Cloaked

by Shore, Lauren

  “No. Actually yes, there is something I would like you to do. Please cancel the meeting with Harrison and be in my office at one thirty.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  This time it was not over the intercom in Catherine’s phone but in person. “I’m going out.”

  Stunned to actually see him in person in front of her when he was usually parked at his desk, she stood up and quickly got out, “But, sir, how will I tell people to get in touch with you?”

  “I don’t know, make up something Miss Richmond.”

  As the elevator doors were closing, Catherine got worried. This was very uncharacteristic for him. “But, boss…”

  “Oh, just tell them I’m in a meeting.”

  With that, the doors closed and Mr. Serentini was going with a wide eyed Catherine staring after him.

  Glen felt great. He wanted to do something exciting and special instead of just working all day. Even though work was special, some excitement and change were always good. First he decided to other floors and look upon the people that were working for him. This was somewhat of a daily routine however since he visited his workers quite often. Glen believed in knowing the people that worked for him, most even knew him by face, not only name. His father believed this was good practice and enticed a good working environment. Since visiting the employees always built up his spirits, Glen decided to head there first. The normal joy of seeing his workers did not come because Glen’s focus was resting on Catherine. She was sitting upstairs doing all his work. He noticed that she always worked very persistently, like she was trying to prove something to him every time. It was high time something was done nice for her. An idea sparked in his head and Glen headed to the 6th floor. He figured since food was the way to a man’s heart, at least that is what most people said, it might be the same way for women too. So, why not get the most amazing food. There were many different types he could get and Glen had no idea which Catherine would like more. So, he walked right into the kitchen, a place he actually never visited. At that moment he got a huge amount of rambling thrown in his direction, in French no less. For any other man, it would be impossible to understand, but Glen knew many languages fluently. So, he was able to interpret what was a bunch of curses from the head chef and a direct order to get out of his kitchen. The chef was so astounded and surprised when Glen told him he would wait outside to speak with him in French that he nearly knocked over the huge pot of soup he was stirring and adding spices to. With that, Glen walked outside, sat at a table, and picked up a paper to read while waiting. It took Pierre, the chef, almost five minutes to come out of the kitchen to address Mr. Serentini. They exchanged a few words of introduction and Pierre started walking back into the kitchen with nothing but smiles on his face.

  Right before he stepped through the doors, Pierre said, “Thank you, Monsieur, for letting my…” He paused searching for the right words. As he found them, a look of registration appeared on his face as he said, “creative juices…flow,” with a heavy French accent.

  An hour later Glen walked back into the office smiling. He was carrying five heavy bags within his arms. Glen smiled at Catherine and walked into his office. About two minutes later Catherine’s phone intercom went off. “Miss Richmond, I know you are working and it is not yet the time I specified, but may I please have the pleasure of your company in the conference room please?”

  Catherine wondered what was going on and curiosity seized her as she spoke into the receiver, “Sure, boss. I’ll be right there.”

  Catherine started down the hallway. On the top floor there was only a conference room, the CEO’s office, a waiting room, and Catherine’s office directly in front of the elevator. Her desk was to the right of the elevator with comfortable couches and chairs for people to wait out front. The conference room was down the hallway to the right and Glen’s office was down the hallway to the left. As Catherine was walking down the hall into the conference room she was greeted by the most unusual and yet salivating smell. There was food of every kind spread all over the large table in the middle of the office. Right behind her three other men walked in carrying large bags as well. Before long there was not one spot in the room not covered with food in the large room. It smelled like a fine restaurant and Catherine thought there was enough food there to feel a small army. In fact, the scene reminded her of the party for Mrs. Upman four months ago. There was just as much food there and it smelled just as good, but nothing looked as clear-cut as it did before; everything was more exuberant. She saw there was not just chicken with one sauce, but chicken with many amazing sauces and vegetables and everything else you could desire spread over the plates. What was all this food for? As the other men left, Catherine decided to ask since her boss and herself were standing in complete silence since she walked into the room, “What is this and where did you get all this food? Are you having some kind of taste testing?” She started getting nervous, “Or did I forget about a meeting?”

