Chapter 5
Mandy
“So, Mandy, you've got the job.”
I wanted to jump and scream with joy but, of course, I didn't. While I was brimming with excitement, I managed to maintain a calm tone on the phone.
“That's great news, Phil! I'm very happy to hear that.”
“You were a perfect fit for the job, as I suspected. The CEO took one look at your qualifications and work history and told me to hire you. He'd like very much to meet you before the company conference tomorrow evening, which you're expected to attend, by the way.”
Oh, wow, this was suddenly getting very busy. Meeting the CEO? Company conference? It was a lot to have on my plate but I could handle this.
“Sure thing on both counts,” I said. “Just tell me where and when, and I'll be there with bells on.”
“Great. That's just the kind of attitude that makes me glad that I was able to convince Ronald to hire you.”
“Ronald?”
“Ah, yes, Mr. Ronald Williams. He's the CEO of the company. Fantastic man to work for.”
“I look forward to meeting him.”
“And I think he's looking forward to meeting you. Like I said, he's a great guy to work for, although, just between you and me, you may not really get to experience working for him for too long.”
That sent a sudden shiver of alarm rushing through me. What did he mean by that? Was I only being hired for a trial period or something? Or only for a once-off job? We hadn't spoken about anything like this, and I had been pretty sure that when Phil and I had spoken about the job it had been about a permanent position. A million thoughts were suddenly rushing through my mind, and I found myself momentarily lost for words.
“Um, I'm sorry but I'm not too sure what you mean, Phil,” I said warily.
“Oh, of course, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that when we spoke. Sorry, I realize that what I just said may have come off sounding a little alarming. No, what I meant was just that some substantial changes are underfoot at the company. Don't worry, it's got nothing to do with you or your position, you're entirely safe. But some important things are being shuffled around, people are being moved around, and Ronald is retiring. Don't tell anyone though; it's a secret that he's going to break to the rest of the company tomorrow evening at the conference. Just act as surprised as everyone else when he says it, all right?”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Uh, yeah, of course, I'll pretend I'm totally surprised.”
“Good. Ronald is busy in a meeting right now, and his PA tells me he will probably be busy in that meeting for at least the next few hours. I can't give you a time to come in just yet but are you able to keep the afternoon free?”
“I've got nothing planned for the day,” I replied, “so, yeah, I'll keep my afternoon open.”
“Great. I'll give you a call a little later to let you know what time to come in.”
“Sure thing. Thanks again, Phil. I'll see you later.”
“Bye, Mandy.”
I put down the phone and beamed out an ear-to-ear grin. This was the best news I had had in a while, and I had to share it. I dialed Ellen up right away.
“You got the job, didn't you?” she squealed.
“I did!” I exclaimed, almost giddy with glee. “Phil just called me back to let me know that I got it!”
“Woohoo! That's amazing, Mandy! I can't say I'm surprised though; you were such a perfect fit for the job. They would have been stupid to not hire you. But hey, now, so you're no longer unemployed, huh? In fact, you've got a pretty damn amazing job now!”
“I do! And I feel great! Over the freakin' moon!”
She laughed, and I could hear from her tone that she was very, very happy for me. “We're going to have to go out and celebrate.”
“Not like we did last night though,” I said. “I don't think I could handle any more partying, at least not until next week!”
She chuckled. “Yeah, I'm all partied out, too. It's a lot different when you're .
“Jeez, yeah, back in college we could party until five in the morning, do shots, and dance all night and then get up and feel totally fine the next morning. Now we need like, what, two days to recover?”
She laughed. “You're making us sound like old women, Mandy! Enough now, all right? Yeah, no more partying, not for a few days anyway. But how about lunch?”
“I can do lunch,” I replied. “I have to keep my afternoon free, because I'm supposed to be meeting the CEO then but yeah, lunch should be fine.”
“Poncho’s? I feel like Mexican.”
“Sure, Poncho’s sounds good. See you there at, say, twelve?”
“Perfect. See you then!” she said.
Ah, this was great. I was so happy to have gotten this job! I got out of bed and headed over to the bathroom to shower. Despite how happy I was at getting the job, though, something was bugging me. I mean, I should be feeling totally overjoyed now, yet I just didn't feel like everything was right.
I stood in my bathroom door for a while just thinking about this.
No, no way. That couldn't be it.
But why did he keep popping into my head? Come on, it was nothing, it was a one-night stand, and both of us knew and understood that it was a once-off thing. He didn't want a relationship, I didn't want a relationship, so why was I feeling like I really wanted to see him? Like I was missing him? This was totally strange. There was no reason that I should feel like this. I mean, come on! We had just been two drunk, horny strangers who had happened to bump into each other and feel a mutual physical attraction. That was it! There was no reason to read any more into the situation.
