She Left Me Breathless

by Trin Denise

  “I told you it was Caitlyn’s idea,” Sydney said with a grin.

  Rachel laughed. “I know that much but where did she get the idea?”

  “From her beautician,” Sydney chuckled and then waited for Rachel’s reaction.

  Rachel’s right eyebrow shot upward. “Are you serious?”

  Sydney nodded. “Yes, ma’am I am.”

  “Dare I ask why?” Rachel asked.

  “Why she goes to the beautician?” Sydney laughed.

  “No silly, you know what I mean,” she said and playfully shoved Sydney.

  Damn she’s beautiful when she smiles like that, Sydney thought as she looked at Rachel. Stop thinking like this, she silently scolded herself. “Have you ever seen those fancy programs they use where they take a picture of you and then give you a list of different hairstyles and with a click of the mouse, you can add it to your face to see how it would look on you?”

  Rachel thought about it for a second. “Yeah, I’ve seen them but never used one.”

  “Well that’s how Caitlyn got the idea. She thought that maybe we could take the design software that EMCOR uses, make some major programming changes, and put the Welsh spin on it,” Sydney said. The look of pride on her face was evident.

  “She really is something else, isn’t she?” Rachel asked.

  Sydney pushed her chair back and stood up. “I can honestly say I have never met anyone like her. She is more talented than almost all of the people I have working for me put together.”

  Rachel leaned back in her chair. “You really like her, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I do,” Sydney said, nodding her head. “Listen, I have a few things I need to do so I’m gonna get out of your hair for awhile and let you get to it.”

  “Okay, I think I’m going to play around with this a bit if you don’t mind.”

  “Take your time, there’s no hurry,” Sydney said.

  “Once I get comfortable with it, I’ll start making changes based on your new color schemes. As for the time it takes, I think you may have just shortened my stay here by several days.” Rachel said the words and for reasons she couldn’t explain, the thought of shortening her time with Sydney suddenly bothered her.

  Sydney walked over to the doorway. She turned and looked back at Rachel. “Maybe I should take the computer away then.” She left before Rachel had a chance to respond.

  Rachel looked at the empty doorway. After all these years, the woman still had a way of getting under her skin. “Okay, time to get to work,” she said as she pushed the chair back away from the desk.

  Meredith snapped the lid shut on her compact case and crammed it in the side of her purse. She used her key and unlocked the front door. “Where are you my darling?” she whispered as she stepped into the foyer. She pulled her key out of the door and then pushed it closed. She walked across the foyer toward the family room as if she owned the place.

  “If I were you, where would I be right now?” she mumbled under her breath. She smiled as she crossed the family room and headed down the hallway toward the downstairs bedroom.

  She stopped in the open doorway. Sydney stood in front of the dresser with her back facing Meredith. “I thought I might find you here,” she said, seductively.

  Sydney whirled around, her face registering shock as she looked at Meredith. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?” Sydney asked, not bothering to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

  Meredith made a pouty face with her mouth. “What? No hi honey, good to see you, I’ve missed you?”

  “I’ve missed you like I’d miss an extra hole in my head,” Sydney said with a straight face.

  “Aw, babe, you don’t really mean that,” Meredith said as she moved stealthily across the room. She was in front of Sydney and had wrapped her arms around Sydney’s waist before she even had time to realize what had happened.

  “Don’t, Meredith,” Sydney said, placing her hands on Meredith’s shoulders.

  “I know you miss me and I know you missed this,” Meredith said as her hand slid upward, her fingers closing over Sydney’s right breast.

  “Stop,” Sydney growled as she grabbed Meredith’s hand. “I want—”

  “Oh, I am so sorry,” Rachel said from the doorway, a look of embarrassment on her face.

  “Damn it,” Sydney swore under her breath as she met Rachel’s gaze.

  “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Rachel said, as she held eye contact with Sydney.

  “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Meredith,” Meredith said in a syrupy sweet voice as she walked over to Rachel and held out her hand.

