by Marie Astor
Looking back, it was difficult to say what skills Alex had brought to the group. The honest answer was absolutely none, but at the time, Janet thought that Alex’s presentation skills were superb. Every time the group worked on an assignment, Alex would end up being the presenter.
Janet turned the front door key and heard the tapping of Baxter’s paws, accompanied by his baritone bark, as he raced to the front door to greet her.
“Baxter!” Janet scooped Baxter up into her hands just as he was about to jump. He was too excited to see her to think about what his paws might do to her skirt. “I missed you, boy. Have you been a good dog or have you been naughty?” Janet flashed Baxter an all-seeing look. He was a year old now and mostly well-behaved, but as a puppy he had had a penchant for chewing up Janet’s shoes (for some reason Alex’s shoes had never appealed to Baxter), and every now and then Baxter experienced a relapse.
Janet placed her purse in the closet and started to unpack her bag from the pet store. In addition to the Pedigree, she had also bought some doggie treats, and she started to open the package now to give some to Baxter. She knew she should not overindulge him, but it was hard not to spoil him when she felt so guilty about leaving Baxter alone all day. At the sound of the wrapping being torn, Baxter trotted next to Janet and sat back, eyeing her intently. Once she got the package opened, Baxter’s sharp nose must have caught the scent of the food because he started to paw at Janet’s legs again.
“Here you go.” Janet gave him a doggy biscuit. “But please don’t ruin my work skirt, okay?”
Baxter sat back on his hind legs, taking the treat delicately from Janet’s hand. Then, he quietly chewed the biscuit and looked at Janet in anticipation of more food to come. Janet caved in and gave him one more biscuit.
“But that’s it or you’ll spoil your appetite for dinner.” Although Janet doubted that that was likely to happen – given an opportunity, Baxter would eat anything in sight.
Janet headed into the alcove section of her studio, which served as a makeshift bedroom. The alcove just fit a full-size bed, leaving a twenty-inch space from one side to get into the bed. Some would consider the set-up claustrophobic, but Janet had never been bothered by small spaces. In fact, at times, even her tiny apartment seemed too large to her without Alex in it. But then, of course, the space itself was not to blame – it was its emptiness that bothered her. As she slithered out of her work clothes, Janet stole a glance at the caller id of her phone. No messages. It had been six months, but she still harbored a secret hope that one day Alex would call. After more than four years together, he owed her an explanation, and at times, Janet still hoped that the much-fantasized phone call from Alex would bring about reconciliation.
“Come on, Bax.” Dressed in slacks and a windbreaker, Janet grabbed Baxter’s leash. For a small dog, Baxter was incredibly strong and quick, and Janet never dared to let him out without a leash, lest he leave her in the dust, chasing after a squirrel or, much worse, a rat.
Clutching the handle of Baxter’s leash in her hand, Janet half-jogged through the lobby of her building and headed in the direction of Carl Schurz Park. It was the end of September, and the muggy heat of the New York summer had finally retreated for good, surrendering to the glorious autumn coolness. The leaves were beginning to turn, leaving golden piles on the ground. In a few more weeks, this momentary reprieve would be replaced by clouds and drizzle, but now was the time to enjoy the fall’s best behavior.
Janet paused for a moment and threw up her head, looking in the sky. It was a little after seven and still relatively light. A night like this made one wistful for companionship. When she and Alex were together, they would often take a stroll along the park’s promenade at night with Baxter in tow. At first, Janet had been afraid to brave the park on her own after dark, but, thanks to Baxter, she’d gotten used to it eventually, more out of necessity than out of bravery at first, but she soon discovered that there were many solitary dog walkers just like herself. Funny how one’s perception changed when single. Before, Janet had hardly bothered to look around while walking with Alex by her side. Thinking back now, she realized that perhaps she should have been more observant – and not just about her surroundings, but about Alex himself.
