Page 33 of Empowered
Chapter 8
Even on a usual day Sarah had no idea what to expect at work on Monday morning. Anything could happen even when she was off the clock. An investor pulled out. Stocks suddenly plummeted. A coup was staged in a country they did a lot of business with. Hell, one day some European businessman’s cat died and business came to a grinding halt for two days, sending Mr. Monroe into an agitated tizzy – and then, because he was such agoodfriend, he informed Sarah that the two of them were flying to Switzerland to attend this cat’s funeral.
She really didn’t know what to expect with Lucas around.
He came into the office a few minutes after she sat down at her desk, but they had barely made eye contact when Alisha approached Sarah with a question and Mr. Monroe commanded Lucas’s attentions. Thus they went about their usual work days without even so much as a polite greeting to one another. It helped that Mr. Monroe and Mr. Blackbourne spent most of those morning hours locked in a video conference call with only Alisha in attendance to take notes.
Besides, Sarah mostly worked for the missus those days. A missus who had a wonderful habit of saying way too much at the wrong time.
“Ms. Clayborn,” she said with that motherly effect to her voice that she adopted the moment she became pregnant, “I heard about what happened Friday. I’m so sorry. That shouldn’t have happened, and I’m going to talk to Damon about it.”
It took Sarah a moment to remember what happened Friday.Right. Russell.“Please don’t worry about it,” she said. “It wasn’t a big deal. Don’t know if you noticed, but the senior Mr. Monroe is not much of a threat to me any longer.”
Surely, Alice could understand that.
“Still, it wasn’t appropriate. Please let me know if it happens again.”
She nodded one last time, as if she had given herself permission to walk away from Sarah’s desk. Alice Monroe shuffled to her office to hold her own meeting with someone who had walked into the greater office. The receptionist took over from there.
Sarah paused for a moment before returning to her monotonous work.
At eleven, an inter-office envelope landed on Sarah’s desk. The nondescript woman delivering them around the office continued on without a word.
“Ms. Sarah Clayborn.”She was only vaguely familiar with it right now, but Sarah recognized Lucas’s handwriting right away. She glanced around the office before opening the envelope and peeking at the lunch instructions.
“I’ve secured us a private room for lunch down at Bell Jar’s. Please meet me there at your convenience between noon and 12:30.”
Sarah ran the paper through the shredder she shared with Alisha. The trash was wadded up and shoved into the bottom of the paper-only garbage.
She didn’t know if it was cathartic or not.
I need to tell him that nothing can happen between us.Not only was it grossly unprofessional considering their current work situation, but Sarah was in no emotional position to take on even a casual boyfriend. She wasn’t at Nigel’s level yet. He had been able to get himself out of bed the day after everything went to hell and go out and get a new job and a girlfriend in the span of one month. Sarah? She had pushed any feelings she had deep down into the pits of her ribcage and put on a straight face to brave the world with. Work went into one category. Play into another. There was a reason Angel came into existence. Sarah needed a convenient way to express her sexual desires while still being “herself.” The everyday Sarah couldn’t handle relationships after what Russell did to her.
So it should be easy to turn down any advances Lucas threw her way.
“I’m going to lunch,” she announced to Alisha at 12:05. “I’m meeting someone, so if Mr. Monroe needs something, can you take care of it?”
Alisha shrugged and only briefly looked up from the papers on her desk. “Sure. Who ya meeting?”
Sarah said the first name that came to her mind. “Nigel.”
“Oh.”
Yeah. Oh.
Sarah didn’t bother grabbing her coat when she was only going downstairs to one of Mr. Monroe’s restaurants. He and his wife owned a few of them now. Since meeting Alice, that part of the industry had switched over to the “Culver Hospitality Holdings” subdivision, based on Mrs. Monroe’s maiden name. It still felt strange to look at the directory in the elevator and see that instead of “MONROE INDUSTRIES.”
Bell Jar’s was a soup and sandwich restaurant that boasted grand views of the city regardless of whether people dined in the general gallery or in one of a few private rooms – rooms that were only offered because Mr. Monroe needed places to take meetings for lunch. Sarah was intimately familiar with both the menu and the décor thanks to all the meetings she worked through. At least working during her lunch hour meant her lunch went on Mr. Monroe’s tab instead of hers.
Lucas was already waiting for her in the most private of the rooms by the time Sarah found the hostess on duty.
She forewent the hostess’s directions and showed herself back to the room. Lucas stood when she entered, but Sarah sat down before the man had the chance to pull her chair out for her. None of that bullshit today.
“Cobb salad, no dressing, with a bowl of soup of the day,” she said to the waiter the moment he entered. Both waiter and Mr. Blackbourne exchanged glances before the waiter walked back out with the menus in his hands.
“You know what you want, hm?”
Sarah shrugged, glad for the large table keeping a healthy distance between her and Lucas. “I come here a lot. You get to know what you want after the familiarity settles in.”
