by Dan Friedman
“Dunno. Something about marketing and start-ups.”
Why does she want me to go to something like that? Does she want to give me a bonus or does she want me out of the office?
“Marketing? Shouldn’t you send Mike?” Emily asked.
“That’s the fun part.” Jessica kept grinning. “He’s going as well.”
Emily’s mouth opened. “What?”
“Don’t say I’m not a good boss.”
“I didn’t. But is this...does it make sense? I mean, financially?”
“You and your financials. I’m the CEO, remember? I want you two to go. Together. I need you out of the office. I need you to take a breather, learn new stuff. It’s legal.”
“I know it’s legal, but it’s—”
“Enough with that. I already bought the tickets. I’ll forgo one of my trips. It’ll balance your sheets.”
Emily smiled. “Is it ethical?”
“To send the two of you?”
Emily nodded.
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“You know how I feel about him.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll have two rooms, like any kind of company travel. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Emily stared at her.
“Besides, I asked him before I asked you, and he said he’d love to go,” Jessica said. “If you guys stay after the conference for the weekend, it’s up to you.”
Emily and Mike flew to Las Vegas the following Wednesday from JFK.
They didn’t talk much during the flight. Emily didn’t feel comfortable about the trip, knowing Jessica had fixed it up so they could be together. Emily had texted her that maybe they should call it off.
If you do, I’ll fire you, Jessica texted back.
Then added a smiley.
Emily wanted to go. She could have only dreamed of having alone time with Mike away from the office. It didn’t seem to bother him they were both going to an unnecessary conference.
Why would he mind? He’s a man.
“Why do you think she sent you?” he asked before they landed.
“What?”
“It’s marketing. Not financials.”
“Right. Umm…”
“I think she wanted to hook us up,” he said.
Emily swallowed hard. “Why would you think that?”
“We both know her. And we both know it’s not your type of conference.”
“I don’t know.” She bounced her knee.
Mike smiled. “Come on. She’s your friend. She must have said something.”
Emily blinked fast but said nothing.
“It’s okay,” he said after a while and smiled. “I like it.”
They stayed at the hotel on the edge of town where the conference took place, so they couldn’t walk anywhere. After they settled in their rooms, they took an Uber to a restaurant on The Strip.
The fact that Mike suspected Emily wasn’t supposed to go to this conference could have meant he knew she liked him. If he did, and he agreed to go anyway—that was a good thing.
Maybe he wanted alone time with me as well?
On the other hand, why would he mind? Maybe he wanted to get lucky.
“Wine?” he asked her.
“You trying to get me drunk?”
“What? No! I—”
“Relax! I was kidding.”
“Oh.”
“I’d love some wine,” she said. “Let’s try the most expensive one. We have the company’s credit card.”
“We can’t spend money for no reason. It’s—”
She burst out laughing and held his wrist.
He blushed.
“Jesus! I thought the VP of Marketing would be less tight than the CFO.”
He seemed more nervous than she was.
But he smiled.
She smiled back.
After one glass, she asked him how he got his job.
“I thought you were part of the decision process. Weren’t you?”
Emily sighed. “She doesn’t involve me in everything she does.”
Mike nodded. “I sent my CV to Jessica right before I finished grad school. She interviewed me a couple of times and hired me. She said I’d have a lot to learn, but she trusted I could do it.”
“That’s great. She took me on with little experience as well. She’s great.”
“Yeah. She likes to give people a break.”
She considered telling him about the email but decided he might make fun of her.
“Where do you see yourself after this job?” he asked. “I mean after we sell the company and you make a lot of money.”
They smiled.
“I haven’t given it much thought. I like where I am now. You?”
“I want to run my own company one day. I like the entrepreneurial part.”
Emily nodded.
“Where do you see yourself family-wise?”
He raised his eyebrows. “I’d love to have kids. Maybe move to Jersey in a few years. You?”
“Nah. I’m staying in New York. Not even sure I want kids.”
She regretted the question.
They had a full bottle of wine together, which affected her coherence. When they reached her room at the hotel, she asked him if he wanted to come in.
She couldn’t believe she’d said that.
She wanted that more than anything.
But she was drunk.
And they were coworkers, on a work trip.
It would be all wrong.
“Maybe some other time?” he said.
“You don’t find me attractive?”
Who said that?
“No. No. I do...but you...we drank too much. I can’t. You’ll hate me in the morning.”
“I won’t. But I understand.” She nodded. “And I’ll respect you for it in the morning.”
The next morning, they dressed up nicely and went to the conference.
“I’m sorry about last night,” she said as they waited for the elevator.
“What happened last night?”
She swallowed hard.
