Betrayed by Trust (22 page)

Caitlyn marked the days off her calendar. Time was near. She and Blake had been going through the motions. He was like the silent roommate. They communicated in passing, whenever he had an event that required an escort, or to put up a united front in front of Byron and Nikki. Otherwise, they were like two ships passing in the night.

Caitlyn
poured herself into her work, but she was tired of dealing with co-workers and subordinates who saw her as Mrs. Banks and didn’t accept the fact she was good at her job. Caitlyn was lucky Blake let her keep her job after he found out what she did. Caitlyn dreaded leaving Blake but with the year approaching knew it was inevitable. She planned on taking the portion of the money Blake would give her and start her own consulting firm.

Caitlyn
typed her resignation letter, removed it from the printer and signed it. She walked the letter to Neil Franks, the vice-president over her. She handed him the letter and sat across from his desk.

Neil
read the letter. “Does Blake know about this?” he asked.

“
Neil, me resigning has nothing to do with Blake. I make my own decisions.”

“I’ll have to run this past him.”

Caitlyn stood up. “It’s a done deal. I’ll have everything wrapped up in a week.”

She was fuming.
Caitlyn knew leaving was the right thing to do. Her fate was sealed the day she stepped foot inside Banks Telecom. Once she divorced Blake, she didn’t want to have anything to do with Blake or his company. She would miss Christopher, but she would get over losing him too. Working at Banks Telecom wouldn’t be good for her emotionally or mentally. As “D” day, as she called the day she would sign the divorce papers, came closer, it was best that she moved on—Neil nor Blake would be able to change her mind.

By the time
Caitlyn reached her office, Blake was sitting behind her desk.

“No, you can’t change my mind,”
Caitlyn blurted out, without giving him a chance to say anything.

“I came to tell you
there’s no need to wait two weeks; you can leave now.”

“I need
to go over some things with a few people in my department.”

He interrupted her. “No need to. You keep good notes. I’ll have Diane or someone else take over.”

Caitlyn should have been happy. She was getting what she wanted—an opportunity to start her own business. For that she would be thankful to the Banks for. “If there isn’t anything else, I need to pack up some of my things. I hadn’t planned on leaving this early, but since you’re giving me the boot.”

Blake
stood up. “I’m not kicking you out.  You’re the one who decided to leave.”

Why didn’t it sound like he was talking about business? She ignored the desire to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him. The twinkle she hadn’t seen in his eyes in months had returned. Maybe her mind played tricks on her. Reality struck.

“I need a box or something.” She rambled.

“I’ll have someone pack your stuff. Why don’t you call it a day?”

“I didn’t want to leave like this. I need to tell my staff. I want to be the one to tell them.”

“Okay. I’ll give you twenty-four hours. I’ll still have someone come move your stuff for you. Make an announcement by tomorrow morning or else I will,”
Blake said, before leaving the room.

His cologne lingered in the room.  It wrapped itself around her like a hug. She closed her door and locked it. She didn’t want to be disturbed the rest of the afternoon. She logged on to her email program and sent out a department wide announcement about an emergency meeting to be held the next morning.

Later that night, Caitlyn waited for Blake to show up at home so she could discuss her resignation. After waiting up until ten and he hadn’t showed up, she gave up and retired to bed. It was after midnight when she heard Blake come up the stairs. She closed her eyes and fell asleep a short time afterwards.

The next morning, she dressed in a designer suit and took extra time to curl her hair. She wore her mother’s pearl necklace and earring set. She purposely got
to the conference room late. She wanted to make a grand entrance and that she did.  She stopped in mid-step when she saw Blake sitting at the back of the room.

“Thank you all for being here at such a short notice. I wanted to let you all know I will be leaving
Banks Telecom to start my own business. Today is my last day.”

People mumbled. She continued to say, “I’ve enjoyed working with each and every one of you.
Unless someone has any questions, that’s it.”

Several people came up to congratulate her. It was thirty minutes later and the only two people left in the conference room were her and
Blake. He made her nervous. What did he want? He made her leave earlier than she had planned on. Did he enjoy seeing her sweat? He sat in the back and stared.  She refused to say anything else to him. If he wanted to play the staring game, she was not going to oblige him. Soon, they would be going their separate ways. She consulted with an attorney and soon, she would be a free woman—free from Blake at the job and at home.

Joan said, “Blake would like to see you in the big conference room on the seventh floor.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I finish packing,”
Caitlyn responded.

“I thought we hired someone to do the packing for you.”

“I sent them away. I wanted to do it myself. I don’t have that much stuff. Just a few personal items.”

“I’ll let him know you’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Sounds good.”

