’m hot?”

  “Oh, please,” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. “You know you are.”

  “You sure seem to know an awful lot about romance novels.”

  Shit. This was dangerous ground. My love of romance novels was one of the few things about my life I didn’t share with him. I could just imagine the ribbing I’d get. So I lied. “Yeah, well, I hear things.”

  “Right,” he said, drawing the word out for about four beats and looking amused.

  “Look, Jack. What’s this really all about?” I asked, changing the subject.

  Keeping his eyes on me, he leaned back in his chair again and ran a hand through his hair. “Can I be totally serious?”

  “Please.”

  “Okay, well, you know how we’ve talked in the past about what we’re looking for in a relationship? How we’re both positive that when the exact right person comes along, we’ll know it immediately?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, around the time I turned thirty, I started taking a hard look at my life and while, obviously, everything was going great, career-wise, I felt as if there was this big, gaping hole in my personal life. If I’m going to be honest about it, I guess what I was feeling was a little bit lonely and a lot hopeless. Like, I wanted it so badly but it was never going to happen for me. You know I’ve dated my fair share of women - but there hasn’t been even one that I’ve met and immediately thought, ‘this is the one’. And I realized I had also never met one that I was as comfortable with as I am with you. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” I answered quietly. And I did understand. It was exactly the way I felt about him.

  “So, anyway, I began to wonder, what if it won’t hit me the minute I meet the right one? What if it really is all about friendship and compatibility first? And what if I’m so busy looking for some big sign that I’m missing what’s right under my nose? I know we don’t think we feel that way about each other, but what if we’re both overthinking and missing the obvious?”

  I stared at him as I sank back into my chair. Oh, my God. What if he was right? I mean, it was definitely possible. We were 100% compatible and I’d trust him with my life - and I knew he felt the same. Maybe it wasn’t such a ridiculous idea, after all.

  “Maybe,” I said slowly. “I suppose you have an idea about what we should do to either prove or disprove that theory? And bear in mind that I would be extremely upset if whatever you came up with destroyed what we have now.”

  “It shouldn’t surprise you too much to hear that I feel exactly the same way,” he said with a smile.

  I smiled, too, and thought again how much I loved this man. And I wasn’t kidding when I implied I would be devastated if he was no longer in my life. I had never felt anything sexual for him, but maybe, in the beginning, I had subconsciously shoved those feelings aside because I worked for him. I didn’t have a definite list of traits that I envisioned my ideal man having but, if I did, I’m sure Jack would have every item on that list covered.

  “So how about this?” Jack said. “Since neither of us is seeing anyone at the moment, maybe it would be a good time to have a test to see if there are any hidden feelings of a sexual nature between us.”

  “Jack Murphy!” I exclaimed indignantly. “I am not sleeping with you just to test a theory!”

  “Oh, settle down; I’m not asking you to. How about we try something smaller – like a kiss?”

  Frowning, I said, “I’ve kissed you before.”

  “Yes, I know. But never with intent.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s true.”

  Deciding that his idea had some merit and agreeing with him that we could very well be overlooking the obvious, I quickly ran through any possible negative consequences of a simple kiss. Not fi
nding any, I stood up. “Okay; let’s do this.”

  “You needn’t sound so pained about it,” he said dryly.

  I laughed and said, “Well, you’ve got to admit – this feels a little weird.”

  “Eh, maybe a little, but not so much that I don’t still want to try it.”

  “Okay.” I released my breath through puffed cheeks, trying to calm down the nervous tremors that were working their way across my entire body, and considered the logistics. “How do you want to do this? Should I come there, or what?”

  Rolling his chair away from his desk, he patted his leg and said, “Yeah, come over here and sit on my lap.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Nope.”

  Wiping my suddenly damp hands down the sides of my thighs, I approached him slowly.

  He gave his lap another pat. “Park it, sister.”

