“Lo siento. Enfermo encontrar otra manera de conseguir el dinero. Gracias"
"I'm sorry," it says,
"I’ll find another way to get the money. Thanks."
Inside of the letter is my five thousand dollars. He didn't take it. He said he'll find another way. And then I start thinking. I hope he doesn't do something stupid. He has an act for going to do stupid things in desperate times. I hate that I care so much, I just do.
Chapter Seven
"So, what do you like?" Ian asked me.
"Anything really, I'm not a picky person."
"I am."
"Really? No." I say sarcastically. He pushed a button on the elevator and we start moving down.
"Don't judge me."
"No. Of course not." I laughed.
"Did you drive here?"
"Yeah."
“Well, we’ll take my car anyway.”
He pushes a button on his keys and in the distant I can see two red lights flash. We get up to the car and it's an all black Camaro zl1 convertible. Looked brand new.
"Wow, nice."
"You know what this is?"
"Of course, it a zl1 Camaro convertible. Supercharged V8 engine, 580 horsepower."
"You know cars?"
He walks over to the side I'm standing on and opens the door. I slowly step inside.
"Of course." I'm in total awe. Some people might not find it to be, but for me, it's a dream.
"I mean, I know a little about cars. I use to have a friend that raced them. The Camaro has always been my favorite."
"Liz wouldn't know a Camaro from a Mustang."
I'm still looking all around the car. All black leather. Tech center on the dashboard.
"She's real good at notices the different between a 500 dollar bottle of wine from a 1300 dollar bottle."
"She's got skills."
"Yeah. I guess you could call it that. So where to?"
"Where ever."
"Ok, you've ever been too Meraviglioso?"
"I don't think I can pronounce it."
"It's, well, wonderful. It's Italian for wonderful. It's really good."
"Cool, ok."
"Do you eat out a lot."
"Not at any places that don't have drive thru windows."
"... I see."
"What?"
" Um?"
" What do you see?”
"Oh, nothing I just mean, you're a busy woman working your jobs you know and balancing school, you probably don't get a lot of time you know to enjoy simple things like having a proper meal."
"True, I don't get a lot of time to lavish myself in fine wines and cheeses but I eat properly. Maybe not to your standards but to most."
"To my standards? Miss Stone, I think your perception of me might be a little off." He looks at me between words and the road.
"Really now? I don't think so. Pay attention to the road."
"I just don't think we've spent enough time for you to already be judging what kind of person I am."
"You mean the way you did me the other day?"
"I apologized for that."
"Doesn't change the fact that you said it."
"But it is supposed to cancel itself out."
"Hanson.."
"Ian."
"Fine! Whatever, Ian. You have to understand, I'm not one of you business clause or proposition or whatever, I'm a human being. And just because you try to cancel or retract a statement or comment, doesn't change that fact that you said it in the first place. I have feelings and emotions and you kinda hurt them last week."
I'm not really as sensitive as I'm playing out to be. It's just kinda fun messing with him. Everything I said though is true. He tends to treat me like I'm some piece of paper he can write all over. Cross out and rewrite.
"Well, I apologize again for that." He smiles at me and I throw a fake one back. I'm the queen at fake smiles.
We get to the restaurant and it's a small cafe looking place. It looks like something from Italy. It's beautiful.
He parks the car and gets out to open my door.
"Thank you."
The inside of the restaurant is even more beautiful than the outside. It has a modern chic vibe to it. The room was full with soft golden lights.
When we walk in, a waiter comes right up to us.
" Hey Ian. Haven't seen you in a while."
" Hey Brian, I've been busy working on this proposal for my dad."
"Yeah, so just you two today?" He looks at me up and down and then back at Ian with a smirk.
"She's my new intern, treating her to lunch on her first day."
"Yeah, ok. Follow me."
We get seated right by the window. The table is draped with a white cloth with a flower center piece. Simple.
"What can I get you both to drink?"
"I'll take a glass of white wine." Ian says
"I'll have water, thank you."
“Ok, I'll be right back with that, order when your ready.”
“Do you not drink?" Ian asked me while looked at the menu.
"Well honestly, I do but not in public, you know the whole underage thing."
"Right, I almost forgot, you're…"
"19."
“Right. You're so independent."
"I had to grow up kinda fast.”
“ Most kids these days do. I remember when I was your age…"
"You were passing bar exams?” He looks up from his menu and stares at me. Before he got a chance to say anything, the waiter came back with our drinks.
"Here you go. White wine. And a water. You ready to order?”
"Give us a few more minutes."
“Ok.”
“Actually what I was going to say is, when I was your age I was working here. And how do you know when I passed the bar?"
“I googled you.” I take a sip of my water.
“I don't know rather to be flattered or frighten."
"Neither, I did it purely for informational purposes."
"What else did you find out about me?” He was really curious.
“Nothing special.” I take another sip of water. He was still looking at me like I was going to say something else. Then he puts his menu down on the table.
"I'm ready to order. You?" He looks at me and ask.
“I honestly haven't even looked at the menu."
