Page 50 of A Night To Remember

“Oh, I’m good. I had a wonderful weekend. I stayed with some friends at their beach house. It was gorgeous. My friends have the hugest house on the Jersey Shore I’ve ever seen. I sat by the beach, soaked in the sun and drank mimosas,” Sandy bragged.

“How nice for you.” Charlie didn’t give a damn, but figured those were the appropriate words to say. “Well, I have to get to work now, I hope you have a good Monday.” Charlie took a seat at her desk.

Sandy followed. “What did you do this weekend?”

Didn’t this woman have work to do? Charlie couldn’t remember ever seeing Sandy doing any work, but she did see her quite often running her mouth. “My weekend was nice, thank you for asking.” Charlie didn’t care to elaborate. She knew any grain of information she gave to “The Mouth” would be the topic of conversation by noon.

Sandy’s eyes narrowed. Charlie pretended she didn’t notice Sandy’s venomous look. She refused to play games with this woman, especially one so annoying. Charlie was familiar with her type, a gossipmonger who needed to constantly be in the know, when most things weren’t her business.

Since Charlie began working at MBF, she was aware Sandy had been making inquiries about her, trying to dig up some dirt. She didn’t know what it was the woman got out of gossiping, but it was grating. “Charlie, I know they call me ‘The Mouth’ behind my back, but you can trust me. I wouldn’t dream of telling your little secret.” Sandy gave her a smile that didn’t quite reach her blue eyes.

The other woman was obviously fishing. Charlie had been very careful to keep her private life and work life separate. “And what secret might that be, Sandy?”

The woman pouted in obvious frustration at her failed attempt to get information. “Anything you might want to get off your chest. I’m a good listener.”

“It’s not your listening skills I question, but your lack of discretion. Look, don’t you have some work to do, Sandy? Because if you don’t, I do.” Charlie gave her the stare down hoping it would embarrass Sandy enough to go away, but she should have known better. The Mouth didn’t know the meaning of the word shame.

“I’m just trying to be friendly. There’s no need to play the ice queen with me.”

Charlie’s fingers itched to slap the bitch into next week. Instead of giving in to her urges, she ignored the pesky woman, but Sandy did not seem to want to go away.

“So, Charlie, did you figure out who your secret admirer was?” An assessing gleam twinkled in her eyes.

Charlie paused. “No. I haven’t.” The moment the words left her mouth she realized they’d come out too fast, making her seem guilty.

A sly smile spread across Sandy’s face. “Hmm, how odd. You would think you’d have found out by now. This person must be an awful loser,” Sandy mused.

The only loser around here is you, Charlie wanted to say, but instead she shrugged, showing a nonchalance she didn’t feel. “Perhaps he’s shy, I don’t know, and really it’s not something that’s keeping me up at night. I really have to get some work done and I suggest you do the same.” Charlie’s patience faded.

Sandy didn’t look happy. “Okay, I will talk to you later. Maybe the next time we talk, you’ll have found something out.” Sandy’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Maybe. See you later.”

Charlie was glad to see that creature go. One day, Sandy would get her comeuppance and Charlie was positive a lot of people would cheer because of it.

“Is everything okay, Charlie?” Brian approached her.

“Yes, everything is cool. I guess I just have the Monday morning blues,” she said.

“That’s understandable. Was Sandy giving you problems? I’ve told her a thousand times not to hang out in my department.”

“She doesn’t bother me. I guess it just amazes me she still has a job. Since I’ve been here, all I’ve seen her do is hang out in other people’s cubes and gossip,” Charlie observed.

“She’s cousins with the head of the admin.” She could hear the disgust in his voice. “Personally, I would like nothing more than to see the back of her, but you know how things are.”

She didn’t actually, but then again, this wasn’t her company to run, she only worked for it. “Relative or not, if she’s not getting the job done, why do they keep her on?”

“Habit, I guess. It’s hard to fire people nowadays without the threat of a wrongful dismissal suit, and she would definitely be the type to file one.”

“I guess.” Wanting to change the subject from that horrid woman, she asked, “Did you need to see me for something?”

“Yes. I just wanted remind you that I’m going away tomorrow on that business trip. Is there anything you needed to go over today?”

“Not really, I have everything pretty much under control.”

“Okay, but if you need me for something, come by my office. And chin up, the day can only get better, right?” he said with a smile. Brian really was a darling. His positive outlook on life was always uplifting. Maybe everything would be all right.

If Charlie would have known how far from the truth those words were, she just might have turned around and gone home.

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