LISA

I WONDERED IF I SHOULD EVEN BOTHER TELLING JAMIE ABOUT MY NIGHT BEFORE because it wasn’t meant to mean anything. It had been quite a while since I’ve spent time with a man, being a single parent wasn’t easy, and it didn’t leave a lot of room for dating and relationships. Yesterday, however, my daughter experienced her first ever slumber party, and it was kind of sad to not have her home. I have never gone a day without her yet at the same time it left me with a free evening, and I sat there without any idea of how I should be spending my time.

On a whim, I decided to hit the new trendy bar that popped up a few minutes away. I was feeling adventurous, so I didn’t bother calling Jamie or anyone to accompany me.  Almost immediately, I was approached by a drop dead, sexy Brit. Needless to say, it didn’t take much convincing to go home with him. I knew what it meant if I agreed and I didn’t mind because I wasn’t looking for anything other than just a good time and he was willing to provide it.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I smiled to myself.

“Oh, I know that look. You met someone didn’t you?” Jamie beamed.

“I did, but it’s not like that. It was just a one-time thing. Heck, I don’t even remember his name. I don’t think I even bothered to ask.”

“Oh, you didn’t?” she covered her mouth and gasped.

“I did. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a wild and crazy night that was just for me? Eight years! For the past eight years I’ve dedicated my entire life to Carlie, and while I love her more than life itself, I’ve missed doing things for myself.”

“Well good for you! Did you have a good time?” she snickered.

“I did. He was incredibly good looking, suave and well dressed.  Oh, I can just picture it now.  My favorite part was when he rolled up his sleeves and revealed those massive forearms of his.” I wanted to fan myself just thinking about him.

“Oh, my. So no chance of you seeing him again?” she asked.

“No. It was only a one-time thing, besides he didn’t seem like the type of guy who would date someone like me.” I shrugged.

“What do you mean? You’re amazing.”

“I’m not talking about how I look but do you honestly think an incredibly sexy guy would even want to date someone with a kid? Not if he was into one night stands with random women he met in a bar. Plus, I wouldn’t want a guy like that around Carlie anyway. He was good for only one thing, and that’s it.” I pounded on the table adamantly.

“That’s too bad. He sounds like a real hunk.”

“Yeah, too bad.” I laughed. “I’m not worried. I’ll meet a great guy someday, who’s gorgeous, strong and loves children.  Someone who’s actually the commitment type.”

“You will. You are an amazing person, who wouldn’t want to snatch you up?”

“Exactly! I am a prize so valuable, men should compete for me like one of those medieval jousting tournaments.” I laughed.

“So, tell me in a lot of detail how your evening with this mystery man went. I want to know everything.”

“Everything?”

“Everything,” I demanded, and I added a wink for emphasis.

****

JAMIE

After my brunch with Lisa and hearing about her extra-curricular rendezvous, I took her advice and decided to wait before I headed on over to Sam’s place and talk to him about the fears I was having. Lisa could be right, maybe he had the foresight to realize that hiring Callum was going to take away the parts of my job that I enjoyed doing and had something else in store for me. The idea that he didn’t do something stupid and make me irrelevant at the office had me feeling a bit better.

I still knocked on Sam’s front door whenever I arrived because I still hadn’t gotten used to the idea that I was welcome to just walk in like I owned the place. I purposely hadn’t talked to Sam in a couple of days knowing that he would be swamped with work and I didn’t want to disturb him so I didn’t know if he’d even be home. Fortunately, he opened the door right away.

“Hey, honey. What are you doing here? I thought you decided to stay away because you didn’t want to interrupt me?”

I gave him a quick peck on the lips, “You’re not busy right now are you?”

“When am I not busy? It’s alright, though. What’s going on? Something troubling you?”

“No, nothing is wrong. I honestly can come back later if you have work to do.”

“Jamie, don’t worry about it. You know you’re always welcome, no matter how busy or preoccupied I am. Come inside.” Sam chuckled as he stepped back to allow me to enter.