“No, Kain,” I muttered, “I'm not going to let you get under my skin. And I'll bet that you don't even want to be under my skin! Heck, you're probably off chasing another girl already.”
And he probably was. I didn't know that much about him but from what I could tell from how he looked and the six-thousand-dollar suit, and two thousand-dollar shoes he wore, he was rich and likely powerful. And, of course, that, combined with the fact that he was young, extremely good-looking and built and shredded like a professional MMA fighter, meant that he was very likely a playboy type, who spent his free time chasing after models and actresses and getting them into bed. Honestly, he had probably forgotten me entirely now and was probably chasing after some twenty-one-year-old blonde with fake boobs and an ever faker smile.
I forced myself to push thoughts of him out of my mind. It wouldn't do me any good to get hung up on a guy like that.
I got undressed, stepped into the shower, and allowed the hot, powerful jets of water to blast any thoughts and distractions from my mind. I was about to start a new job, one that was going to demand every ounce of concentration and mental focus I possessed, and getting distracted and hung up on stuff outside of work wasn't going to do me any good.
“Focus, Mandy, focus,” I whispered to myself as the steam rose in swirls around me.
LATER
“Let's sit outside on the deck,” suggested Ellen.
“Yeah, it's a lovely day out,” I replied. “On the deck, it is.”
“Just you two?” asked the waitress.
“Yeah, just us.”
“All right, you can take a seat out here then and I'll bring you guys menus.”
We went and had a seat while we waited for the waitress to come back.
“So, are you excited?” asked Ellen, smiling. “When do you start?”
“Definitely excited. Well, there's this meeting with Ronald Williams later this afternoon – he's the CEO – and then there's a big company conference I have to attend tomorrow evening. Apparently, there's going to be a couple of substantial changes at the company, although whatever they are is being kept pretty hush-hush at the moment.”
“Ooh, it sounds like you're coming in at a very interesting time.”
“Interesting, yeah,” I replied. “A little intimidating, too, I might add. I mean, I haven't even been to the offices yet and it feels like I'm already being thrown into the deep end.”
“You'll handle it just fine though, Mandy. You thrive under pressure. You always have.”
“I know, but that doesn't make it any less scary!”
Just then the waitress arrived with some menus. We ordered some drinks and then began looking through the menus. Before we could continue talking, however, I saw Ellen looking behind me, and her eyes widened with surprise.
“Heads up, coming this way!” she hissed urgently.
I turned around, at least partially prepared for a surprise, but even that didn't quite prepare me for the sight of Connor walking up to me.
“Mandy!” he said with a broad smile on his face. “I knew it was you!”
I hadn't seen him in person since we had broken up. I mean, sure, I had seen the photos on Facebook and everything but that didn't quite prepare me for the surprise of seeing him in the flesh. He was looking kinda chubby, to be honest; he seemed to have put on a good twenty pounds, maybe more, since I had last seen him. And since he was already a heavyset kinda guy, the extra weight wasn't doing him any favors.
“Uh, hey, Connor,” I said, forcing a smile and hoping that I wasn't looking too awkward. “How are you?”
“I'm good, I'm really good,” he said. “Just got back from Thailand yesterday. Had an amazing time! I still have a few more pics of our vacation to upload. I put some up on Facebook last night, did you see them?”
“No, I didn't see anything like that,” I lied.
“Oh, it was just, like, so amazing. We can't wait to go back. The beaches, just this white, powdery sand, and the bright and clear and warm tropical water. It really is paradise over there.”
“I'm glad you enjoyed it,” I commented, hoping he didn't pick up on the slight tinge of envy evident in my voice.
“Oh, we did, we had a really awesome time. And the next vacation we're going on is to Europe. And I'll let you in on a little secret...”
“Oh, yeah, Connor? What's the big secret?”
He grinned smugly. “I'm going to ask Annie to marry me. I'm gonna propose to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. And we're so in love, I just know that she's going to say yes. I can't wait!”
“Wow, uh, that's, that's great, Connor. I really hope that she does say yes.”
I couldn't help but wonder if he could detect the insincerity in my tone. I suspected, though, that even if he could it wouldn't really matter that much to him. He came here to speak to me to rub all of this in my face, I was sure of it. I had dumped him, and now he wanted to show me that I had made a huge mistake, that I was the one who was losing out now that he was doing all this romantic couple-type stuff with his new girlfriend, the kind of stuff that he had never done with me. Well, I didn't care. His little revenge quest here, or whatever this little performance was, wasn't going to affect me. I mean, I felt nothing for him anymore, and that had been his fault entirely. Instead of feeling envious, I was feeling kinda sorry for Annie. If she said yes to him, she would be stuck with this selfish bozo for life.