I whisper to myself. I take a quick glance at it before the waiter comes back around.
"What would you like?" The waiter looks to me first.
"Um, can I get a salmon salad."
"Yes. Any dressing?"
"Um, no thank you."
"Ok, and you sir?"
"Get me the chicken Alfredo fettuccine with no cheese."
"Ok."
"You don't like cheese."
"I have an intolerance to it."
"Like your allergic to it?"
"Well, being allergic to it would mean it would have an abnormal reaction to my immune system. I'm just intolerant to it, meaning my body cannot properly digest it due to a lactose intolerance."
"Do you ever talk like a normal person? Like ever?"
"I am speaking to you normally right now."
"No you're not. You sound like you're reading from a cue card." I look behind me to check and make sure he wasn't.
"I do not understand."
"See, you did it, just now. 'I do not understand'. Most people would just be like, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't understand. Not I do not understand.”
"It is just the way I was taught to speak."
"Remind me again how old are you?"
"22."
"You're 22 years old."
"I will be 23 next month."
"And you talk like a 50 year old man. You're so up tight. Do you ever let go? You know just let loose?”
“Meaning, what exactly?" He looks confused.
"Like relax. Do you ever just watch a game or go to the movies, just chill?"
"No."
/>
"Wow."
"I mean. I could do those things. I'm just always busy. Building up my future."
"Your future will always be your future. And if you spend today trying to build up your future, you'll miss yesterday."
“I don't follow."
“Ok, let me break it down. Tomorrow is the future. What it holds, no one knows. You can't change that. Yesterday already happened, you can't change that either. But today. The moment right in front of you is the only thing in your life you have control over. So, if you spend all your time worrying and planning for something that can change at any moment, you won't have time to worry about today, because it will have already past, becoming your yesterday."
"I see. What you're saying is, I should be an in the moment kind of guy?"
"Right."
“I don't know how.”
The waiter comes back and puts our food on the table.
" Let me know if you need anything else."
" What do you suggest? On how I can relax?”
" Umm… Just do it. Don't over-think it. lets say, you're at home and you just got done with a stack of papers, what do you do next?"
I take a knife and fork and cut my salmon into tiny pieces and mix it in with my salad.
" I usually start on another assignment."
" See, so tonight or tomorrow, whatever, next time you're at home working and you finish something. Don't start working again. Watch a tv show or read a book or something instead."
" Just like that?"
" Just like that, you're over thinking it man." I take a bite of my salad and it is amazing. Chilled with warm meat. Juice and full of flavor. I should go out to eat more.
“ Miss Stone, I'm impressed.”
"... For the millionth time, Lulu, call me Lulu."
"Oh, excuse me, I forgot. Lulu. Lulu. Luna is an interesting name. How did you get it?” He has now started eating his food.
"From my mother."
"Ha, not exactly what I meant."
"Well, my mother was obsess with roman mythology. And her favorite was of the goddess Luna. The goddess of the moon. She says the moon was full when I was born. The biggest she had ever seen. Then shortly after I was born, she said there was a lunar eclipse. When the sun moved behind the moon. Sun. Solar. Sol a roman god of the sun in mythology. That's how I got the name Luna Sol. Which is actually my first name."
"Luna Sol?"
"Yep." I take another bit of my salad.
"So your name translates to moon sun?”
"Yep”
He lets out a little giggle and sips his wine.
"What?"
"It kind of sounds like..." He pauses
"Sounds like what? A stripper name?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, I know. How ironic right."
The rest of lunch we don't talk much. The waiter comes and clears our table and brings us the bill. I reach out to grab it, but his hand stops me.
"I've got it." He slides it closer to him.
"Let me pay for mine." I grab back at the bill.
"I invited you, remember?"
"I can pay for my own food."
“I am sure you can." He sticks a credit card into the leather holder and ushers the waiter. He comes over and takes it.
I roll my eyes.
"Thank you… I guess."
"You're welcome. Now was that hard?"
"Harder than you can imagine. I will pay you back."
" No need."
"Oh, I know, but I will." I give him a little smirk.
The waiter comes back with his card and receipt. And then we leave.
Chapter Eight
The rest of the day at the office was quiet. I spent most of the time organizing my notes from the morning. It's very tedious work. But when five o clock came. I was ready to go.
"Thank you for your work today Miss Stone. Make sure you're prepared for tomorrow's meeting."
"Yeah, ok. Thanks."
He walks me out of the office and to the elevator. I step inside.
"It's been a pleasure, see you tomorrow morning."
“Bye." The doors close in front of me. I got straight home and got ready for work. I took some time off from the coffee house so I could work at the office. After my three weeks of vacation is gone, I'll switch my hours to evenings. Until then, I'm working late afternoons at the club waitressing until I dance.
My shift started at 5:30, but I got there at 5:50. Angel, one of the other waitress starts fussing at me the second I walked through the door.
"Damn Lulu, you were supposed to be here right at 5:30. Paige is sick and tables are getting backed up."
"Sorry."
