Things might have been different if she’d recognized his potential sooner. She’d come so close.
What if he’d waited for her one more night that first New Year’s? What if she’d stayed with him and let Geraldo twist in the wind?
Would they have dated, fallen in love, married, and had a normal life?
She couldn’t envision the alternate reality to what they had, but she deeply craved it.
Dane was the only man who knew her. As much as she was willing to be known anyway. Dane was the only man who had loved her in spite of, maybe even because of, who she was.
She dreamed of telling him everything, sincerely confessing her vulnerability. But once she did that, he’d hold all the power. What would he do with it?
Was she satisfied? A long way from it.
How had things gotten so fucked up?
It was Dane’s fault. Why’d he have to go and get so desirable?
Fuck it. She wiped her eyes. She had work to do. She gathered up her laptop and headed down to the conference center to set up for her morning presentation.
To all staff, employees, and interns:
REMINDER. Tomorrow will be our annual company trust-building outing. Bring a change of clothes as it will be hot tomorrow. There will be carpools leaving here at noon. You are free to drive yourself. A map has been attached.
See you there!
Leanne Weber
Selena arrived promptly at one to begin their session. She’d reverted back to the conservative wardrobe of the week before. Val preferred the more modest dress but wondered what had stopped the girl’s descent into male fantasy attire and whether it coincided with her change of mentor.
The other two interns came in five minutes later and had to play catch up. Val usually ended up with whichever interns hadn’t picked someone else or who weren’t mutually picked by another mentor. She didn’t offer to mentor normally, but she enjoyed teaching. Usually.
In this case, she’d been left with two less than brilliant interns who couldn’t tell a discount from a haircut. She’d given them extra work to do at home. Selena hadn’t needed to do it, but she spent the evening preparing for today. Val liked that about her. She was young and eager. It was a shame they’d have to lose her next year. It was a shame they’d have to ruin her before she even left.
With all her ducks, she walked down to the training room so she could set the two slower students on an exercise that would at least help them understand basics that they’d failed to master already. This always happened whenever she agreed to take somebody’s nephew or daughter into the program. Those were two spots a talented future trader could have filled.
Selena started to take a seat at a terminal, but Val touched her arm. “Come with me. Martin Chiu told me he’s going to short sell some stock.”
Selena blanched. “On the trading floor?”
“Where else? Come on. This will be fun.”
Val glanced at her remedial students to make sure they were set and led Selena back down to the second floor and down the long hall that opened onto the cacophonous live trading floor. Most of these kids would drool to get a chance to answer these phones and plug in the actual trades.
Martin had his desk phone handset cradled between his shoulder and his chin. He was talking a mile a minute, and when he saw Val, he tapped the back of his arm, right where his watch might have been if he were wearing one. Val ignored his silent scolding and pulled over a chair. She talked low to Selena, “Sit. Learn.”
Phones buzzed all over the floor, voices carried from dozens of other desks. The far wall was lined with clocks showing every time zone with a city listed above each. New York. London. Frankfurt. Tokyo. Sidney. Above these, TV monitors displayed all the news networks. Except the one that showed Wimbledon. Val wondered how many people in this room had side bets on the match.
Martin put his hand over the microphone and said, “Sale’s made already. Where have you been?”
Val sighed. “I had to square away my other interns. Have you closed the short?”
“No. Of course not.” He looked at Val like she’d grown an extra head.
“Just checking, Martin.” She indicated Selena. “This is Selena Valencia. I thought she might like to see you in action. Any chance you’ll close today?”
He shrugged. “If I could predict the market, I wouldn’t be here anymore, would I?’
“Well, someone thinks it’s going to tank soon, or you could have waited five minutes to negotiate the deal.”
