Chapter Twelve
“KEL— I MEAN MS. brYANT.” Mr. Greyson looked surprised to see me, though I’m not sure why.
I did work there after all. Maybe he was disappointed I interrupted his interlude with his arm accessory.
Wow, did he like women with voluptuous chests and painted on faces.
I think this one may have done her makeup in the dark, it was awfully thick.
He definitely had a type, and it wasn’t me.
“Mr. Greyson,” was all I could manage. In fact, I turned back to Delfia, flustered by the scene in front of me. “Um . . . Delfia can you please pull the Bergman file for me?”
Delfia nodded and went straight to the file cabinet.
“Thank you,” I said quietly as I turned to walk to my office.
“Ms. Bryant,” he called. “I want to introduce you to . . .”
I took a deep breath without trying to make it look like I was taking a deep breath and turned around with the fakest smile I had ever conjured up plastered on my face.
“This is Alexa Manselle.” He shook her off him.
I put out my hand to shake hers.
She took mine, but hers felt like a limp noodle.
I couldn’t stand people who couldn’t give a good, firm handshake. I tried not to roll my eyes.
“Alexa,” he called her, “this is Ms. Bryant. She’s the Regional Manager.”
She let out a high-pitched noise before saying, “Oh, of course.”
I resisted putting my finger to my ear to stop the ringing. Who squealed like that?
She took ahold of his arm. “Ian told me I would be redoing your graphic designs.”
I didn’t even hear what she said after that. My head flew up and met Mr. Greyson’s wide eyes and beet-red face. He pulled away from her grasp and stepped forward.
I stood my ground.
“Ms. Bryant,” he stammered, “Alexa worked for me at IAG, and I’ve contracted with her to help us revamp the interface. She was the one who designed our new logo.”
I was stunned. I didn’t know what to say.
Not only was she a terrible designer, but she completely lacked any professionalism.
She grabbed Mr. Greyson’s arm again, and it all made perfect sense.
She was his “personal matters” and who he had mixed pleasure and business with at IAG.
I thought he said that was a mistake, but yet here she stood in all of her buxom, blonde glory.
I spun on my heels, marched to my office, and slammed the door. I figured if he was no longer following professional boundaries, why should I?
Alexa? I kept thinking. He called her Alexa, not Ms. Manselle.
Probably because she was going to be the next Mrs. Greyson.
Suddenly, I felt nauseous. I sank into my chair.
I even forgot to turn on my computer. I only came out of my stupor because Delfia knocked on my door, and before I could say come in, she was in, and the door was closing behind her.
She sat on one of the leather chairs in front of my desk and threw the Bergman file on my desk, seething.
“What’s wrong?” I inquired.
She kept shaking her head, and with every turn, her face turned a darker shade of red.
“Delfia?”
“That woman!” she finally spat out.
“What?” I asked.
“She came in here, all over Mr. Greyson, and with hardly an introduction, she began giving me orders. Everything from the kind of bottled water she likes stocked to the temperature the conference room needed to be every day. And then she started spouting off how atrocious all the office furniture was and how we really needed an update. Then she and Mr. Greyson disappeared into his office to do heaven knows what.”
I put my hand up to stop her. I didn’t even want to think about what heaven knew about.
“I’ll talk to Mr. Greyson. She’s not an employee, and I still manage this office. She has no authority over you.”
Delfia gave me a half smile.
“Thank you for the file.”
A calmer Delfia walked out the door.
I finally managed to get my laptop on, and the first thing I pulled up were my new designs for the interface.
They were amazing, and apparently absolutely useless.
I closed out the file with a tear in my eye.
I gazed at the adjoining door. The conversations we’d had over the last two weeks had made me think that maybe I should move the credenza and that maybe, just maybe, we could have the working relationship that would allow for open doors.
Now I was thinking of hiring a contractor to permanently remove the door and make it a wall with no access.
It didn’t take too long before I had another visitor. He looked tentative when he walked in. To say he was stepping on eggshells was an understatement; landmines were more like it.
I didn’t stand on ceremony. “Am I still the manager of this office, Mr. Greyson?”
He stopped in front of my desk. “Of course.”
