Rules are rules, and I intend to keep them. They have worked well for years, and as long as I continued to follow them, nothing will ever get out of hand. Standing up straight and adjusting her skirt, she looked up and smiled, and I was immediately taken aback and lost all train of thought.
Well, what do we have we here? Not a bint at all. Not even close.
“I see,” I muttered.
“Yep, so I’ll see you?” the blonde angel answered.
“Ahem, that’s fine.”
What was wrong with me?
“Okay, bye.” she gave a noncommittal wave and sashayed in her tight, leather skirt towards the door.
Damn. Too bad I wasn’t a rule breaker.
Before I had the chance to stop myself, I whistled to catch her attention. Whatever her name was. She stopped short of opening the front door, “Yeah, need something?”
“Ya got a name?”
She chuckled softly, and a devilish smirk formed, “Lisa. Have a great morning.”
She gave me a wink and then she was gone. She was quite a looker with her perky breasts, curvy hips, and tight arse. Just my type too and just my luck, the only chance I had with her, and I barely remembered a thing. Maybe there was a flaw in my dating strategy after all.
****
JAMIE
I didn’t realize it at first, but after a couple of sleepless nights, I knew it had something to do with the new hire, Callum King. I had nothing against the guy personally because I didn’t even know him but I just wasn‘t keen on Sam hiring someone not only to handle all marketing but I’ve come to find, he’ll be managing product and service development as well.
Even though I didn’t have the title, it was clear cut that was the role I had been occupying informally for a year now. All of the product lines, services, and campaigns we’ve implemented or launched was because of me and the brainstorming sessions I’ve initiated, and I’ve enjoyed doing it. I earned that role.
Fortunately, all of my ideas that were launched have all worked out for us, but Sam and the Board of Directors still felt like they needed to hire some big wig or hot shot to fix whatever they thought was broken with the Foundation. Things that I apparently didn’t and couldn’t fix.
It was insulting. Did they really think that some guy who had marketing experience but was new to what we did would fare better at this than someone who had been occupying the space for over a year? Granted, I didn’t really come from the marketing world but I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this place and I knew a hell of a lot more than he did about it.
Once this Callum guy arrived, my sense of importance would just disappear as if all of my efforts no longer existed. No one would remember that they even happened. I was going to end up being an insignificant nobody that rarely saw Sam at the office.
From now on, Callum would be the one to occupy most of Sam and Amy’s time, and I’d hardly see him anymore. That left me with maybe a night or two a week with him, that’s if he wasn’t traveling. When Sam traveled, a week or two could go by before I saw him again. If Callum traveled with him, they’d keep each other company, and I’d stop hearing from him when he was away too.
These thoughts were so overwhelming and had me so depressed that I had to talk to someone about it and who better to call than Lisa, my straight-shooter of a best friend. She always gave sage advice, and she knew about all of the ups and downs I have encountered since working at the Foundation so she’d know better than anyone how to handle the situation. At least I hoped so.
Lisa finally showed up to the café a few minutes later, and I was already seated at a table drinking my second cup of coffee. I wasn’t that much of a coffee fiend, but I tended to favor a cup when I was stressed.
“Hey girl, how’s it going?” She wrapped her arms tightly around me.
“It’s alright.”
“Alright huh? Must be a tougher situation than I imagined. Want to talk about it?”
“You don’t mind? I know that we haven’t seen each other much lately, and this was supposed to be a catching up sort of thing, but I just can’t get this whole problem out of my mind.”
“This is catching up. We both talk about what we’ve been doing lately, any troubles we’re having as well as our successes. So let’s hear it. What’s getting you down? Is it Sam?” Lisa called the waitress over and ordered a double shot of espresso.
“That’s a lot of caffeine, are you sure you want to drink that?” I laughed.
“I’m sure. I’ve got a major migraine, and I need something strong to jump start me this morning but enough about me, what’s this problem you’ve got going on?”
“Well it has nothing to do with Sam, fortunately, but he is indirectly involved because he’s the reason why things went downhill.”
“So it isn’t about Sam?” she chuckled.
As much as I loved Sam, anything he did or didn’t do affected my mood. He wasn’t the only one in this relationship that had some self-reflecting to do, I was still learning that I had value whether I was with him or not. I guess when you spend most of your life feeling like you weren’t good enough and no one wanted you, it was going to take a lot of time to heal.
“No, not directly. I just found out recently that the Foundation hired someone that has the skill to handle the Foundation’s sudden growth and all of the press we’ve been getting lately.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” she asked.
“It is, generally speaking, but the problem is a lot of the responsibilities he’ll be taking on are things that I’ve been doing just to help out the Foundation. Now that he’s around, I’ll be reduced to what I was before, and I’ll hardly see Sam or get to work with him. I’ve loved working with him at the office this year. I don’t want to go back to missing him all the time.”
“Are you afraid he’ll meet someone while on the road or that he’ll get to know this new person and develop feelings?”
“No, the new hire is male. He looks like a straight playboy, male.” I laughed.
