CHAPTER NINE
Despite my initial refusal of the job offer, Peter's calls and emails persisted. I started the temporary position and quit on the second week. I went to lunch and never returned. I was pretty much showing my boss how to do her job. Yet, she wanted me to apologize for being five minutes late from lunch, when I went to lunch ten minutes late because I had to explain the format of a balance sheet to her, and why expense accounts are not included on there. I just couldn't take it anymore; it was either I quit or strangle her. Prison terrifies me, so I quit.
After allowing Peter to court me for a full month I finally accepted the position at United Blue. The end of this week will mark my second month at United Blue. We call it UB for short. Compared to my previous employer the corporate culture here at United Blue is very informal. You would not expect that of a multi-billion dollar corporation. The atmosphere is laid back and social. It feels like I've been here for several years instead of just a couple of months. I feel completely at ease. The only difficulty I'm having is learning the insurance industry. They have so many regulations it’s making my head spin.
"Where do you want to go for lunch?" Erica, Peter's admin, asks after she darts her head into my office.
"Doesn't matter," I tell her.
"Wanna go downstairs?"
"Sure." After getting my responses she leaves as quickly as she popped in.
Thirty minutes later Linda, Janet, Erica, and I are sitting in the restaurant downstairs eating by the window.
"He never wants to go see my kids with me. It's like he wants me to choose," Janet says of her boyfriend of two years.
"You have to put your foot down," says Linda, who always seems to give someone her two cents, even when they insist that she keeps the change. Both Linda and Janet are corporate regional controllers like me. Linda is a green-eyed, pint sized, dark haired workaholic in her mid-thirties. Married with no kids, she knows everything about everyone at UB. This is why, although she's sometimes extremely annoying, everyone is her friend - or at least pretends to be.
Bored with the conversation I look at Erica, her mind is somewhere else. Following her blue eyes, I discover what has peeked her interest, a blonde guy at a table in the middle of the restaurant. Erica is either twenty-eight or thirty-one. She's given me two different ages. Whichever age she is, I've been told she parties like she's in her early twenties. "Your kids have to come before a boyfriend," Linda persists with her unwanted advice to Janet.
Erica is now licking her lips at the blonde guy. My mind wonders outside. Up the block to the corner of Sixteenth and Market, I can see Ashley strutting on the concrete sidewalk with her two inch heels, her long platinum blonde hair bouncing with every step.
Every man's head turns and some women's as well, memorized as they watch her switch her twenty-four year old hips in a form fitting black dress like a model on the catwalk. All her attention is on the man walking besides her - her boss, the obnoxious Jacob Boyd. His hands are in his pockets, his stride causal and poised. Every few steps she looks up at him, smiling adoringly. Her affections go unnoticed, he never looks at her.
I think it's safe to assume that they are returning from a romantic lunch together. I have one word to describe their behavior - unprofessional. He could at least be discrete about having an affair with his secretary. There is something about secretaries and bosses that always result in affairs. My father had a five year affair with his whore before permanently deserting me and my mom. Several times before he tried to leave, but my mother begged him not to. Then one day, the inevitable happened - he left.
Robert also had a brief affair with his secretary who looked a lot like Ashley. Her name was Janice. It was not completely his fault. Our relationship had already begun to molder. I understood his temptation. She was always there happy and willing, while I continued to push him away. Both of us were working so many hours and there was all that other stuff - me being a nut and all. Our relationship had no chance of surviving.
After a few months Janice got greedy and wanted him to herself. She called to inform me of their unwavering love for one another, hoping the shock would cause me to leave him. When she saw that neither Robert nor I was going anywhere she decided to move on to another successful employer. Smart girl. It took me five years to make that move.
Jacob and Ashley get closer. I can see his face clearly, and his unsmiling eyes. Before I'm able to redirect my gaze he catches it. Unsure of what to do, I flash him a clumsy smile. He looks away without acknowledging me.
Jerk!
I wait for our eyes to meet again and cut my eyes at him.
He scowls at me. Intimidated, I look away.
That man has some kind of grudge against me. Since I've started at United Blue Jacob has been nothing but boorish. Although I've been brown nosing in excess he still has not warmed up to me. When I pass him in the hallway or the downstairs lobby, I politely say hello. He snubs me every time. I don't know what else to do. I realize that he has hated me from day one.
Lately for the past week or so, I've been ignoring him. I don't acknowledge him at all when we see each other in passing. Nor do I make any more attempts at conversation.
Whenever we are in a room together he stares at me as if I have three heads, just like he did that day I interviewed. He does it intentionally, to make me feel uncomfortable. He also over loads me with work by putting other controllers' responsibilities on me, and giving me special nonsense projects that keep me in the office until ten o'clock at night sometimes. Peter always apologizes for him but I am getting fed up. I'm sick of it.
"What a lovely couple," my voice filled with sarcasm. Realizing how my comment may come across I quickly try to cover myself but, "I love her dress," is the best I could do.
"Who?" Erica asks as all three women simultaneously look out the window just in time to watch Jacob and Ashley walk pass. "Oh please, she wishes."