He doesn't remember? Was he too drunk?
I should have let it go.
But he smiled.
He remembered.
“It’s okay,” he said as they took the elevator down. “We were both too drunk. Besides, what happens in Vegas…”
She smiled.
At the conference, whenever he talked to other women, she felt a tingle in her stomach.
Not a good one.
It’s nothing. He’s being friendly. That’s his job.
When they went to dinner, Mike suggested wine.
“Company credit card and all.” He smiled.
“Look at you, spending the company’s money. I’ll tell Jessica about you.”
“No. I—”
She laughed.
He joined her.
“Was that a ‘yes’?”
She shook her head. “No wine tonight.”
“Why not?”
“I want to be sober when I ask you to come to my room.”
Five
Bob smiled as he watched Madison go down the slide in their apartment building’s playground. He wished he had more quality time with her. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d come home early in the afternoon and could play with her. She laughed as she came down the slide and melted his heart.
She waved at him and he blew her a kiss.
His phone dinged and he couldn’t resist checking the message.
How is Madison? Lisa asked.
He sent her a picture of Madison smiling and waving, which got him a heart emoji from Lisa.
The heart was for Madison, not for him. It had been a long time since he’d gotten a heart from her. It had been a long time since she’d asked him how he was doing.
How are you doing? He texted back.
Fine. Thank you, she wrote back.
He put the phone back in his pocket and watched most of the other parents no
t taking their eyes off their smartphones while their kids played. He didn’t have enough time with Madison to waste it on his phone.
Madison ate a snack next to him on the bench.
“Can I have a bite of your Oreo cookies?” he asked.
She drew them back. “Nah.” She gave him a naughty grin.
“Please?”
She shook her head, and he pretended to cry.
“Okay. Okay. Don’t cry.” She broke off the smallest piece of cookie she could and gave it to him.
He ate it and then tickled her.
“Daddy?” she asked after a while. “Are you a good agent?”
“What?”
She stared at him.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Do you catch bad guys?”
“Sure I do, honey. Why do you ask?”
“I heard mommy say you’re not a good agent.”
His heart skipped a beat.
“She told you that?”
“No. I heard her talking on the phone.” She looked up at him. “She also used a bad word.”
Emily’s night with Mike was even better than she had dreamed. They both took fast showers, then wore the bathrobes from her hotel room.
“I hope we’re not doing anything wrong,” Emily said.
“Why would you think that?” Mike said.
“I don’t know. We’re working together and—”
“So what? We’re coworkers. I’m not your boss and you’re not my boss. We can do whatever we want.”
She smiled at him. “But I can be your boss for tonight.” She kissed him on the mouth.
She noticed he wanted to take her robe off, but couldn’t bring himself to do it, so she did it for him.
He drew her back, gently, and looked at her.
Naked.
His mouth opened as he said nothing.
“Well?” She smiled.
“Well what?” He blushed.
“Never mind.” She walked up to him and took his robe off. She pushed him gently on the bed and started kissing his body, slowly. Then got on top of him. When he tried to cover them with the sheet, she took it off.
“I want to see you. And I want you to see me.”
They made love twice, taking a nap in between.
The second time felt much better than the first.
After the conference ended, Emily checked out of her hotel room, and Mike asked her to stay for two more nights in his. She stayed with him and they spent most of the weekend in bed, with short breaks for gambling and food.
When they returned to New York on Sunday, they took an Uber to his apartment, and Emily stayed there for the night. His apartment was smaller than hers, but warm and cozy.
After a nap, they took the subway to Central Park and walked hand in hand for half a day, eating, talking, and sitting on the Great Lawn with a million other people. She put her head on his lap and he stroked her hair.
She forgot about work, bosses, and bad emails, and only enjoyed the sun, the trees, and the people around.
On Monday, they took the subway to work.
“I hope no one notices I’m wearing the same clothes as I did on the trip,” she said.
“No one knows what you wore on the trip.” He smiled.
She nodded as he kissed her in front of everyone on the subway.
“We need to play cool at the office,” she said.
“You mean I’m embarrassing you?”
“No! But we don’t need everyone in the office gossiping about us.”
He nodded.
“Even though Jessica probably knows,” she said.
“I still think you two set it up.”
Emily tried to hide her smile.
That day Jessica looked at them with a weird grin. They kept their conversations short and work related.
“How did it go?” Jessica asked the first chance they were alone.
Emily smiled. “You know I’m not a girl who kisses and tells.”
“You go, girl!”
Emily left the office fifteen minutes after Mike. They texted each other they would meet at the subway station. She was going to get her suitcase and go home, but ended up staying another night at his place.
The following morning, Emily found discrepancies in the company’s earnings again.