“So why is it that an independent contractor was hired without my knowledge or consent?”
He stood tall. “As Director, I don’t have to run that by you.”
I think my mouth may have dropped to the floor. I guess the whole team thing was big fat lie. “Fine! But you can tell your little plaything, I mean designer . . .”
His eyes widened to the size of saucers. “What did you just call her?”
“You heard me.”
“I believe, Ms. Bryant, you’re under the wrong impression,” he spluttered back.
I smirked and interrupted him. “Please, Mr. Greyson, don’t insult my intelligence. Just tell her that, as an independent contractor, she has no say about what goes on in this office beyond the purview of what she was hired to do, and that Delfia is not her personal assistant.”
I turned back to my laptop and ignored him as he continued to stand there. I had nothing more to say to him. He must have stood there for a good minute. I still didn’t look up. He finally stalked off and slammed my door. I heard his door slam a few seconds later.
Welcome to Monday. A tiny tear escaped and ran down my cheek. What was wrong with me?
I didn’t know, but I needed my sister. I called her and begged her to meet me for lunch.
She readily agreed. She tried to get me to tell her what was wrong over the phone, but I told her I couldn’t talk about it.
I bided my time until noon, and then I rushed out of my office.
I couldn’t help but notice the two lovebirds together in the conference room looking at a monitor.
Mr. Greyson called out my name as I passed by.
“I’m late for an appointment.” I didn’t even stop, or pass go, I just hurried down the stairs.
I drove like I was auditioning for The Fast and the Furious to Amanda’s and my favorite little deli down by the river walk.
The entire drive over, all I could see was Alexa’s face.
Sure, her makeup was way over done, but she was attractive, and she obviously fit his type, except she didn’t have bluish eyes, they were more hazel.
She reminded me a lot of how his ex-wife looked.
I had to say, I was perplexed in his choice of women.
They didn’t seem to fit him, but why should I even care? He was only my boss.
“I hate my boss.” Those were the first words out of my mouth when I sat down at our favorite booth in Carl’s Deli.
Amanda started to smile, but then I think she realized I was serious. “What happened?” she asked.
I rested my head on what I hoped was a clean table. “Alexa Manselle, that’s what happened.”
Amanda stroked my hair. “Who’s Alexa Manselle?”
“Mr. Greyson’s vixen who he hired to redo all of my graphics for my software and who knows what else.”
“So, he has a girlfriend?” She sounded so surprised.
“I told you there was a woman, and it wasn’t me.
” I sat up. “And now Mr. Professional Boundaries has brought her into my office, and she’s prancing around like she owns the place, and she can’t keep her hands off him.
It’s absolutely disgusting. Oh . . . and to top it off, she’s a horrible designer.
But I guess when you’re sleeping with the boss, it doesn’t matter. ”
She grabbed my hands and cracked a smile. “You wouldn’t be jealous, would you?”
“Of course not. I wasn’t planning on sleeping with him.
” That was kind of my dirty—or maybe angelic secret.
Not even Amanda knew that I was still, you know, a virgin.
I think she just assumed I wasn’t, because really who was anymore?
At least, not a lot of people my age. It wasn’t like I planned on being the only thirty something around to never have had sex, but here I was.
I wasn’t ashamed. There was nothing wrong with waiting for someone you loved and were undeniably and irrevocably committed to.
I had seriously planned on that happening a long time ago.
It was actually something that bothered Ian.
He hadn’t care that I was a virgin. In fact, he admired it, but he was afraid of stripping me of my innocence, as he called it.
He made sure to never cross the line with me.
It was weird how he’d been the only man I’d ever imagined giving the honor to.
The only man I’d dated that I could see myself married to.
That’s how much I had loved him. But that was a long time ago.
“Honey, I know you’re smart enough not to sleep with your boss,” she interrupted my thoughts, “unless, you know—”
“Unless what?”
She paused. “Never mind. What I meant was, do you wish you were his girlfriend?”
“How many times do we have to go through this? No! It’s just, I thought maybe things were going to be okay between us.” I divulged the details of my two weeks of phone calls with Mr. Greyson.
