Page 16 of A Night To Remember

“Well, Charlie, I hope you enjoy working for MBF. Perhaps I can welcome you properly by taking you out to lunch sometime.” He smiled revealing large white teeth. He reminded her of a shark zeroed in on a rather tasty morsel.

“I do like MBF. Hopefully, I’ll be in the full swing of things in a couple of weeks,” Charlie answered, smoothly ignoring his lunch invitation.

Steve looked as if he wanted to press the issue, but thought better of it. Laura thought Charlie was dense where men were concerned, but Charlie knew a bullshit artist when she saw one.

“Well, ladies, I would love to join you two but I see my lunch date coming through the door.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t invite you to sit down with us then,” Laura snapped.

Steve had the good grace to blush. “Laura, it’s always such a pleasure talking to you,” he said caustically, making a lie of his words. He turned back to Charlie. “I hope to see you around very soon, Charlie.” He smiled at her before joining a petulant-looking blonde.

“Laura, that was so rude,” Charlie scolded. As annoying as the guy had been, she still had to work in the same building with him and didn’t want to make any enemies on her first day, or at all for that matter.

“So what? That man is a menace.” Laura gnashed her teeth together.

“What’s going on between you two? You could cut the tension with a knife,” Charlie observed.

“Let’s not go there.”

That was Laura’s answer for anything she didn’t want to talk about and pursuing the issue would only earn Charlie an earful.

“Okay.”

“Stay away from him. He’s trouble,” Laura warned.

“He seems nice enough.”

“Sure he is. He’s a very nice guy if you’re looking for a quick roll in the hay.” The vehemence in Laura’s voice indicated there was much more to the story than she was letting on.

“I guess it’s a good thing that I’m not looking for a roll in the hay then,” Charlie assured.

“That’s good to know.” A brief silence fell across the table before Laura spoke again. “Char, I know you don’t like to talk about it, but you can’t live the life of a nun forever. You’re much too attractive to bury your head in the sand just because you’re scared to love again. There are some very nice men out there and Kristy needs a father.”

Here we go again, Charlie groaned inwardly. “For someone who doesn’t like having her idiosyncrasies delved into, you sure like trying to figure mine out. I won’t get myself involved with someone just for the sake of my daughter, who, by the way, is happy with the way things are.” Charlie couldn’t help being defensive about this subject. It was bad enough she never heard the end of it from her parents, she didn’t need a lecture from Laura either.

“She’s happy now, but when she gets older, she’ll ask questions.”

“Please don’t start. I got an earful from Mom last night. When she wasn’t satisfied with my responses, she put Daddy on the phone to wear me down. Frankly, I find this topic exhausting.”

“I’m just trying to give you something to think about. I know you don’t like talking about it, but is there any chance of you contacting her father?”

“Absolutely not!” Charlie hissed. “I’ve already told you he’s out of the picture.”

Jake hadn’t been able to concentrate all day thinking about Charlie being so close to him. What a wild coincidence that the Charlie from three years ago would end up working at his company. If this wasn’t a sign, then he didn’t know what was.

As soon as Steve left his office that morning, Jake’s phone rang. It was an important client who kept him on the phone for over an hour. By the time he got off, he had to rush into another meeting. When that was concluded, he went straight to the accounting department only to find out Charlie was at lunch. Brian informed him that when Charlie got back she would be in orientation for the remainder of the day. Jake felt a bit dejected.

The minute Steve had revealed that Charlie Brown was an employee at MBF, his heart raced with excitement at the thought of seeing her again, but as the day wore on, anxiety hit him. What if she wasn’t as eager to see him again as he was to see her? He thought he had gotten over the fact that she had left him after their explosive encounter, but with the reappearance of her in his life, he knew that wasn’t true.

Jake had done some asking around about Charlie and found out Laura Tombaga in Human Resources had recommended Charlie for the job. He learned from Brian that she had quite an impressive resume, and she originally hailed from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Instead of getting any work done, Jake sat behind his computer for the rest of the day trying to make sense of a program he was designing. He could barely concentrate because his thoughts kept drifting back to Charlie Brown. By four-thirty he gave up all pretense of working and decided to throw in the towel for the day. There was always tomorrow.

Jake waved to his personal assistant as he headed out the door. Jennifer was still sitting at her desk, pecking away at her keyboard. “You’re leaving early today,” she observed, not bothering to look up from her typing.

“Yes. It’s one of the benefits of being the boss. Besides, I can’t seem to get my head straight today.”

“We all have those days and no one deserves time off more than you do. You haven’t taken any sick or vacation days in a very long time.” Jennifer had been with the company since it was started. She had children Jake’s age and treated him like her son instead of her employer. He didn’t mind, though. Jennifer was one of the sweetest ladies he knew, but he would never cross her if his life depended on it. She could be as fierce as any mama bear protecting her cubs. Sometimes she could be a managing busybody, but she was invaluable to him, and he wouldn’t trade her for the world.

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