  That made me laugh and I felt the smallest amount of tension leave my body. Finally arriving at his chair, I looked down into his grinning face and settled myself awkwardly across his lap. His right arm came up immediately and encircled my waist and my left hand landed on his shoulder.

  Then we just looked at each other.

  “You’re making me want to laugh,” he said.

  “Laugh? Why?”

  “Because you look like you just walked to your doom.”

  “I’m hoping that’s not the case.”

  He looked me in the eye and cupped my jaw, moving his thumb gently back and forth across my cheek. “Relax, honey,” he whispered.

  “Okay,” I whispered back. I moved my right hand to his chest and didn’t relax at all.

  We took a simultaneous deep breath, both sets of eyelids fluttering closed as we leaned toward each other, lips slightly parting. Contact was made and he began the kiss gently, slowly moving his mouth against mine. His lips were pleasantly warm and firm - but I didn’t feel that tingling I usually got when I kissed someone. What I felt was absolutely nothing. Remembering I was expected to participate in this endeavor, I put some effort into returning his kiss.

  I noted he had some technique going for him but, still, nothing.

  Using his lips to further part mine, he slid his tongue smoothly into my mouth. Oh, God. Knowing it was Jack’s tongue in my mouth felt way beyond strange and I suddenly wanted to laugh. My lips stopped moving and my eyes flew wide open, only to find myself staring directly into his.

  He withdrew his tongue as the first signs of laughter started at our still-joined lips. Full-blown hilarity ensued as we pulled our faces apart.

  “Oh my God!” he exclaimed, bursting into laughter.

  “Worst. Kiss. Ever!” I proclaimed through my own giggling.

  “Hey! I’ve never had any complaints!” he said, as indignantly as he could, considering how hard he was laughing.

  “Well, you’ll never be able to say that again!” I choked out, muffling my own laughter against his neck.

  Jack started laughing so hard, he let out an unexpected snort, which set us both off into further gales.

  Eventually we began to settle down, with only minor residual outbursts. Both of his arms were around me, his hand was rubbing my back, and my cheek was on his shoulder, lips against his neck. We stayed like that for a while and I realized how completely comfortable I felt in this position - and there wasn’t any place in the world I’d rather be at that moment.

  “You smell good,” I murmured into his neck.

  His gave me a squeeze. “So do you,” he said, pressing a kiss onto the top of my head.

  Neither one of us seemed to be in any hurry to move from our little cocoon, so we stayed like that a little while longer, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

  “Jack?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “Would it be wrong of me to say that I’m a little disappointed?”

  Another squeeze, another kiss on the top of the head. “No, it wouldn’t be wrong. I’m a little disappointed myself.”

  Chapter 4

  A few minutes later, Jack gave me a hug and a pat that signaled our quiet time was over. I lifted my head from his shoulder and hoped my tears of laughter hadn’t screwed up my mascara too badly.

  “You have black stuff all under your eyes.”

  Wiping my dry fingers underneath my eyes, I looked at him. “Better?”

  “Nope.”

  Sighing, I reluctantly got up from his lap and headed toward his bathroom. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Bring me back a pop, will you?” Jack asked.

  “Sure.”

  Jack’s current office used to belong to his father. Between that space and the empty office Jack had previously occupied was a smallish connecting room, consisting of a kitchen/bar area and a full bathroom. The room had doors on both sides, allowing privacy between the two offices.

  I walked into the bathroom, repaired the damage to my makeup as best I could, and grabbed Jack’s Diet Coke from the small refrigerator.

  When I returned, I saw Jack had pulled his chair back to his desk and was going through some paperwork. He accepted the Diet Coke with a distracted “thanks” and I returned to the chair I had previously occupied.

  “So,” I said. “Are we ready to discuss the second thing?”

  “Yeah,” he said, looking up as he pushed his paperwork to the side. “I’ve been looking over the income statements for the past few years because something has seemed a little off to me. Last night I went to see my dad to see if he could confirm that and maybe shed some light on what could be causing the problem.”

