It Happened One Night(2)
Author: Melinda Curtis
Oh, sure. And Lucy would finally let Charlie Brown kick a field goal.
Oh, yes. Despite staying on top of everything, Chad was demoralized. He blamed it on the clown hackers.
On day seven, Chad attributed his black mood to lack of sleep. It was after eight on Sunday night, and he had yet to see and review the company’s financial report.
His stomach gave a cavernous rumble.
The lack of food and sleep are catching up to me.
Chad ran a hand over his stomach and spared a glance to the collection of framed photographs on his credenza behind his desk. There were he and his brothers sailing on the ocean near the Hamptons. There was his mother’s high school graduation picture. His dad and Evelyn’s wedding picture. Chad staring at a sunset in the Hamptons, thinking about the intriguing woman who was taking his picture and how she seemed to understand him despite the fact that they’d only just met. They’d exchanged phones, each taking a picture of the other. But they hadn’t exchanged names or contact information.
Where is she now?
He’d given himself a five-year window to find her. Four years had passed and –
“I have the balance sheet figures you asked for.” Phillip interrupted Chad’s reverie. He was the second-oldest Summer brother and the company’s Chief Financial Officer. He wore wire-rimmed glasses and had ink-stained fingers because, like Dad, he was old school when it came to checks and balances. He carried a stack of paper. “I feel comfortable making the offer on the painite if you can get them down in price a hundred thousand dollars or more.” Phil sat across from Chad and handed him the financial reports. “That way, even without the lost capital from the Russian diamond deal, we’d be able to find an unsecured loan to tide us over in case of emergency.”
“At the right price, it’s a smart move. But Dad will blow his stack.” His father would never risk so much on a deal. Chad squinted at the page, but the numbers refused to come into focus. He dragged a hand over his forehead, surprised that his fingers felt cold. It was summer. There was no reason he should feel cold. But suddenly, he did. Down to his toes. “Did you have to print this in tiny font?”
“You-who!” Grandma Dotty called from somewhere in the office. “Anybody here? I found a woman willing to date Whiskers.”
“A woman willing to date Whiskers?” Phil chuckled. Whiskers was Grandma Dotty’s nickname for Chad. “This is going to be good.”
“Whiskers, is that your office light that’s on?”
“Yes.” Chad frowned when Phil chuckled again. “Don’t laugh. She’s dead set on getting great-grandchildren before dementia sets in.” And Dad had told Chad to humor her since the rest of her bucket list was dangerous for an octogenarian.
“How do you think she got in?” Phil whispered, leaning forward.
“Knowing Grandma Dotty, she borrowed Dad’s security badge.” Chad’s stomach growled louder than a yeti in wintertime. And he felt cold enough for the yeti metaphor to be true. “Makes me wonder what she’d do if she had the combination to the safe.” Recently, she’d taken a very valuable ring from her home safe and nearly lost it. Sighing, Chad tried reviewing Phil’s report one more time, holding the paper up to his face. “What is it with this font choice? Are you trying to save some trees? And what’s with the lights in here dimming?”
“It’s twelve-point font, same as always.” Phil sounded serious. In the murky light, it was hard to make out his expression. “And the lights…” He glanced overhead. “You need to eat something.”
“Yes, let’s go to a restaurant.” Grandma Dotty entered Chad’s office, a beacon of color in a hot pink jumpsuit, yellow Birkenstocks, and a brightly flowered scarf. “I’ll get dessert and fill you in on Cordelia. You’ll like her, Whiskers. She’s blond, pedigreed, and ready to start a family. She swiped you.”
“She…she what?” Chad sputtered.
Phil covered his laughter behind a coughing fit.
“I’m online now.” His grandmother tossed her head. “Word among the granny-set is that there’s no more efficient way to find your single grandchildren a match.”
Somebody save me from my matchmaking granny.
The office darkened further.
Chad glanced around. “Does anyone else notice this thing happening with the lights?” He drained his black coffee. It hit his empty stomach all wrong. He shook the top page of the financial report and squinted at it again. But the light was so dim, the number eluded him. “Are we about to have a black out?” That seemed improbable since the air conditioner in the building was working overtime. He shivered.
“Am I missing something?” Grandma Dotty sounded like she’d backed into the hallway.
“Chad!” Phil shouted from somewhere equally far away.
And then, everything went completely dark.
*
“There, there, Whiskers.” His grandmother’s soft voice drifted to Chad through the darkness. “Never fear, Grandma Dotty’s here.”
Chad always liked it when he was sick, and Grandma Dotty came over to care for him. She always brought presents, like a new video game or…
Wait a second. I’m not a child anymore.
Chad cracked open his eyes and immediately squeezed them shut against the bright light. “Where am I?”
“The hospital.” That was Phil’s voice, steady, with a dash of upset. It was the tone he took when he was shaken by something and putting on a brave front, like the time their skiff had tipped over in the ocean and they couldn’t immediately right it. “You blacked out.”
“Impossible.” Men destined to be C.E.O.s didn’t faint. Chad pried his heavy eyelids open and surveyed his surroundings, hoping he was being pranked.
No such luck. He was, in fact, in a hospital.
Shoot.
“I need to get back to work.” Before Dad found out about this.
Chad tried to sit up.
Two pairs of hands pushed him back down – Phil’s and Grandma Dotty’s. And the bad news was that Chad wasn’t strong enough to overcome their efforts.
“Not so fast, Whiskers.” Grandma Dotty leaned over him, smelling of peppermints and whimsy as she whispered, “Your doctor is cute and single. I got her number.”