The two of them giggled, and my eyes fluttered open. I wondered how truthful those words were. Blake had alluded to the fact that she and Matthew were very close during a couple of phone conversations. At the time, I had felt a twinge of jealousy, the only child in me acting out. I couldn’t imagine having a brother or sister, let alone being best friends with him or her. The way they interacted with each other made me wonder why she had ever moved out of his house.
“So, you’re from Indy originally?” Matthew asked, turning towards me. As he made the slight movement, his foot brushed mine. Maybe it was just the hot water, but the contact burned as the sensation traveled up my leg.
I coughed prior to answering. “Born and raised.”
“That’s cool. Just seems odd that your promotion would take you to Fort Wayne instead of the other way around.”
“Life is crazy sometimes that way. But our corporate office is here, so it all makes sense.”
“Blake and I have lived here all our lives, too. We grew up pretty close to here. I admire someone who can leave everything they’ve known behind and start out fresh.”
For whatever reason, at that moment I glanced over at Blake. Her expression was unreadable. She stared down at the surface of the water, almost despondent.
“I’m hoping that not everything gets left behind,” I joked. “My boyfriend might have issues with that.”
There. I had managed to work Eric’s existence into the conversation in a way that felt natural enough. I wasn’t sure whose benefit that was for: Matthew’s or mine. If Blake hadn’t mentioned it before, now he would know. And saying the words helped me to feel less guilty about the fact that I was checking out Blake’s brother. Looking never hurt anyone, right?
Matthew’s expression didn’t let on if he was disappointed. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I suppose not. That must be hard.”
“We have a long history of being miles apart,” I admitted.
“That’s too bad,” he mused. “If you were my girlfriend, I would want you right by my side.”
My breath caught in my lungs. Was he flirting with me? The sheer possibility made my heart accelerate. I struggled to bring myself under control. I failed miserably.
“So,” Blake said brightly, “I was thinking we could go to my favorite Italian restaurant. Do you like Italian food, Lauren?”
Bless her for changing the subject.
“I love it.” This was true. However, at this particular time, she could have asked me if I wanted to eat dinner out of the nearest dumpster and I would have agreed.
“We better start getting ready,” she suggested. “Meet you there in an hour or so, dork?”
“Okay, sure.” Matthew agreed.
Blake pulled herself out of the water. As far as looking good in a swimsuit, I was no match for her. Her tiny bikini showed off all of her assets and was designed for someone extremely confident about her own body. Her flat stomach was accentuated by a delicate tattoo of sunflowers that circled her navel. Her belly button was pierced, speared with a long metallic blue spiral. She gave no attention to the fact that she stood in a state of partial undress. As she walked past her brother, she reached down and smacked him on the back of the head. She collected her towel and stood on the deck, obviously waiting for me to exit the hot tub and follow her inside.
I followed suit, except for the violence of course. I wrapped my towel tightly around my shoulders.
We left Matthew outside to tend to closing up the hot tub. Apparently this wasn’t an issue, even though I felt guilty about it. He acted like it was no big deal. By the time we crossed the deck to the sliding glass door, he had already gotten out and was working on putting the cover on. I threw a glance over my shoulder, wondering if I was just reading too much into his comment.
Blake didn’t seem to think so. “I’m sorry about that,” she hissed as she opened the door and we walked inside.
I shrugged. “It’s not a problem.”
“Your relationship is none of his business. Especially when he just met you. I mean, your poor boyfriend isn’t here to defend himself and my brother’s already passing judgment.”
“I’m not offended. It’s okay.”
“Whatever. Don’t let him get away with that crap just because he’s hot.”
I blushed.
She laughed. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you checking him out.”
“It was that obvious?”
“Don’t worry; you were discreet. And your secret’s safe with me.”
We parted ways to go to our respective bathrooms to get ready. Blake had indicated that the restaurant was casual, so I’d be okay wearing jeans. I breathed a sigh of relief. Fancy dining wasn’t really my thing. Besides, I didn’t have anything suitable to wear for a five-star establishment.
I showered quickly, relishing the superior water pressure. Within half an hour, I had dressed and done full hair and makeup. Much more impressive than my appearance had been this afternoon. Not that it mattered, right?
I had a boyfriend. Eric was my boyfriend. I repeated the mantra in my head, over and over.
Sure, it was fun to look, but nothing would ever come of this.
Blake wasn’t yet ready, so I plopped down on the couch in the living room to wait. She appeared just a couple minutes later, beautiful as always.
“Ready to go?” she asked. “I’ll drive.”
We piled into her Miata and drove off. It was the perfect opportunity for me to do a little sightseeing and familiarize myself with my new home. We passed the onramps for the interstate and continued towards downtown. The restaurant wasn’t too far away, possibly a ten minute drive. Blake scanned the parking lot for the Mustang. Not finding it there yet, she pulled the tiny convertible into a spot fairly far from the entrance. The place looked busy.
