CHAPTER ONE

Rebecca

Green Lake.

 

“Becca, Mrs. Olsen wants her speech rewritten. She decided to go in a different direction and needs a new speech to be ready by the end of today,” Courtney, the head secretary whom I worked directly with, said as she entered the office. Courtney was more of a personal assistant to Mrs. Olsen than a secretary. The only difference was that her title still remained ‘secretary’ and she was not as close to Mrs. Olsen as a personal assistant.

    “What?! I spent countless hours on the last one, and there is simply not enough time before the end of today to complete a new speech. It’s just too much work.” I sighed in exasperation as I looked over at the pile of writing sheets on the left corner of Courtney’s table.

Courtney handed over duties to me as she deemed fit since I didn’t have a specific job description other than being her assistant.

“The sooner you get to it then, the better. You, of course, know better than anyone that Mrs. Olsen is not one to accept excuses. Good luck,” she said as she picked up a pile of letters and made her way out of the office.

I had been working for about six months with Courtney at ‘The Springs.’ The Springs at Green Lake was one of the branches of the mother organization in Chicago. The organization was a nongovernmental institution that provided clean water for poor communities in Africa. We normally had charity events to raise funds for these projects, and one of such events was due to come up on Saturday. That was why Courtney had had me writing and rewriting Mrs. Olsen’s speech.

    I’d spent all my life in Chicago until I had recently moved to Green Lake after getting the job with The Spring. I had studied social philosophy in school and working in a large non-governmental organization such as this one had always been one of my dreams. I didn’t think it over twice when I got the job offer, and I immediately made provisions to move down here. I rented a two-bedroom apartment and lived there all by myself. And of course, I had the usual nosy neighbors that every small town always had. I knew Mr. and Mrs. Bert meant well, but I just couldn’t resist calling them by the term ‘nosy.’ It had taken a while to get used to them considering the fact that I had been born and raised in Chicago, where everyone kind of kept to themselves. Everything was kept private over there.

    Life in Green Lake was not that bad anyway. If anything, it was quite good. It might not have all the glitz and glamor that came with living in the city, but the peace and quiet was something I really cherished. I also loved me the fact that it was just an hour and a half drive from Chicago itself. I drove down from time to time to get some things if the need arose, and dropped in to see my parents as well.

    I was so lost in thought that I didn’t hear the click click of Courtney’s sandal when she re-entered the office.

    “You’re still on the second line? You know quite well that it’s in your best interest to finish the speech today so that you can finish up your tasks by tomorrow,” Courtney said as she stood in front of my desk.

    “Thanks for reminding me I have a million and one things to do before tomorrow,” I said with a roll of my eyes as Courtney shook her head and walked towards her desk. We had an informal sort of work relationship and it was the same way with other staff, except Mrs. Olsen, of course. Courtney was right, though, about finishing being in my best interest. I had better snap out of my daydreaming and get to work.

I was midway through the speech when one of the other secretaries entered the office I shared with Courtney.

    “Hey ladies, you won’t guess what I just heard,” Janie said with a smile.

Janie was that one person you should keep away from you if you had secrets and skeletons in your cupboard. She had a knack for sniffing out secrets and for telling them as well. And also, she was quite hung up on rich and handsome men.

    “What did you hear this time?” Courtney asked with an air of indifference as she continued preparing the list of donors for the event.

    “Any of you remember Mark Decker?” she asked with an all-knowing smile on her face.

“You mean the happily married millionaire who is one of our constant donors,” I replied with special emphasis on the phrase “happily married.”

“You have such a good memory, Becca,” she said with sarcasm.

“Thank you, Janie,” I replied with an equally sardonic smile. I knew she hated my guts, but I still expressed my opinion though. At first she used to be annoyed that I tended to ignore her gossip or question her wrong judgment, but I thought that over the past six months she had adjusted. She had realized that was just the way I was and that I didn’t intend to change that for anybody.

    “Well, Miss Good Memory, remember this too: he’s no longer happily married. He just got divorced from her … rumors of adultery on the wife’s part. Can you believe that, Courtney? Why would anyone behave in such a manner?” Janie said with so much emphasis.

    “I don’t know,” Courtney said.

“I don’t know? Really? Is that all you will say?” Janie asked as she stared at Courtney. I did my best to stifle laughter where I was seated.

    “I already knew about it,” Courtney replied, barely raising her head from what she was doing.

    “You knew all along? Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Janie with her arms akimbo.