“She'll say yes. I just know it,” he said with a smug, self-satisfied grin.
“Well, uh, good for you,” I said.
“Thanks. So how are you doing? You seeing anyone these days, or are you still single?”
“Oh, I'm dating someone,” I replied, smiling confidently.
Across the table, I heard Ellen stifling a gasp of surprise. I hoped that Connor didn't pick up on it.
“Really? Who's the lucky man?”
“His name is Kain,” I said, “and he's a business executive. Very serious guy but he's fun to be around, really fun.”
“Oh, yeah?”
I could see jealousy twisting the corners of Connor's mouth into a weird little forced smile.
“Yeah. Great guy, just great. Works out a lot, too, very physically active.”
I knew that part would sting a little, especially seeing as how Connor had managed to pack on a bunch of pounds recently. I didn't feel any pity for him though; he had come over here and started this thing, so I was just giving him a taste of his own medicine.
“Well, uh, good for you,” he said, maintaining that weak travesty of a smile all the while. “Anyway, it was nice bumping into you but I gotta run now. See you around.”
“See you, Connor. And I hope she says yes.”
“She will. I just know it.”
He turned around and walked briskly back into the restaurant. As soon as he was gone, I turned and looked back at Ellen. Her eyes were wide with surprise, and her mouth was hanging half-open.
“Wow, you just told quite a whopper to Connor! Jeez!”
I shrugged. “You saw why he came over to talk to us, right? He just wanted to rub all that stuff about him having the perfect girlfriend, relationship, vacation, and proposal in my face. I wasn't about to let him get all smug on me like that. I had to counter it with something.”
“I know but... Kain? Where did you come up with that name? Why not just a simple John or Peter or Steve or something?”
“Kain was... well, he was the guy who went home with me last night.”
“Oh, yeah!” she gasped with surprise. “And you just thought that he was a good fit for someone to be your pretend boyfriend?”
I shrugged. “He was just the first guy who came to mind, and I had to think fast.”
I secretly wondered, though, whether that was really why I had picked him as my pretend boyfriend, if there wasn't maybe more to it than that. No, no, I couldn't afford to get stuck on details and thoughts like that right now, so I pushed it out of my mind.
“Anyway,” I continued, “that's over, and hopefully I won't see him again for a long time. Or maybe, even, not ever again. That would be the most ideal scenario really. Anyway, whatever, let's just forget about that and talk about something else.”
We chatted a bit more and had a good lunch. At the end of our meal, I got a call from Phil asking if I could some in to the offices in an hour to meet the CEO. I said I could.
An hour later, I pulled up outside the skyscraper where their offices were located. It was an impressive building, all shiny chrome and polished glass, and much grander and imposing than the much smaller office building in which I had previously worked.
I walked in, and a pretty young receptionist with a welcoming smile and an affable manner greeted me.
“Hi,” I said. “My name is Mandy Benson. I'm here to see Ronald Williams.”
She nodded. “Ah, yes, Ms. Benson, you're right on time. Go through to the elevator there, take it to the top floor, and then turn left. Mr. Williams' assistant will be waiting there for you.”
“Thank you.”
I went up to the top floor and followed her directions, and soon encountered an older woman with a stern face.
“Ms. Benson?” she asked as I approached.
“I am, yes.”
“Welcome to the company. We're pleased to have you. My name is Mildred O'Malley, and I'm Mr. Williams' personal assistant. He's waiting for you in his office, just down the hall there. Please go straight through to him.”
“Pleased to meet you, Mildred. I'm sure I'll enjoy working with you.”
I walked down to the office and knocked on the door.
“Come on in,” said a voice from within.
I walked in and saw a portly, elderly man sitting behind an enormous desk. The style of his office was that of a bygone era; it had its charms with the antiques and dark, heavy wooden paneling but I would have preferred something a lot lighter and more modern. Still, it wasn't my office, so my opinions on its style didn't really count for much.
“Take a seat, Ms. Benson,” he said, pointing at a chair in front of his desk.
There was something weirdly familiar about him, even though this was the first time we had met. It felt as if we knew each other, or at least as if I had seen his face somewhere. There was just something about his features that was very, very familiar. He had obviously been very handsome as a younger man, and well-built too; the echoes of it remained, even though it looked as if he was close to seventy.
“It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Williams,” I said with a smile.
“Please, call me Ronald,” he said. “Everyone here does.”
And his voice sounded like someone else's voice, someone I had spoken to recently, yet I had never spoken to this man before. This was very weird.
“All right,” he said. “There are some things we need to discuss about your job, so, let's get started.”
“Yes,” I replied, “let's get down to business.”