THE JUNIOR BRIDESMAID (32 page)

            How
ridiculous.

            I
had only been gone a week but for some reason my one week absence somehow
outweighed my six years of employment. I felt like a stranger as I walked
through the circular glass doors of the Premiere Building. Maybe it was all the
sideways glances I was getting from the other employees or maybe I was being
totally paranoid and obsessing about something that no one else gave a shit about.

Either way, I felt
like a fish out of water. If I sprouted gills and started gasping for air, I
wouldn’t have been surprised. Trying to snap myself from the downward spiral, I
shook my head slowly admonishing my negative thoughts and deliberately inhaled
a very loud and healthy breath.

As I was exhaling
the stress and anxiety, completely out of nowhere, Mama’s encouraging words
popped into my head with perfect clarity. “Delilah, if you don’t go…you don’t
go.” I knew exactly what she meant when she said those words to me.

Even though at the
time, she was teaching me how to drive and we were sitting at a four way stop
sign in a very busy intersection, I knew the true meaning of her advice. I
would get nowhere in life if I didn’t take the bull by the horns and face my
fears. I silently thanked my mother and forced myself to put one foot in front
of the other.

I thought it would
be best if I got to Steven’s office early. At least earlier than Stacey. I
didn’t want her to get there before me and spin some sort of tale that made me
look like an even larger disappointment. Even though I was fairly certain she
had done a stellar job of that already. But it would seem that Stacey must have
had the same idea because I could hear her irritating voice in a heated
discussion with Steven as soon as I hit Steven’s floor. Clearly she was angry
and already in the middle of a rant.

            Maria,
Steven’s assistant, looked at me as I approached and smiled. I was hoping she
kept quiet about my arrival for two reasons. One, I didn’t want to enter
Steven’s office more nauseated than I already was (her voice always did a
number on my stomach) and, two, I didn’t want her to alert Stacey to the fact I
was there. I wanted to eavesdrop for as long as I could before I went in.

            “He’s
been expecting you. You can go in whenever you’re ready,” Maria whined with a
quivering voice. Man, her voice was irritating. She was super nice. But her
voice was such a deal breaker. I was beginning to wonder why Steven kept her
around.

            “Are
you related to Steven somehow?” I asked Maria out of the blue. It was possible.
Logan’s relationship to Steven had gone completely unrealized. It would make a
lot of sense if she were.

            Maria
snorted before she answered. “Hnk! Don’t be silly, Delilah,” she admonished her
voice quivering like a frightened Chihuahua.

            I
couldn’t interact with Maria any further because my stomach was already
beginning to roil. So I shrugged one shoulder and gave a quick tilt of the head
communicating that it was just a guess. Luckily Maria kept quiet and got back
to her emails.

            I
stepped closer to Steven’s door though I really didn’t need to. I could hear
Stacey loud and clear from where I was standing. It was just a way for me to
gear myself up for the ensuing fight. I listened to the words she was so
carefully choosing and with each lie Stacey spewed I could feel my anger go up
another notch. By the time she was done with her litany of outrageous remarks I
was like a raging tiger. I was weaving from side to side in front of the doorway
to his office ready to rip her to pieces. Silence fell inside the office. I
could virtually see what was going on even though I didn’t have eyes trained on
either of Steven or Stacey. Steven was giving her the death stare to see if she
would blink. But I knew Stacey well enough to know that she could look him dead
in the eye and lie like nobody’s business. Not even Steven could break her. It
was time for me to show my face.

            I
stepped into the doorway and produced the most domineering face I could muster.
Granted it wasn’t all that terrifying but it did what I needed it to do. Which
was to knock Stacey on her ass. Steven was leaning into the corner of his desk
with his arms crossed over his expansive chest, Stacey was sitting in a chair
with her crossed leg bobbing nervously and in the corner was Logan. He was
picking at his nail beds.

            Their
three heads turned to me in unison. Steven gave nothing away, Logan bit his lip
trying to contain his smirk and even though it was almost unnoticeable, I saw
the side of Stacey’s nose flinch. Even she knew she was about to face the
music.

