Chapter 5 #2
“Okay on the salad, no on the pills. See you soon.”
Okay great, Evelyn more than likely did not have a brain tumour. But that led to the oh-so-important question: why was there a dog in her office? Hell, why was there a dog in the building?
Sitting back at her desk, Evelyn and the unnamed pup continued to stare at each other. Their stalemate was broken when the dog stood up and wandered over to the window. Evelyn waited for his next move, but nothing happened. The dog parked his bum on the floor and sat looking out over London.
Try as she might, Evelyn couldn’t ignore the creature. What the hell was he looking at? With Maggie still MIA, Evelyn gave in to her curiosity and walked over to stand by the dog.
“What are you looking at?” Evelyn scanned the horizon, then the street below. There was nothing of significance—in her mind anyway—that she thought could capture the dog’s attention so avidly.
“Hey,” Maggie called as she rushed through the door. Dropping Evelyn’s salad on her desk, Maggie marched over to Evelyn and the mystery canine. “What’s this?” she asked, waving her hand at the dog.
“I wouldn’t have called you in a panic if I knew why he was in here, would I?” Evelyn shot back.
“Well, did you call someone?”
“Yes, you!”
“I meant a security guard or something.”
Evelyn shook her head. “Nope, just you.”
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
Maggie scrubbed her hands over her head in frustration. “Evelyn, you are vexing at times, woman. Are you going to call security?”
“Right, yes, of course.” Honestly, Evelyn had been so intrigued by the little guy she hadn’t thought about calling anyone after Maggie.
After a quick conversation with Terry, the building security manager, Evelyn dropped down to the settee, which sat across from her desk and inhaled her food.
“Ms Crawford?” Terry’s deep voice boomed.
“Come in, Terry.” Evelyn stood back up, brushing down her pencil skirt, hoping she hadn’t spilt any dressing on herself.
“Sorry about the break-in,” Terry laughed. “I’ll get this little fella back downstairs where he belongs.”
Evelyn didn’t understand any of that sentence. Why would he belong downstairs? “Sorry, I’m confused. You know this dog?”
“Not personally, but I know he is with the others.”
“The others?” Evelyn looked at Maggie, who was equally perplexed.
“Yeah. There’s like twenty-six dogs all in all.”
“Twenty-six?” Maggie screeched. “Why in God’s name are there twenty-six dogs in the building?”
“What do you mean?” Terry asked, his eyebrows drawing in.
“Terry, why is there a pack of bloody dogs in my building?” Evelyn was tired of running round in circles.
“Well, they’re part of the partnership. Over Christmas.” Terry was looking at Evelyn and Maggie like they were idiots.
“Knock, knock,” another voice singsonged.
“Jesus Christ,” Evelyn moaned. Could this day get any worse?
“Mindy, what are you doing here?” Maggie growled.
“I’m here to talk, Evie. You owe me that.” She replied, staring pointedly at Evelyn.
Was this woman for real?
“She owes you nothing, you harlot,” Maggie shot back. Evelyn had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing.
“This has nothing to do with you, Margaret,” Mindy seethed.
“Alright, alright. That’s enough.” Evelyn was over this conversation already.
“Mags, give me a minute, please. Terry, don’t go far.
We still need to discuss this,” she said, pointing to the dog, who hadn’t moved an inch, seemingly unperturbed by everyone in the room.
Maggie shot Mindy an icy glare before leaving, pulling Terry out the door by his elbow.
“Thanks, Evie,” Mindy cooed.
“Don’t thank me. I just want this over and done with. What do you want?”
“Evelyn, do you have to be so mean?” Mindy sauntered over to where Evelyn was perched against her desk. There was a time that Evelyn would have found her sultry walk sexy. Now it just pissed her off.
“I’m not being anything, Mindy. We’ve already talked. It’s done, we’re over, and I’d just like to get on with it now. I’m busy, and you dropping by the house and the office isn’t appropriate.”
“It’s the only way I can get you to talk to me, Evie,” Mindy whined. “What do I need to do to get you to forgive me?”
“I forgive you. There. Are we done?”
“Only if that means I get a second chance.”
Evelyn rubbed her forehead. A migraine was building rapidly. “Mindy, no. No second chance. You clearly weren’t happy if you had to find intimacy with another woman. Nothing has changed on my end. I’m still busy, still have a company to run.”
Mindy took Evelyn’s hands in her own. “But like you said, you won’t be busy forever. I made a mistake, Evelyn. I was frustrated, but that’s no excuse. I know that. Please, don’t let one mistake ruin our future. Please.”
It felt like the universe was having a laugh at her expense today. All Evelyn wanted was to be left alone to get on with her work. Was that so much to ask for?
“Look Min, can we table this? I’m not saying no, but I need to get through today and then I’ll have some space to think about it some more.”
“But you’re saying there’s a chance we can try again?” The hope in Mindy’s eyes was soul crushing. Mindy wasn’t her forever person, but she was nice enough, if you discounted the whole cheating thing. Had Evelyn been too rash?
“I’m saying I need to think on it, okay?”
“Okay, okay, that’s fine. I’ll leave you to think.
Not too long though, Evie. I’m not sure how long I can go without touching you,” Mindy purred next to Evelyn’s ear.
Not giving her a chance to react, Mindy skipped out of the room.
Evelyn wasn’t impervious to Mindy’s charms. The woman was hot, but the effects weren’t as strong on Evelyn anymore.
Mindy had broken the trust between them, and there was no going back.
How was she going to get that through to Mindy, though?
With the office finally silent, Evelyn took a second to breathe.
There was still a full list of things she needed to attend to, but she just needed a few seconds of calm.
Walking over to the window, she dropped down to her knees next to the little dog.
Resting her head against the cool window, she gazed out upon London, her hand stroking gently across the dog’s back.
As the minutes ticked by, Evelyn felt her stress slowly dissipate. The beep of her email notification signalled the end of their time together, though. Evelyn looked down into the soulful eyes of the pup. Smiling, she gave him one last pat and went back to her desk.
“Mags, can you bring Terry back in, please?”
“Ms Crawford,” Terry nodded.
“Right, Terry, sorry about that. Let’s get back to why that little one and twenty-five others like him are in the building.”
“I think you need to talk to Ms Fox,” he replied.
“Okay, and who is that?” Evelyn knew all her employees by name and there was no Ms Fox among them.
“She runs the dog sanctuary.”
“Right, and which dog sanctuary is that?” Good Lord, it was like pulling teeth.
“The one that’s here,” he said matter-of-factly. Evelyn was about to burst, her frustration with this particular conversation was driving her insane.
“Okay, can you send Ms Fox up here then?”
“Certainly, Ms Crawford.”
Evelyn watched him leave before addressing Maggie. “Have you any idea what the fuck is going on?” Evelyn was completely exasperated.
“Nope, I tried to get an answer, but he just repeated what he said to you.”
“Christ, I hope whoever this bloody Ms Fox is has some sodding answers. I’m about ready to commit murder.”
“I hope I’m not the one you’re going to off,” a low velvety voice said from Evelyn’s doorway. Jumping in surprise, Evelyn nearly fell out of her chair. “I’m Ms Fox, the one with some sodding answers.”
Evelyn could feel her cheeks burning. Not only had this woman overheard Evelyn grumbling, she’d also just witness her nearly pole vault out of her chair.
Excellent.