  “Off in what way?” I was a little confused because I hadn’t heard of anything out of the ordinary. Business seemed to be good; Jack had managed to bring in a lot of new work, despite a sluggish economy.

  “Well, gross revenues keep getting higher, but net profit has been decreasing pretty steadily. Which, obviously, means we have a problem with our expenses. Payroll seems fine, and I don’t think that could cause this big of a decrease anyway without it being noticeable. I’ve done some spot-checking on the invoices of some of our bigger suppliers and sub-contractors and haven’t seen any large increases in individual pricing, so I’m not exactly sure where the problem is. But I have my suspicions.”

  “Which are…?”

  “Somebody is stealing a great deal of money from me,” he said.

  I slumped back in my chair in disbelief. “Holy shit!” I exclaimed.

  “Yeah,” he said with a tight smile.

  I ran through possible suspects in my head. I couldn’t come up with anyone at all who I thought would have the balls to do such a thing. “Have you asked Frank what he thinks?” I asked.

  “No,” he said. “And here’s why: My dad and I went through all the possible ways this could have been done and who in this office would be in a position where they would be able to put something like that in motion. And Frank would be number one on that list.”

  “No way!” I exclaimed. “Frank has been with your dad since he opened the doors here! They’re good friends, for Pete’s sake. I can’t believe he would do something like that.”

  “We don’t want to believe it, either,” he said. “But we can’t rule anyone out. Except you, of course,” he added with a smile.

  “Well, thank you for that,” I replied gratefully.

  Jack’s dad had hired me for this job. He was much like Jack in personality and manner and I adored both him and Peggy. They made it clear that the feeling was mutual and over the years of my friendship with Jack, I had spent a lot of time with them.

  “So what are you going to do about it?” I asked.

  “Well, my first priority, and the thing I’ll really need you to focus on, is to perform an extremely confidential internal audit to see if we can’t find the thief by ourselves. Luke will be around next week to help where he can. And I’d rather not bring in outside auditors if I can avoid it.”

  “Okay, that might be a problem,” I said, frowning.

  “Why is that?”<
br />
  “I don’t exactly have top-notch analytical skills,” I confessed. It was true. While I could easily put all those compliant numbers where they were supposed to go, I was always at a loss to make any sense out of the final product. Frankly, I just didn’t know what they meant – and, further, I didn’t really care. I provided all the pieces of the puzzle to Frank or Jack, and then they deciphered the meaning.

  “I know that, Angie,” he said with a grin. “But this won’t require you to analyze anything. You’ll just be trying to find anything that looks inconsistent, or even just weird. Think of it like detective work – and if you find anything that you don’t understand, either my dad or I will be available to take a look at it.”

  “Okay, I’ll try. When were you planning to tell Frank about the promotion?”

  “I’ll talk with him Monday morning – and by the time I do, you’ll already be working for me. I want you to start right away. But, before that happens, you and I need to get together with Luke and work out a battle plan. He’s going back home in the morning, but he’ll be staying with me while he’s here. He’s planning to be back Sunday evening, so what do you say we get together then?”

  “Works for me. Will you make me dinner?”

  Jack laughed at the absurdity of that question. “Maybe, God willing, it won’t be raining Sunday and I can grill some steaks. You can make everything else.”

  Jack excelled with the grill. He was much better at it than me, for sure. But if food couldn’t be grilled or microwaved, he was at a complete loss. So whenever I had dinner at his house, he would grill whatever needed grilling and my job was to provide the side dishes.

  “Consider it done,” I said. “You know, you should probably send out a memo announcing the change after you talk to Frank.”

  “Yeah, I’ll have that done before I even talk to him. And I want you to move into my old office. It’ll be the most convenient.” He paused and grinned at me. “And I just now decided, as your first official duty, you can write the memo.”

  “Great.”

  Jack laughed at my lack of enthusiasm and looked at his watch. “One more thing, then I have to get out of here. I know I probably don’t have to tell you this, but that little thing you just found out about my personal life?”