by Amanda Uhl
Jules? Bernie and I looked at each other. In three seconds we managed a secret conversation. My raised brow: He calls her Jules? Her grimace: Looks that way.
Charlie flashed his mesmerizing smile at “Jules,” and I watched as the owner’s daughter and future president of the company fell victim. Another one bites the dust. Disgusting.
“Why don’t you come with me,” Julie said. “I’ll fill you in on the company and show you around. Get you up to speed on your job responsibilities.”
“All right,” he said easily. He looked back at me. “Val, I’d be happy to take a closer look at that file. I have a few other ideas that may help.” He caught my eye and had the audacity to wink. I frowned. His grin widened.
Julie was looking between us like she smelled a rat. I could have told her not to worry. I wasn’t on the market. That was Bernie’s territory. Besides, this was my livelihood. I had learned not to mix business with pleasure.
“Valerie, I need those numbers on my desk by noon,” Julie said, looking at me fiercely. She was always asking for numbers, and I was quite good at giving them to her. But I was not so good at coming up with new ideas. That had been Calvin’s department. And up until last month, most of his ideas had gotten the green light. Probably because he’d had a major in with the boss. Looked like the new guy was well on his way to becoming Calvin’s replacement in every way. I would have felt sorry for Charlie, except he was still staring at me with a stupid grin on his face. He obviously found Julie’s ordering me around amusing. I had the irrational urge to stick my tongue out but held myself in check. I did need to maintain a certain maturity level in the office.
“C’mon, Charlie,” Julie said, turning her back on us and calling over her shoulder. “Valerie, I’ll see you at noon.”
“Would you look at that.” Bernie was staring after them, a feral expression on her face. “I refuse to allow that gorgeous hunk of a man to get chewed up and spit out by the she-cat.”
“He’s trouble, Bernie. You don’t need that kind of trouble. Go back to dating Matt in the lab. He seems steady and reliable.”
“I told you, Matt has commitment issues. I wanna get married and have kids one day. God, can you imagine the kids that Charlie and I’d have? Yow!”
I dropped any pretense of looking at my folder to talk Bernie out of her insanity. “You’re crazy, woman. Stop looking at every charmer that crosses your path as your personal sperm bank. Most are so self-centered, they hate kids. Focus on a real man like…like…”
“Like Matt? I don’t think so.”
“I was going to say like George. He’s kind, caring, dependable. All great qualities in a mate…and a parent.”
“George is…George.” She shrugged as if to apologize for her dislike. “He’s mule-headed. And his parents are way too involved in your life. No way do I want someone like George. One of us should nab Charlie before our kitty-kat boss sinks her teeth into him. Do you think he liked me?”
I shrugged, picking up my Rubik’s Cube and twisting it three times horizontally then vertically until the colors were once again aligned. “If I were you, I’d let Julie have him. Men like that are trouble with a capital T. I’ll stick with George.”
Bernie sighed. This was an old argument. Bernie thought I needed fixing, and she wouldn’t let up. Before Charlie, she had been after me to date Calvin. That is, until Calvin had hooked up with Julie. He was now spending time at the unemployment office, and I was counting my lucky stars I’d found George. Nice, sweet, dependable George. I could do much worse. I had no idea what Bernie had against him, but she hadn’t liked George the moment I introduced the two of them. Even more surprising, George, who was normally the mildest of men, got worked up whenever he was around Bernie for more than a minute. Thankfully, that wasn’t frequent these days. I had no desire to play referee.
“It still amazes me how you can solve that thing so quickly,” Bernie said.
I shrugged, setting my Rubik’s Cube back in its spot. “Listen, I gotta get these numbers on kitty-kat’s desk by noon, and I still don’t have them quite figured out.”
“Dinner tonight?”
“No, I can’t. I’m sorry. George is making me dinner. I promised I would help him with his billing.”
Bernie wrinkled her nose like she smelled something foul. “Again? Why doesn’t he hire someone to do that?”
