“I have not. I haven’t been getting out much. Who’s the lucky man?”
“Mitch Levitt. He’s in the diamond industry.” She says his name as if I should know him but I don’t.
I want to laugh. That unlucky bastard. Jennifer may be beautiful, but she comes from a long line of gold diggers. That’s how her family managed to get the money they have, and he’s just another poor sucker who’s fallen into their trap.
I offer a polite smile and bow my head. “I wish the two of you all the best, but I must be getting back to work.” I start to back away. “Send me your info and I’ll make sure to send over a wedding gift.” I finally turn to leave.
“The invitation is already in the mail, darling,” she calls from behind me while rattling off the date.
I glance over my shoulder and wave to let her know that I’ve heard her but I’m pretty sure I have a business trip that weekend anyway. That will be one event I will not be present at. If for no other reason than I don’t want to bear witness to another man losing his fortune to one of the Presley women.
The valet pulls my car around and I slide behind the wheel the moment I approach. Shutting the door, I shift into drive and step on the gas before I’ve even finished putting on my seat belt. I ran from work and now I’m running from the club. If nothing else, at least I’ll get plenty of exercise today.
I make it back to the office, and keeping my head down, I decide to take the stairs from the parking garage up a few flights before I catch an elevator. I don’t feel like walking through the lobby with everyone and I could use the exertion to reset my mood.
I step off the elevator and walk past Cheryl’s desk that still sits empty. I let out a long breath as I remove my jacket and take my seat. I tend to have a solid afternoon of meetings, but I glance at my schedule today and it’s pretty sparse. I’m second-guessing my decision not to blow work off and stay on the golf course.
I stand up and pull my jacket back on before exiting my office. Cheryl is just stepping behind her desk and putting her things away.
“Sir?” she asks, looking at me with confusion.
“I’ve finished with my work for the day so I’m going to walk the building, check in with everyone. Will you hold all my calls until I return, please?”
She nods. “Of course.”
I turn and walk toward the elevator, figuring I’ll work myself down each level. I drop down to the next floor and walk through the aisles of the cubicles. This floor is strictly for communications and IT. It seems that everyone is back from lunch, already buried in work. I walk through until I find the lead guy on this floor, Melvin Black.
When he sees me, he stands from his desk and opens his glass door to let me into his office. He holds out his hand to shake. “Mr. Carmichael, I wasn’t expecting you. Did we have a meeting?”
I shake his hand. “No, I was just doing a walk through. How are things running in your department?”
He shuts the door behind us and moves to have a seat at his desk. I sit across from him.
“Everything is going great. We’ve been getting a lot of calls here lately. It was something I was going to bring up to you so maybe you could have a chat with development. There’s a glitch in the newest software update on our CRM system that a lot of people are calling in about.”
“I’m about to see Gary so I’ll have him come up and talk with you directly.”
He nods. “Thank you, Mr. Carmichael.”
I nod. “Anything else to report?”
He thinks it over a minute. “No, not unless you want details you don’t usually need. We’ve had another three people hired this week so I sent a message to HR to get the ball rolling.”
I nod. “Well done. Keep up the good work, Melvin.” I stand from my seat and he stands with me, opening the door and seeing me out.
I hit the next floor and find Gary like promised. He’s in his office that’s dominated by a massive whiteboard covered in complex code and what I can only guess is software jargon. Gary is a whiz, a complete genius that needs little if any direction.
“How’s it going, sir?” Gary asks as I enter.
“Good, how are you?”
He nods. “Busy.”
“How’s the family?”
“Oh, you know, too busy to hang out with old dad.” He lets out a small, bitter laugh.
“Listen, I was just talking to Melvin and he’s getting a lot of calls regarding some glitch with the new CRM update?”
He nods. “We’ve found it and we’re working on it,” he assures me.
“Okay, well, can you go talk to him, give him a date of when people can expect it to be fixed?”
“Right away,” he agrees.
“Thank you. Let me know if you need anything,” I tell him, walking out.
I continue with my pattern, going down a floor at a time until I get to Wren’s floor.
I walk into her office and her assistant Julie is on the phone. She looks at me nervously like she always does. I don’t know what Wren has told her about me, but every time she sees me, she acts like a cornered little mouse and I’m the big bad cat that’s about to eat her alive.
She hangs up with her call, then plasters a fake smile on her face. “Good afternoon, sir. Is there something I can help you with?”
“I’m just making some rounds. Is Wren in?”
She nods. “Let me tell her you’re here.”
“That’s not necessary,” I tell her, holding up my hand to stop her from reaching for her phone.
I walk into Wren’s office and she looks at the door with wide eyes. She has her phone in her hands and she’s frozen.
“Not playing Animal Crossing on that thing, are you?” I ask, slipping in and shutting the door behind me as I take a seat across from her.
“Nope, checking emails.” Then her phone makes a clucking sound, and she quickly silences it before tucking it away in her drawer. “What’s up?” she asks, acting nonchalant.
I shake my head. “Nothing. I’m just walking around and checking in with everyone.”
“You mean, putting everyone on edge just for your own selfish entertainment?” She smiles.
“Something like that,” I agree. “How was your lunch?”
She nods. “Good.”
“Really, what did you do?” I pick absentmindedly at a nonexistent thread on my pant leg.
“Oh, uh…” she says, starting to fidget with the pens on her desk. “I went to that sports bar around the corner, Charlie’s. They have the best burgers. You should try it sometime.”
“I’ve been hearing that. With your stalker lurking around, I wish you’d let me accompany you.”
“I wasn’t alone and I haven’t seen my stalker in a while so I think I’m in the clear.”
I nod. “You can never be too careful, Wren. So what did you and the office group talk about over lunch? It wasn’t how I’m a maniacal tyrant, was it?” I smile, even though I’m half serious.
Her eyes dart away. “I didn’t go with people from work.”
“Why are you being so vague?” I lean back in my chair and cross my ankle over my knee. I was just trying to make some friendly conversation so I could ask her to dinner, but now I’m intrigued. I want to get to the bottom of whatever is going on.