  “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Rachel Ashburn,” Rachel said as she shook Meredith’s hand.

  “Meredith was just leaving,” Sydney said.

  “Not on my account, I hope,” she said looking at Sydney. “I just came in to see if you had a preference as to how many shades of mauve I used in the family room.” She turned and looked at Meredith and then in a sweet voice said, “Have a good day.” She looked at Sydney, winked, turned, and left the room.

  Sydney stood there, her mouth gaping open. What the hell was that all about?

  “So that’s thee Ms. Rachel,” Meredith said, interrupting her thoughts.

  “Huh? What did you say?” Sydney asked. She was still trying to figure out the little word play thingy that Rachel had just used.

  “I see what you’re doing, Sydney. So you think you still have a shot with that frigid Catholic bitch after all these years?” Meredith snarled, a snotty look on her face.

  Sydney looked at her with mild disbelief. How did she put that together so quickly.

  “Don’t look so shocked, sweetheart. Yeah, I remember you telling me about Rachel and how she broke your little ole heart.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about and even if I did, I don’t give a damn what you think and it’s none of your business anyway,” Sydney said, her voice shaking with anger. She held out her hand to Meredith.

  “What?” Meredith asked.

  “You know what. Give me the key,” Sydney said through clenched teeth.

  Meredith’s expression softened. “Come on, babe. Just give me one more chance. Please?”

  “Give me the key,” Sydney said, motioning with her outstretched fingers.

  Meredith pulled her key ring out of her purse. She removed a gold colored key and handed it to Sydney. “You’re going to regret this, Sydney Welsh,” she said over her shoulder as she left the room.

  “I already do,” Sydney whispered as she laid the key on the dresser.

  “So that’s Meredith,” Rachel mumbled to herself as she sat down at the desk. She tapped her nails on the keyboard, staring blankly at the screen. From the look of things, it sure seemed as if she and Sydney weren’t quite as split as what the media was leading everyone to believe.

  She continued to talk to herself as she used the mouse to open the design software. “She’s very beautiful. I can see how Sydney would be attracted to her if trashy was what she was going for.” Why do you care, a little voice inside of her head asked? “I don’t care. Not really.” Sure you don’t. Then why is it bothering you so much? the little voice asked. “I have no idea but I need to get my thoughts off of her and focus on the job that I have to do here so I can be done with it and her once and for all.”

  “Who are you talking to?”

  The sound of Sydney’s voice caused Rachel to jump. “I’m sorry. I was just talking to myself again. I guess that’s a habit I will probably never break,” Rachel said, shrugging her shoulders.

  Sydney chuckled. “I do it too and I personally think that sometimes it’s the most intelligent conversation I have all day.”

  Rachel laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “I just wanted to stop by and check to see how things were going.”

  “Just getting started but I think I can get quite a bit of work done today before I leave,” Rachel said.

  Sydney leaned against the door
jam. “As for the mauve’s, use whatever combinations you think will look good. I’ve got some other things I need to work on but if you need anything, Edna can help you out.”

  “Okay, thank you,” Rachel said as she turned away and began making selections on the monitor.

  Sydney pulled her truck into the garage, shut off the engine, and popped the hood. She slid out of the driver’s seat and walked over to her workbench. She grabbed a toolbox and several packages of spark plugs.

  Just as she pushed the hood up on the truck, Jackie walked in carrying a cup of coffee in her hand. Tucked under her other arm was a manila envelope.

  Sydney grinned at her. “Well, look what the cat drug in.”

  “Good to see you, too,” Jackie laughed. “Doing a little car repair?”

  “Yeah, she needs a tune-up after my last road trip. Some new spark plugs, air filter, oil change, you know, the regular stuff,” Sydney said as she took the new spark plugs out of their packages. “You got something for me?” she asked as she rooted around in the toolbox.

  “I sure do,” Jackie said as she pulled the envelope out from under her arm and opened it.

  Sydney pulled out a ratchet and several sockets. “Damn I’m good,” she laughed as the first socket she tried slipped easily onto the end of the new sparkplug.