“You're always sorry. Don't be sorry, just have you ass up here when your supposed to.”
“Angel, chill.”
“Don't tell me to chill. I'm employee of the month and I'm responsible for the way we look.”
“Get out of my face.” I step to her and say, then walk away.
I pick up a notepad and walk over to a table.
“Patiently waiting." I heard one of the women say when I walked up.
"Hi, sorry for the wait. What can I get for y'all?"
It's a table full of women. We don't get many of them in here.
"We've been waiting for 10 minutes for some service."
"I'm sorry, were just a little backed up today."
"Well that's not a good enough excuse to have us waiting, we pay our money to come here and..."
"Are you gonna order something or just bitch at me. Because I can come back later for that."
She gasped. Surprised I guess.
"I want to speak to your manager. We will not be talked to that way.”
“Well, he's right over there, by the bar, my name is Angel and tell him how disrespectful I have been."
The women get up for the table and walk over to the bar.
I probably shouldn't have done that, but Angel just pissed me off.
I work a few tables, trying to keep out of the path of Alan, my boss and Angel, in case he's already talk to her about her “rude” behavior to our customers.
Before I know it, it's nine o'clock and time for me get up on stage. I'm so tired. I hope I don't fall off stage. Or the pole. But when the music hits, my energy is pumped up and I'm ready to go.
Tips weren't amazing tonight but good enough. When I got home I stuck the 150 dollars in my money box. I take a shower and drag myself into the bed. Before I know it. I'm out.
-
“Ok, so are we sure were going to pitch this? I mean it's a valet reason but we might be missing something." Ian says standing in front of everyone in the room.
"We studied this all day yesterday. I think we have a solid point. There's not many ways to get around it. It's all written."
Ian starts tapping the side of the table with his pen. He occasionally glances at me whiles he's talking, like he wants me to confirm what he's saying. All the people in the meeting are old men. Well, maybe not old, just not that young. 40 and up. I'm the youngest and the only female. I'm sitting at the end of the table farthest from everyone. Ian told me to just sit and observe and take notes.
I'm writing something down and I heard Ian talking. Then I hear him call out my name.
"Luna." He says again. My head pops up.
"Can you please repeat to the board what you said to me yesterday about Mr. Jones?" I stop for a beat, then start shuffling through my papers to my notes from yesterday.
"Um… Well, over a two week period that the money was stolen. Mr. Jones was on a vacation. And was reported making big purchases.”
“The man owns a business. A successful one.” One of the men at the end of the table said, interrupting me.
“True, but the money wasn't coming from his direct account. It was being withdrawed from another account. A females account.”
“His wife maybe?” Another man said.
“Not his wife.”
I stand up now, so th
ey know that I'm talking.
“The money was being deposited and withdrawed from a Debra Williams. I'm not sure what their relationship is. Mistress, friend. But I do know that she is one of his former employees. Fired by none other than Mr. Sean Andrews. He said she was changing people's time cards and cutting vacation. Pocketing money."
I sit back down. The room quiet. Ian gives me a little wink. I smile back. Everyone started whispering to each other. Then the voices got louder and louder. Some agreed with me, others didn't.
"We will conclude this meeting. sometime next week. Thank you.” Everyone got up from their seats and started making their way to the door. I remained seated, like Ian did until we were the only two left. I got up from my seat and sat across from him.
“Great job on your first meeting."
"Thank you. I was nervous. Everyone didn't agree."
“That's what happens 99 percent of the time. Barely anyone agrees with each other. It just doesn't happen.”
“Why not?”
“Well. I believe it is because,we have cases like this. And we have six to ten people working on the same case, people are just bound to see something differently. Some are fighting for Jones, others are fighting for Andrews. And then a few are like me. Neutral. Just wanting the truth."
“Well, I hope you find the truth.”
“We. You hope we find the truth. We are a team Luna. Your insight on this is unbelievable.”
“Thank you.”
He paused for a second
“You know what, you have done so well, you take the rest of the day off.”
“Are you sure?” I asked already packing up my stuff.
“Yeah, I've got to drop Liz off at the airport.”
“Where's she going?”
“California.”
“What's she gonna do there?”
“Spend my money.” He looks so serious at first, but then he lets out a little laugh. Something he doesn't do much of.
“Well, ok. I'll see you tomorrow then.” He stands up to open the door for me.
“Until tomorrow.” He says.
The words ring in my ear, even after I'm down the long hallway and into the elevator. Echoing.”Until tomorrow.” Something about it. I don't know what. It just keeps replaying in my mind.
Chapter Nine
It has been three weeks since I started working for Ian. I've really gotten into a flow. We’re still working on the Jones/Andrews case. We've had two more meeting since our first, and more people are starting to see my point of view. Me and Ian both have our faces buried in papers right now. We got some new information about the case yesterday and we've been trying to work it out. We started at nine and haven't stopped since. It's almost 2:30. I pop my head up and Ian follows right behind me.
“So, maybe we should take a break?” I ask questionably.”
“Yeah. I think a break would be good right now. Lunch?”