Caitlyn
would miss Joan. She never showed any signs of disrespect; unlike some of her other colleagues. She placed the rest of her items in the box. She logged off her laptop for the last time and placed everything in a corner. After she came from the conference room with Blake, she would be leaving Banks Telecom. The past two years had been an experience. Caitlyn set out to get revenge on Blake but things didn’t turn out exactly how she wanted it to. What a difference a year makes. 

Caitlyn
said her good-byes to a few people as she made her way to the conference room. “Surprise,” was heard as soon as she opened the door. Caitlyn was really surprised because she didn’t expect to see balloons, flowers, gift bags and a big beautiful cake trimmed in purple roses sitting in the center of the table. Blake walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek. “You didn’t think we were letting you go without some fanfare did you?”

Blake
’s show of affection shocked her. She cleared her throat. “I don’t know what to say. You got me. You didn’t have to,” she said, as she turned and looked at Blake.

Blake
responded, “You deserve it.”

Several people said, “Here—Here.” They held their glasses filled with punch and cheered.

The whole scene felt overwhelming. Caitlyn couldn’t control the tears. She picked up a napkin and wiped her face. “This is so unexpected. I didn’t think it would be this hard to move on,” she said out loud.

“You could always change your mind,”
Blake said.

“Thank you all.” She looked at
Blake. “Thank you for this. It’s unexpected.”

He squeezed her hand. “Those are the best kind of surprises.”

Caitlyn walked around the room and made sure she spoke with everyone in attendance one on one. It was way past six by the time everyone had left the conference room. Once again she and Blake were the last two in the room. She started to clean up.

“Leave it. Someone will come clean this up later.”

“But. I don’t like leaving a mess.”

“You know I know. I live with you.” He laughed.

“Oh yeah. You do know my obsession.” She walked towards the door. “Well I need a cart to carry this stuff out.”

“I’ll have someone put them in my car. Don’t worry about a thing.”

“Well, this is it. I mean what I said. I will miss it here. Banks is a good company.”

“I’ll tell the boss. He’ll be glad to hear one of his employees; well ex-employees say that.”

“Blake, I’ll miss.” She stopped, paused and looked into his eyes. “Never mind. Good-byes are hard. I’ll see you later at home right.”

“Sure. Bye
, Cat.”

She practically skipped to the elevator.
Blake called her Cat and he hadn’t done that in months. Maybe he was softening some. Then again, it had been an emotional day so she wouldn’t read more into it than was there.

Tasha
waited outside her office door. “Girl, I’m going to miss you around here.” She hugged her.

Caitlyn
unlocked her door. “Have a seat,” she said, as she walked behind her desk and sat down in the chair.

“So
what are your plans?”

“
I’m starting my own business.” Tasha didn’t look like she believed her. “You act like this is the first time you’ve heard this. I’ve been talking about this forever.”

Tasha
sat on the corner of her desk. “But why now? You’re married to one of the richest men in Dallas. You don’t need to work. Yet and still you’ve been working and now you’re venturing off to start a new business that will take up even more of your time. Some people have it good and don’t even realize it.”

“Believe me, you don’t want to be walking in my shoes right about now. Besides, I’ve never depended on a man before and I don’t plan on starting now.”

“Blake doesn’t seem like the type that would let his woman want for anything. He threw you a nice going away party—although rumor has it, he had no idea you were resigning.”

Caitlyn
laughed. “Tell the office gossip pool that no he didn’t know. He might be my husband, but he’s not the boss of me. I can and do think for myself.”

“I heard that,”
Tasha said. She picked up the desk calendar still sitting on the desk and flipped through it. “Do you need an assistant? You know for the right price, I might be available.” 

“When I do, you’ll be the first person I call.”

“So you and Blake have any special plans for tonight?” she asked.

Caitlyn
wished. The burden of the past year overpowered her. She needed to talk to someone. “Promise me something Tasha.”

“Uh oh. Can I hear you out first before I answer
?”

“No. Promise me you won’t repeat what I’m about to tell you.”
“Scouts honor.” She held up her two fingers.

“
Blake and I are getting a divorce. Well, I think we are anyway.”

Tasha
scooted further on the desk. “What? Not the same Blake I saw give you loving looks less than an hour ago.”

“Things haven’t been too well at home and the strain. Well, the strain is getting to be too much. Too much for the both of us.”

“Whatever it is, you two need to work it out. You’re good together. You can’t break up. You’re like Dallas’ own Brad and Angelina. You’re a powerhouse. Come on. Stay together. Do it for me. Do it for the single women who wish they had a knight in shining armor like Blake.”

Caitlyn
couldn’t do nothing but laugh at Tasha's dramatic behavior.  After going back and forth with Tasha about relationships, she picked up her box and walked out of her office for the last time. She left the office that night closing the chapter on one part of her life.