For the second time that day, I heard the car before I saw it. Matthew parked right beside us. I moved to get out of the car, my hand on the lever to open the passenger door. He beat me to it, exiting his own car and opening my door in one slick gesture. Taken aback, I stared up into his deep blue eyes. He held out his hand to help me out. I accepted, again feeling the electricity between us.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he greeted.
At first, I assumed that his comment was directed to his sister. However, he was looking directly at me. If I wasn’t red already, I most certainly was now.
I stood there awkwardly, frozen. He reached behind me to close my car door when I made no move to. His arm brushed my shoulder as he did so. I breathed in his nearness. He smelled of nothing that would normally be remarkable, just soap. In this case, however, it was intoxicating.
“I’m sorry for what I said earlier,” he continued softly.
“It’s okay,” I whispered back. “No offense taken.”
I wondered if Blake had put him up to this. She stood at the hood of her car, observing us. Matthew let out a sigh of relief and stuck his tongue out at her. She shook her head and we walked up to the entrance together. I trailed slightly behind.
My suspicions were right. There was a forty-five minute wait for a table. Blake assured me that this wasn’t out of the ordinary on a Saturday night. We passed the time talking about a wide variety of things until an easy silence fell between us. I made sure to keep Blake between us as a buffer.
I repeated my newly created mantra in my head all through dinner. We were seated in a booth, Matthew across from Blake and me. I kept my feet tucked close to the bench seat, afraid to stretch my legs and bump into him under the table. I allowed the two of them to dominate the conversation, listening politely and averting my eyes even though I could feel Matthew’s burning into me.
When we returned to the car, I finally relaxed. I hadn’t even realized all the tension in my body until Matthew took off in the Mustang and Blake and I were left alone. I slumped down in my seat.
Blake didn’t notice at first. “So, how was it?”
“The food was delicious. You were right.”
She smiled triumphantly. Then she took a closer look at me. “You okay?”
I nodded. “It’s just been a long day.”
Wisely, she accepted my answer. We drove home in relative silence, and I excused myself to my room under the guise of needing to unpack. I closed the door, flopping onto my new queen sized bed. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed Gracie’s number. She answered on the second ring.
“What’s up, hon?” she asked breezily.
“The room’s beautiful. You’ll have to come see it. I’ll send you some pictures later.”
“Awesome. I can’t wait.”
I spent the next twenty minutes pretending that I wasn’t about to have a nervous breakdown. Gracie’s voice was comforting. We recounted the remainder of our day. She told me about her latest shopping trip. I told her about the Italian restaurant. We decided that she needed to go there with me when she came to visit. I left out all things Matthew.
After we hung up, I remained flat on my back, staring up at the ceiling. Tears clouded my vision. I had to be imagining this. Matthew was just being nice. He wasn’t interested in me. Just one abnormally perfect guy who was attempting to make me feel welcome. Just a pretty face. Nothing more.
I rolled over onto my stomach, burying my face in the pillow. Guilt plagued me as I realized Eric’s touch no longer made me react the way Matthew’s innocent gestures had. Had it ever? I thought of my boyfriend, en route to Atlanta with no clue that I was here, thinking impure thoughts. I snorted, realizing that he would undoubtedly be ogling some showgirls soon without remorse. From him, I expected that behavior. From myself, not so much.
Even though I knew that Eric’s phone would be shut off during the flight, I still texted him. I told him that I had made it safely to Fort Wayne, that I hoped his trip went well and that I loved him. When I rolled over to check my phone hours later, there was still no response.
As I drifted back to sleep, Gracie’s parting words haunted me.
Are you ready for an upgrade?
Chapter Six
My final week of vacation went quickly. I had finally gotten everything unpacked and organized so that I could locate it in a timely fashion. The move from a studio apartment to one room in a house wasn’t too traumatic, especially since half of my kitchen stuff had found a home downstairs. Technically, I supposed I could claim the majority of the loft area as my own, save for Blake’s office/workroom.
I was slowly getting used to sharing my space with someone else. We had established a routine of sorts, and I was starting to feel less like a guest and more like I belonged there. I no longer felt like I was intruding upon her each and every time we crossed paths. She really seemed to enjoy having me around, as if I filled some kind of a void in her life. I didn’t question the strangeness of the situation: a young, talented, beautiful success story who only associated with her brother and needed a roommate to find a friend.
One of the things I had quickly learned was that Blake was not an early riser. Being self-employed, she chose to open her business later in the morning and work equally late into the evening. I couldn’t call her lazy, however. After we ate, most nights she would retreat upstairs and work for a couple hours more.
As for Matthew, he had stopped by several times. Once he heard that I was actually a pretty good cook, those visits seemed to come around dinner time. I attempted to keep my distance at first, but was drawn to his outgoing personality. After I decided that he wasn’t acting any differently towards me than he did his sister, I began to relax. This I could handle. As an only child, I had always wanted a sibling and now he was going to make that dream come true. So what if my older “brother” was totally hot?
In a moment of that brotherly type of concern, he had grabbed my cell phone and entered in his contact information. As he explained, since I was two hours away from most of the people that I knew, I couldn’t exactly call one of them if I locked myself out of the house or had car trouble. With a fifteen year old car, he had a point. I just hoped that Eric wouldn’t notice the addition to my address book.
