by Sloan Storm
“No, it’s just… oh never mind,” I said. From the moment I set foot in the place, everything seemed to be going wrong. All of a sudden, it was the last place I wanted to be. “I really just think I should go, Gabe.”
With one eye on his menu, Gabe took a pull of his cocktail. “You’re not going anywhere, Fiona. Look, don’t make me regret doing this.”
I swallowed hard and glared at him. He just didn’t get it. Didn’t he see how uncomfortable I was? Just the way she’d touched him. I hated it. I’d never been jealous in my life and logically, I had no right to be. It’s not as if we were a couple. But her behavior was just so… brazen. It made me sick to my stomach. Oblivious to my growing rage, Gabe sat there casually sipping his drink and perusing the menu. When it became apparent he had no intention of acknowledging any of what happened, I felt compelled to, because if I didn’t, I’d probably scream.
“Do you think she’s pretty?” I huffed.
Gabe lowered his menu just enough to make eye contact with me. He wrinkled his brow. “Who?”
“The hostess,” I snapped. “Do you think she’s pretty?”
“Oh… Mandy?” he said with a casual nod. Lifting the menu up once more, he continued. “Yeah, of course. She’s a doll. What guy wouldn’t?”
As he finished speaking, I looked away suddenly mortified I’d even asked the question. What the hell was happening to me? In my peripheral vision, I noticed Gabe straighten himself up and place the menu on the table. He remained silent for several moments as he took a sip of his drink. I had no doubt what was coming next.
“You um… jealous, Fiona?”
I shook my head but didn’t turn to look at him. “What? No. Of course not.”
“Mmm, hmm,” he muttered. Gabe placed his drink down on the table. The tablecloth muted the sound, but only a little. “Look at me.”
Regret filled my stomach as I moved my eyes back towards him.
“You have nothing to be jealous of, Fiona. I invited you here to be with me. Not her, not anyone else. Just you. Don’t disappoint me and don’t make me regret it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Well,” he said, with a disdainful exhale as he leaned back into the booth. “You should be.”
Overcome by an almost horrific level of shame, I clutched my napkin in my lap. I wanted to slide underneath the booth and crawl out of there. I couldn’t believe how I was acting. Gabe had no intention of letting me off easy.
He dragged his fingers up and down the side of the glass, smearing the condensation as he did.
“You confuse the hell out of me,” he said with a disgusted puff of breath. “You know that? How is it that the very same woman who sat in my office a few hours ago, full of confidence and self-belief…”
He paused and waved his hand at me in disdain. I didn’t know what to say so I did what came naturally and said the only thing I could.
“Gabe, please. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I’m hungry.”
FIONA
Needless to say, my car ride home was awful.
We hadn’t even discussed work. Hell, Gabe and I didn’t talk at all. He ordered for both of us, and in less than thirty minutes the evening came to an end.
I couldn’t believe how stupidly I’d behaved. Gabe never promised me anything. But as hard as I tried to convince myself, I couldn’t deny the emotions I experienced when I watched the way Mandy behaved towards him. I didn’t want any other woman touching him and especially not kissing him.
I’ve never been jealous of anyone or anything in my life and now look…
What had I done? Gabe was turned off. After the meal, we left the restaurant and went our separate ways. It wasn’t something I’d seen from him, ever. No kiss, no hug… not even so much as a goodbye.
Putting romance aside, I considered the possibility I might have done some real damage to our working relationship as well. I could only hope Gabe would be able to keep his personal feelings towards me, to the extent he had any, separate from business. But based on the way I’d acted, I couldn’t say I’d blame him if he didn’t.
After the longest twenty minute car ride of my life, I arrived home. Listless, I dragged myself into the apartment and as I did, I dropped my purse on the kitchen table. Of course, it landed right on the edge and toppled to the floor, spilling its contents everywhere.
“Uuuuhhhhh…” I groaned, as I looked up toward the ceiling. “Could this night possibly get any worse?”
I exhaled a weary breath and bent down to clean up my mess. As I did, I heard the sound of the television on in my grandmother’s room. It wasn’t unusual to find she’d fallen asleep while watching it. A few seconds later I’d finished, and afterward, I made my way down the hall towards her bedroom. Once I arrived, I peered around the corner, and looked in the direction of her bed. To my surprise, she was wide awake and judging from her demeanor, waiting for me to get home.
“Well, hello dear,” she began, as she glanced at me over the tops of her bifocals.
“Hey,” I mumbled as I walked in the room. I tugged at the sides of my dress, pulling them down over my curves as I neared her bed.
“You look terrible,” she said, as she leaned forward and stroked my forearm. “Did something happen at the office again?”
Half-listening, I frowned at her question. “What? At the office? No, I…”
It was in that moment I remembered I’d lied to her about having dinner with Gabe. So, as best I could, I explained I hadn’t told her about it only because I didn’t want her making a big deal over nothing. And after the way things went, I was convinced ‘nothing’ was indeed the future of my relationship with Gabe. In any case, for the next minute or so, she grilled me with the kinds of questions you’d expect…
Where did you go?
I don’t remember.
What did you eat?