“Are you sure that I’m not interrupting anything?” I asked as I walked into the foyer looking around for any signs of company, especially of the female variety.

“No, not at all. I was just working.”

“Okay, good. I just wanted to talk to you about the recent hire that will be leading the marketing department.” I explained.

“Oh, you’ve heard about that have you?”

“Yeah, I did. Was I not supposed to?”

“It was going to come out eventually, but not so soon. The Board suggested we keep it quiet for now. If word got out, we were afraid it was going to start some sort of mob, and he’d change his mind before he even arrived. How did you find out?”

Sam looked at me with such nonchalance, I had to get him to understand why the revelation bothered me so much. “I’m surprised that you didn’t tell me about it even if you couldn’t. You tell me everything, but I had to hear it from Sarah and Marta instead.”

“Well, what do you expect me to say? I couldn’t tell anyone about it.”

“How did Sarah and Marta find out about it?” I questioned. I was starting to get frustrated, and I could tell Sam was getting upset because I was getting upset at him and he had absolutely no idea what was going on. Typical man.

“I don’t know. Probably when I asked Sarah to coordinate a few things for his arrival. I figured she wouldn’t notice and it didn’t really occur to me that she’d not only know who he was but would also be a fan of his. Look at the bright side, the public will forget about me and move onto him.” Sam laughed at his derivative sentiment, but I wasn’t in the mood to joke around with him.

“How long has the idea of hiring someone to lead the Marketing Department been floating around?” I asked.

“The idea about hiring Callum?”

“Yes, at what point did the idea of hiring someone become such a necessary thing?”

“A few months, why?” he undoubtedly was bewildered.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m just worried the Foundation is in trouble or that it’s going to self-destruct.”

“Self-destruct? Is that what this odd conversation is about? No, honey. Why would you think such a thing?”

“I don’t know. I guess it’s just that this whole thing just reeks of mystery and things are being kept hidden, and I’m not even one of the secret keepers! It just doesn’t sit well with me, and I don’t understand the decision. I mean we have marketing staff already, why would we need to hire another person anyway? Haven’t I been shouldering a lot of the work?” I confessed.

“Yes, you have. There’s no doubt about that. That is a part of the reason why I wanted to hire someone. You’ve been kind enough to take on more workload than you should have been given and while we appreciated it, me especially, we didn’t think it was fair to keep putting that burden on you. We also needed to try and elevate things quickly, and we do not have the right staff or enough people to do that. I mean, we have a lot of big things coming up in the pipeline plus a dozen more ideas that we are currently thinking about testing. If they prove to be a success, then we will incorporate them into the organization.”

“But, Sam…” I hung my head low.

Sam walked up to me and placed his hands on my arms, “We definitely need someone to lead the charge on these new campaigns and Callum is great at cause marketing, and he’s already an amazing social influencer. With his skill set, we can definitely get more people caring about the organization and all of our existing campaigns, but this doesn’t diminish the efforts you have made for us. You have done amazing things, and I am eternally grateful.”

“What’s this we business?” I huffed.

“Jamie, don’t be upset please?” Sam broke out the puppy dog eyes, I’m a goner. He had this look about him whenever he felt like he was to blame for my unhappiness.

“Don’t worry, I’m not upset. I just feel like I’m going to get what I loved doing taken away and because this whole thing was something I wasn’t privy to. It makes me feel like I’m just barely realizing that I was never a part of the decision-making process.” I frowned.

“You are always a part of any decisions I make, Jamie.”

“No, I’m not. I was never a part of the decision-making, the board would never allow it because it’s beyond my pay grade and the only reason I was included was that you included me because you love me and that’s it.”

“It had to be kept quiet. We were trying to convince him to give us a shot for a few months, if not longer. He’s very particular on what he takes on, and although it was tough to convince him over the past few weeks, he told us that some personal plans of his had changed this morning and since he was going to be in town anyway, he was going to give us a shot for now. It’s a sensitive situation, and we didn’t want to do anything that would ruin how things have progressed with him. I’m sure you can understand.” Sam explained.