She couldn’t smile wide enough at the news. “And you’re sure this woman is his girlfriend?”
“Yes.” I threw my hands in the air. “It all makes sense. He said he had personal matters to take care of in Colorado, and he told me he had mixed business with pleasure at his own company, and guess what, she worked for him at IAG, and now she’s here, and he’s calling her by her first name, and she literally can’t keep her hands off him. ”
She leaned back in the booth and folded her arms. “Well, that’s surprising. I guess Zane and I were wrong.”
“Thank you,” I said smugly. “And you know what the worst part is?”
She waited patiently for me to answer.
“I redesigned the interface and was planning on showing him today when he got back. I think it was my best work, and now it was for nothing.”
“You should still show him,” she suggested.
“No. He didn’t want me working on it anyway.”
“I’m sorry.”
I was sorry too.
We spent the rest of our lunch talking about their upcoming vacation.
She followed me back to my office because she wanted to see Alexa Manselle for herself.
Since it wasn’t unusual for my sister to visit me at the office, I agreed to let her come up and take a peek.
This way, she could see for herself that she and Zane were wrong.
I hoped this meant they would, once and for all, quit implying that Mr. Greyson and I were supposed to end up together.
I stopped her on the landing on our way upstairs. “Don’t say anything to embarrass me,” I whispered.
She smacked my arm playfully. “Oh, Kelli Jelly, I would never.”
“Ha!” I responded.
At least she made me smile.
We walked past the conference room, and there they were. Still together, sitting cozily, eating lunch. How quaint.
Mr. Greyson noticed us. “Amanda,” he called out.
I’m surprised he didn’t call her Mrs. Culver.
“Ian,” Amanda sounded happy to see him.
“Ms. Bryant.” Mr. Greyson swallowed hard, not quite meeting my eyes.
I didn’t respond, other than to kind of grimace. That made him frown.
“So how was your trip to Colorado?” Amanda asked. She was laying it on thick, but I could see what she was doing. She wanted to get a good long look at his girlfriend, who from the looks of it needed some floss. She was picking at her teeth. Gross.
“It was long,” Mr. Greyson responded.
That was an odd response considering he was probably with his human flosser there.
“Well . . .” Amanda said, “Kelli loved Colorado. I keep telling Zane we really should take a vacation there.”
I nudged her to let her know she was pushing it.
It was then his little plaything got tired of being ignored. She stood and grabbed his arm. “You really should visit, it’s like the best place in the world.”
I took Amanda’s hand, because I could see she was about to burst out laughing at the Barbie doll wannabe.
Mr. Greyson cleared his throat. “Amanda, this is Alexa Manselle, she’ll be working here for a few weeks.”
A few weeks. Someone please shoot me now.
She playfully smacked him. “Or longer, silly.”
Did she just call him silly and say she’d work here longer?
That was it. I could see Amanda starting to shake. I pulled her toward my office.
“It was nice to see you, Amanda,” Mr. Greyson called out.
She couldn’t return the sentiment because she was about ready to burst into laughter, and she did as soon as we entered my office.
“Well, isn’t she special,” she said once she got her laughter under control.
“Very,” I agreed.
“Are you sure they’re together? They don’t seem to fit.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “No, they don’t, but doesn’t she remind you a lot of his ex-wife?”
Dawning illuminated her face. “You’re right.”
“Wow! I’m right twice in one day?”
She gave me a wry smile. “Well, I guess I better get back to my domesticated life.”
I sighed. Not because I didn’t love working, but was it so bad to want it all? Career, husband, and kids?
She gave me a knowing look. “Someday you and I will be domestic divas together, but for now, you continue to be Chandler’s rock star.”
I hugged her tightly. “I love you, Manda Panda.”
She squeezed back. “I know, Kelli Jelly.”
She left me, and I went back to work feeling a little better.
I really did love that girl. The rest of the day flew by as I focused on doing what I’d always done, and that was my best. I reminded myself it had been a mistake to think that Mr. Greyson and I could be friends.
I needed, once again, to separate him from the man I once knew.
It was clear that man didn’t exist anymore, and even if he did, I needed to remember that he left me with no thought at all.