"He's out of her league," Janet comments. "She is so not his type."
"Come on. Are you guys blind? They are always having lunch together. They don't even try to hide it," I point out.
"My cubicle is next to hers. She practically begs him," Erica interjects.
"If anything was going on between them the gossip would be all over the company," Janet states. "And Ashley would be the one spreading it," Erica adds.
"What do you think Linda?" If anyone knows it would be her.
"She doesn't seem like his type of woman but you never know."
"I can't stand her," Erica informs us.
"Why? She's actually really nice," Linda interjects.
"She's the type of woman that you need to keep your man from. And I hate the way she throws herself at him."
Linda frowns. "I don't see what women see in him."
"Are you blind? The man is gorgeous and not to mention rich. What woman wouldn't want him?" Erica asks.
"He's a heartless bastard. I thought Thomas was an underhanded CEO but Jacob takes the cake. He has no limits. I hope -"
"Who's Thomas?" I inquire.
"Thomas was the previous CEO." Erica interjects.
"His mentor. Jacob stole the position from him while he was battling cancer." Linda educates me with bitterness echoing in her tone. Linda is usually neutral and too self-righteous to display anger but she seems to hate Jacob.
"Thomas was a sexist prick. I can't tell you how many times that wrinkled up man made a pass at me. Before you start shedding tears for him remember you would still be an accountant if he was still CEO, Linda."
"That has nothing to do with Jacob and everything to do with Peter and David.”
David is Peter’s brother. He is the head of UB’s pharmaceutical subsidiary, Blue Pharma. That building is located on Thirtieth Street. I have never meet David Boyd, but Linda talks about him constantly.
“They’re the ones that make the decisions and clean up Jacob's mess. Jacob does absolutely nothing but get the company in lawsuits and..." With a bite of her tongu
e she locks away the flood of words. Her usual unbreakable composure returns. "Let's change the topic. What do you guys have planned for the weekend?"
"A lot of nothing," Erica says. "Are you coming to the happy hour on Friday Leah?"
"No, I don't drink."
"So start. Come. It'll be fun," Erica adds.
"Maybe."
I have no intention of getting drunk if front of coworkers. The first and last time I got drunk was my freshman year at Yale. I was drinking this sweet drink. Don't remember the name, but I couldn't taste the alcohol. Without realizing it I was drunk. After my sixth drink I became embarrassingly sick. Carol made several trips to the bathroom with me. By the end of the night both of us smelled of vomit.
In the middle of the night, at my dorm room, I was awakened from my drunken slumber by an urgent need to pee. After several painful minutes of rushing in the dark and walking into walls I finally got my pants unbuttoned. While searching for the light switch I realized I was in the closet and not the bathroom. It was too late - I never made it to the bathroom that night. Once I finished wetting my pants like a three year old I passed out on my bed. After lunch I head to my office to prepare for the controllers' monthly close meeting. The last two months it was canceled so this is my first one. I'm nervous. I’m not sure what to expect or what questions I'll be asked, if any. With butterflies fluttering in my stomach I head to the meeting. Walking down the long hallway to conference room C, the commercial carpet muffles the sound of my heels. Observing the pictures of old powerful men, board members and founders, lined up on the pale gray wall, I don't bother to take note of their names.
Amazed, I stop at the picture of a woman. She can't be older than thirty-five. How does such a young woman become a board member in a multi-billion dollar company? Many answers come to mind, all of them involve her on her back or possibly on her knees. At the bottom of her picture I find her name, Laura Dunn. I know that name Dunn. Where have I seen it before? Instinctively I look at the picture before hers and there is Joseph Dunn, a wrinkled frail looking man. I guess it was her last name that got her on the board, and I had already written the woman off as a whore - shame on me.
Analyzing her picture, the half smirk on her thin lips conveys her confidence, her sharp blue eyes mirror's her determination - I wouldn't want to cross her. I continue on down the hall. More pictures of old powerful men. I reached the last picture and stop again. That bastard is on the board of directors? How did he pull that off? He can't be more than a few years older than me. Who is he related to?
There looking over the picture of Jacob Boyd, his tense face, serious brown eyes, dark tanned complexion, and of course that very unprofessional goatee. I can't help but find him attractive. There is a magnetic force within me that draws me to men in positions of power. It's really my downfall, because most of them are complete self-centered swine who feels it's there right to treat people as they wish. I had spent the past five years with someone like that. I have more than enough experience to know I don't want to do it again. This time around I’m looking for a common guy.
Pulling myself away from the picture of Jacob, I see conference room C at the end of the hallway on the left. After taking a deep breath I walk in. It's empty. I check my watch. I’m fifteen minutes early. I take a seat on one of the black leather chairs towards the back of the room. There is a smart board at the front of the room. Peter will probably be in the middle, sitting in the back might make me appear indifferent. Quickly I change my mind and sit in the middle, next to the window.
The meeting should start in ten minutes yet no one else is here. Did I get the room wrong? I look through my phone for the referencing email.
Someone walks in.
Relieved, I look up. Instantly, my relief turns to unease - it's Jacob.