Janet felt Baxter tugging on his leash impatiently and sent him a mental thank you for the distraction. She did not know where she would have been if Baxter had not been there to get her through the first few months after the break-up with Alex. Well, she did know, but it would not have been pretty. Probably bawling her eyes out at a shrink’s office (not that she could have afforded a shrink on the miserable severance from the DA’s office), or driving her friends and family crazy with lamentations about her unfortunate love life, which, Janet was embarrassed to admit, she had done plenty of, even with Baxter being there by her side. But the worst was behind her now. Slowly but surely, she was getting used to being on her own, and now, with her being gainfully employed once again, things were bound to look up.
Chapter 4
When Janet exited the elevator of Bostoff Securities the next morning, she chose the correct set of doors, expertly making her way through a network of corridors and thereby avoiding the trading floor entirely.
Once inside her office, she looked at her watch – it was eight thirty, and Lisa had mentioned that she did not get into the office before nine thirty. Janet opened her bag and took out a pack of instant oatmeal she had brought from home in order to avoid the temptation of pastries in nearby bake shops.
She found the kitchen easily enough and set out to prepare the oatmeal. It was hardly an exciting breakfast to look forward to, but it was the right one – one could not continue eating pastries every day and expect to stay a size six – yes, a size six, not four, but given Janet’s height, she thought she was all right. Janet placed the contents of the oatmeal package into a paper cup and debated between water and skim milk. In the end, her determination relented and she caved in to the skim milk option, but she decided to skip the sugar. Years of conscientious breakfast fare made Janet an expert on instant oatmeal. Unlike the cooking instructions on the packet, the oatmeal tasted much better when it was cooked in the microwave as opposed to simply being stirred with hot liquid. One had to measure the cooking time precisely, which was somewhere between one minute and forty and one minute and fifty seconds. Janet put her concoction into the microwave and focused her attention on the microwave’s timer. If one were not looking, the oatmeal would overcook and spill over, leaving an embarrassing mess.
“Hello there.”
Janet turned around at the unexpected sound of a male voice.
“Hi.” Janet remembered the IT guy she had found in her office the day before. It was impossible to forget him. She had never seen anyone who was so incongruously good-looking and clumsy at the same time.
“It’s Janet, right?” The IT guy focused his blue-gray eyes on her. “I’m Dean.”
“Yes, I remember,” Janet lied, making a mental note to commit Dean’s name to memory. “Do you work on this floor?”
“Yep.” Dean nodded. “My desk is on the trading floor – this way if any of the traders need help, I can be summoned to their rescue.”
“Sounds terribly important.”
“It is.” Dean puffed out his chest. “Not really.” He shook his head. “The other day I had to explain to a guy that his monitor was black because he forgot to turn his computer on.”
“Oh…” Janet laughed a bit louder than she intended. “I’m sorry.”
“Is that your oatmeal?”
“Yes. I’m sort of on a diet,” Janet blurted out.
“I think it’s about to run over.” Dean reached for the microwave and popped it open just as the oatmeal was about to topple over the rim of the cup. “Here you are.” Dean set the oatmeal on the kitchen counter. “And if I may add, you don’t need to be on a diet, Janet.”
“Thanks.” Janet blushed – was Dean flirting with her? If he was, she could not say that she mi
nded it, except for the fact that she seemed to have forgotten what it was like to flirt with a cute guy. I’m sort of on a diet. Nicely done. And Dean was not even that good-looking; he was just mildly cute. What was going to happen to her if she were up against a real stunner? Would she unravel completely and blabber uncontrollably?
“Well, Janet, have a good one. I’ve got to get back to my charges. Who knows, while I was away, all kinds of disasters could have struck – knocked-out power cords or coffee spilled on keyboards.”
“Sounds serious. Good luck.” Janet grinned. “And thanks for rescuing my oatmeal.”
“You’re welcome, Janet.” The corners of Dean’s mouth lifted in a smile as his eyes met Janet’s for a moment. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye,” Janet mouthed. Thanks for rescuing my oatmeal. She just brimmed with charm and mystique this morning. Enough with this nonsense, Janet snapped at herself. Her third day on the job, and instead of focusing on her work, she was flirting – correction -- miserably failing at flirting – with idle IT guys, and, how could she forget, lascivious attorneys. Her awkward encounter with Tom Wyman still made her cringe. Well, it takes practice to get better at things, Janet reasoned, so perhaps she should practice on Dean Snider for now.