Caitlyn thought having the extra two weeks to work on implementing her business plan would be productive, but it was far from it. She watched the calendar more than she did any work. In less than a month it would be time for their one year anniversary. Blake had been extra nice to her since she resigned from Banks Telecom. Maybe he was happy to get rid of her. She didn’t know what to think. His actions seemed out of character. He actually started acting like he did when they first got together.

He actually got home early enough for them to at least say a few paragraphs to each other. She needed to be concentrating on her business instead of thinking about
Blake. Blake invaded not only her dreams, but her thoughts during the day. As soon as “d”—divorce day came, maybe she could move on.

Caitlyn
thought about her conversation with Tasha. Tasha seemed to be more concerned about the state of her marriage than she was. Tasha emailed her tips on improving one’s love life, etc. Little did she know sex was not an issue—in fact, they weren’t having it. Not that she didn’t want to. Blake seemed to be getting finer and finer. Sometimes it seemed as if he purposely walked around with no shirt on so she could see his six pack.  His chest seemed to glisten as if he poured baby oil on his chest. Caitlyn fanned herself as she recalled the last time she saw Blake without his shirt on.

Caitlyn
pulled the laptop on the top of her lap and logged on to the internet. Tasha sent her several other relationship tips. She deleted each one of them, but not without reading them first. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, she wanted Blake. She didn’t want their marriage to end. The hatred she had in her heart for the Banks a year ago had turned into love but soon Blake would be off limits.

Caitlyn
had some thinking to do. She needed to get away. She googled a few vacation spots. She opted for a four day trip to the Bahamas. She made her reservations and logged off. Her cell phone rang. Bridget’s name flashed across the screen.

“What’s up sis?”

She listened as Bridget described her dilemma. “I need someone to watch Danielle. If you do, I owe you one.”

“Girl, please. Drop off my beautiful niece. Besides, it’s time her and I got better acquainted.”

An hour later, Bridget dropped off little Danielle Marie. She was cute as a button and looked just like her auntie; so Caitlyn claimed.  “Thank you for doing this. Matt just found out about this trip and you know he’s trying to keep this job. We’ll be gone one night, two tops.”

“Don’t worry. Me and little Dani, will be fine.”
Caitlyn played with her pacifier. “Besides, I can always call my new friend Nikki if I need some baby advice.”

Bridget looked at her sideways. She kissed Danielle on the forehead.
“Bye baby. Mama promises to call you every hour. Don’t give your auntie a hard time,” Bridget said. “She likes to listen to music when she sleeps. Something soft, preferably jazz.”

“Okay. Now go, before you miss your flight
and please, don’t call me every hour.”

Caitlyn
played with Danielle until she fell asleep. Caitlyn went to clean up some and was surprised when she returned to the living room to see Blake holding Danielle. “She’s so cute,” he said, as he rocked her in his arms.

“She was sleep,”
Caitlyn responded, as she took her from his arms and placed her back in the car seat.

“You look so cute holding her,” he commented.

“Now that you’re here, we’ll just go upstairs so we won’t be in your way.”

“Don’t go. She’ll be just fine right here.”

She hesitated. She placed the car seat back near the sofa. She watched her sleep. “I wish I could sleep that sound.”

“You and me both,”
Blake added. “How long will Danielle be with us?”

Caitlyn
noticed he used the word “us” instead of “you.” “Bridget and Matt had to go out of town so I agreed to watch her for a few days.”

Danielle started crying.
Blake beat her to the car seat. “No, let me.” He paused. “She just needs her diaper changed.”

“Let me go get her diaper bag and I’ll change her.”

“I got it. Bring me the diaper and her wipes. I’ll be in the downstairs bedroom to the left.”

Caitlyn
stood there in disbelief for a minute. Okay, who was that man? Where was Blake? Christopher was in training pants, so how did Blake know anything about changing diapers? She went upstairs and retrieved the diaper bag. “Here’s the diaper and the wipes. This I have to see. Mr. CEO changing a baby’s diaper.”

“Watch and learn. Watch and learn,” he said, as he changed Danielle’s diaper. She seemed to like
Blake. He picked her up and she smiled.

Blake
handed her to Caitlyn, but Danielle wasn’t having it. She started whining. “Traitor,” Caitlyn teased.

“She loves her Uncle
Blake.” He kissed Danielle on the cheek as she squirmed to get away from Caitlyn.

“Here. Take her. I’ll go warm up her bottle.”

“Do I sense some jealousy?” he asked, as he cradled Danielle in his arms.

“You better be glad you’re holding my niece, or I would pop you.”

“Duly noted.”