“I guess. Are you sure there isn’t anything I should be worried about? I mean, what’ll happen to me? Am I getting the boot?”

“Aww, sweetheart. You aren’t getting the boot. Why would we get rid of you, you’ve done so well. The fact that the organization is doing well also is even more of a reason to get him. He will be able to help us control all of it, and as far as you’re concerned, I want you to continue to help with product development and marketing. I want you to work alongside Callum as I don’t know his protégé? Even if he chooses to leave after a few months, being under his wing, you will be able to learn so much.”

“His protégé?”

“Well, you don’t have to call it that. Just look at it as having the same position but this time having someone more qualified than me to be your guide or mentor.” Sam rubbed my arms trying to comfort me. “Anything else you want to talk about?”

“No, that’s it.” I exhaled. “I just don’t want to stop being challenged at work.”

“Alright, good. I’m sorry I didn’t mention it but everything’s fine and don’t worry, I have some ideas that I want to narrow down first before I run them by you.”

“Okay.” I beamed.

“I love you, you know.” Sam cupped my face with his hands and placed a light kiss on my lips.

“I know, and I love you too.”

“Ey, Sammy. Took a bit to find the loo but I love the place. Very top notch.” a mysterious man popped out suddenly and ruined what could have been the beginning of a romantic interlude. Could he be Callum King? Certainly looks like him.

“Thank you. Took me a while to get this place to the way I wanted it to look. Jamie here helped with the final touches.” Sam gestured toward me

“You’ve got an exquisite taste.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“Jamie, I wanted to introduce you to Callum.  As you already know, he’s going to be our new Marketing Director. Callum, this is my girlfriend, Jamie. She also works at the Foundation.”

“It’s a pleasure.” Callum smiled.

So he was the infamous Callum King. Tall, blonde with crisp blue eyes and an athletic build. He hadn’t said much yet, but it felt intimidating standing in his presence somehow. Was this some sort of hypnosis?

“She has been handling a lot of the product development projects for the past year, so if you have any questions about what we have been doing up until now, she’d be your go-to woman. Right, Jamie?”

Right. (Sarcasm).

I threw up a fake smile, “Oh, definitely. Anything you need to know, feel free and ask.” Sam is so lucky that I care about him a lot. Otherwise, I’d chop things off of him for putting me in this predicament and why was Callum grinning at me?

“I invited Callum over for lunch and a beer as sort of a pre-welcoming celebration. He was anxious to get more acquainted with the Foundation’s current state of affairs, so why not discuss everything over good food and drink, right?”

“Well, I will definitely have some questions. So, Sam, you were telling me about those window treatment of yours?”

“Yes, they are Roman Shades. I’m not sure what your living situation is right now, but are you looking to decorate?”

“Not yet, I’m just renting a place right now. Eventually, I’d like to purchase a home for myself or for at least investment purposes.”

“I should get going and let you two get back to whatever it was that you were doing.” I took a few steps backward.

“Don’t be silly, the more, the merrier eh Sammy?”

“You are correct. Jamie, you don’t have to leave. Come join us. Seeing as you’ve been handling things up until now, I’m sure Callum would love to hear your input and thoughts about where things are on the front lines.”

“Definitely. Any insight that you have would be tremendous. I’ll take any information you are willing to share.” Callum agreed.

“I guess I could stay for a little bit.” I really didn’t want to stay and get to know the man who’s stealing my thunder, but I couldn’t say no.

“Atta, girl.” he cheered.

“I was just catching Callum up on our progress over the past couple of years,” Sam explained.

I followed the two men into Sam’s living room. Space was very bright seeing as he opened up all of the curtains to allow the light to come in, “You really do have lovely taste, Sammy. Would it be alright to give you a call when I finally make a decision about purchasing a place?”

“Sure, anytime but in the meantime, shall we continue our conversation about our operations and our projections?” Sam asked.

“Definitely.” Callum agreed.