  Glen laughed, “Well, you wanted to know why I never had a good lunch and I decided it was high time I do something about it. So, I’m having lunch now. With you, that is if you’ll join me?”

  Catherine was hungry and her senses were acting up with the astounding smell, so she thought why not and said, “Sure, I’ll eat with you.”

  Everything was spread out across the conference table as well as the rest of the room. It was packed with food of every kind. “Where do I start?”

  “Anywhere you like.”

  Catherine decided to start with the shrimp and pasta in some kind of pink sauce. Her mouth watered as she thought of eating. She sat down next to Glen, who was at the head of the table eating some chicken, with what looked like a wine sauce. She liked how it felt sitting next to him eating and reminded herself not to get too comfortable and let her guard down. But, he was such a nice man. “Why did you decide to take off today?”

  He answered between mouthfuls, “Well, not off, just a break. I thought I needed some food. That doesn’t mean I’ll be taking these breaks often, you know. Anyway, maybe I just wanted to do something nice for you.”

  “For me?”

  “Yeah, what’s wrong with that? You don’t like to eat, don’t like to have fun, or don’t like to be with me. Which one would it be?”

  Catherine hesitated. In her heart she did like being with Glen but knew she couldn’t really like it. Even so, she didn’t want Mr. Serentini thinking she didn’t like him. She decided to relax and smiled, “It is none of those reasons. In fact, you are wrong; I’m just surprised, is all.”

  “Well, I’m glad then.”

  If she was going to sit here for a while, Catherine thought she would at least make some conversation and be friendly. “Tell me about your family.”

  “I have a lot of them, it might take a while.”

  Catherine was genuinely interested, especially if it could tell her something about her Uncle. “Well, after all you are on break, so you have some time.”

  “Alright. Well, you met my dad. I guess he can be tough outside but is really a big mush.” Glen paused and looked at Catherine, “Especially when it comes to women.”

  Catherine was so curious about her Uncle and how he had problems with Glen’s father, so she decided to ask about it, “If he is such a big mush what is the vendetta about between him and Mr. Martin?” Right after the words slipped from her mouth, she realized they shouldn’t have and quite possibly might give her away.

  “Oh, that. It goes back a long time, actually. You wouldn’t be interested.”

  She could tell h e didn’t mind the questions, so pushed a little, “Try me. I’m curious.”

  “Well, alright. Basically, it started because Mr. Martin tried to steal my mom away from my dad. About three years before she died, the three were all great friends. Then my father found out James, that is Mr. Martin, was writing love letters to mom for somewhere within a year. My mother didn’t want to ruin the friendship, so she never told anyone and tried to hide the letters. Unf
ortunately, my father found them when he was looking for something of his own in the attic. It ended up causing a large strain on their marriage and the whole situation hurt my father and mother a lot. I think he blames Martin for my mother’s heart attack and I believe Martin blames my dad as well. After that, James Martin kept trying to take over my father’s company and destroy him. He just keeps trying to hurt my father since my mom’s death. When my father and Martin needed each other, the relationship died because neither could get over what happened just before the incident. That’s the long story short of how the feud, or whatever you want to call it, got to be this bad. Dad’s never been the same and I do blame Martin partly for that.” Glen didn’t understand why he just told his secretary that story? Perhaps he needed someone to lean on. But, he never revealed his inner workings to people, especially females. What was so special about this woman he asked himself while looking down at her hand which he suddenly realized he was holding.

