Amanda
Everything was going as planned, now that I had the papers signed. I hadn’t followed the best routes to get there, I would admit, but at least it was happening now. This was one of the biggest moves in my career. I couldn’t have let it pass.
I walked to Caleb’s office in the dusk. We had a late meeting – I hadn’t been able to see him earlier. I wanted to speak with him about finances. It was just about money this time, nothing complicated or stressful like it had been until now.
“I’m here to see Mr. Thompson,” I said to the lady behind the desk. I didn’t recognize her. Maybe she was new. She looked like she was barely old enough to be out of school. They got younger every year.
“Tonight?” she asked.
I nodded. “It’s a late meeting.”
She glanced at the computer screen, her fingers clicking on the keyboard at lightning speed.
“I’m sorry, Miss…”
“Fowler.”
“Right… Mr. Thompson didn’t log anything in the system. I’m afraid there’s something wrong with the booking.”
I shook my head, getting irritated. “I doubt he has someone with him now. I’ll just go through and see him,” I said.
The receptionist shook her head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Thompson has already left.”
I blinked at her. “He’s already left?” I echoed.
She nodded at me. “Would you like me to call him for you?”
I shook my head. “Don’t bother. I’ll reach him. Thank you.”
She nodded and turned her attention back to the computer screen, dismissing me. I turned around and left the building.
Maybe Caleb had forgotten. I would go to his house. It wasn’t far from mine and I wanted to get this meeting over and done with. It felt like everything stood in my way, stopping me from moving forward with this.
I hailed a cab and gave the driver Caleb’s address. The traffic had died down since rush-hour. There was something to be said about working late. Or leaving early.
When the cab driver stopped in front of Caleb’s house, I noticed James’s car. He’d left the office hours ago. Maybe this was why Caleb had forgotten about me. James’s car was parked skew, partly in the road and one wheel off the driveway on the lawn. He had pulled up here in a hurry, apparently.
I walked to the front door. It was dark, now. I knocked on the door.
I didn’t get a response. Caleb’s housekeeper left at sundown.
I knocked again. I heard music and voices coming from the side of the house. They were out on the patio by the sounds of it, and they weren’t happy from what I could tell. I walked around the side of the house to investigate.
I turned the corner to the garden when I heard a woman scream. I rushed toward the patio. My heel sunk into the grass.
The two men were at each other’s throats. Both had bloody noses. James had Caleb’s hair in his fist and he was punching the guy in the ribs in a dirty move. Caleb kneed him close to his balls and James let go.
Fischer danced around them, trying to get them to stop. They weren’t going to listen to her. They were, in fact, ignoring her completely.
“You son of a bitch!” James shouted and lunged for Caleb again. He was drunk – that was clear to see. His swings weren’t in the right direction half the time and his balance was a little off. I was surprised Caleb hadn’t put him on the floor ages ago.
“Stop it!” Fischer kept on crying. She finally managed to get between them. She was facing James, holding him back with her whole body. It wasn’t easy but whenever he moved, so did she. The only reason it worked at all was that he was drunk and she wasn’t.
I made a move to step in, but they started shouting at each other.
“I can’t believe you would go behind my back!” James shouted. I stopped, listening.
“I wasn’t going behind your back. If you’d told me…” He glared at Fischer’s back. “If either of you had told me, maybe this would never have happened.”
“What I do in my personal life is none of your business.”
“Apparently, what you do in your business life isn’t, either,” Caleb said dryly.
James looked like he was about to explode. “You’re a real dick, you know that? I can’t believe you think I would do something like that.”
“The evidence is there, James. Your signature is on those papers.”
I frowned. What had they found?
“I wouldn’t betray you like that. Not the way you’re obviously willing to betray me.”
“It wasn’t his fault!” Fischer cried out.
“Stay out of this, Ava. You’re in the way, already.”
Ava, that was what her name was. I watched them carry on like children
“Thanks for that,” Ava said bitterly. “I didn’t realize that was how you felt about me.”
James pulled a face. “Don’t pretend you’re suddenly on my side. The moment you found the legal entities you had decided I wasn’t worth your time anymore.”
My stomach turned and my blood ran cold. Where the hell had they found that? I had to have a serious talk with Derek. Those papers were supposed to stay in a locked file cabinet at his home.
“I don’t know who the hell to trust anymore,” James said.
“Yeah? Well, that goes both ways, buddy.”
James groaned. “Don’t even start with your bullshit. You had the hots for Ava since she arrived. Tell me again how you’re not stabbing me in the back by sleeping with her.”
“I didn’t sleep with her!” Caleb shouted.
