The Game (15 page)

He bought her a small gold covered orchid flower.   “It is the national flower,” he said as he put it around her neck.

“It’s lovely,” she said.  She would treasure it, and it would remind her of the strange time she had with a man who excited and challenged her.  It might be nice to have something tangible from this little sojourn from reality.

They had lunch at a very nice French restaurant.  Apparently Damon had spent some time in France on exchange in school.  Jane listened as he told her of his experiences attending a provincial French school.

They had a very French lunch lasting two hours, before they returned to roam the streets some more.  Jane was aware that the time was just ticking away and the flight back home was creeping ever closer.

“I think we should head back to the hotel,” he said.

“But it’s still early,” she countered.

“Yes, but we have things we want to do.”  He pulled her close and had his forehead on hers. 

Oh, it dawned on her; they could spend some time ‘together’ before they go, an eminently good idea.  Why hadn’t she thought of it?

He hailed a taxi and they headed back. 
Back to his room for a last time.

The flight left at nine that evening and they had seats in the same row but across the aisle.  Jane decided that it was a good thing.  She needed some separation or she would be cuddling with him all the way back, which would just make things harder.  This was good, it was time to put some distance between them, raise the barriers.  She’d had a wonderful couple of days and she’d like to think such things were possible to happen to her again, with someone else.  Not ridiculously gorgeous, model dating playboys like Damon D’Arth.  Not that she regretted a second of it, but she was not going to convince herself that it was anything other than what it was, a fling.

The only thing she regretted was not having a proper kiss goodbye, it had been rushed in the end and she didn’t have a proper kiss goodbye.  She wouldn’t have one now, it was
now past its point.  They would say goodbye at the airport and go to their separate lives.  She would go back to her flat and put on a load of laundry.  He would go do whatever it was he did, she really had no concept of what he did when he was away from work.  It didn’t matter.  His life was his affair.  She had hers and it wasn’t a bad life all things considered.

She wasn’t quite sure how she would act on Monday, seeing him after the weekend.  Her boarding pass told her it was Friday, which meant she had the whole weekend to readjust before having to show up at work.

Jane sat at her desk Monday morning having started on her debrief report for the bid and the process related to it.  She instinctively felt when Damon arrived.  She
saw him walk through the door in his camel hair coat.  He’d had a haircut.  Nothing drastic, just a little shorter and neater.  He didn’t look her way; he just proceeded to his office where Sarah was waiting for him with a cup of coffee.  They disappeared into his office.

Jane couldn’t help but feel a bit hurt.  He could have at least acknowledged her.  Maybe he w
ouldn’t, maybe he’d pretend it had never happened.  She’d never done this before and she had little experience on how one behaved after an office fling.  Were they going to be friends?  Or was he going to go back to staring daggers into her every time she was near like he did before the whole Singapore business?  Surely he wouldn’t go on hating her like before; their fling must have meant some kind of change.  She just wasn’t sure what.

Angelique was bouncing like a puppy dog by the time lunch came around.
  “You have to tell me about your trip?  Did you and luscious D’Arth kiss and make up in the tropical heat?”  I’d say, Jane thought to herself, but then she wasn’t quite sure now.  Not that she would be telling Angelique about a single moment of it, it would be all over the office by the afternoon if she did.  Jane would be mortified and Damon would definitely be back to shooting daggers at her with his eyes then.  Instead she told Angelique about the working nights, the insane rush to get the financing changed and the heavy tropical rain.  Angelique was hugely disappointed on Jane’s behalf about the cruel lack of shopping in a clear shopping paradise, while Jane reiterated that it was a work trip and shopping was in no way guaranteed.

Jane watched for Damon returning after lunch.  She told herself that she wouldn’t but she couldn’t help it.  She saw him come in and he turned
toward her.  He was looking at her and walking down to her part of the building.  She felt her heart race and she admonished herself for behaving like a school girl.

“Jane, I need you to send through all the documentation from the bank to finance.  They need to review it.  It’s too late for them to have any input, but they need to know what’s in there.”

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll email it through to Stuart.”

“Good.”  He stood for a second longer.  It looked like there was something he wanted to say, but he couldn’t find
words.  Then he just nodded and left.

Jane felt adrenalin coursing through her.  She felt a range of different emotions.  She was disappointed because the irrational part of her wanted a hug,
then mortified because Angelique had watched the whole exchange and Jane was worried that her behavior was giving their little fling away.  On top of that, she was embarrassed by her own reaction, like she was a teenage girl being approached by her crush.  She needed to get a hold of herself.  She needed to relegate that whole thing to the past.  It was a lovely few days, but it was over and now they were just colleagues, mature adults.  And not just that, he was some version of damaged goods playboy who she should stay well away from even if he wasn’t acting like nothing happened.  She fully believed him when he said he wasn’t boyfriend material, and she certainly didn’t fit into his lifestyle.  She just needed to pull her bootstraps up and get over it.  And she needed to stop watching for him.

A couple of days passed without much incident except at one point in the kitchen when he passed as she was making herself a cup of tea.  He needed to get into the cupboard above her head and he placed his hand on her back as he stretched up.  A touch that could have been observed and construed.  Jane felt herself blush slightly as she hoped no one saw it.

“How are you?” she asked.

“Good,” he said.  “Just trying to tie up some of the loose ends.  No word yet, so just waiting for the bid process to run its course.”

“How long do you think it will take?”