I don’t know.
What did you talk about?
Nothing.
It wasn’t long before she grew weary of my disinterested behavior and less than enthusiastic responses. She let out an exhale laced with frustration.
“I have to say that doesn’t sound like a very enjoyable date to me, Fiona.”
“Well that’s because it wasn’t a date, Grandmother.”
As I finished my thought, she cocked her head to one side. “Now, Fiona. When a man comes to pick a woman up and take her out to dinner, it’s a date. Lots of things change in this world, but that’s not one of them.”
With that, I plopped down on her mattress and as I did, the old springs inside squeaked. I hesitated for a moment or two before I responded.
“He um, didn’t pick me up. He sent a limousine to get me.”
My grandmother leaned away from me a bit. She frowned. “I see. Well, surely he accompanied you on the way home, then.”
“No,” I grumbled. “He didn’t come back with me either. He sent me back in the same car. Alone.”
“Well, that’s…” she started. But almost as soon, she stopped and waved off her thought as if she shouldn’t have had it in the first place.
I studied her for a moment or two before I narrowed my gaze at her. “What?”
“It’s nothing, Fiona. Never mind.”
“No, don’t ‘never mind’ me. You were going to say something, now what is it?”
“Well, Fiona… He didn’t come to pick you up or take you home but instead sent you both ways alone? Hmm, frankly, it sounds like something a man would do with a lady of the night.”
I scoffed at her insinuation. “What are you talking about? Do you mean… like a prostitute?”
“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…”
“That’s completely ridiculous,” I said as I shook my head. “You don’t know what’s going on. It’s nothing like that at all.”
“Is it ridiculous? For something you claim isn’t true, you seem awfully upset.”
I thinned my lips at her psychic nudges
. “First of all, I’m not upset. Secondly, yes, it is ridiculous.”
My grandmother reached up towards her face and grasped the side of her glasses between the tips of her frail fingers. After nudging them back into position, she placed her palms in her lap and with eyebrows raised she said, “Tell me why.”
“Okay, well, for starters we didn’t have sex. If that’s what you’re insinuating.”
In spite of our argument, if he’d asked me, I couldn’t be certain I wouldn’t have gone home with him. That was the case even though I have no idea how I’d explain that to my grandmother.
I missed him. I wanted to reach across the table tonight. I wanted to smell him, hold him, fuck him. And yes, I wanted to tear Mandy to shreds. I’ll admit it. But I just didn’t care. The thought of him inside someone else—it was more than I could stand.
“I’m not insinuating anything, Fiona,” my grandmother began, as she continued to try and make her point. “Sex or not, that’s not the way a man should treat a woman he’s interested in romantically.”
I shook my head and stood from her bed. “I don’t want to talk about this right now. Get your rest. We need to talk about your treatment. You need to do something about it.”
She waved me off. “Don’t try and change the subject, Fiona. As to my treatment, you already know how I feel.”
“Yes, I do. And it’s selfish. We are going to discuss it. I’m not going to just sit here and watch you die.”
My grandmother looked away from me. Silence fell between us. For the moment, I was content with that only because we would be dealing with this soon. She might not like it, but I was past the point of worrying about whether or not her feelings got hurt. I leaned down to hug her and as I did, I felt her upper body flex with frustration.
“Goodnight, Grandmother. I love you.”
Still not looking at me, she nodded and whispered a reply. “I love you too, Fiona.”
With that, I turned to leave her room, and as I pulled the bedroom door closed, my thoughts drifted back to him. This whole situation with Gabe was making me feel something I couldn’t stand… out of control. Between my unexplained feelings of jealousy and my grandmother’s not-so-subtle hinting, it was becoming obvious I was allowing this to affect me.
I walked down the hallway, shaking my head as I attempted to devise a plan of action. There was really only one logical way forward.
I had to protect my job, my grandmother, and most of all, myself. I’d shown Gabe something I hadn’t intended to, mostly because it was below my awareness. But now it was out there. The only question was, could I salvage any part of it or would things be different between us for good?
I had to back away… play it cool, or there was no telling what disastrous direction this might lead.
GABE
Hunched over a fund-raising brief on the Link Protocol, I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingertips. I squeezed my eyes closed tight. They were sore from back-to-back eighteen hour days of reading, writing and rewriting. I rubbed them as I sputtered my next thought.
“Okay, well, I’ll have to call him,” I said at last, turning and looking up at Holly as I did.
The crunch was on. And even though there was a part of me that relished the challenge, there was an equally motivated side that just wanted to get it done. With the presentation fast approaching, I’d been under maximum pressure to put together an updated prospectus for the investors. In recent days, it had gotten to the point where it ate up nearly all my time. I reached for the phone, wrapping my fingers around the hard plastic as I tugged it from the cradle.
“Gabe,” Holly began, as she stood upright. She placed her hands around her hourglass waist and said, “You’ve got the meeting with the lab team. You don’t have time to make that call right now.”
“Shit,” I muttered. “I forgot.”
She remained silent for a moment or two. “Should I reschedule them?”
I leaned back and exhaled. Dragging my fingers through my hair, I muttered a reply. “No. I’ll deal with it. What time are they going to be here?”