  “I’m sorry” was all Catherine could think to say. She just kept thinking about how much that explained. Both of them were really at fault. Her Uncle was at the most of it though. It is too bad each held such a deep grudge; all of this might have been avoided. Catherine could tell her boss was upset by the whole thing. Glen even grabbed her hand during the end of his explanation. Again, the same reaction was there when they touched at the party and this morning at the office, the same electricity and feeling. Catherine wanted Glen to kiss her. She knew it wasn’t right and he was truly upset, but couldn’t deny her feelings. She was looking at his lips, they were so nice and she wanted to run her fingers through his hair. She wanted him to want her. He looked up and his eyes held hers and Glen inched forward towards Catherine. He wondered if what he was doing was right or not, but didn’t care. He was so close to her lips and Catherine could smell the wine sauce from the chicken on his lips. She wanted to taste it so badly. Knock, knock, knock. Immediately, they broke apart and Jack Harrison walked into the conference room. Great the head of Internal Affairs, just what she needed.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you Mr. Serentini, but Miss Richmond wasn’t at her desk and I have some information.”

  Glen was annoyed at the interruption but needed to know what information Harrison had. “Are you sure it’s validated?”

  “Well, no. But, we know a lot and it all points to someone particular. But we are not positive, no sir.”

  Now truly disturbed by the interruption and annoyed, he snapped, “Then I don’t want to know, only present me with information if you are sure. You may go.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Harrison quickly left the conference room.

  “I’m sorry about that Catherine. Work, you understand.”

  “Yes, work that I should get back to.” Catherine was uncomfortable with the whole situation, especially the kiss that almost happened. Her attraction to Mr. Serentini was clouding her judgment. He made her let her emotions go off track.

  “Don’t you like the food?”

  “It’s delicious…bu—”

  “Then, absolutely not. You have to finish your meal. You always tell me to eat more, and yet you don’t. You can’t be giving out advice you don’t take, can you?”

  “I suppose not. Maybe I’ll just finish my food.” But, Catherine did vow that she would stay away from Mr. Serentini, at least during this meal. So, she ate the rest, feeling Mr. Serentini’s presence next to her the entire time. Catherine was trying so hard to ignore him; she could not taste the food she knew was good in front of her.

  Catherine said, “We are only eating two of these plates when there must be at least thirty here. There is so much food, what will you do with the rest of it?”

  “Whatever you would prefer most is fine by me. That is if you can’t finish the rest of it.”

  “Right, me eat the rest of it? I don’t think I can finish this one plate.” She hesitated for a moment. “I can do anything with it?” Catherine said with a hint of mischief of her voice.

  “Anything you see fit.” Glen was hoping he wouldn’t be frustrated by what she was about to do.

  “How about we invite the Vice Presidents up here to have some food? I know you slave them away all day and they barely have time to eat.” She waited for a reaction and when there was none visible she added, “You did say I can do anything…?”

  “Well, they do have a lot of work to do. But, I did say you could, so please go invite them up, if you can pull them away from their desks.”

  Catherine was overjoyed she could share this food and make someone else’s day besides her own; especially ones that worked so hard like the Vice Presidents. Maybe Glen didn’t realize, but they did work really hard. Most of them did not even make it to the party at all because of the work load. They would love it. Well, Catherine would make them have a good time, if they weren’t susceptible at first. They couldn’t ignore a direct order from the CEO, can they? So, she slowly sauntered over to the phone in the middle of the conference table. Catherine had to dig through some food to get to the phone; it was buried under some plates. So, she called each one. They were all stunned that they were summoned to the conference room for an ‘urgent meeting.’ But, each agreed to be there no later than ten minutes.

  With triumph, Catherine said, “They’ll all be here in ten minutes.”

  “You’re pretty sneaky, you know that? What exactly did you tell them?”

  “Well, they might think there will be an urgent meeting. They just don’t know it will be a board meeting with no talking, just eating.”

  “Well, I hope you told them all to bring their forks instead of their pens.”

  Catherine laughed, “No, of coarse not.”

  “Then they’ll be eating with their hands.”

  “Tell me you have more than two forks.”

  “No. I don’t. You see, I seemed to have thought you and I were just eating.”

  “I’ll get them. Be right back.”