Back in her office, Janet looked over the chart of Bostoff Securities’ corporate structure that Tom Wyman had given her yesterday. There were about ten different entities. The structure seemed odd to say the least, but Tom had cited a specific business purpose for each entity. His reasoning had made perfect sense when Tom had been explaining the set-up to Janet, but the moment he departed from her office, leaving a trail of masculine cologne, questions began to stir in her mind.
Janet’s last investigation at the DA’s office had been on a money laundering scheme, which was operating through a use of off-shore entities. Well, that had been the crux of Janet’s theory, and she thought she had gathered powerful evidence to support it. She had not actually unraveled the scheme, because Alex had taken the details of her investigation to the Head of the Department and was appointed to be the lead on the case. Shortly afterwards, the case was closed without any findings, Alex was promoted, and Janet was let go, or to be more specific, downsized with a month’s salary as recompense. She had spent months replaying the details of the case in her mind. She had thought she had gathered solid evidence, but apparently her manager thought otherwise. Apparently, Janet had been wrong, and perhaps she was getting overly alarmed now. After all, Lisa was a Harvard Law graduate – she would not be working in a disreputable firm, would she?
When Janet approached Lisa’s office, she saw that the door was half-closed. She hesitated for a moment between knocking and coming back later. Her indecision was ended by the sound of Lisa’s voice coming through the door.
“Janie, is that you? Come on in!”
“Hi, Lisa.” Janet ran her hand over her hair and smoothed her skirt as she made her way through the door. Somehow, one always felt a few bars below par next to Lisa.
Lisa, on the other hand, looked as splendid as ever. Today she was sporting an ensemble of a tweed sheath dress and a matching box tweed jacket – very Jackie Kennedy-like.
“Sit, sit!” Lisa motioned at the chair across from her desk. “Oh, and close the door,” Lisa added, just as Janet was about to lower herself onto the seat.
“So how was your day yesterday?” Lisa inquired once Janet had finally sat down. “No, wait, let me rephrase myself – how was your meeting with Tom?” Lisa’s eyes lit up with curiosity.
“Informative.” Janet pretended to ignore the subtext of Lisa’s question. “Actually, I had a few questions…” Janet reached for her notes. “Tom had explained the corporate structure to me, but there are still some things that are unclear…”
“Janie!” Lisa pursed her lips. “Do you really think that’s why I organized the meeting between you and Tom?”
Janet stared at Lisa. “Yes.”
“Seriously, you never cease to amaze me. You haven’t changed since high school when you could never tell if a guy was interested in you.” Lisa shook her head. “Tom’s firm does all the legal work for us. He is more than capable of handling everything himself. I wanted you to meet with him because I could see that he liked you. Janie, Tom is a real catch: snatch him, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”
“But don’t you need me to get involved workwise?”
“Janie, how do I explain this… Things are taken care of. There’s no real need for us to do much. The firm keeps a general counsel for appearances’ sake, but Tom does the actual work.”
“Then why did you hire me? Why are you here?”
“Because you needed a job, and I’m your friend – your best friend. And what do friends do? They help each other in times of need. Your mom called my mom, you know.” Lisa smiled benevolently.
Janet clasped her forehead in mortification. The Maples and the Foleys had been neighbors for years. As young wives who had recently moved out to the suburbs, Mrs. Foley and Mrs. Maple had become close friends and had continued to remain such. It had been expected that their daughters would continue the tradition, and they had, for a while. At least Janet had done her part, but there was no denying that Lisa was no longer her best friend – had not been for a while. Yet, apparently, Janet’s mother had a difficult time reconciling herself to this fact.
“Are you still wondering why I’m working here?” Lisa mimicked Janet.
“Yes. Why? You graduated from Harvard Law; Berman Erling snatched you up right after graduation. It’s a top law firm. You could have had a stellar career there. Why did you leave and come here?”