“He will eventually. I told you, he’s saving for a ring. This is one thing I can do to add to our savings.”
Bernie looked skeptical, but she must have decided not to push that particular hot button. “Have you heard anything more about your promotion for the senior product manager position?”
“Shh.” Bernie’s voice had a tendency to carry. I looked around, but no one was nearby. “No, but I’m expecting it any day now. Kitty-kat needs me. None of the other product managers have as much experience. I can’t see who else she would give it to unless she hired someone off the street.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re right. Okay, I’ll let you get back to your data.”
After Bernie left, I spent a couple of hours crunching numbers until I had a better handle on the sales pattern. Charlie’s idea of changing the signage was a good one, but from the spreadsheet, it looked like the problem was more a territory or customer issue. Sales were great in northeast Ohio, but the farther south you went, the numbers dropped. By the time you got to the Florida market, they were nonexistent.
I printed the report and walked to Julie’s desk. I suspected she would be out to lunch, but when I got to her office, she was just wrapping it up with Charlie. She motioned me inside.
Charlie was sitting in the chair across from her, his long legs stretched out in front of him. As I entered, he got up gracefully and turned to go.
But Julie stopped him. “Don’t leave yet, Charlie. Why don’t you share the good news with Valerie?” Julie always called me Valerie. I’m pretty sure she did it to drive me nuts. Everyone else I knew called me Val.
“I’m going to be helping you out on your project, Val,” Charlie said.
“Okayyy,” I said. Julie was up to something, and it was not good.
“Tell her why.”
Charlie hesitated, causing my spider senses to tingle. It was the same feeling I got right before the love of my life dumped me three years ago. I calculated the distance to the door. Five feet.
“Oh, never mind, I will,” Julie said. “Charlie has been offered and accepted the senior product manager position. You’ll still report to me, but he’ll be managing the premium paint line. You’ll continue on as our assistant, of course.”
A pin did not drop. If it had, I would have heard it. She’d actually gone and hired someone off the street. I was horrified, shocked, angry, dismayed. I tried hard to think of something to say, but all my brain offered was: Screw this crap. I’m outta here. Somehow I managed to keep those words from forming on my lips. But they burned on my tongue, scalding their way down to my stomach where they formed a bitter, churning acid.
I managed to walk to the witch kitty’s desk and set the folder down, while my alter ego screamed at me to throw it. Without saying a word, I turned my back and walked out. I was about halfway to my cube, when I heard the sound of someone following me.
“Val, wait up.”
Charlie. I ignored him and kept walking, passing my cube. I would go to the restroom. No male would dare follow me in there.
By now the tears of disappointment had formed two pools threatening to stream down my face. I refused to turn and acknowledge his presence. Most people would take the hint and lay off. Not Charlie. His ridiculously long strides caught up with me until he was by my side.
“Go away,” I said.
“Val, I’m sorry. Julie didn’t just offer me the job. I interviewed with Larry Reynolds for the position, and he made the offer a week ago. I don’t know why she let it drop like that. I think she was purposely trying to shock you.”
“No, you think?” I regretted the sarcasm
the moment the words came out of my mouth. I didn’t want anything to do with Charlie, but Julie had clearly set him up to take the fall. It wasn’t his fault. Maybe she thought my hatred and resentment would keep me from pursuing him. She could have saved herself the trouble. He was all hers.
I stopped walking. “Listen. I wanted that position. Julie’s been hinting for months the position was as good as mine. I’m angry. Really, really angry. If you value your head, now’s not a good time.”
“She’s jealous of you.”
“Who? The she-cat? What’s she got to be jealous about? It’s her daddy’s company. She’ll never be out a job.”
“Because you’re smart, and she knows it. From what Larry was telling me, you’ve been the strategist for the premium line for some time and without an assistant. That’s tremendously difficult. But he recognized you needed help. That’s why I’m here.”