Holly twisted her arm, rotating her wrist in line with her eyes as she glanced at her watch. “Ten minutes.”
I nodded and attempted to shift my focus. I had no interest in having even one more conversation on the reason for their visit. Even so, I had to hear both sides of what this had turned into, or risk having it get worse.
“Should I get anything ready for the meeting? Some coffee or snacks?”
“No,” I said, standing from my chair. I reached towards my neck and crushed the fine silk knot in my tie, straightening it with two quick jerks. “We’re not having social hour. This won’t take long and once I’m done, I need to get on those calls.”
“Okay,” Holly said with a nod. “So, I’ll just send them in when they get here.”
“Yes. Do that.”
As I finished my thought, Holly turned to walk away.
“Oh, Holly. There is one more thing.”
She stopped mid-stride and turned her upper body towards me. “Yes?”
“As soon as I’m done. I’ll need Fiona up here as well. Put her on standby for me.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“No.”
Fifteen minutes later, I stood with my hands on my hips staring down the length of my conference table at them. Accompanied by Amanda and Melissa, a group of junior scientists sat in my office for one reason… Fiona.
One by one, they took turns lodging their grievances. With each successive complaint, I dragged my hand through my hair and even once wiped my palm down the length of my face. This was the last thing I needed to deal with right now. After the third team member spoke, I raised my hand, interrupting the story.
“Folks, have any of you voiced your concerns to Fiona?”
I paused for moment, unsure of the response I’d get. Each of them looked towards Amanda and Melissa. As soon as that happened, I realized I’d seen all I needed to from the group.
“All right,” I began with a nod. “Everyone out. I’ve listened to your concerns. You have my assurances I’ll speak to Fiona.”
Amidst a smattering of throat clearings and chairs sliding about, the assembled group began to stand from the table. As they did, I turned my attention towards Amanda and Melissa.
“You two stay right where you are. I want to speak with you in private.”
I studied their reaction to my request. They’d each only just begun to stand from their chairs as I gave them my instruction. After a brief, but obvious, exchange of nervous slash guilty glances, they returned to their seats. I folded my arms across my chest, and as I did, an instinctive flex came to my biceps. I glared at them in silence for several moments before summoning my assistant as the last of the scientists filed out of my office.
“Holly!”
Within a matter of seconds, she appeared in the doorway. “Yes?”
“Close the door.”
With a silent nod, she did as I asked, and just like that, Amanda, Melissa and I were alone. I approached the conference table and placed my hands flat on it as I looked down at them.
“Okay you two,” I began. “I want to know what is going on and I want to know right now.”
But instead of answering me, they looked at one another.
“Hey!” I demanded, pounding my fist on the table. “Don’t look at each other. Look at me. Tell me what the problem is.”
Both of them looked up at me, eyes as wide as saucers. I hadn’t meant to scare them, but I didn’t have time for any games, if that’s indeed what was going on. Now that I had their attention, I had no intention of waiting another moment for my answer. Shoving myself off the table and into a standing position, I motioned with my fingers.
“Out with it,” I said, with a deep exhale.
Amanda went first. She cleared her throat for a brief instant before she spoke. “What do you mean? They all told you the same thing. Fiona is driving everyone too hard.”
&n
bsp; I nodded. “And you know this… why? Is the team experiencing a higher number of errors in the lab?”
They both shook their heads.
“Are you falling behind?”
Once more, they shook their heads.
“Amanda. Melissa. I asked the rest of the group to leave because I wanted to tell you what I’m about to say in private. The two of you have been with the company for a long time. You’re good scientists. I have no interest in getting rid of you despite the apparent dislike you both harbor towards Fiona.”
As I finished my thought, a sudden urge to interject struck Melissa. “Gabe, it’s not like that. You don’t understand, she’s…”
“Shh, hey!” I snapped.
For a fraction of a second, I considered calling them out on the suspected tampering with Fiona’s experiment prior to the close of the competition. But if I accused them of interfering, I was doubly sure they would throw it back at me and claim I was protecting her because their suspicions about what was going on between us. Instead, I spent the next few minutes trying to get at the real reason behind their claims that Fiona was ‘driving them too hard’.
Yes, in spite of my direct questioning, they didn’t offer up any specifics. To say the least, I was pissed, but also concerned. By the looks of things, Fiona hadn’t heeded my warning about going easy on the team. And whether Amanda and Melissa represented the consensus of the group, or whether they were just taking advantage of the situation, it really didn’t matter.
I had to fix Fiona.
Either through ignorance, stubbornness or both, she’d done something to fracture the team and slow its momentum. That was on me. I’d done a shit job of making it clear that Fiona wasn’t above being reprimanded, if that was what was needed. The simple fact was she hadn’t listened to me. As a result, the team didn’t respect her leadership. If they did, they wouldn’t be in my office wasting my time.
As for Amanda and Melissa… If it came to light later, or if I got any verifiable evidence that they were deliberately trying to sabotage Fiona, and consequently the work on the Link Protocol, well then they would be dealt with accordingly. For now though, this was between Fiona and me.