“Why did I leave?” Lisa smirked. “Have you ever worked in a private law firm? The hours are hell, and you get treated as though you’re gunk stuck to the soles of partners’ shoes. I had to stay until ten o’clock at night, every night, and work on weekends. Thank you, but no, thank you.” Lisa flung up her hands for emphasis. “But then I met Paul….” Lisa smiled like a cat that had just swallowed a canary. “And he got me a job here. When I found out that I could leave at five o’clock, I couldn’t believe my luck. And once Paul finally proposes, I’m out of here.” Lisa stretched out her arms. “If you’d like, I’ll put in a good word for you for them to give you my job.”
“Thanks, Lisa. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me.” Janet told herself to keep calm. After all, she did need the job, and it was not as though she was being overworked. If Bostoff Securities was prepared to hand her a paycheck for doing nothing, she’d take it, at least for now.
Lisa nodded approvingly. “That’s better; you almost scared me. Now tell me about how it went with Tom.”
Before Janet could answer, there was a knock on the door.
“Lisa?” A young, handsome man’s head poked through the door.
“Paul!” Lisa jumped off her chair, rushing toward the visitor. She was about to fling her arms around his neck, but checked herself upon remembering Janet’s presence in the room. “Paul, I’d like you to meet Janet, our new Assistant General Counsel. Janet, this is Paul Bostoff, our COO.”
By the possessive tone of Lisa’s voice it was clear that Paul Bostoff was much more than ‘our COO’: he was Lisa’s boyfriend and soon to be fiancé, and although Lisa had refrained from a physical demonstration of her relationship with him, her body language made the nature of their relationship crystal clear.
Same old Lisa, Janet thought, remembering how quick Lisa was to abandon friendship over male attention. In their senior year of high school, Lisa did not speak to Janet for a month after Justin Trenner had asked Janet to the prom. The invitation had come as a surprise to Janet, and as an insult to Lisa, who had expected Justin to ask her. Not that Lisa particularly liked Justin, but she expected all the good-looking boys in the class to ask her first. Justin was the fastest on the swimming team: his torso was like a triangle turned upside down, with his wide shoulders in striking contrast to his cinched waist. He had bl
ue eyes and strawberry blond hair. He was also good at drawing and did all the art for the school newspaper, of which Janet was the editor. When they were pressed against a deadline, they’d stay late to finish up. Janet still remembered the stirring sensation she got in her chest when Justin Trenner was sitting at the table across from her: his face a picture of concentration as the pencil moved quickly in his hand over the paper. After one such night, Justin leaned across the table, took Janet’s face into his hands and kissed her. It was her first kiss, but she had been too embarrassed to tell him – after all, eighteen was way too old to have never been kissed by a boy before. Lisa had boasted of her first kiss at twelve. Well, now, Janet finally knew what it was like to kiss a boy, and her head felt like it was about to inflate and float up into the ceiling like a balloon. The evening went on, as Justin continued his work, and Janet sat by, watching him secretly. She was too distracted to do any of her own work on the newspaper. She would just have to come in early the next morning and finish up.
“Well, we’re all done here,” Justin had said, as he looked at Janet and smiled. “Will you go to the prom with me, Janet?” That night everything seemed possible and Janet nodded a breathless yes. But in the morning, doubts began to creep in, partly out of loyalty to Lisa and partly out of fear that no good could come out of it: Justin would be going to Duke in the fall on a full scholarship. Janet reverted on her decision and refused Justin’s invitation. So Justin asked Lisa, who said yes, only to stand him up a week before the prom. In the end, Lisa went with Brick Riley – the captain of the football team. All the girls wanted him, but Lisa was the one who got him. As always, Lisa had thought of Janet and got her a date with Brick’s buddy, Ted Hunter. Ted was going to Rutgers on a football scholarship. He could bench-press two hundred fifty pounds and drink a keg of beer without taking a breath – or at least that was what he claimed. Janet had not bothered to stick around to find out. She left the prom just as Ted and Brick began to exchange meaningful glances and talk about having rented a “suite” at the Marriot. As for Justin Trenner, he spent the prom with Valerie Meehan – the class valedictorian. The two of them danced all night, and, as Janet was dismayed to find out during last year’s class reunion, had gotten married two years ago.