Just This Once (22 page)

“I…I do want to forgive you, Wynne. I haven’t been as honest with you as I’ve asked you to be with me,” she confessed. “What happened between us really hurt me a lot. I felt cheap and used, and I was angry for a long time, but not just at you. I was angry at myself for being such a fool in the first place, and I was angry at every woman I met at the hotel for a whole year afterwards.” Paula looked over to find her companion pushing away tears. She understood that such declarations were tough to listen to.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I know. I believe you when you say that. But I’ve been carrying this around for awhile and it’s going to take a little longer to get past all of it.” On the spot, Paula made a decision and announced her intention. “I’m going to try harder, okay? I really did have fun with you today, and I want us to be able to keep doing things together without having something between us.”

“Thank you. I’m really glad to have you back in my life, Paula. I want us to be friends again.” At that point, Wynne wanted to reach over and cover the small hand on the gearshift, but the potential for rejection was higher than she was willing to risk.

Chapter 18

“Excuse me, Wynne?”

Claudia Sanchez, Markoff’s administrative assistant, stood in her doorway.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Markoff wants a meeting right now with all the officers and assistant VPs. We’re linking up Cheryl and Wendell by speaker phone.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Moments later, the tall woman joined the caravan of busy executives as they filed into the conference room. All had dropped what they were doing to answer the urgent summons of their CEO.

Ken Markoff opened the meeting with two announcements: Eldon-Markoff would acquire San Francisco-based Western Travel, a smaller company with a solid network of Asian contacts. Most of the executives, including Wynne, had been working quietly behind the scenes to evaluate the potential for such an acquisition, so only a few were surprised.

Markoff’s second announcement was startling. Effective immediately, Cheryl Williams was leaving her post as VP of Sales and Marketing to assume the title of President of Eldon-Markoff, the number two position in the company. Ken Markoff had held both posts for several years, ever since the death of David Eldon.

One after another, the executives around the table passed on their congratulations to the new president, who was actually on a cell phone in a cab heading to JFK International Airport. Wynne learned from Cheryl that successful business people made the most of every minute.

“I really appreciate all of your votes of confidence. I’ll stop by your offices and thank you in person when I get back tomorrow. But right now, I need to cut this short.” Her cab had arrived at curbside.

Markoff adjourned the meeting with an admonition not to talk to anyone outside the room about the proceedings until the formal notification and press release tomorrow. The Federal Trade Commission frowned heavily on the passing of insider information that might allow a privileged few to capitalize on the stock market.

“Wynne, can I see you in my office for a few minutes?” he asked.

“Of course.” She was already thinking about how this move would impact her workload.

Until they got a new VP in place, she’d probably have to absorb more of the sales administration; she was already handling virtually all of the marketing.

Once inside the plush corner office, Markoff closed the door and offered her a chair.

Buzzing Claudia, he asked her to put the call through.

“Wynne, this is Cheryl again.”

That was odd, the assistant VP thought. But evidently, Ken and Cheryl had worked out the quick adjournment and had planned this call in advance.

“I’m here. Congratulations again.”

“Thanks, and congratulations yourself. If you say yes, you’re going to be the new Vice President for Sales and Marketing.”

Wynne was flabbergasted, and surprised herself by not falling out of the chair! “Yes!”

“That’s wonderful, Wynne.” Markoff stood to extend a hug. Wynne had rapidly become one of his favorite staffers.

“Thank you. Thank you both. I promise not to disappoint either of you.”

“We already knew that. That’s why we asked. Listen, I have to go through security, so I’ll see everyone in the morning.”

“Safe travels, Cheryl.”

The new VP turned to her CEO to reiterate her thanks. “Those are some tough shoes to follow, but I promise to do my best.”

“They are, Wynne, but we all believe you’re the right person for the job.”

Walking back to her office, she almost couldn’t believe it. The first thing she wanted to do was to call Paula and share the great news. They’d been getting together a couple of times a week for almost a month to go to the movies, out to eat, and even to a couple of NBA games. Bit by bit, they’d moved into a casual, comfortable friendship. Swinging into her swivel chair, Wynne tapped the speed dial feature, #1, her own private joke. It was after six o’clock, so she was pretty sure her friend was home.