“You’re the only one I’ve been with,” Ava said. “You’ve been the only one since we were kids, James.”
So… they’d known each other from Apalachicola. I had thought it was something like that.
“I should have told you to take her away the moment you brought her in,” James said to Caleb. He had stopped trying to get to the man and Ava wasn’t holding him back anymore, but she still stood between them. The symbolism seemed pretty spot on.
“I should have left you to drown in your mistakes,” Caleb said. “I didn’t have to find someone to help you figure out what had gone wrong with your books.”
That was it. I’d heard enough.
“How nice of you all to conspire against me,” I said, finally stepping into the light.
They all spun around and gaped at me.
“What are you doing here?” Caleb finally asked.
“We had a meeting,” I said. “Or were you too busy… what was it, having sex?... with Miss Fischer, to remember?”
James glared at Caleb and for a moment they looked like they were going to attack each other again.
“We’re not sleeping together,” Caleb bit out.
“You would have if I hadn’t arrived. You can’t deny that.”
Caleb shook his head but he didn’t try to deny it. Ava was pale, looking at them and then at me.
“So, cat’s out of the bag, right guys?” I said, walking to one of the patio couches and sitting down. “Tell me more about your plans to go behind my back and look through all the papers.”
Caleb shook his head, turning away with his hands on his hips. He was distancing himself from the situation.
“And you, you’re not a trainee, are you?” I asked Ava. She swallowed. “You can tell me. I’m not as unreasonable as you all think I am. If you came to me with whatever was the problem, we could have sorted it out.”
“Would you have told me about the legal entities and the papers with my signature on it, the ones I didn’t know about?”
I wouldn’t have told him about it at all. I would have smoothed it over and they would have all been content the way they had the past ten years.
“Look, I did what I had to do to keep the company alive. James, your drinking habits and all the women you sleep with has gotten to a point where I had to take matters into my own hands.”
Ava breathed in sharply when I mentioned the women. Good. I’d wanted it to be a low blow.
“And you could have told me that you had questions, Caleb. Isn’t that what a financial advisor is for? You all lied to me.”
I was furious. I was fuming. I was outraged. I wanted to scratch Ava’s eyes out and let the two men kill each other. But I wasn’t going to show any of it. The only way I was going to keep the upper hand was to stay calm.
“So, this is what’s going to happen,” I said and looked at Ava. “You are going to stay out of my business completely – I don’t want to see you near my offices – or I’ll call the police. I’m sure we can find something grounds for arrest.”
She swallowed. Hard.
“And you,” I said to Caleb. “Your advice has probably been biased and I should be able to trust you. James… I think you’ll agree with me now if I say that Caleb is fired?”
James looked from me to Caleb.
“Oh, don’t bother,” Caleb said. “I quit.”
I nodded. Much easier than the politics behind the partnership.
“Fine,” James said. “You quit our friendship already. This is just the final blow, isn’t it?”
Caleb gasped. “That’s rich, coming from you.”
They were being petty. I was getting irritated with them. I stood up.
“I’m going to leave now. James, I’ll see you in the office, tomorrow.” I looked at the other two. “And I’m hoping I’ll never see either of you again.”
I walked toward the house. “Caleb, show me out? I don’t want to walk around the house again.”
Caleb nodded and followed me. We walked through his house in silence and he opened the front door. I walked through the door in silence. When I was halfway up the driveway, I turned.
“You’re lucky I’m not suing you for this,” I said to him.
He scowled. “Bite me, Amanda.”
He slammed the door shut. I gasped. That hadn’t been exactly what I’d expected. It was okay, though. He wasn’t working with us anymore. I had won this round.
I found my phone and called for a cab. I didn’t care that I would wait here a while. I was angry and I needed to calm down. I felt cheated and betrayed. I had trusted James. Yes, I’d stabbed him in the back several times, but I hadn’t expected him to have it in him to do the same.
And Ava… God, what a mess. All of it was. I would have to do chaos control in the morning, see what exactly James had found out and what I was going to do about it. I could get Charlie to help me out – he had proven willing to help me for… favors.
The car finally arrived and I got in. My house was only two blocks away and I was home in no time at all. I was tired. I kicked off my shoes and walked into the kitchen on stockinged feet. I took a bottle of carbonated water from the fridge and unscrewed the cap, taking a sip.
I would have to be very careful with my next move. I knew what was going on now, at least. I hadn’t felt this calm in two weeks. Even when things were at their worst, I could handle it. I had always been able to deal with pressure situations. It was when I was in the dark of things that I panicked.
Finally, I knew what was going on.