            “You
were saying?” I entered showing little to no emotion.

            “What
are you doing here?” Stacey asked with trepidation.

            Steven
jumped in cutting Stacey off at the knees. “The same thing you’re doing here,
Stacey. I called her in for a meeting.”

“Care to revise
any of your comments, Stacey?” I asked venomously.

            She
didn’t answer, though I wasn’t surprised. I knew her well enough to know that
she wouldn’t incriminate herself more than she already had. Instead she turned
to Steven making a very poor choice tactically. “If you fire me I will take
this to the Board.”

            I
heard Logan guffaw. Stacey heard him as well because she looked at him with
hatred in her eyes then proceeded to machine-gun her derogatory comments one
after the other. Clearly she was still unaware that Logan was Steven’s son.

“You’re a fucking
joke, Logan. What are you doing in here anyway? I fired you about a hundred
times. You’re so stupid you don’t even know not to come back to work when your
superior tell you to leave. Over,” she said mockingly.

            Logan
lost his smirk. And it bothered me that she might have scored a blow or hurt
his feelings somehow. So I jumped in with two feet. “The only joke in this
establishment is you, Stacey. You don’t have a single redeeming quality.”

            Steven,
who seemingly had finally had enough of Stacey, slowly stood and began the
short trek of rounding his desk to his chair. “Pack up all of your things,
Stacey. I’ll expect your resignation letter on my desk by the end of the day.”

            Stacey
shot to standing. “You haven’t heard the last of me, Steven,” she snarled
through gritted teeth. “I meant what I said. I’ll bring this up to the Board.”

            Steven
froze mid-step and turned to look at her down the length of his nose. “Stacey,
if I were you I would leave quietly,” he continued to his chair behind his
desk. He sat calmly leaning back against the fine leather upholstered back.

“Well, I’m not
you,” she countered.

“That’s entirely
your choice. But before you decide to go that route you might want to take
something into consideration,” Steven began. “A few months ago the head of
security approached me with an ethical dilemma.” Steven slowly leaned forward
and opened a file sitting in front of him on his desk. “At the time I
overlooked the incident because neither of the people involved, you and a,” he
paused to check his notes making sure he got the other name correctly, “Mr.
Carson Ackerson, never filed any complaints of any kind,” a disgusted expression
rolled over Steven’s face just before his voice dipped slightly lower in order
to continue, “not that I was surprised given the circumstances of the…um…what
should I call it? Encounter?”

Steven cleared is
throat before he began again. “Both parties involved,” he said fervently, “were
seemingly…I guess you could say
satisfied
with their
quickie
meeting.”

Well aware of the
quickie
meeting Steven was referring to,
my lips pressed together unable to believe that she and Carson were caught in
the proverbial act.

Steven leaned back
against his chair. He rested his elbows on the arms and began the painstaking
process of aligning his fingertips with each other one at a time. “I decided at
the time it would be in everyone’s best interest to disregard their behavior
and give these employees the benefit of the doubt, hoping this was a one time
occurrence. Clearly they had exercised poor judgment and I assumed they
wouldn’t engage in this behavior again.” Steven looked up from his fingers to
find Stacey breathing heavily curious as to what the head of security had
brought to his attention.

Effectively
letting Stacey off of the ‘curiosity hook,’ Steven continued. “Apparently,” his
hands parted, palms up and out to the sides to illustrate the uncanny
coincidence, “paper products were disappearing from the utility closets at
alarming rates and a decision was made to set up cameras so we could
witness
what was happening to them.” His
eyes squinted as he watched the realization hit her.

Everyone knew what
happened in that utility closet. Carson had announced it to the world. My hand
went straight to my mouth to cover my horrified expression. Logan’s shoulders
began to roll with laughter. Steven, of course, kept a completely straight
face, which was another impressive attribute he possessed.

“Steven, I don’t
know what you thought you saw,” she actually had the audacity to try to deny
what we all knew had happened.