  Jackie laughed. “Yeah, right, I know that you knew exactly which socket would fit.”

  Sydney waggled her eyebrows. “Mayhaps, mayhaps not.”

  “Exactly what does mayhaps mean?”

  Sydney frowned. “How can you not know what that means?”

  Jackie shrugged and then laughed. “Just dense, I guess.”

  “It’s a cross between a maybe and perhaps. You know, mayhaps,” Sydney said as she took a gapping gauge and set the gap on the sparkplugs.

  “Whatever floats your boat,” Jackie snickered as she pulled several sheets out of the envelope.

  Sydney stopped what she was doing to give Jackie her full attention. She leaned back against the side of the truck and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “I got the information back on Ashburn’s prints. His real name is Martin Hollis and you’re not going to believe this, but he used to be a real estate mogul.”

  Sydney’s look was incredulous. “You’re kidding?”

  “It gets better, Syd. He was the main money launderer for the Med—” Jackie stopped in mid-sentence, her eyes looking toward the open door.

  “Hey, there you are,” Caitlyn said as she stepped into the garage. “Edna said I would probably find you out ...” She stopped when she noticed Jackie, her gaze dropped to the papers in Jackie’s hand. “I’m sorry to interrupt. I didn’t know you had company.”

  “It’s okay. We were just finishing,” Sydney laughed.

  “Hi, Caitlyn. How are you?” Jackie asked as she slid the papers back inside the envelope.

  Caitlyn smiled. “Hi, Jackie. I’m just peachy.”

  “I will call you later,” Jackie said, looking at Sydney.

  Sydney glanced at her watch. “I should be free anytime after six if you’re available.”

  “Sounds good. See you ladies later,” Jackie said as she left the garage.

  Sydney grinned at Caitlyn. “So, what do I owe for the pleasure of your company?”

  “A year’s pay,” Caitlyn laughed.

  “Sounds reasonable,” Sydney said with a shrug.

  “Seriously, I was wondering if we could talk and not as boss and employee.”

  “Okay, do you mind if I work while we talk?” Sydney asked as she slipped on a pair of latex gloves.

  “Not at all,” Caitlyn said as she walked over to the front of the truck and looked at the engine.

  I’m all ears,” Sydney said as she pulled off a spark plug wire and then slipped the socket onto the sparkplug.

  “What’s going on with you and my mom?” Caitlyn asked.

  Sydney stopped what she was doing and looked at Caitlyn. She decided to play dumb. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Caitlyn’s right eyebrow shot upward. “You don’t, huh?”

  Sydney made several more turns with the ratchet and then pulled out the old spark plug.

  “Let me try a different approach then,” Caitlyn said as she handed Sydney a new sparkplug. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

  Sydney looked up at her in surprise. “Of course not. What kind of a question is that?”

  “About as stupid of a question as you telling me that you don’t know what I mean.”

  Sydney laughed. “Touché.”

  “I may have been young but I remember you, Sydney.”

  This time Sydney was unable to hide the shock on her face. She should have known that with Caitlyn’s intelligence and her near photographic memory, there was a better than good chance that she would remember things that most kids her age wouldn’t. “What exactly do you remember?” she asked as she laid the ratchet down on the engine.

  “I remember that you were there and then you were suddenly gone and that Mom has never been the same since. She thinks I don’t know and that I don’t remember but it’s hard to forget when you see the light go out of your mom’s eyes.”

  “Wow,” was all Sydney could say. She had no idea that Caitlyn was this perceptive and not giving it a second thought had been a major mistake on her part. She shook her head as she looked at Caitlyn. “Are you telling me that when you first met me, that when you joined Welsh, you remembered me then?”

  “Of course,” Caitlyn said nonchalantly as if it she had just been asked if she liked flowers.

  Sydney was still trying to wrap her mind around this information. To say she was shocked was an understatement. “Then why haven’t you said anything after all of this time?”