“Okay, let me ask again. Are you afraid that this new hire is going to be a bad influence on Sam and meet other women because of him?”
“No, I wasn’t worried about that, but now that you mentioned it, that’s another thing I’m going to be worried about.”
“That’s just great.” Lisa rolled her eyes.
“That’s not what I was referring to though. I’ve enjoyed spending all of my time with Sam. I mean we work at the office together sharing the same projects, have intellectual conversations about clients, go to lunch together most of the time, and we go carpool together when I stay at his house during the week. Occasionally, I was able to travel with him on out of state excursions if it was relevant to my projects. Once the new guy gets here, all of that goes away, and it will crash and burn.” I sighed.
“I see what you mean. I’m sorry to hear about things changing. Are they hiring this new guy because of all of the new press and notoriety, or because they want to improve on the activities that you’ve been handling?”
“I think it’s mostly because of the sudden extreme increase in growth and he wants to be careful it's controlled. Sam also wants to improve our community engagement and our product line. It’s also because, Sam and the Board of Directors are afraid that if we grow too much, we’ll implode. I really don’t like any of this Lisa, and I haven’t been sleeping well because of it.”
“You’ve never been one for change, Jamie. I mean look at it this way, you’ve been challenged at work, and you get to work with your boyfriend every day. Now some new guy is joining your company, and he’s going to change everything, and you’re afraid that you’ll end up disappearing and will no longer be relevant at work.”
“Exactly my problem. I don’t want to be insignificant, and I can’t stand the idea of not being able to spend time with Sam as much I’d like. I’ve only gotten lucky because when he traveled out of state if it was relevant to my progress, I was invited to go with him. Now, Sam will
just invite the new guy, and I’d be lucky if I were able to get more than two nights a week with Sam. I’m so not looking forward to this coming week.”
“Jamie, it looks like it’s a done deal and that this marketing guy will be starting no matter what you do or say. Since you can’t really change anything, you just have to accept it. I mean you can talk to Sam about how you feel about the whole thing and see what he says, but realistically, the only thing you can do after talking to Sam is to just accept it and deal with the new guy. I mean look at the bright side, what if he’s a hunk?”
“I already know what the new guy looks like and while he is incredibly good looking, I am not interested.”
“Hey, I didn’t say anything.”
“You don’t need to. I guess being good looking has benefits, it isn’t a benefit for me. I am not looking to be with a good-looking man, I just care about whether or not he is going to take away the things that I looked forward to the most at work. I mean I really loved being challenged and spending professional and personal time with Sam every single day, but that’s definitely going away now.”
“Oh, stop being so dramatic, you aren’t going to get forgotten about. Face the facts, this kind of thing happens all the time and so what if the challenges you face at work go away, at the end of the day you are still employed. You also have a great company that you work for, and you are in the position you are in, and that should be the most you expect to get out of working there now. Things happen, and sometimes they make choices that are for the good of the entire organization but not necessarily for the individual.”
“I guess. I just didn’t want all of it to end.” I sighed.
“Jamie, maybe this could turn out to be a good thing.”
“How is being replaced a good thing?” I asked.
“You are not being replaced. Look at the facts, you never officially had the position. You just said you were doing some of it to help them out, now they have the help they need. This new guy will help share some of the load, and probably it will give them the opportunity to have you focus on other things. New things that you haven’t dealt with yet that will be an even greater challenge.”
“Maybe you’re right.” I sipped my coffee.
“There is always the option of talking to Sam about it before the new guy starts. You may just find out that Sam had you in mind and might have other plans for you.”
“I guess I could talk to him about it and see what he says. I never asked him what his intentions were. I might as well find out and go from there.”
“Exactly and I’m willing to bet that once you talk to Sam, you will feel 100x better.” Lisa agreed.
“You’re probably right. So, enough about me, what have you been up to lately?”
Chapter Three
LISA
I WONDERED IF I SHOULD EVEN BOTHER TELLING JAMIE ABOUT MY NIGHT BEFORE because it wasn’t meant to mean anything. It had been quite a while since I’ve spent time with a man, being a single parent wasn’t easy, and it didn’t leave a lot of room for dating and relationships. Yesterday, however, my daughter experienced her first ever slumber party, and it was kind of sad to not have her home. I have never gone a day without her yet at the same time it left me with a free evening, and I sat there without any idea of how I should be spending my time.
On a whim, I decided to hit the new trendy bar that popped up a few minutes away. I was feeling adventurous, so I didn’t bother calling Jamie or anyone to accompany me. Almost immediately, I was approached by a drop dead, sexy Brit. Needless to say, it didn’t take much convincing to go home with him. I knew what it meant if I agreed and I didn’t mind because I wasn’t looking for anything other than just a good time and he was willing to provide it.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I smiled to myself.
“Oh, I know that look. You met someone didn’t you?” Jamie beamed.
“I did, but it’s not like that. It was just a one-time thing. Heck, I don’t even remember his name. I don’t think I even bothered to ask.”