  Catherine rushed out of the conference room and to the sixth floor to get forks. She was back in exactly seven minutes, just before the rest of the VPs got to top floor and waited for them to arrive before going back into the conference room. She didn’t want to risk one more moment alone with her boss. All of them were waiting in the lobby saying how much work they had to do and couldn’t afford more. Catherine led them into the conference room and as one by one came in with their pads and pens, she gave the forks out. So, when they saw all the food, the VPs were bewildered.

  At different moments, but in the same timeframe, they all said, “What is this?”

  Glen replied, “Food for all of you. You see, Miss Richmond thought it would be a good idea to give you a break.” Glen started nudging Catherine to the door behind him. “Therefore, we are locking you in this room until all of it is gone. So you can have a break. Apparently, Miss Richmond believes today is a day for no more work, just food.” As all of them started arguing, Glen swiftly got Catherine out of the room and locked the doors behind him. Glen pushed Catherine a little too hard and her feet gave out. But, she didn’t fall to the ground because Glen caught her just before and pulled her up, close to him. Catherine thought they were way too close but yet could not stop thinking about how good it felt to be in his arms. After a moment of lingering too long Glen let her go.

  Catherine shot herself a look of disgust and asked, “Mr. Serentini, would you mind if I took the rest of the day off?”

  Annoyed at himself for holding Catherine too long and at himself because she obviously hated it and looked even disgusted at the very idea, and obviously since she wanted to leave, he yelled, “Fine” at her and went into his office.

  Catherine needed to go home and sort through what was going on in her life right now and whether or not she could bear to stay in Mr. Serentini’s employment for another month. So, she grabbed her purse, marched out of the building, and went to her apartment. What were these feelings and what was she going to do? More and more Catherine was getting attached to her boss and liked h
im and his father both a lot, they were such good men. Maybe now that she knew the story of why her Uncle and her boss’s father hated each other so much, she could talk sense into her Uncle. If that was the right idea, she would start with that. At this point, Catherine would try anything to get out of this situation. Maybe after it was all over she would work for Mr. Serentini part time and run her mom’s art shop full time. Well, her art shop, if she ever got it back. But, somehow Catherine thought both were way too much to hope for. While Catherine was in her apartment playing with Sweetie, her long favored cockatoo, she decided to go to her Uncle’s house. Though part of her hesitated for fear of wrath Catherine was determined.

  A taxi was called to her apartment building and she put on her best Sunday dress before leaving. Catherine even tried to call ahead to let her Uncle know she would be coming, but couldn’t get through. Catherine thought she covered all the bases and in fifteen minutes she was on her way. The ride took her twenty minutes to get from her apartment, set up to further the deception, to her Uncle’s penthouse in the best and most expensive part of town. Catherine figured it was probably also exactly the same area the Serentinis reside. How could she blame them though, they had the money, so why not live in the best part of town? Catherine found her mind wondering if she would drive by her boss’s home and where exactly it was. She pushed thoughts of him out of her mind to hopefully zero in on someone else, her Uncle, and how he was going to see reason.

  When Catherine got to her Uncle’s apartment, Herbert answered the door, as usual. But, this time Catherine politely asked him to tell Uncle James she was there and that would like to speak to him. Herbert looked at her surprised because of her previous behavior. So, he showed Catherine into the library and went to see her Uncle.

  James Martin was alone in his home study reading a historic novel. The book was one of Roxy Serentini’s old ones that he often saw her reading in the Serentini’s house. Sometimes he sat there wondering what became of the relationship he had with his friend and then became quickly reminded of what his supposed best friend, Albert Serentini, did to him and Roxy. James would often sit alone to read and think about her and what could have been. He always considered her the love of his life. It was just his bad luck and cruel circumstances that she was married to someone else and that someone else happened to be his best friend of many years. But, he didn’t care and never married because he clung to the hope that she would love him up until her dying day. James just liked to be alone with the book when he was reading, especially from his private collection of Roxy’s books that she left him. It didn’t mean anything to him that she was a Serentini. The last name never meant a thing to people in love, even if the other was married.