  Caitlyn laughed. “Because I was patiently waiting and hoping you or Mom would say something but I have finally come to the conclusion that I will be eighty-years-old before that happens.”

  Sydney grinned. “You may have been right about that.” She shook her head again as she looked at Caitlyn. All these years and Caitlyn had known all along who she was—incredible. “So what made you bring this up now?” she asked.

  “Honestly? It was Mom’s reaction to you buying out EMCOR, although I did think that the two of you looked a little cozy in your kitchen the night of the Christmas Party.”

  “I hadn’t seen her in thirteen years until that night,” Sydney said, her voice just above a whisper.

  “What happened? Please tell me what was going on with you and my mom.”

  Sydney didn’t want to answer her. She wanted to tell her that it was none of her business but the look of genuine concern on Caitlyn’s face prevented her from doing just that.

  “You loved her, didn’t you?” Caitlyn asked.

  Sydney could only nod her head. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth at that instant, the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

  “And she loved you, too.” Caitlyn said it as a statement and not a question.

  “Yeah, she did,” Sydney said with a nod of her head.

  “Were you in love with her?”

  Sydney smiled. “More than you could ever imagine.”

  Caitlyn frowned. “Then, I don’t understand. If she loved you and you loved her, what happened between you?”

  Sydney replaced the spark plug wire and pulled off the next one in line. “I don’t think it’s my place to tell you that. I think that maybe you should be asking your mom these questions.”

  “I’m not a child, Sydney, and although you’re my boss, I like to think that you’re my friend as well.”

  As Sydney thought about what to say in response, she removed the spark plug and tossed it in the trashcan. “I am your friend and I’m glad you think of me that way, too. I will tell you this much. Your mother and I were very much in love with each other but nothing ever happened between us.”

  “You mean in the biblical sense?” Caitlyn asked, her eyebrow raising in surprise.

  Sydne
y laughed. “Yes, that’s what I mean.”

  Caitlyn leaned back up against the front of the truck. “Why not?”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you ask an awful lot of questions?” Sydney asked.

  “Yeah, you have. So why not?” Caitlyn wasn’t going to let up.

  “Because your mom made a choice and that choice was her choosing the church and her beliefs over me and us and that’s all I’m going to say. If you wanna know more of your mom’s reasons behind it, then you’re going to have to ask her yourself.”

  “It was Grandmother and Grandfather. They were behind it, weren’t they?” Caitlyn groaned.

  “Ah, my two favorite people, Roberta and Lou or as I like to call them, Cruella and Deville. Lovely people,” Sydney said in a voice filled with sarcasm and then regretted it. “I’m sorry, Caitlyn. I shouldn’t have said that about your grandparents.”

  “Oh no. I think you know them pretty well. Everyone knows how whacked they are with their activism. I don’t know if you saw the big protest up in D.C. two weeks ago. It was all over the news.”

  “Was that the one where the Catholic Church was protesting contraceptives for women?” Sydney asked, thinking she did see something in the paper about it.

  Caitlyn laughed. “Yep. That’s the one. Well, Roberta and Lou were both arrested for trespassing.”

  “So, after all these years, Cruella is still at it, huh?” Sydney asked.

  “I think she gets worse the older she gets, if that’s even possible. You want to know what I did to her for fun?” Caitlyn asked, a grin on her face.

  “Do tell.” Sydney smiled. “This should be good.”

  “Oh, it is. I told grandmother that I was a dyslexic insomniac agnostic and that I lay awake in bed at night wondering if there really is a Dog,” Caitlyn said with a straight face but then she busted out laughing.

  “No, you didn’t,” Sydney managed to say between fits of laughter.

  “Yes I did and if you could have seen the look on her face,” Caitlyn said as she wiped tears off her cheeks.

  Sydney laughed. “I bet it was priceless. I would love to have seen it for myself.”

  Caitlyn cleared her throat as she pulled herself together. “I do have something else I would like to talk to you about and it has nothing to do with you and mom,” she quickly clarified when she saw the worried look on Sydney’s face. “This is about me.”