“Hello.”

“Hi there. It’s Wynne. Look, I know it’s short notice but I got some good news today. How about having dinner with me so I can tell somebody about it before I explode?”

“Uh…I can’t tonight. Maybe tomorrow?”

“Aw, come on. We’ll go wherever you say and we’ll get back early.”

“I can’t, Wynne,” she paused, checking through the blinds for an unfamiliar car. “I sort of…have a date.”

———

What the hell does “sort of have a date” mean, Wynne wondered. You did or you didn’t.

It was or it wasn’t.

Under other circumstances, she would have gone straight to her mother’s place after work to deliver the good news, but wild horses couldn’t drag her to that complex tonight. She didn’t want to be anywhere near Paula and her “sort of date.”

Instead, she pulled out her notes on the Western Travel merger and began to draft a plan for incorporating their current marketing assets into those of Eldon-Markoff. There was sufficient equity in the Western brand to warrant a gradual co-branded campaign.

The new VP completely lost track of time as she worked. The outer offices had been dark and empty for hours, and the lone lamp on her desk kept her from seeing the figure fill her doorway.

“This is just ridiculous, Wynne!” Cheryl Williams barked angrily.

Startled, the executive jumped back from her desk, knocking a pile of papers into the floor. “God, you scared me!”

“It’s after 10 o’clock. Even the cleaning crew is long gone. What the hell are you doing here that can’t wait until tomorrow?”

“I’m…I’ve started to work on the co-branding plan for Western.”

“Maybe you didn’t hear my question. What part of that can’t wait until tomorrow?”

In all her time at Eldon-Markoff, Wynne had never seen Cheryl so angry, at least not at her. “I just started on it and things were falling into place. I didn’t realize it was so late.”

Suddenly it occurred to her that her accuser was in the same boat. “So what are you doing here so late?”

“Nice try. I’m dropping off the paperwork for the press release so I can sleep in tomorrow.” Cheryl was bemused at the almost frightened look on the face of her charge as she dragged a chair around the desk and sat down, effectively pinning her quarry in her seat. “Look, Wynne, I’ve said this to you a dozen times. I think your work is wonderful. I also think you’re capable of getting it done during regular hours. I really want you in this VP slot, but not if it means that Eldon-Markoff’s going to take center stage in your life. That’s not good for you, and in the long run, it isn’t good for us either.”

Wynne nodded in resignation to let her boss know that she was getting the message.

“Look around. You don’t see any of the other officers here after six-thirty or seven at night. Everybody goes home to their real lives, the ones that matter. Didn’t you tell me you were seeing somebody?”

“That…didn’t work out.”

Despite Wynne’s attempts to conceal her emotions, Cheryl picked up on the disappointment in her voice. “I’m sorry, Wynne. Really, I am. But if you’re trying to bury yourself in work so you won’t feel lonely, I can promise you that it won’t help. It’ll just make it worse and one day you’ll look back on it and wonder why you gave your soul to this place. Now I don’t tell many people this, but my husband and I nearly split up when I came to work here because I didn’t know when to come home. I thank God every day that I listened to him because we found a way to make it all work out. In the end, I got what I wanted here, and I got what I really wanted at home.”

Wynne slowly closed her folder and pulled her purse from the bottom drawer. “Okay, Cheryl. Let’s go home.”

———

Paula listened with interest as Dee Hobart walked her through how she had set up her own law practice after leaving a harried job as associate in one of Orlando’s largest firms.

Her date was attractive, a slender woman, smartly dressed in black slacks with a tunic top. Her short red hair was perfectly coiffed, locked into place with what Paula thought was a little too much “product.” She couldn’t help but wonder if Dee thought her underdressed for the occasion, as she wore a simple dress, having merely combed her soft blonde hair.

