She doubted it.
“Thank you, Polly,” Laura said finally.
“Nothing to thank me for,” Polly said as she patted Laura’s hand and stood. “You do what’s right for you. Don’t let fear of what others might think take away the possibility for real love.”
Laura nodded. Polly was right. She could not let this opportunity get away from her.
Chapter Eleven
Monday morning, Laura exited the elevator and walked past Felicity at the front desk with barely a hello. She had to keep her bearings—and her determination—so she could talk to Emily without losing it. A battlefield-like feeling roamed around in Laura’s head, and she had to face it head-on.
Emily was at her desk working on her computer when Laura stalked up.
“I need to talk to you,” Laura said in a firm voice.
Emily looked up from her computer. “Yes?” she said in a formal voice that scraped over Laura’s nerves like a rake through rocks.
“Can we speak in private?” Laura asked.
Emily looked at Laura, her face thoughtful. With a shrug, she stood and followed Laura into Terry’s office, closing the door behind them.
“Look, last night…” Laura started.
“I’m sorry about last night…” Emily said at the same time.
They both laughed, which eased the tension in Laura’s mind almost immediately.
Emily spoke first. “Last night…how do I say this?”
Laura looked into Emily’s eyes. She could see tears building in them, and her heart hurt. She walked over, took Emily into her arms, and kissed her.
Their tongues intertwined and the kiss became stronger, more fervent. Nothing else seemed to matter at that very moment but her and Emily.
When they finally broke away, both out of breath and panting, Laura spoke. “Look, this is all very new to me. I have never been in love with a woman, nor have I ever thought I would be.”
Emily waved her words away. “No, I get it. I imagine you didn’t know that I’m a lesbian?”
“Well, if I didn’t know before, I certainly know now,” Laura said with a laugh. “So where do we go from here? I’ve never been a lesbian before.”
“You don’t just ‘be’ a lesbian, silly. You don’t just ‘become one’. You either are one or you are not. I would say you are bisexual, which means you can fall in love with both men and women.”
Laura considered this. Then it dawned on her. “You know, I think you’re right,” she said. “I remember in high school having a crush on Stephanie Glass; but I was so baffled by it, I chalked it off as something else. Don’t ask me what that something else was.”
“Well, anyway, we might want to keep this budding romance under our hats for the moment,” Emily said. “Trust me, not everyone is ready for something like this, especially when you don’t have a firm hold on your position here. Let’s get through this client list before Sean finds out what we’re up to.”
“I agree. I don’t trust that man as far as I can throw him,” Laura said.
There was a knock on the door and the two women separated themselves quickly before Laura called out, “Come in.”
Sean opened the door and peeked his head through the opening. “I thought I saw you come in, Laura,” he said in his swarmy voice. “I wanted to talk to you; do you have time now?”
“Sure, come on in,” she replied as she walked around to Terry’s chair behind the desk and sat down.
When Sean came through the door, he took a seat and looked over at Emily, who remained standing where she had been when he had stuck his head in the doorway.
“Do you mind if we talk alone?” he said, looking at Emily meaningfully.
Emily looked at Laura, who gave her a little nod, and she walked out the door without a word.
“What can I do for you, Sean?” Laura asked in a formal voice.
He sighed. “Hey, I’m sorry about the night of the funeral. I wasn’t trying to be an ass,” he paused, and then looked up at Laura. “Yes, I was an ass.” Laura stifled a laugh since that was exactly how she and Emily referred to him. “But I honestly thought there was something there between us…”
“That night has come and gone. I no longer think of it,” Laura said, trying to sound as casual as she could, but knowing she was failing miserably. “Why have you come here?”
Sean’s face reddened. “I want to know what you’re up to,” Sean said, anger crossing his face. “What is it you want?”
“What do I want?” Laura laughed. She was shocked how evil it sounded. “I want this business to keep going, keep the same reputation and integrity that Terry wanted for it.”
“I want that too,” Sean said, clearly irritated. “But you don’t know the business like I do.”
Laura cringed inwardly, but kept her features steady. “I don’t know? I was a part of this business at the beginning, in case you’ve forgotten,” she said. “You can’t tell me that I don’t know what Terry wanted.”
“Yes, but things have changed…” Sean said as he sat on the edge of his seat.
“Have they?” Laura interrupted as she sat forward and laid her arms on the desk. “Have ‘things’ changed, or have you?”
Sean gave a derisive snort. “Me? Why would you say that? I’m the same person I was eight years ago.”
“I find that doubtful,” Laura replied. “You have been doing whatever you can to circumvent my husband’s wishes, haven’t you?”
Sean’s face looked as if it would explode, it was so inflamed. “How dare you!” he shouted. “I put everything I have into this firm. I’m here from early morning until late at night.”