“I didn’t deem it relevant to discuss our donor’s marriage with you or anybody for that matter,” replied Courtney.

    “Well, you people won’t ruin my day or my plans, for that matter. You guys are just spoilsports,” said Janie as she turned on her heel to leave our office.

    “What plans?” Courtney asked before Janie could step out the door.

“Plans to dress up stunningly for the charity and maybe hook someone as formidable as Mark,” replied Janie as she turned to face us.

    “I think you should give the poor man a chance to recover from his predicament before launching an all-out romance attack on him,” I said.

    “I am not launching anything on anybody. And besides, how else can he recover fast if not through the love of a beautiful, charming, and intelligent woman such as me,” she said before stepping out the door.

    Courtney and I stared at each other before bursting into laughter after Janie left. She was indeed a piece of work. There were times when Courtney indulged her, but we had too much to do before Saturday and couldn’t afford the luxury of giving Janie attention. The more audience you gave her, the more she was likely to spice up the story and make it juicier. I was quite sure that if we had shown a little bit more interest, she might have given us more details about the rumored adultery.

    About thirty minutes later, I finished up the speech and handed it over to Courtney who made a few corrections before asking me to rewrite a final draft for to forward to Mrs. Olsen. After I was done with that, I spent another two hours on some other things I had to do before packing up for the day. It was around 6:00 p.m. when I said goodbye to Courtney.

    “I’m done for the day. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said to Courtney.

“Okay then. That’s cool. See you tomorrow. Will you be done with all your tasks by tomorrow afternoon?” Courtney asked.

    “I should be done by tomorrow evening. Why do you ask?” I said.

“The girls and I were thinking of going to Lucy’s to get our evening wear for Saturday. You should come along too,” Courtney said.

“I’m not so sure. I already have a gown planned for the evening. One of my old gowns that’s still very nice,” I said.

    “Becca, I won’t take no for an answer. Nobody is asking you to become like Janie, although a little spice in your love life wouldn’t hurt,” Courtney said with a wink.

Courtney liked alluding to my love life, considering the fact that I didn’t have a boyfriend. She never tired of reminding me that my love life was nonexistent and that I needed a man in my life. Most times, I just ignored the jabs, as I had no interest in furthering the discussion. Nobody seemed to understand that I was waiting for the man of my dreams. The one who would sweep me off my feet and at the same time accept that I was not perfect but who would love me for who I was.

“Okay then. I will only go on the condition that I finish my tasks on time and that I’m not too tired by the time I’m done with the tasks,” I replied.

    “One has to jump through so many hoops just to get to you. See the number of conditions you listed just for an evening shopping!” exclaimed Courtney.

“Whatever! I’m out,” I said as I waved at her and hurriedly left the office, closing the door on any further discussions about how uptight I was.

I passed by Janie and Andrea’s office, but they had left. I walked out of the building to the parking lot where I entered my vehicle and zoomed off towards my two-bedroom apartment.

***************

Saturday, Tributes Hall

 

The weather was a bit chilly as I stepped out of my car and made my way towards the hall for the event. I was glad I had brought a coat with me to counter the effects of the cold. I had almost decided against bringing it because I was sure that the inside of the hall would be warm and cozy, but the short walk between my car and the hall made me happy I hadn’t risked not bringing the coat.

I removed my coat when I entered the hall and draped it over my hand as I walked over to meet Courtney and Janie, who were already in the hall. The hall was beautifully decorated with lights and bright colors and looked really dazzling. A fortune must have gone into the decorations, I thought to myself as I looked from side to side, staring at the magnificent pieces that dotted the walls and the roof.

    “Enough of looking around. Will you get here already?” Courtney shouted from where she stood.

The event was yet to start but we had arrived early in order to make sure everything was in place before the event kicked off. Looking at Janie now, I was glad Courtney had forced me out of the office to go shopping for a dress on Friday. The garment I had planned earlier to wear would have made me look like a high-school senior beside them. It had been a gown I got from one of my older cousins. It was beige in color and had buttons lined down the middle. This was in stark comparison to what the girls picked out for me yesterday.

Yesterday evening when we got to Lucy’s, I had fallen in love with a gown Courtney chose from the left-hand side of the store. It was a black sequined gown that stopped a little below my knee. It amplified my curves and made me look very elegant and sophisticated. I immediately ended my search and paid for it.

For the event today, I had paired the black gown with teal pumps and a purse and had let my curly red hair bounce around my face.

