She sighed. “I spent three months working up a proposal to completely upgrade the communications system of WestCom Industries and I’d finally made my presentation. It was the biggest deal I’d ever handled, so I guess I was seeing glory instead of reality. The WestCom CEO loved it, but confided that the company had a temporary cash flow problem and in order to seal the deal, he needed my help.”
Kate grimaced. “All of the red flags were there. That double-dealer swore they expected a large infusion of private funding soon and would certainly be able to pay as agreed. Instead of walking away from the deal as I should have, I ignored my better judgment and created a situation that escalated from simmer to boil before I even knew there was a problem.”
I wondered what she could have done to warrant a response as drastic as firing her? I didn’t have to wait long for the answer.
She rolled her eyes, and continued in a flat voice. “I convinced our CFO to give them terms on the deal, instead of insisting upon payment-in-full at completion.” She knit her brow, as though something nasty had just entered the restaurant. “Worst of all, I allowed them to convince me to submit WestCom’s previously solid financial statement instead of the dismal current one, fully aware they had altered the date in order to make the deal fly.” Her eyes looked like twin pools of despair.
Cameron gasped. “Kate, you don’t mean the WestCom Industries that left thousands of employees without their pension funds a few months ago, do you? Tell me it wasn’t that WestCom.”
Kate nodded and hung her head. Tears balanced on the rims of her eyes, but failed to fall. “Oh, but it was. Exactly that WestCom. They used me. I found out later they were trying to pull off a merger, and the new system would make them more desirable. The merger fell through, and they tanked.”
Her voice dropped an octave. “Anyway, picture this. Not long after everything was installed, I’m going through my emails when I spot one from our CEO flagged “Important.” Well, flags from the guy at the top mean drop everything and open it immediately. Actually, I was pretty anxious to see what it said.”
She gave a crooked smile. “I guess I was like a little kid on Christmas morning, opening presents with the expectation of finding something wonderful. I figured it would be the pat on the back I deserved for bullying through the WestCom deal just like one of the guys would have. Nobody could refer to me as “that woman” after this. Not after I’d pulled off a deal this big.”
Uh, oh. I felt it coming. I looked Kate straight in the eye and ventured, “And?”
“Well, the first few lines told me I was reading my instant pink slip. I did what any woman in my position would do. I screamed. Loud. They probably heard me on the Bay Bridge. I was shaking so hard, I dropped my coffee all over papers spread out across my desk. Everything got soaked, and I even splattered some on my new silk blouse. As it dribbled down into my lap, I tried to focus on the newspaper headline and article attached to the email. I remember thinking, “This can’t say WESTCOM TANKS!” But, of course it did. Every word in that email was like one more blow from a jackhammer pounding me farther into the ground.”
The color drained from her face making her appear pale against the black of her suit jacket. “Want to hear what it said? I know it by heart.” Without waiting for our answer, she proceeded to say, “Kate, you are terminated immediately. Consider yourself damned lucky their financials did look fine. You couldn’t have known they were in trouble. Report to security as soon as you read this to turn in your keys and credit cards.” Fortunately, the way the financing package had been set up, they had no way of finding out that I knew it was a doctored financial statement. It really did look like I just made a horribly bad decision. One bad enough to terminate me instantly.”
We were floored. She had managed to secure an enormous amount of credit for a client who was in major financial trouble by submitting fraudulent paperwork and left her company holding the bag? True, they should have done more due diligence, but in the end it really was her fault. No wonder she grabbed this job.
Cameron patted her hand and said, “So you were out the door?”
Kate nodded. “But it gets worse. When I looked at the time his email came in, I saw he sent it at seven that morning.” She swiped at her damp eyes. “I’d been in an early meeting and didn’t get to read it until ten o’clock. Damn it, I didn’t even have a chance to surrender my stuff with dignity.”
We both said, “You didn’t?”