“And you don’t think Terry did as well?” Laura said, her voice rising as well. “Don’t you think he put this business above everything else? Don’t you think that I haven’t? I may not have been a direct contributor to Jensen and Barkley after I left, but I can damn well tell you that I have as much interest now as anyone here.” She realized she was shouting by this time, and she stopped to take a deep breath and calm herself. “The way I see it, I own the majority in this business…”
“I still have the offer on the table to buy out your share. I know you have sacrificed a lot, but it’s not the same as putting in your own blood, sweat, and tears. You don’t know how the business has changed. I do. Let me carry on Terry’s legacy and make it what he dreamed it would be.”
Laura tried hard not to laugh. This dirt bag thought he knew what Terry wanted? She might not know how to draft plans for a building or the laws for architectural development, but she knew how to run an office. Her and Emily’s plan would work and she knew it.
“I have a meeting in ten minutes, so if you don’t mind…” Laura said, punctuating the end of the meeting by standing and indicating the door.
Sean stood, rebuttoned his designer jacket and stomped out the door.
There was no way this was over, Laura knew that for a fact.
Emily came through the door and raised an eyebrow at Laura. “So, did he try to buy you out again?”
“Oh yes, but does that surprise you?”
Emily laughed. “No, not at all.”
“He also said that I didn’t know the business well enough to keep it going. He said that I didn’t know what Terry wanted! Can you imagine? It’s like he didn’t remember that I helped start this firm, as if I had nothing at all to do with it.” She grabbed her purse off the desk. “No matter. We have a lunch meeting, so we better get going.”
She walked around the desk, and Emily pulled her in and kissed her.
“You’re beautiful when you’re angry,” she said.
Laura feigned disgust. “You sound just like Terry,” she said. “He used to do what he could to make me angry because he said it turned him on.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “You aren’t going to do that, are you?” she asked.
“Me?” Emily said innocently. “No, I don’t work like that. I have other ways…” She grabbed Laura’s hand and placed it on he
r own breast. “Now that does more for me than seeing you angry ever will.”
Laura realized it did more for her, as well.
Chapter Twelve
The office was busy when Laura arrived after the meeting. She was flustered and unsure if she would be able to make it through the rest of the day. Her follow-up meeting with Emily would not be for another three hours, and she was worried Emily might not want to go. Or was it she was afraid Emily would want to go?
All Laura knew was that she really needed Emily to go.
“Hello, Mrs. Jensen,” Felicity said as Laura walked toward the reception desk. “I have a few messages for you.”
She handed Laura some small note pages. Laura looked through them; nothing of immediate interest for two of them, but the last one was a message from one of the clients they had set up a meeting with.
Need to cancel meeting for tomorrow. Sorry, Tracy Fracia.
“Thank you, Felicity,” Laura said vaguely as she walked toward the office. She would shoot off an email right away to see if she could reschedule.
When she arrived at her office, Emily was sitting at the desk.
“Fracia canceled for tomorrow,” Laura said as she approached the desk.
“Damn,” Emily replied. “Do you want me to call her?”
“No, I’ll just pop off an email.” Laura stood in front of the desk unsure what to say. “Hey, can we talk?”
“Sure,” Emily replied, setting her elbows up in front of her and crossing her arms on the desk. “What do you need?”
Laura smiled. “No, in private.”
Emily nodded and walked around the desk before following Laura into the office.
“Look…” Emily started.
“Wait, please,” Laura said, interrupting her. “There is a lot going on right now. I’m not quite ready for a relationship. And to be honest, this kind of relationship is a little…well….strange for me.”
Emily laughed. “I’m sure it is.”
“We have a lot of work to do. Let’s keep things business for right now, and if something happens, then so be it.”
“That’s fine,” Emily said. She did not seem to be angry, which was a relief to Laura. She had been so nervous just thinking about coming into work and talking to Emily, at least now she could focus on getting things finished with the clients before moving on to something new.
“Well, we don’t have a lunch meeting this morning, and I saw Sean skulking around your office when I got here. How about we run and grab something quick and come back here. We can look at the office as our castle, one that needs guarding.”
Laura laughed. It felt good. “Yes, I’m starving. How about we just grab something at Farmer’s Deli? They make good sandwiches and it’s quick and easy.”
“That works for me.”
They grabbed their bags and Laura made sure she locked the door to her office before they left. She would not put it past Sean to rifle through the files. He could use the excuse that he did not realize she had not made the office her own yet.
Fifteen minutes later, sandwiches and drinks in hand, Emily said, “I have an idea.”
“OK, what’s that?”
“There’s a great park just a couple of blocks away. There are picnic tables there. Let’s go, have a nice lunch and just enjoy some fresh air.”
Laura laughed. “Fresh air? In Denver?” But she had to admit it was a beautiful day and she would love to be out in the open air.
“Well, relatively fresh, anyway,” Emily said with a smile.
They headed toward a park Laura had passed often enough to know it was there, but had never actually visited. Indeed there were several covered picnic tables, most of them occupied by mothers, or more than likely nannies, and their children. A small playground was set next to a large canopy-covered set of tables, and Laura and Emily avoided that area. They found another table further away that was much quieter and blessedly vacant.