    “Hey ladies!” I said with a smile as I stood next to Courtney and Janie. Andrea was not yet around, but I was sure she would soon be.

    “You look breathtaking, Becca. Absolutely gorgeous,” Janie said to me as she hugged me and pulled me closer towards them.

    “I know, right,” I replied with a smile.

“She’s absolutely correct. You look a lot different from the Becca I see every day at work,” added Courtney.    

“Coming from you guys, that means a lot to me. At least I can rest assured that I didn’t make a mess of my make-up,” I replied as we all laughed.

    Andrea and Mrs. Olsen arrived ten minutes later, almost immediately after each other. Upon their arrival, we started the inspection and thankfully, there were just a couple of things to correct before we threw the gates open for the big ceremony. Mrs. Olsen called us to the side of the hall and addressed us briefly before the charity started.

    “You all have sacrificed so much in the few days preceding now and I am very appreciative of that fact. You’ve shown your commitment over and over to the cause we so proudly proclaim, and this charity event has not been an exception. So much work has gone into this event, and so much work will still go into it tonight. Tonight is the culmination of all the hard work of the past few weeks and I need you ladies to turn on your charm as usual. The donations from this event are going into one of our very important projects and for the sake of the people who rely on us, we can’t afford to fail. I trust you to do your duties and to make sure we meet our target funds today. Thank you, ladies,” she said as she hugged each one of us before moving towards the band by the right side of the hall.

    “That was quite the speech. I was almost moved to tears,” Andrea said as Mrs. Olsen turned her back.

    “Thank God you didn’t actually shed tears. You would have ruined your make-up,” Janie said with an air of indifference.

    “Don’t tell me you were not moved to tears yourself,” Andrea said to Janie.

“I was, but I looked past the tears part of it and instead started thinking of strategies to get people to open their wallets and donate towards the cause,” Janie said as she started walking towards the entrance to welcome arriving guests.

    “You might not like her meddling characteristics, but one thing you can’t but appreciate is her practical and logical side,” I said with a smile as we all moved to join Janie at the entrance.

The evening progressed quite smoothly as we all mingled with guests and tried to explain the goals and vision of the organization to the skeptical ones and backed it up with evidence of projects we had done in the past. The donation figures kept increasing and two hours into the program, we were quite close to our target mark. Seeing that we would definitely meet the target mark, I decided to take a break.

    There was a small garden on the north side of the hall which looked quiet and peaceful, just the right place to be by yourself and enjoy a bit of nature. I decided to go there for a few minutes before returning to the hustle and bustle of the hall. I picked my coat up from Andrea’s handbag check and walked towards the garden. I sat on a stone stool in the garden and stared at the small pond that flowed right past in front of the stool. The garden was lit with electric bulbs and I could see my reflection in the pond. It looked so crystal clear, and I put out my hand to touch it when I heard a voice behind me.

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you. You can easily catch a cold doing that,” the voice said. I turned around to see who it was and I came face to face with one of the handsomest men I had ever seen.

My heart skipped a beat on seeing him. He was tall, lean, and had a well-chiseled chin. He also had gorgeous brown hair that reached the nape of his neck. I was not the type that was moved by physical attributes, but there was just something about him that drew him to me immediately. The air around him as he walked towards me was that of a man who commanded respect and I could immediately feel my armpits breaking out in a sweat. I tried to compose myself as I replied him.

    “That’s why I’m putting on a coat,” I replied as confidently as I could.

“I doubt a coat will save you from the type of nerve-racking cold, frosty ponds like this can bring,” he replied with a smile.

“Have you been here for long?” I asked as my mind flashed back to all the things I had done in the few minutes I had been at the garden. I was grateful I had not done anything disgraceful so far.

    “Just long enough to see you about to dip your fingers into very cold water,” he replied.

“It was so beautiful. I just couldn’t resist touching it,” I said as I looked back towards the pond.

“Most of the very beautiful things in life can also be very dangerous. No wonder we always say that not all that glitters is gold,” he replied as he moved closer to me and stood by my side. I was almost tempted to lean into him. He smelled very manly, very masculine.

    “True. Very true,” I said as I tried to regain my composure.

“I’m Christopher, but you can call me Chris. Christopher is quite a mouthful, you see,” he said.

“I’m Rebecca … but you can call me Becca. That’s what my friends call me,” I said.

“Nice to meet you, Becca,” Christopher said.

“Nice to meet you too, Chris,” I replied as we both continued staring at our reflections inside the crystal-clear pond.