“Stacey,” Steven
interrupted shaking his head, “I’ll expect to find your resignation on my desk
by the end of the day. That is all.” Steven stood from his chair effectively
adjourning the meeting. He sighed heavily before he turned his attention toward
me. “Delilah, we have a meeting at 1:30. I’ll see you in the conference room?”
He somewhat asked nodding at me once. I was familiar with this form of
interaction. It meant it was time for me to leave Steven’s office and get back
to work.

Realizing she’d
been bested, Stacey spun and stomped out of the room trying to contain her
temper tantrum. Logan’s contained laughter had morphed into a very loud
chuckle. The smile on his face was priceless. “Ready to get to work, Delilah?”
Logan asked.

I nodded at Logan
but my eyes went straight to Steven’s. He was staring at me, gauging my
response. I mouthed my ‘thank you’ to Steven and watched a softened expression
consume his face.

As it turned out,
my life looked like it was back on track. I got my old job back, Hugh and I
were beginning our life as a couple and I was officially a New Yorker once
again.

As we exited
Steven’s office I turned toward Logan, “Can you do me a favor?” I asked with
all seriousness in my tone.

“Sure, Boss.”
Logan paced me as we made our way to the elevator. “What do you need?”

The elevator doors
opened and we stepped inside. “First, I need you to call the movers and tell
them to expedite my things back to New York.”

“You got it,” he
quickly responded. “No problem whatsoever. Anything else?”

“Just one more
thing. If we are going to work together, I am going to need my assistant to be
completely professional and dedicated.” I turned my head to look at him as a
confused expression took over his face.

“I know,” he
stated dejectedly. “You want me to conform. Become the kind of assistant that
doesn’t embarrass you. I get it,” he nodded. “I’ll do it, Delilah. I’ll do it
for you,” he acquiesced.

I was already
shaking my head. “No, Logan. That is not at all what I am asking.” Logan looked
a little perplexed so I continued. “I want my old assistant back. The one I’ve
come to appreciate and adore. Do you understand what I am asking?”

I watched as the
realization of what I was requesting wash over him. His squinted eyes locked on
mine questioning if his supposition could possibly be correct. I raised my
eyebrows and gave a little nod essentially giving him permission to verbalize
what he’d concluded.

“Over?” he
questioned faintly and disbelievingly.

“Over.” I nodded
and exhaled with relief. “And don’t forget to watch my six,” I added. I was
beginning to like this lingo he’d introduced me to. “We still have the
ding-dong from accounting to contend with.”

A smile consumed
Logan’s face, which was such a treat to witness.

I high-fived my
assistant as we exited the elevator. I couldn’t wait to get back to my office
and call Hugh to share the good news.

I’d heard it said
that Karma was a real bitch. But all in all, I think I was beginning to like
her.

Epilogue

(Nine months
later.)

I was preoccupied.
I couldn’t help it. It was going to be a big day so my thoughts were scattered
all over the place.

“What time does
she get in?” my mouth twisted with my question.

“Her plane lands
just after two o’clock,” Hugh breathed into my neck.

I glanced over to
the nightstand. It was 8:00am and Hugh and I were still in bed.

“We should leave
no later than 12:30,” I informed him as if he didn’t know how much time it
would take to ensure that we got to the airport on time to pick up Dolly.

“Mmm,” I heard him
hum his agreement into my neck. Hugh’s beautiful body was blanketing mine. He
was preoccupied in other ways. But I was so nervous about Dolly coming to stay
with us for a week that I couldn’t focus on anything but her visit and the
reason she was coming to stay with us. Not even Hugh’s talented mouth, which
was gently kissing and languidly sucking the tender skin on my neck and
shoulder, was effective in distracting me.

“Did you buy ice
cream at the store? Kids love ice cream,” I asked out of nowhere. “Oh!” I
blurted excitedly. “And whipped cream.”

“Can you stop
worrying for five seconds? I am going to be without this body for an entire
week. Why don’t you worry about that?” he suggested lifting his head from the
crook of my neck. He used his hand to turn my face toward his. “Focus, Junior.
I need you,” he whispered.