I studied him again carefully. A shock of golden hair had fallen across his forehead right next to his baby blues. He seemed genuinely concerned and knowledgeable. “You’re not a merchandiser, are you?”
“Nope.”
Despite my anger, I was intrigued. “So what are you?”
“I’m a consultant. I help companies like Reynolds, who are experiencing slow growth in some of their main lines, with a creative boost.”
“So, you being here… This is not a permanent position?”
“They’d like it to be. But I only take on temporary assignments. I specialize in turnaround situations.”
“Why?” I couldn’t fathom why anyone who needed to earn a living would accept temporary work.
“Reynolds hasn’t made a profit the past three quarters. This has become a pattern. We need to fix it.”
“No, why would you only accept temporary work? That doesn’t make a lot of sense. What if you can’t turn it around? Then you’re out of a job.”
He shrugged. Somehow, maybe it was the ease with which he did it, the gesture seemed elegant. “I get bored easily. I like a challenge.”
He looked me in the eyes, and I noticed that his had that chess-playing spark in them again. He wasn’t talking about just the consulting gig. His eyes said that I was a challenge, too. One he would not back away from.
My heart pounded, and my alter ego came out to play. This, my dear. This is what you have been missing with George. Blood rushed to my cheeks. I refused to hold Charlie’s gaze and the promise it contained. Instead, I looked ahead and resumed my furious pace to the restroom. Long legs kept up with me.
“I think you’ll find Julie is quite a challenge,” I said.
“She’s the least of my worries.”
“My, my. You have worries already, and you’ve only been here a day. Welcome to the family.”
“That was a figure of speech, of course. I don’t spend a lot of time worrying.”
“Well, then I take back what I said. You don’t belong here. We only hire worriers.”
“And what do you worry about?”
“Keeping my job, paying my bills, George.” Dammit, why did I have to go and bring him up?
Of course, Charlie seized on that single syllable. “You live alone so…George is your dog?”
“Yes, I mean no, he’s my soon-to-be fiancé.” How horrifying. He is a little doggish, isn’t he? Comes when called, needs haircuts often. Stop it! Likes his stomach rubbed, a good eater. What’s wrong with you?
“You have a fiancé?”
I nodded. “Yes, yes I do. Well, I mean we aren’t technically engaged yet. We’re saving for the ring.”
“Ah. The ring.”
“Yes, well, it’s a beautiful ring. I mean, it was his grandmother’s. But we need to pay for it to be resized, and we’re updating the setting, which is taking a little longer than we would like.”
“And what does your George do for a living?”
“He owns his own business,” I said proudly. He was still trying to get it off the ground, but it was a business.
“What kind of business?”
“Well, George is Lebanese. He’s been bottling and selling his Lebanese spices. You know, for cooking. They’re quite good. George is a fantastic cook. We’re having dinner tonight. He makes the best baba ghanoush I’ve ever tasted. Plus, his fattoush is to die for.” I had reached the restroom. It was time to end the conversation and say good-bye.
“I don’t mean to get too personal, but is George able to earn a living off the business?”
“Well, of course. I mean between that and his day job.”
He propped himself against the wall outside the restroom, like it was the most comfortable pose in the world. “And that would be?”
“George works in his family’s business.”
“Chef?”
“No. Listen, I gotta use the restroom. Talk later.”
He reached one long arm out and snagged mine before I could push the bathroom door open. “No, sorry,” he said. “You can’t leave me with a burning question like that in the back of my mind. Where might your Lebanese soon-to-be fiancé who is not a chef but cooks you meals and concocts spices, which as I think about it, he must do from his home at night since he has a day job…Where does he work?”
Hearing Charlie describe George was a bit overwhelming. “He’s a…a…barber.” Somehow, it didn’t sound as impressive coming out as it did in my head.
“I see. How exactly did you meet George?”
Don’t answer him. Don’t. “Oh, the usual way.”