“Oh, you didn’t?” she covered her mouth and gasped.
“I did. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a wild and crazy night that was just for me? Eight years! For the past eight years I’ve dedicated my entire life to Carlie, and while I love her more than life itself, I’ve missed doing things for myself.”
“Well good for you! Did you have a good time?” she snickered.
“I did. He was incredibly good looking, suave and well dressed. Oh, I can just picture it now. My favorite part was when he rolled up his sleeves and revealed those massive forearms of his.” I wanted to fan myself just thinking about him.
“Oh, my. So no chance of you seeing him again?” she asked.
“No. It was only a one-time thing, besides he didn’t seem like the type of guy who would date someone like me.” I shrugged.
“What do you mean? You’re amazing.”
“I’m not talking about how I look but do you honestly think an incredibly sexy guy would even want to date someone with a kid? Not if he was into one night stands with random women he met in a bar. Plus, I wouldn’t want a guy like that around Carlie anyway. He was good for only one thing, and that’s it.” I pounded on the table adamantly.
“That’s too bad. He sounds like a real hunk.”
“Yeah, too bad.” I laughed. “I’m not worried. I’ll meet a great guy someday, who’s gorgeous, strong and loves children. Someone who’s actually the commitment type.”
“You will. You are an amazing person, who wouldn’t want to snatch you up?”
“Exactly! I am a prize so valuable, men should compete for me like one of those medieval jousting tournaments.” I laughed.
“So, tell me in a lot of detail how your evening with this mystery man went. I want to know everything.”
“Everything?”
“Everything,” I demanded, and I added a wink for emphasis.
****
JAMIE
After my brunch with Lisa and hearing about her extra-curricular rendezvous, I took her advice and decided to wait before I headed on over to Sam’s place and talk to him about the fears I was having. Lisa could be right, maybe he had the foresight to realize that hiring Callum was going to take away the parts of my job that I enjoyed doing and had something else in store for me. The idea that he didn’t do something stupid and make me irrelevant at the office had me feeling a bit better.
I still knocked on Sam’s front door whenever I arrived because I still hadn’t gotten used to the idea that I was welcome to just walk in like I owned the place. I purposely hadn’t talked to Sam in a couple of days knowing that he would be swamped with work and I didn’t want to disturb him so I didn’t know if he’d even be home. Fortunately, he opened the door right away.
“Hey, honey. What are you doing here? I thought you decided to stay away because you didn’t want to interrupt me?”
I gave him a quick peck on the lips, “You’re not busy right now are you?”
“When am I not busy? It’s alright, though. What’s going on? Something troubling you?”
“No, nothing is wrong. I honestly can come back later if you have work to do.”
“Jamie, don’t worry about it. You know you’re always welcome, no matter how busy or preoccupied I am. Come inside.” Sam chuckled as he stepped back to allow me to enter.
“Are you sure that I’m not interrupting anything?” I asked as I walked into the foyer looking around for any signs of company, especially of the female variety.
“No, not at all. I was just working.”
“Okay, good. I just wanted to talk to you about the recent hire that will be leading the marketing department.” I explained.
“Oh, you’ve heard about that have you?”
“Yeah, I did. Was I not supposed to?”
“It was going to come out eventually, but not so soon. The Board suggested we keep it quiet for now. If word got out, we were afraid it was going t
o start some sort of mob, and he’d change his mind before he even arrived. How did you find out?”
Sam looked at me with such nonchalance, I had to get him to understand why the revelation bothered me so much. “I’m surprised that you didn’t tell me about it even if you couldn’t. You tell me everything, but I had to hear it from Sarah and Marta instead.”
“Well, what do you expect me to say? I couldn’t tell anyone about it.”
“How did Sarah and Marta find out about it?” I questioned. I was starting to get frustrated, and I could tell Sam was getting upset because I was getting upset at him and he had absolutely no idea what was going on. Typical man.
“I don’t know. Probably when I asked Sarah to coordinate a few things for his arrival. I figured she wouldn’t notice and it didn’t really occur to me that she’d not only know who he was but would also be a fan of his. Look at the bright side, the public will forget about me and move onto him.” Sam laughed at his derivative sentiment, but I wasn’t in the mood to joke around with him.
“How long has the idea of hiring someone to lead the Marketing Department been floating around?” I asked.
“The idea about hiring Callum?”
“Yes, at what point did the idea of hiring someone become such a necessary thing?”
“A few months, why?” he undoubtedly was bewildered.
“I don’t know. I guess I’m just worried the Foundation is in trouble or that it’s going to self-destruct.”
“Self-destruct? Is that what this odd conversation is about? No, honey. Why would you think such a thing?”
“I don’t know. I guess it’s just that this whole thing just reeks of mystery and things are being kept hidden, and I’m not even one of the secret keepers! It just doesn’t sit well with me, and I don’t understand the decision. I mean we have marketing staff already, why would we need to hire another person anyway? Haven’t I been shouldering a lot of the work?” I confessed.
Twelve Nights (Serendipity Book 3) Page 2