“Hard to tell, if they knew exactly who they wanted before the bid, then it shouldn’t take long.  Otherwise, it could take anywhere up to six months.”

“That would be
awful having to wait six months,” Jane said.  She hadn’t realized that this thing could have such a long timeline.  He shrugged as he poured some milk in his tea.

“It’s just part of the game.”

“I don’t know how you can handle it, being on tender hooks for six months waiting for them to make a decision.”

“You move onto the next thing in the meantime.”

“And what is the next thing for you?”

“Panama
potentially.”

“
Wow, that is different.”

“It’s the same process, just a different place.”

It felt strange talking to him, familiar and foreign at the same time.  The conversation didn’t feel like it was important, but the sentiment underneath counted more, suggesting that maybe they could be friends.  Jane wouldn’t mind being friends with him.  It would certainly help rid her of this awkward feeling.  She wondered if he was immune to it.

Jane started getting more absorbed into her work.  There was so much to do and report on in the aftermath.  Finance had scheduled a series of meetings to go over exactly what she had agreed with the bank, which was understandable.  She had a series of reports she needed to deliver and a tentative friendship with Damon.

Before long her lunch with Edmund rolled around.  She was meeting him at a Thai restaurant.  A place where people of his ilk liked to see and be seen, company that Jane didn’t understand, but it was still interesting.

“Jane, my dear.  I am glad to see you back in one piece.  I hope you are sufficiently recovered from the trip.”

“Of course
,” she replied.

“Quite a rushed time
toward the end.”

“Yes, I didn’t think we would make it, but the bank was very amenable.”

“I think you undersell yourself.  Damon must have been pleased,” Edmund said.  “He got the partner he wanted.”  Jane felt a stab of uncertainty.  She hadn’t realized that Edmund might not be pleased with the outcome.  He had told her to try her best and she had.  Maybe he hadn’t wanted her to try so hard, or maybe he hadn’t believed that she would actually make it happen.

“I hope that is not a problem,” she said hoping she was wrong.

“They are not a bad outfit, they don’t have the leverage of Clarion, but making it work is Damon’s task.”  Jane wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.  “I hope he wasn’t too brutal with you, Damon has a habit of excluding people not on his team.”

Jane couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable.  She had no idea how to judge the status between her and Damon, but they’d h
ad a civilized conversation this morning, which was more than they’d ever had before.

“Perhaps with working on the deal together has made you two bury the ha
tchet a bit, I am fully aware his regard for you was a little on the hostile side.”

“
I believe so.” 

“But you must be careful around him.  That goes for the other boys there as well.  They have no qualms about using you, particularly now that you have proven that you can get things done.  They’ll have no concerns about toying with you to secure whatever it is they want.  Damon can turn on the charm when he needs to
and he’s been known to play the honey trap for unsuspecting females to extend his power and exert his influence.”

Jane felt like the floor was opening and she was falling in.  The warning sounded too close to the reality of her situation that she couldn’t dismiss it.  She felt distress radiating through every part of her.  She’d been used, she’d been stupid and she’d been used.

“Jane dear, what is the matter?” Edmund said responding to her obvious distress.  “Oh Jane, you haven’t done something foolish have you?”

“I have to go,” Jane said sharply.  “I just remembered an appointment.”  It was a flat out lie and Edmund clearly didn’t believe her.  She just needed to get away.  She certainly was not going to discuss it with
him.  “I have to leave, I’m sorry Edmund.”

Jane strode out the door as calmly as she could manage.  She got around the corner where she had to stop.  Surely he couldn’t have used her so callously.  It hadn’t even crossed her mind that he could be using her, but for what purpose, what could she possibly have that he’
d want to exercise influence over her.  She knew the answer before she had even asked the question.  Edmund.

If that was the case, then Damon had sorely underestimated Edmund as he had rooted out his little infiltration within two minutes.  Jane felt sick, she’d been played and she hadn’t even seen it coming.  There was a part of her that insisted it wasn’t true, that people didn’t act like that in real life.  It had just been a fling in a tropical setting, two consenting adults just enjoying each other’s company for a few days.  No harm, no foul.  Edmund was just being over
ly suspicious.  What kind of world did Edmund live in if people acted in such a way?  Either way she cut it, it left a bad taste in her mind.

She went for a walk before she returned to the office.  She’d managed to talk some logic into herself in the process.  People didn’t behave like that and Edmund was just concerned that she would turn googly eyes over Damon
D’Arth.   She could see that it was a real possibility because she’d seen girls do it herself, but it was innocent; there wasn’t some conspiracy that people would be used for political purposes.  This wasn’t some tawdry spy novel; this was real life, where stuff like that didn’t happen.

She returned to her desk and continued working on one of her reports.  She stayed at
her desk until the end of the day and then went home.  Whatever was going on, she wasn’t going to think about it.  She rented a movie that evening and just occupied herself so her thoughts wouldn’t wander to either Edmunds suspicions or Damon’s body.  There were bad outcomes in either direction.

She had terrible dreams and a strong urge to stay home the next day, but she forced herself to dress and to get on the train to the city. 
She really had too much to do to take a day off, and there was that meeting she needed to attend. 

Angelique was
her usual bubbly self, Jane just didn’t feel like talking that morning, not that it had the slightest impact on Angelique.  Jane was kind of grateful that Angelique didn’t query her funny mood that morning, but she was almost grateful by the time her debrief meeting came around just to get away from Angelique’s musing on the new use of stripes on the runway.