“Nope, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so humiliated. The full impact hadn’t hit me yet when a uniformed guard barged into my office. He waited while I collected some things, took my keys and cards, grabbed me by the arm and steered me down the main aisle, right in front of everyone in the Sales Department.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “He didn’t let go of me until he’d propelled me right out through the front door.”
“What a rotten way to fire you,” Cameron said.
Kate nodded. “Maybe I wouldn’t have been so angry with myself if the reason I vouched for that line of credit was because I was stupid enough to believe WestCom’s financial problems were temporary. But, when I turned my head the other way and submitted those damn papers, I did it to prove I could show my muscle. I never let myself acknowledge I was doing something illegal. I really am very lucky they didn’t investigate further, or I might have gone to jail. Maybe they were afraid of a harassment suit or something, I don’t know, but that’s where it stopped. Heck, I could have wound up working for FACR in a very different capacity.” Her complexion got even paler.
Well, at least she’d been able to keep her sense of humor.
“Bottom line? That fiasco cost my company a bundle, and it cost me a $200,000 a year job.”
Without thinking, I said, “But surely with what you were making, you had a cushion for a rainy day. You did, didn’t you?”
Kate shook her head. “You and I are kindred souls, Kimberly. Both of us went from riches to rags, practically overnight.” Her voice dripped acid. “What a lesson about not living on the edge. I have two kids who live with my ex in Arizona. He’s never earned much over minimum wage in his life, and I guess you could say he's pretty lazy. But truthfully, I’m a career woman who isn’t all that great with kids and he's a terrific parent. Until now I always had earning power. So, we had a deal.”
This was beginning to get interesting. Not that I didn’t feel for Kate, but I just felt better that I wasn’t the only idiot in the group, and grateful that we three had bonded so quickly. Cameron said, “You mean you’re the money and he’s the mom?”
Kate nodded. “Something like that. I pay him alimony and child support. He doesn’t work, so he’s definitely a fabulous Mr. Mom. He even bakes cakes and cookies from scratch. We agreed I’d see the kids during the summer and on holidays. But, that’s not all. Besides paying out all that money to him, my mother has dementia and can’t be on her own. I want her to have the best, so I pay through the nose to keep her in a posh rest home. That’s it, my dear new friends, I’m stone cold broke. I really needed this job.”
She took a deep breath and turned to Cameron. “Your turn. ’Fess up. How did you wind up here?” Cameron made a show of looking at her watch. I looked at mine and saw that we still had forty-five minutes.
Kate said, “Uh-uh, Cameron. It’s your turn and we have plenty of time. I have a feeling we’re going to be good friends, sort of like the Three Musketeers, so it’s your turn to lay it on the table. Fair is fair. Kimberly and I told you how stupid we were.”
At that moment, I swear Cameron looked more like Goldie Hawn than Goldie does. Right down to the little smile, lower lip-biting and nervous giggle. She sipped her mango iced tea, as she adjusted herself in the bistro chair.
Luckily they gave us two hours for lunch. I’d noticed Julia walking off with pompous Bruce, him flashing that big super-white smile at her, and guessed they were dining together. Still, it wouldn’t score big points to be late getting back from lunch on the first day, so we ma
de sure to keep an eye on the time.
After draining her tea, Cameron signaled the waiter and ordered a cup of coffee, almost as though she wanted to stall for time. Tea and coffee? He filled each of our cups.
She cleared her throat, looked at Kate and then at me, as if soliciting approval. Kate nodded for her to go ahead. With a little more prompting, she began to pour her heart out.
“Well, I was an advertising executive in Century City. That’s where all of the L.A. power is, you know. I had worked myself up to $185,000 a year.” All of a sudden I felt like a piker having earned $168,000.
“Anyway, I decided to take a vacation.”
I asked, “Where did you go? Somewhere great, I hope. I mean, considering what must have happened when you got back.”
Cameron winked, and then smiled in a conspiratorial way. Just like that we had entered the first stages of becoming sisters under the skin.