I stood in front of the mirror on my first day of my new job, critiquing my appearance. I was dressed to impress in a conservative navy blue pantsuit and beige high heels. My hair and makeup had been toned down for the workplace and I looked every bit management material.
Of course, I had the kitchen all to myself. I shuffled around as quietly as possible, selecting a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee for breakfast. I sat on a barstool and stared outside at nothing in particular as I ate.
My anticipation had caused me to wake up extra early, and I had plenty of time before I had to leave. Finally, I couldn’t stand waiting any longer and I decided to get going. I loaded the dishwasher, grabbed my purse and keys and headed out the door.
During the week I had been here, I had ventured out a couple times to help myself get acclimated to my new city. Therefore, I knew right where I needed to go and the best way to get there. Even with the morning traffic adding a few minutes to my commute I still was one of the first cars in the parking lot. I drove to the far side of the lot, selecting a spot on the outer edge. I hoped I was not taking someone else’s place. I didn’t want to create enemies on my first day over something stupid.
Corporate headquarters was a large brick building that architecturally resembled a rectangle. All on one level, it stretched expansively across the lot. Since this was strictly employee-only territory, the focus was on form and functionality, not on creating a good first impression. I laughed as I strode up the sidewalk, wondering what Blake would have to say about that.
The automatic doors slid open for me as I approached. I walked into the lobby, taking a quick look around as I went to the receptionist’s desk. No inspiration here either. Grey commercial carpeting lined the floors, contrasting with the ivory walls. Someone had attempted to add color by setting giant potted plants around randomly. A few large prints hung on the walls, obvious reproductions.
The receptionist was already at her post. She was a younger looking redhead, perhaps fresh out of college. The nameplate on her desk informed me that her name was Rebecca. She smiled brightly as I came closer, greeting me with a polite “May I help you?”
“I’m Lauren Jefferies,” I replied. “I just transferred from the Indy branch. Today’s my first day here.”
She consulted something on her desk, possibly a planner or calendar, then tapped her pen against it. “Ah, yes. The new Director of Underwriting. If you want to have a seat, I’ll see if George is ready for you.” Rebecca gestured to a bargain mart style couch to her left prior to picking up her telephone and dialing an extension. Effectively dismissed, I took a seat where indicated.
As I waited, I watched as other employees began to trickle in. Most juggled briefcases or laptops and their morning fix of coffee. Some looked barely alive, others appeared as though they had been up for hours and were eager to begin the workday. A few glanced in my general direction. I smiled and tried to look as friendly as possible. I wondered if any of them were on my staff. Our bank wasn’t anywhere near the size of the megabanks, but with locations throughout Indiana it was impossible to know everyone. I was certain that I had communicated with some of these people before in the regular course of business, but I had no clue what faces to put with what names.
A few moments later, a distinguished looking gentleman I assumed to be the George in question strode up to me. My best guess would place him at about mid-fifties, just a touch of gray hair highlighting his temples. He was dressed in an expensive looking three piece suit. We exchanged a brief appraising look at each other before he spoke.
“Ms. Jefferies?”
I stood, extending my hand. He gripped it firmly, shaking it as he introduced himself.
“George Anderson, Vice President. A pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
He motioned for me to follow him. “I’ll show you to your office first, then we will do the grand tour. Our wor
kday will be starting in about-“ he referred to his watch, “twenty minutes for the hourly employees, so you’ll be able to meet your staff then.”
I nodded, having to walk quickly to stay on pace with him. The two weeks off of high heels had left me a bit rusty. Between that and the nerves setting in, I needed to be extra careful that I wouldn’t face plant myself in the hallway.
The corridors were equally unimpressive. We walked past the common areas: restrooms, breakroom, copy machine, then turned down a hallway that opened up into an expansive area filled with groupings of cubicles. George made a quick turn to the left, explaining that this was where my team sat. The door to my office was on the far left hand side wall. The room was unlocked, the heavy wooden door propped open slightly. He pushed it open the rest of the way and flipped on the light.
A large wooden desk sat in the middle of the room, facing the entryway. When I would take my seat in the faux leather office chair, I could effectively keep an eye on the cubicles from afar. Two mismatched cushioned chairs were placed opposite my perch, barely squeezed into the small space. A cheaply fashioned bookcase stood empty along the right hand wall.
Not perfect, but at least it was better than I was accustomed to at the branch.
“Of course, you may bring in some personal touches to make this seem more like home,” George smiled as if he sensed my disappointment. “We have sent for some of your reference materials to be brought in from the other office. They should be arriving sometime today, by the looks of things.”
“Sounds good.”
Since we had already seen most of the other important sections of the building on our way to my office, the grand tour really didn’t amount to much. The facility had a basement, where the mailroom was located as well as the company’s server room. All in all, this building housed most of the operational functions of the organization. The official, true corporate headquarters of the bank was found downtown in a much more glamorous location. To say I was slightly discouraged was an understatement, but I reminded myself that a promotion was a promotion.
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