“It should be only a hundred thousand dollars, not a million,” she told Jessica in her office.
“Are you sure about that?” Jessica closed the door behind her.
“A hundred percent.”
“How the hell do you remember?”
Emily put her laptop on the CEO’s desk. “I know my numbers. That’s my job.”
Jessica swallowed. “Tell your boyfriend you’ll be coming home late tonight.”
“What?”
“We need to look into this.” Jessica picked up her cell phone from her desk and walked to the door. “I’ll be right back.”
Emily went to Mike’s office and told him she’d be staying late.
“Anything wrong?” It seemed as if he wanted to kiss her.
“Some discrepancies. I’m sure we’ll find them soon enough.”
She waited for Jessica for almost an hour. She texted her, then called her, but there was no reply. Emily went back to her office and reviewed the numbers again, for the seventh time.
After two hours, Emily decided she’d go home. She was the last one in the office, so she locked the door behind her.
“I thought we were working late tonight,” Jessica said, startling her from behind.
“Jesus, you scared me.” Emily caught her breath. “I’ve been waiting for hours. Where have you been?”
“I’m sorry. I had some important phone calls to make.” Jessica unlocked the office and held the door open. “Shall we continue?”
Jessica locked the door behind them, and Emily followed her into her office.
The office was dark and deserted. If Jessica had been a man, Emily would have felt much less comfortable.
They checked the numbers, looking for earnings and expenses, and could not find where the error came from.
The number was exactly ten times as much as it should have been.
“I guess someone added a zero.” Jessica grinned.
“Only you and I have access to this.”
Jessica nodded. “Then it must have been you.” She laughed, almost like a drunk.
“You know I don’t make mistakes like that. I’d have caught it if it were me.”
“I was kidding. It was probably me.” Jessica seemed a few years older. “Let’s erase it and go home.”
Emily bought Chinese takeout and took an Uber to Mike’s. They had dinner and she told him about the mistake she’d found.
“You must feel proud,” he said.
“I do, but all these issues are starting to pile up. I’m starting to think something’s going on.”
“Probably mistakes.” He kissed her. “It’s a good thing we have you watching over our money.”
“I don’t know. I’m scared.”
“Why don’t you talk to Jessica? She’s your friend. She’ll tell you the truth.
Emily stopped by her apartment and dropped her suitcase from the trip. Then she took another Uber to Jessica’s apartment.
“Who is it?” Jessica yelled from behind the door.
“Emily.”
Jessica opened the door. “Emily? What’s up?”
When she didn’t reply, Jessica gestured for her to enter.
Even though they’d worked together for a long time, they’d never met in each other’s apartments. Jessica’s was much fancier than hers.
She makes more money than I do, but not that much.
“I’m sorry for the time and for not letting you know was coming over, but I need to talk to you.”
“No problem. What’s up?”
“I couldn’t talk to you at the office since I think it may be bugged.”
“Why would it be bugged?”
Emily told her everything, while Jessica only listened and seemed surprised.
“Emily, I had no idea. I’m sorry about this. Why didn’t you come to me sooner?”
“You had no idea?”
“No! What do you think I am? A mobster?”
Emily didn’t reply.
“Why would I threaten you? You’re my partner and my best employee. I wouldn’t have gotten the company up and running without you.”
Emily stared at her.
“Okay, look.” Jessica opened her phone and scrolled through her emails. She opened the correspondence between them, where Emily had read the Reply All threat.
“See?” Jessica showed Emily her emails. “I didn’t get that email.”
Emily examined the phone, inhaled then exhaled.
“And for the rest of the problems we had—I didn’t think it was any kind of corruption. I thought they were honest mistakes.”
Jessica examined Emily. “Look, we always used to joke that our investor, Guy Cash, was a mobster—or something like that—but I never believed it. But who knows? Maybe he’s part of it?”
Emily rubbed her thighs.
“Tell you what,” Jessica said, “I have a friend who’s a private investigator. Let me talk to him and ask him to check around, okay? Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”
Emily tried to smile.
Jessica hugged her. “Now, let’s have some wine, and you can tell me all about Mike.”
A few hours later Emily took an Uber back to her apartment.
The next morning, Emily woke up screaming.
She found a dead rat next to her in bed.
Part Two
Never Reply All
Six
Emily waited until the weekend to talk to Mike.
“Someone’s trying to shut me up,” Emily told Mike in his apartment.
“What? What do you mean?”
She told him about the strange email and all the discrepancies she’d discovered.
“Who could it be?” He made her coffee.
“I don’t know. Only Jessica knows about this. But why would she do that?”
“Because she’s guilty? It wouldn’t surprise me,” he said.