“If you must know, my vacation was really a nip and tuck and, well, a bit of lipo, too. Advertising is a young, dynamic business, particularly when you’re with a top echelon firm like Reed/Cunningham. My PS fund—I prefer PS to plastic surgery—is part of the cost of doing business. Would you believe it? My tax accountant said I might actually be able write it off.” She tried to frown, but the Botox wouldn’t let her.
I gave a knowing nod and thought “no wonder she looks so great.” I’ve never gone that route myself, but the time might be approaching.
Kate said, “I feel another sad story coming.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a handkerchief. “Out with it.”
“Oh, it’s sad all right. You know, this doesn’t happen to men as often, but here it is. Unvarnished.” She took a long breath. “I came back from that vacation feeling all perky, knowing I looked ten years younger. I picked up my voice mail and the first message I heard was Mr. Cunningham’s flat, nasal voice. He was the managing partner.”
I moaned. “Oh, no, not another impersonal firing. Even though I suspect my old boss is living it up somewhere out of the country, at least my company had the decency to go bankrupt.” We all collapsed in laughter and that broke the escalating tension.
“You guessed it, Kimberly. It was definitely another impersonal firing. How’s this for cold? He leaves me a rotten voice mail that went something like this: ‘Cameron, there is no easy way to say this. Sorry, Kiddo, but while you were on vacation, we decided to go in another direction. Your replacement is already on board. A really sharp twenty-five year old, and she hit the ground running. In a way, she reminds me of you when you started with us. Please have your office cleared by the end of the day.’ And, that was it—fired me just like that after ten years.”
She buried her head in her hands. When she looked up, her voice had turned harsh, tinged with bitterness. “I threw the phone at the wall, and watched the broken pieces slide onto my $80-a-yard carpeting. All I could think was, ‘That old goat. Bald and paunchy, over 60, and he calls me over-the-hill at 44?’ I could wring his scrawny neck.”
She was right about looking younger. I’d guessed she was my age.
Kate asked the question this time. “Did you at least get a good severance package?”
Cameron didn’t look very happy when she said, “Nope. I’m in the same boat as you two. I signed on with them just before I turned twenty-five, and figured I’d be there forever. I congratulated myself on being slick when I negotiated a big sign-on bonus and waived a severance package. Slick all right. I spent the whole thing the first year and I’ve been living high ever since. Haven’t saved a penny, but I figured my job would always be there. I’m very good at what I do. Otherwise I wouldn’t have bought a brand new Jag this year, then spent a fortune on my, um, vacation.”
I said, “A new Jag? I've got a big new Mercedes convertible with payments to match. Thank goodness Ryan couldn’t figure out how to get it. That’s the one luxury I have left.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I hear you. My payments are so big they could cover the expenses for a modest family of four every month. Whoop de doo.”
We all calmed down now that each of us had confessed to hanging on by our manicured fingernails. One glance at the beautiful antique clock on the wall behind Kate signaled that we really did have to leave. We clinked coffee cups. “To friendship and prisons. Good thing we’re on the outside.”
I looked forward to getting to know them better, but little did I know how close we would actually become.
~6~
We managed to slide into our seats a few minutes before Bruce and Julia returned from lunch. The pair didn’t look as chummy as they had before lunch. In fact they were glaring at each other. I shot a look at my new friends as if to say, “Think something’s up?”
Bruce rudely pushed in front of Julia, taking the seat at the head of the table. She narrowed her eyes as she slid into the last vacant seat and made eye contact with each of the women seated around the table. The anger lurking in those eerie green eyes contradicted her forced smile. I noticed the corners of her mouth were trembling.
For the next three hours I fought the urge to doze off. We were subjected to a lackluster PowerPoint presentation, lots of dry facts and a question-and-answer period just as boring. About the time it seemed like I couldn’t make it through another minute, Bruce said, “Well, ladies, I have a plane to catch. Julia will take it from here.” He ogled a few of us, grabbed his briefcase and rushed out of the room.