He watched me carefully, his blue eyes gleaming with intelligence and laughter. What he found funny was beyond me. George was not a funny topic.
“Let me guess. You needed a haircut and George gave you a trim.”
“Of course not. What would I be doing in a barbershop?”
“True. So, you met him in a bar. George likes to party.”
“Nope.”
“A grocery story or laundromat.”
“Pleassse.”
“Ah-ha. It just came to me. George was picking up his dry cleaning. You came in to pick up yours and noticed that some of his shirts still had ring around the collar. You pointed it out and suggested a home remedy. George was intrigued and asked if you could show him how you make it. He invited you to his family barbershop. You showed up, cleaned his dirty shirts, he invited you to taste his spices, and the rest is history.”
Boy, this guy did have a good imagination. No wonder he was hired to provide a creative solution to our sales slump. I couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Wrong.”
“You met over coffee?”
“Nuh-huh.”
“Am I warm?”
“Lukewarm.”
“So it was over food. Of course. George was at his favorite Lebanese joint, scoping the place out for future ownership, when in walks his dream girl. He looks at you with his big brown puppy dog eyes and tells you to try the hummus. Then he tells you that he supplied the spices in the hummus and the rest is history. You and George are getting married. You fell in love over Lebanese food. The way to Val’s heart is through her stomach.”
I couldn’t stop the giggle from forming and escaping from my lips. He was funny, as well as cute and smart. I was in real trouble.
I reminded myself again why I didn’t like charmers. Why I had sought out a man like George. A good, hardworking man who wouldn’t flirt with other women or tell funny jokes or lie between his teeth or sleep with my roommate. “What is this, Twenty Questions? Enough already. I need to use the restroom.”
“So, I’m right. You and George bonded over food.”
I’d had enough. I pushed the door open and went inside, where I would be safe. But Charming Charlie wasn’t done. As the door shut behind me, I heard him say, “Does George give out doggy bags?”
Chapter Two
I didn’t see Charlie again for four weeks after the “bathroom incident.” Julie said he had some business to take care of for one of his other clients. She was irritatingly mysterious about it all, so when I did see
him again I was ill-prepared.
I had come into the local hardware store to check out the new mirrored signage we had displayed in the paint section. It was the weekend, and my hair was in a clip, which made me look like somebody’s mom. And there was el hotness, dressed in dark blue jeans that molded to his long legs like a second skin. He stood in front of Reynolds’s specialty paints, smelling of Dark Water. I was behind him, so I took a moment to admire the view, breathing him in like some stranded island girl who hadn’t come in contact with a human male her entire life. Of course, I hadn’t sniffed a man who smelled this good, ever, so perhaps it was the same thing.
He turned and caught me mid-sniff. It was then I realized he had been looking at my reflection. Damn the mirrored signage.
He smiled—quite charmingly, of course. “Hi, Val. I was hoping I’d see you here this morning. Julie told me you frequent this store.”
“Yeah.” I was not verbose at the best of times, but especially not early on a Saturday morning. I pulled out my phone and snapped pictures of the display. I had to admit the mirrors did add a unique element, reflecting the brilliance of the orange lettering and drawing the eye.
“Julie said you usually take pictures whenever we introduce new signage. Glad to see you took my advice with the mirrors. These look sharp, don’t they?”
He looked sharper, but I refused to be distracted. “What did you want to see me about?”
He stepped closer and smiled. “I have an idea I’d like to run by you. Would you have time now?”
“No, sorry.” I finished snapping pictures and stuffed my cell phone back into my purse. “I’m meeting someone.”
“George?”
“No.” Why had I ever told him about George?
“Then who?”
“My mother.”
“Picking out wedding dresses?”
“A little too soon for that.”
“How so? I thought you said you and George were as good as engaged.”
“We are, it’s…well…I haven’t told my mother…don’t want to jump the gun or anything. At least not until I have the ring…you know, on my finger. And it’s official.”