“My old firm would take on the occasional
pro bono
case if it was something that might get them good press. Their favorite was property cases against the government because that kind of thing — almost anything against the government, in fact — made them look good to most of their clients. But you’d never see them pick up the mantle on a criminal case, or God help us all, if it was about a gay issue. I just got sick of it, so I got out.”

“That was a pretty brave thing to do,” Paula offered, genuinely impressed. She’d met Dee at a Chamber of Commerce meeting, and found herself working alongside the attorney on the Minority Affairs committee. The meeting room was almost pinging as both women acknowledged that their respective “gaydar” was in working order. Paula wasn’t surprised at all at the invitation, though she would rather have done something more casual than the country club restaurant Dee had chosen.

“So tell me what you like about the hotel business.”

Paula went on to talk about her job, how she’d started at the WR right out of college and worked her way to her current position. Dee listened intently, interrupting from time to time ask questions or add comments.

Dinner progressed, and as they returned to the car, Paula felt that all in all she’d had a pretty good time. Dee was fun…and attractive…and attentive…and interesting…and despite all that, she felt no spark at all between them. She knew that was an unfair assessment at this stage; they didn’t even know each other. But first impressions on the arousal scale were usually pretty reliable for her, and this one was barely registering at all.

Wynne Connelly, on the other hand, had been completely off the scale. Even as friends, the beautiful woman triggered a sensual response. Paula scolded herself inwardly. Here she was out on her first date in over a year and she was comparing the woman she was with to someone else.

“…don’t you think?”

Paula was caught off-guard. Dee had been talking about something having to do with the hotel, while she’d been seeing images of Wynne looking up at her from between her legs.

In no time, she’d gone from feeling nothing to feeling more aroused than she had in months. Only Dee Hobart hadn’t done that.

Val was right. Wynne Connelly had it all, and she was worth another chance.

———

“Wynne, Paula McKenzie is calling on one,” Denise announced.

The VP braced herself for the call, not knowing how she’d react to hearing Paula’s voice, this the first call since the “date” last week.

“Hello, this Wynne Connelly,” she said formally.

“Hi! Listen, I just talked to the Concierge. He has a couple of tickets to the Magic-Lakers game tonight. You interested?”

Normally, Wynne would have jumped at the opportunity to do anything with Paula, but the idea that the woman was now “dating” someone else made her start to question if even a friendship was going to work. She didn’t want to be close enough to watch Paula fall in love with somebody else.

“I, uh…I have to go to San Francisco.”

“You leave tonight?”

“No, day after tomorrow. But I have a lot to do before I go, so I’d better not.”

“Aw, come on. You know you want to,” Paula coaxed. Ever since her dinner with Dee Hobart, Paula had been trying to think of how she and Wynne might get back on track.

They seemed to have finally gotten past their old business, and after her date, she was sure it was time to let the executive know that the door was opening for more.

“I can’t, Paula.”

“Okay, maybe a rain check. When do you get back?”

“Friday night.”

“I think they’re on the road next week. Want to do something else?”

“I can’t say right now. Things at work are pretty crazy with the new acquisition.”

“Oh yeah? I didn’t hear. What was it?”

“We bought up that agency in San Francisco we’d been looking at for so long. It was in the paper.” As were other things.

That must have been the big news Wynne had wanted to share last week. “Well, congratulations, I guess. Will you call me when you get back?”

“Sure.”

———

“Are you pulling another double shift?” Jolene was surprised but immensely pleased to see her former supervisor behind the front desk.

“No, but I promised to cover for Belinda until six. She had a parent-teacher conference this afternoon. Speaking of Belinda…has that situation gotten any better?”

Jolene thought about it, and finally confessed, “Yeah, now that you mention it, it has. After she took that week off, she just came back a whole different person.”

“Sometimes, all you need is a little time away,” Paula concurred. Belinda’s “time away”

had come in the form of a personnel management seminar in New York. Paula and Stephanie had determined that retraining was the last hope and if Belinda didn’t get it, she’d likely be demoted and transferred.

“I think it made a real difference. Maybe I should have a week off and see if it improves my attitude,” she joked.