“This is a nice area,” Laura said. “I’ve driven past it so many times, I stopped even noticing it.”
Emily laughed. “That happens.” She took out her sandwich and tore off a corner and put it in her mouth. Laura felt a lump in her throat as she watched how, instead of biting her food, she tore it into a bit-sized piece and put it in her mouth.
Laura cleared her throat and quickly looked down at her own food. It was hard enough as it was to work with someone she saw as more than a friend without making things worse by staring.
“This park is…I don’t know, I guess you would say it’s my sanctuary,” Emily said after several minutes of just enjoying the far-off sounds of children playing and the muted noise of traffic on the other side of the large trees that ringed the park. “I have come here for years when I needed some alone time. I used to live just down there…” she pointed behind Emily, “in those apartments you see poking up over the trees. It was like living in a den of drama; I hated it. The neighbors were always fighting, kids were being kicked out into the hallway to play. There was even a meth lab in the apartment just above me, and they would turn up the music until I couldn’t think straight. Apparently they thought that loud music would mask the smell of the cooking…”
They laughed. It felt so good. Every time Laura was with Emily, it felt good. It felt right. But she needed to put it out of her mind for the moment. There were other fish to fry.
“So, I would come down here to get away,” Emily said, continuing her story. “If it was a nice day, this is where I could be found. Sometimes even on cold days with a hot cup of coffee and all bundled up.”
“I can see why,” Laura said. She watched as Emily tore off another piece of her sandwich before putting it on her mouth. Then she looked down at her watch and said. “Well, we probably should get back to the office. I still need to get that email off to Francia and see what’s up. I’m sure it’s just that something came up.”
“You know what? You’re probably right. I guess I am getting a little paranoid.”
Laura did not respond. She stuffed her napkin in the wrapper from her sandwich and threw the bundle and her cup from her drink into a trash can.
When she looked over at Emily, she saw her take one more deep breath, her eyes closed, and then they walked back to the office in a comfortable silence.
***
“I got a reply from Tracy Francia,” Emily said as she stuck her head into the office. “She said that she just needed to reschedule; something personal came up. So, what do we have open?”
Laura gave a sigh of relief. At least the woman was not avoiding her. She pulled up her calendar and scanned over the schedule. “We could do two weeks from Monday,” she said. “We have meetings everyday before that.”
“OK, I’ll let her know.”
Laura sat at her desk and popped off an email with the request for a appointment for yet another cancellation. At least they were still willing to meet. Then she pulled up a spreadsheet she had developed to help her keep track of the project manager’s assignments. As she was reviewing it, a knock came to the open door. Laura looked up and Sean Barkley was standing there.
“Oh, where’s Emily?” Laura asked. At least Emily would have tried to steer him away.
Sean shrugged. “I don’t know,” he replied. “She’s not at her desk. It’s you I want to talk to anyway.”
Laura forced a smile. “What can I do for you?” she asked as pleasantly as she could.
Sean entered the office and took a chair. “I wanted to talk to you about setting up a meeting with the project managers.”
“OK. Well, I want to do that, but I need to get my ducks in a row before I present them with my plans for the firm.”
Laura watched Sean’s law clench, but his voice remained even. “Look, Laura, it’s admirable what you’re doing. You seem to really know your stuff when it comes to managing the office. But with Terry now gone, we’re down one architect…”
“I’ve got that under control,” Laura interrupted.
“But how?�
� Sean asked, his anger beginning to break through his friendly facade.
“Just don’t worry. I’ll present everything when I have finalized my plans.”
“I can’t believe you won’t include me in any of this,” Sean said, his anger now full-blown. “You can’t just leave me out.”
Laura leaned back in her chair and smiled. “You know, I still have majority holding of this company. Those shares have been moved over into my and I am working in Terry’s place. It’s what he wanted. Now…you will be informed of my plans, and the board will decide if these plans are acceptable or not. Until then, you will just have to wait just like everyone else.”
Sean stood, the chair moving back in his haste. “You’ll regret this, you know.”
“I doubt it, Sean.” When he was almost to the door, she said, “Oh, and Sean…”
He stopped and turned around expectantly.
“How about you sell me your shares of the company? I’ll even let you take your clients with you. What do you think?”
He threw her an angry look and stomped out the door. Laura laughed as she saw what she considered an angry child throwing a temper-tantrum rushing to his bedroom to slam the door.
A few seconds later, Emily poked her head in. “What was that all about? He looked pretty mad”
Laura laughed. “I just offered to buy him out is all.”
“Oh, my God, what did he say?”
“Not a word,” Laura said. “But you know what? It’s true, he could just sell me his shares.” She paused and tapped her fingers on the desk. “You know what? Would you look up what the bylaws say about our business arrangement? I want to know if there’s a chance of actually firing him.”
Emily’s smile broadened. “Oh, I hope so!”
Laura hoped she could too. That would take care of not only his mistreatment of her after Terry’s death, but also the complaints with clients.
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