Chapter 14 – Carl
The cafeteria was all done up for the Christmas party. There were Christmas wreaths, a tree with Secret Santa presents, battery operated Holiday candles, a few Hanukkah decorations and a ton of Christmas cookies.
Normally, we’d just have a potluck and a few things from the deli down the street, but this year was special. This year, we had Mandy. The best Christmas gift of all. I went all out. I called a caterer. Cost me a fortune for last minute booking, but they were able to accommodate.
The room had a buffet of handcrafted appetizers. We had a small open bar with one of the caterers acting as bartender. I even had a small jazz band play light jazz. The staff was stunned I went to all this trouble. Some even thought we had sold out in that merger with Franklin. Speaking of which, he showed up with his date, Belinda. And two other guys.
“I gotta thank your brother,” said Franklin. “If it wasn’t for his constant frustrating of Belinda, she never would’ve given up and dated me!”
We laughed at the joke. Belinda made a face like, “Well, that’s not totally untrue.” Franklin laughed anyway. I knew how he felt. It was good to find someone.
“I guess some women are just meant to have more than one guy to satisfy them,” Belinda added, nodding suggestively at the other two guys she was with.
“Ha. I’ll tell you more about it sometime. You and your brother still aren’t up for the merger, right?” asked Franklin.
“No, sorry, buddy.”
I chuckled under my breath at the thought that I would know more about a woman wanting more than one man to satisfy her than he knew, just yet. I had some things to tell him, too. But none of it involved a merger. I was quite happy with things in my life just the way they were.
“Okay,” said Franklin. “I think I’ll explore other options then.”
“Nothing wrong with that. But you had some big announcement at the party, your brother said,” noted Belinda, to me. “We were trying to figure it out on the way over.”
“It’s a big surprise, you’ll see,” I assured them.
As if almost on cue, Mandy entered the room. She was wearing a red velvet dress that hugged her curves. She had a pair of silver earrings, which matched a locket that hung around her pretty neck.
Mandy has obviously gone to the salon and gotten her hair done, because it was up and perfectly curled. The slit in the side of her dress revealed her beautiful gams and a set of panty hose that resembled the leg lamp in A Christmas Story. Appropriate. It was Christmas and that was another story about two brothers who got what they wanted at Christmas.
Mandy was at the other side of the room, reacquainting herself with some of her fellow coworkers. Ned and the security guard greeted her and handed her a drink. Franklin and Belinda could see the way I was looking at Mandy. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.
“Oh, look at this,” said Franklin. “The mistletoe is going to be busy this year!”
Carl entered and as was his way, he greeted everyone loudly as he entered the room. He spotted Franklin and Belinda and rushed over.
“Hey guys, thanks for coming,” he greeted. “We may not merge our companies, Franklin, but we can at least go to each other parties.”
“Oh, yeah, you gotta come by tomorrow. We’re gonna have a fortune teller and a 50/50. But this is way more classy.”
“Yeah, this is quite a shindig,” said Belinda. “You really went all out.”
“Clayton was just staring at that beautiful woman in the velvet dress,” said Franklin. “That his girlfriend or…”
At that moment, Mandy noticed Clayton staring at her from across the room. She looked up for a moment, made eye contact, then looked away shyly and smiled. Then she looked at me and winked.
“Wait a minute…” Franklin began.
“Let me introduce you,” I said. “Mandy!”
Mandy made her way over to the group.
“Hey, you look gorgeous,” said Clayton, giving her a kiss.
“Beautiful,” I agreed, also kissing her. “This is Franklin and Belinda.”
Franklin and Belinda looked a little confused. So did the other two guys with them, whose names escaped me.
“Are you guys—what’s the deal here?” asked Belinda, suspiciously.
“It’s all part of the announcement,” said Clayton. “Shall we?”
Mandy and I nodded in agreement. Clayton clinked a glass with a spoon.
“Attention everyone, attention,” he began. “Listen, I know there may have been some confusion or rumors going around the office. Carl and I just want to put them to rest.”
“First off, we’re not doing the merger,” I assured them. “Clayton and I built this company together and we’re not giving it up to anyone for any price.”
Applause rippled through the room.
“So here’s to the greatest staff on Christmas,” toasted Clayton. “Merry Christmas and big bonuses to you all.”
The room toasted and drank. There were several “Here here’s,” along with the toast.
“But that’s not all we wanted to address,” I said. “Today there was an incident with a man. You may have seen the security guards drag him out. He won’t be allowed on the property again. He happened to be the ex-boyfriend of our new hire, Mandy, here.”
“Carl and I met Mandy and there’s just no easy way to put this,” Clayton said. “We fell in love with her.”
A concerned noise rippled through the room. Belinda and Franklin looked at each other in surprise, even though it was clear from the other two guys who had come with them that they had no reason to be that way.
“I know, it may sound strange to you,” I said, making eye contact with Mandy. “I’ve never met anyone like Mandy. She was instantly everything to me and my brother Clayton felt the same way.”
“It sounds weird, I know,” said Clayton. “But if three people make themselves happy, who are you to judge? What’s it to you? Mandy is the girlfriend for me and Carl and I’m not afraid to say it to anyone. And if you have a problem with that, well, then you have a problem with love. I consider everyone in this room not just my friend, but family. I ask you, as my family to accept this and wish us well.”
There was an awkward silence as the room processed things. It was Franklin that raised his glass.
“Here, here!” he shouted.
“Here, here!” shouted Ned.
One by one, everyone in the room toasted to us. By the end of their rounds of toasting, there wasn’t one employee who said anything differently.
“Mandy, you must be one special lady to be with these two,” said Belinda. “I wish you well.”
“Thanks, Belinda,” said Mandy. “I know it’s a little unconventional…”
“Hey, if it makes you happy, it makes you happy,” said Franklin. “Hell, if I had a second guy around, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten divorced.”
“I couldn’t take two of you around,” assured Belinda. “You’re more than enough.”
“The staff doesn’t seem all that surprised,” I noted.
“I don’t think this is even in the top five of the craziest things I’ve ever done,” joked Clayton. “Guess they’re just used to it.”
“I’m relieved,” said Mandy. “For a moment, I thought Jared ruined everything.”
“Not a chance,” I said, leaning in closer to whisper. “And later, we have another surprise for you.”