She rolled her eyes at me and blew out a puff of air that set her severely chic bob-cut bouncing. “I am so over him. He’s a waste of planetary resources.”
“What happened? I thought you two were getting on really well.” I queried.
“Oh, we were. At least I thought we were. Till I found out he was going for Tinder frequent-swiper miles. Yeah, I’ve got no time for that, so I gave him the boot.” She made a shooing motion with her hands, dismissing the wandering Tim.
“So, who is the replacement?” I asked, knowing that there was already at least one adoring suitor in line.
“Well, there is this guy,” she confided as she half sat on my desk. “His name is Nigel and he’s ah-mazing. He’s British, so he’s got that whole sexy Brit accent going, and he’s super funny and smart. And as a bonus, he’s only in town for about a week out of the month.”
I knew what she meant. She got bored easily and having a boyfriend who wasn’t constantly hounding her for affection was a draw for her.
“So, what’s wrong with him?” There was always something wrong with them.
“OK, don’t take this the wrong way, but…he doesn’t rinse. And it kind of grosses me out.”
My forehead wrinkled as I tried to figure out what she was talking about. “Doesn’t rinse? Like in the shower he gets all lathered up and then doesn’t rinse?”
“Euw, no! That would be disgusting. I’m talking about his dishes.”
“You mean he doesn’t rinse them before putting them in the dishwasher?”
“No. He doesn’t have a dishwasher, so he hand washes everything and after he puts a plate in the soapy water and scrubs it, he doesn’t rinse it. He just sets it in the drainer to rinse. He says that the soap will just slide off as it dries. It doesn’t. He made me a spaghetti dinner, and it tasted like Dawn.”
“You could just eat all your meals out. Or get him a dishwasher. Is this a deal-breaker?”
Diane nibbled on her lower lip. “I’m not sure. He is hot and sexy and British…I’ll have to think on it some more.”
Having successfully derailed her planned interrogation, I motioned to my desk full of work and said, “I’d better get on this. Mr. Frank will want to hear all about the Luxe meeting.”
“Right! He said he’d like you to come to his office as soon as you got settled. I meant to tell you that right away, but…” she said with a guilty smile.
“It’s OK. I’ll go now.” I gathered up the pertinent information and tucked the files and my laptop under my arm and walked down the hall to the boss’s office. While my office was beautiful with a deep pile carpet, a solid wood desk, a small sitting area with chairs and a sofa, and a breathtaking view of Manhattan and a sliver of Central Park, Merrick Frank’s office was on another level. All of the executive offices were large and elegant, but Merrick’s was the plum, the corner office with an amazing view of the city skyline and a large patch of Central Park.
Louise, Merrick’s long-time secretary, assistant, and right arm was at her desk outside of the inner sanctum. She gave me a warm smile when she saw me and stood to give me a hug. “You look like you saw some sun in Arizona. Did you have a good time?”
“I did, thanks. Is he busy?” I asked.
“No, he just got off the phone. Go on in.”
I knocked lightly on the door and Merrick called out “Come in! I’m hoping it’s my amazing VP of Mergers and Acquisitions.” Merrick was one of my favorite people. He was a truly good boss. And it didn’t hurt that he looked like Santa Clause.
Smiling broadly, I greeted him with, “C’est moi.”
When I had graduated from the Sorbonne, my grandmother’s long-time neighbor and poker companion, Bernard, had introduced me to his good friend, Merrick Frank. With Bernard’s recommendation, Merrick had hired me straight away, for which I was eternally grateful.
Merrick rose from behind his desk and walked with me to the conference room attached to his office so we could go over my information. As I spread out my notes and opened my laptop, Merrick kept up a steady stream of talk about how everything he’d heard from Luxe was marvelous. I showed him my presentation, the contract, and then projections. He nodded at all the appropriate points and asked pertinent questions.
When I finished my summary, he clapped his hands and rubbed them, like he was trying to start a friction fire. “Outstanding, Eve! I sent you to bring home the bacon and you brought back the whole hog with an apple in its mouth!”
“I’m so glad it all went so smoothly, sir. They were such a delightful team to work with. I think this is going to be an excellent partnership.”
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t add that taking Jack Garcia along as a bit of bait was a stroke of genius, Eve. An absolute inspiration! I feel fairly certain that they were prepared to sign anyway but adding him to the offer really sealed the deal. Well done!” he said, patting me on the back. “I don’t know how you managed that, but I’m impressed!”
I felt a bit faint, both from the overload of praise and from the knowledge that my boss knew that I’d spent my business trip with Jack. Sleeping with Jack, if Andrea from Accounting was to be believed. I smiled weakly and gathered my things, thanking Merrick for the compliments as well as the chance to represent the Duvier brand.
I hastened back to my office, my heart hammering in my chest. Did EVERYONE know? Was I to be forever haunted by the specter of this man? Surely, it would all die down. People would forget and move on. It’s not like I was actually dating him. Or would even see him again. I took a deep breath. I just had to survive the next couple of days. There would be curiosity and speculation, but I could politely brush it all aside and then people would move on to the next juicy morsel of gossip.
I spread out my work on my desk and sat down to work on the files that Merrick had pointed out. I was very familiar with the numbers, but it did require concentration, so when Diane brought me a salad from the deli down the street for lunch, I surfaced only long enough to thank her and then put my head back down to the spreadsheets.
