Maybe that shouldn’t have creeped me out, but it did. One because I wasn’t into women, and two because she must have been at least ten or twelve years older than me.
How was that for hypocritical? I was fantasizing over an intern nearly young enough to be my son but thinking eww that a woman a dozen years older than me was flirting with me over the phone. Double standard, much? Of course, age aside, she was on the wrong team as far as I was concerned, and I seriously doubted she would enjoy my brand of sex play, although I had to admit the image of her with a ball gag in her mouth did make me want to smile.
Life would be so much better if I had only to deal with the other liaison at Midwest.
“What can I help you with this morning, Mary?” Her friendly-flirty tone made me suspicious.
“We haven’t yet received the files your office was supposed to send first thing this morning. I thought maybe you could join me for lunch prior to our meeting and bring them with you at that time. There are several things we need to discuss before the meeting.”
She had a certain amount of charm, and it might actually work on some people, but to me there was a hard edge about her that I found unappealing. Even worse, she didn’t seem to understand that hard was the way she came off to people. I had handed the files to the courier when I walked in the door, but I wasn’t going to open that can of worms.
“The courier is already on the way, and I’m afraid lunch is just not a possibility. My schedule is already packed. I’ll see you this afternoon at the meeting we’ve already scheduled.”
“I get the feeling that you’re trying to avoid me, Chris,” she said as if she thought we were somehow close friends. Well, calling me Chris was like scratching fingernails down a blackboard as far as I was concerned.
Sometimes adding to the bottom line just wasn’t worth the grief.
“Not at all, Mary. You’ll have the papers before lunch. If you have any questions, have your assistant contact Gabby. I’ll see if I can give you a call.”
If that wasn’t a strong enough hint that I didn’t want to be BFFs, I wasn’t sure how much more blunt I could be...or might have to be.
Midwest had eschewed the downtown area for a larger corporate campus on the edge of the city. When my driver pulled up to the front of the building, I sighed.
“I expect I’ll be about an hour. However, it could be less.”
“I’ll wait in the parking lot.”
The glass and steel structure that housed Midwest sat in a deceptively parklike piece of property. From my experience with the company so far, the building was more indicative of the corporate philosophy than its serene surroundings.
Once inside, I cooled my heels for about ten minutes before Mary Henderson exited an elevator and walked in my direction. Her high heels clicked as sharply on the marble floor as a hammer striking a nail.
“Tamsin.” She held her perfectly manicured hand out for me to shake. Like her hand, the rest of her was perfectly packaged in an austerely tailored charcoal dress. “Follow me, please.”
It was easy to see this meeting would be short on any social niceties, so maybe the hour I’d told my driver I expected it to last would be a tremendous overestimation. From the elevator, she led me into a conference room as modern and cold as the rest of the building. Seated at one end were a trio of people I had only briefly met during our initial consultation. After shaking hands, we got down to business.
Most of the discussion centered around executives at both Midwest and Pilot that had been targeted as part of the restructuring process.
“The terms on the golden parachutes for the Pilot executives are too extensive,” Mary said.
“They match what you’re offering Midwest personnel in similar positions. That would be a plus for Midwest in the negotiating process.”
Mary’s brows arched. “We are buying them out and already negotiating from a position of power.”
I pressed my lips together and glanced around the group gathered at the table. Heads nodded in agreement. I tried a different tactic. “We could change that language, but I would suggest you keep that in mind as a bargaining chip if you hit another sticking point while negotiating.”
Mary’s smile had more in common with a snarl. “That’s why we’ve hired your firm, so we don’t need to make unnecessary concessions to a weaker company.”
I took a deep breath.
By the time I left the meeting and stepped into my car, what I really wanted most was a shower and a change of clothes...and maybe a drink.
7
Finn
I was in the mail room a couple of weeks after my meltdown in front of Tamsin, sorting the deliveries that had just come in when Gabby walked in, her expression somewhat harried.
“Oh, Finn. Excellent, you’re still here.”
I glanced at the clock. It was nearly four-thirty.
“What’s up, Gabby?”
“I have to leave early for an appointment, and was wondering if you could handle a couple of things for me. It will probably mean you’ll need to stay a little late. I know that’s not in your agreement as an intern, and I know you’ve mentioned your other part-time job...”
“That’s okay. I only do the other jobs on weekends so I’m free,” I told her. I was getting a little tired of the nightly parties at the house. I guess that was part and parcel of living with other college-age dudes. Classes were out for the semester, but they were all sticking around for summer sessions. I would come home exhausted between work and checking on my dad, and they’d just be getting cranked up for the night. So, the idea of being able to stay a little later in the calm, serene atmosphere of Tamsin & Jones was more appealing than I wanted to admit.
Gabby smiled. “You can come in later tomorrow to offset however late you stay this evening. I really appreciate this, Finn. You’ve been such a tremendous help.”
I felt myself blush at her praise. “What exactly do you need me to do?”
“A couple of things. Matt had to get out of here as well. There are a couple more deliveries we’re expecting to come to the front door—some paperwork being delivered by courier, then I have some notes on my desk that need to be typed up for Tamsin for a meeting first thing tomorrow. Can you handle both of those?”
I grinned. “No problem. I’m happy to do it.”
By eight-thirty, I had taken the packages that arrived down to the mailroom to be delivered to the recipients at the firm first thing in the morning, and then taken the elevator up to the top floor and Gabby’s office. Everything was quiet so I assumed Tamsin and Mr. Jones had already gone for the day.
Settling myself in at her computer again, I pulled the notes over and continued deciphering the closely written scrawl. I was an accurate, but not speedy typist, so it was taking longer than I anticipated to get everything finished. I leaned back to stretch the kinks in my shoulders and glanced at the clock. A little after nine.
“Finn?” Tamsin’s voice startled me and nearly made me go over backward in the chair. “A little late for you to still be here, isn’t it?”
I turned away from the computer screen. “Gabby had an appointment and had to leave early. She asked if I could stay and type up these notes for her.”