Julia stood, resuming the “alpha” attitude she had before being bullied by Bruce. “We’re going to wrap up this session now. I’m thrilled to have such a dynamic team and Bruce is very pleased with all of you.” The plastic smile flashed, then vanished just as quickly. “Dinner at 7:00 tonight in the El Diablo Room at the hotel. Tomorrow—Paradise.”
Was it a coincidence that the name of the restaurant was El Diablo? Oh well, I’d already sold my soul for a lot less than it was worth. At least I had two great new friends.
The three of us agreed to meet in the bar for a glass of wine before dinner. I felt the need for liquid fortification, and apparently so did they.
After a good hot shower, major repair to my makeup and a quick application of the flat iron to my frizzy hair, I must admit I did feel a lot better. I spotted three more of my new co-workers in the bar, but they were engrossed in conversation and barely acknowledged me beyond a wave of the hand.
A few moments later, a high-pitched giggle signaled that Cameron had just entered the bar with Kate right behind her.
They joined me in the booth I’d managed to snag, and from the tone of our gossip, it was clear all three of us had the same thought on our minds. What had transpired between Bruce and Julia?
Kate finally said, “From the way she looked at him when the meeting began, it almost felt like they might have had an affair and she doesn’t like the way he treats her now. I did a search before coming down here. Guess what? He married a very wealthy socialite about two years ago, so if he had been messing around with Julia, she probably got dumped around that time. Besides, the way that man leers at a pretty girl, I wouldn’t be surprised if he screws around while his rich wife cools her heels in D.C. What do you think, Cameron?”
Cameron did the lip-biting thing and mused, “My mind is such mush after all of those presentations, I have to think about that for a minute. By the way, I never thought anyone could drone on for so long about something that could have been said in twenty minutes. Bruce really is a pompous bore.”
“As far as I’m concerned he’s not only a bore, he’s a conceited ass. My money says it’s a sure bet they had something going once upon a time. Otherwise a cold fish like Julia would probably just let it roll off while sticking pins in a mental voodoo doll.”
“Geeze, Kate, you have a macabre sense of Julia. But you know what—your observation is probably right on. She does have a very pretty face. Maybe she wasn’t always so, well, full-figured.”
I snorted. “You two are awful. You already have her in and out of bed with him. I
’d say she’s someone who likes to even the score.”
They both gave me thumbs up, and Kate said, “So we’re in agreement, right?”
The dinner was absolutely scrumptious, and I managed to make a real pig of myself. I dove into the chocolate soufflé with a vengeance, savoring every mouthful. Even though I didn’t have an ounce of room left, it was all I could do not to ask for a second helping. As far as I’m concerned, a chocolate fix always makes things right with the world, and that soufflé was high octane. Julia had ordered an excellent chardonnay, followed by some lovely sherry after-dinner drinks. We shared stories and had a good time getting to know each other.
Our rooms were on the same floor and we agreed to meet at the elevator in the morning so we could descend to our destiny together. Six was such an ungodly hour to take off for Paradise, but Julia said it was close to a three hour ride and she wanted to start early. At least she guaranteed coffee and donuts on the bus.
• • • • •
I took one look at my drooping eyelids the next morning and hoped coffee would do the trick. The black Federal Association of Correctional Reform bus was parked in the hotel driveway with its wire-covered windows and prominent logo. Nothing like advertising. What if someone I knew saw me boarding that monster? It would look as though I’d been arrested. Oh well, worse things could happen. After all, I’d told myself, I’m on my way to Paradise. Yeah, right.
• • • • •
Just before nine, our bus approached the prison gates. A plaque to the side of the guard station proclaimed: Paradise Hills Federal Prison.
“Omigod. A real prison.” The words spilled out of my mouth, setting off a collective wave of laughter throughout the bus.
The driver murmured a few words to the guard, while Julia trilled, “Here we are, ladies. Let’s see some excited faces. After all, how many people can say they’ve been inside a federal prison?”
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