Ororo was so deep in thought as she reviewed the employee census of a new software company that her phone startled her. She put it on speaker, and Scott’s cheerful voice filled her office.
“Hey, Sunshine.”
“Hey, Skipper.”
“I hate to pile one more thing on your plate, but I’ve gotta call an emergency meeting. We had a miscommunication with Mutasoft’s installation and effective date. Their members have been getting a lot of denials, and they already paid their premiums.”
“That shouldn’t require anything from me yet, should it? That’s an Implementation Specialist’s issue, or Case Installation.”
“Could you come, anyway?”
Shit. Her sigh was heavy.
“I heard that.”
“You can just feel me bursting with excitement.”
“Your enthusiasm’s contagious and will brighten the room as soon as you step in the door.”
“Your nose is turning brown.”
“See you there.”
“Wait…where?”
“East wing, conference room two.”
“That’s fine.”
Ororo checked her inbox to see if Scott had sent out a meeting announcement that she missed. Sure enough, there it was, but all it said was “Mutasoft AMT” in the Bcc field. That was odd… that didn’t tell her if Selene had the reminder, or if Jeanne-Marie would be taking minutes. Ororo shrugged and picked up her notepad, deciding her Blackberry wasn’t necessary yet. Scott was the client service rep on the account and the best source of information, she’d simply put the bug in his ear to shoot her an email.
She dashed off to the east wing and waved to the janitor as he opened up his cart and took out his cleaning caddy. He set his wet floor sign in front of the men’s room and smiled.
“H’lo, Tory.”
“Hey, Sam. What’s shakin’?”
“Ya look awful nice today, ma’am.” The tall blond gave her an “aw gee, shucks” smile and his ears turned pink. It was such a boyish reaction that she almost chuckled.
“Thank you kindly. Working hard?”
“Hardly workin’.”
“Attaboy. Seen Scott yet?”
“Why?”
“Meeting in room two.”
“Ah didn’t see anything on the whiteboard when Ah went in there a minute ago.”
“Hm…okay. Thanks, Sam.”
“Any time!”
Ororo headed into the room and waited, checking the clock. It was still early enough in the day that it wouldn’t cut into the rest of her schedule, but still…
The phone in the conference room rang, and Ororo picked it up on the second ring.
“Scott?”
“Coming. Just rounding up the rest of the attendees.”
“Just yell ‘Free Starbucks and cookies!’ That’ll bring ‘em running.” Scott chuckled in agreement.
“Sit tight. Better yet…why don’t you hop into the supply closet for me?”
“What do you need?” She put the phone on speaker.
“The projector. I’m bringing the laptop.”
“That’s a big deal for a little meeting.”
“Trust me, we need it.”
“I’ll get it.”
“Be there in a flash.” Ororo made a small noise in her throat. She headed for the walk-in closet and went to flick on the light, but the bulb was dead.
“Shit,” she muttered. “Not cool. She wedged the doorstop under the jamb with her foot, since the room had a tricky lock, and she hadn’t borrowed Sam’s big ring of keys. She heard Scott’s voice in the hallway and Logan’s familiar rumble and made a sour face. “Where the heck is the projector? It’s not in here.” All she saw were stacks of staple boxes, binders, reams of printer paper and toner cartridges. It didn’t look like the projector was even in there. Then it struck her that she remembered Selene telling Jeanne-Marie to pack it up for their training in Hartford.
“Of course it’s not in here,” she murmured. “Hey, Scott…”
“Logan, can you hop in there and grab the other whiteboard? This one’s all blurry, and I won’t have time to get that stinky stuff we use to clean it with.”
“Eh. Sure.”
“Thanks!” Scott sounded too chipper, and Ororo decided she’d give Logan room to move around by getting out of the closet. But it was too late; he was craning his neck over his shoulder as he spoke to Scott as he stepped inside.
“There’s a whiteboard in here…? Uh…”
“I don’t see a whiteboard, Scott!”
“Help him look for it.” Logan was blocking Ororo’s way out, and he stared at her accusingly.
“Havin’ trouble finding something?”
“No trouble at all.”
“Keep looking,” Scott sang, sounding entirely too peppy.” Suddenly the doorstop came flying out and bounced off the lower shelf, and Scott let the door fly shut.
“What!”
“SCOTT!” Ororo heard the jingle of keys and one of them being punched into the lock from the outside.
“All right. Here’s what we’re gonna do.” Scott’s voice was all business now and determined, all cheerfulness gone. “You two are going to have a conference. Just you two. No more excuses, no more avoiding each other, no more hostile silences or hair pulling. You’re both adults. You work together, and I realize you have a past together, but you need to get past it and move on, or reassess your relationship, whether it’s personal or not. Here in the office, it’s not. Both of you grow up” Ororo stood openmouthed and Logan knocked on the door futilely, trying to remain calm.
“Scott…c’mon. This is bullshit. Open up. C’mon!” BANG! BANG! BANG! “SCOTT!”
“This isn’t funny. This isn’t appropriate at all, Scott,” Ororo called out. They were both discomfited by his retreating footsteps. It sounded like he casually tossed the ring of keys in the air as he walked out.
“Hey, Sam…you dropped your keys from your cart, buddy.”
“Aw, man…thanks, pal. Woulda caught hell if I lost those.”
“Sam! SAM!” Ororo called out.
In the hallway, Sam plugged the headphones into his iPod and headed into the men’s with packs of paper towels tucked under his arm.
Ororo leaned back against the rows of shelves and folded her arms, staring down at her feet. Anything not to look at Logan, who was still bracing his hands against the door as though he could push it open. “Fuckin’ cute,” he muttered. Ororo sighed. He faced her and threw up his hands. “Some meeting, huh?”
“Go ahead; what’s the first item on the agenda?”
“You tell me. Sheesh,” she tsked. “Did you put him up to this?”
“Are ya kiddin’ me? Hell, no. This ain’t the way I plan on having a chat with a woman who hates my guts.”
“Whoa…don’t go there. Who hates who? I don’t know why Scott thinks this is helping matters any, but don’t make this just about me being a bitch.”
“I didn’t say ya were.”
“Good.”
“You just said ya were.”
“What? You!” She made a disgusted sound and turned away from him. “Asshat…” she muttered under her breath.
“Yeah. This is helpful,” he shot back.
“We might be better off at different branches sooner than later, but I accepted this job to stay until January. I got roped into it.”
“Maybe ya wanna take this to Human Resources, then. See if ya can work on a different market.”
“A whole different market? How, pray tell, am I supposed to explain why I need that, let alone actually request it? ‘Teacher, teacher, Logan won’t quit pulling my hair, tell him to get away from me!’” she said in an unnaturally shrill voice. Logan hated it. One of her best qualities was her deep, smooth voice, so there was no way he was going to be stuck in a closet with her when she was making that annoying noise.
“That how ya talked with yer exes?” Ororo grumbled under her breath and sat down on a sealed cardboard box. She looked weary and rubbed her temples. “Whatsamatter?”
“This discussion’s already giving me a headache.”
“Sure. Blame me.”
“No. I blame Scott. This is like something out of a damned sitcom.” Logan snorted. He stood beside her and leaned against the shelf.
“Yeah. Geez…guy must have been pretty pissed if he resorted to this.”
“Ya think?” She chuckled. “He’s always so…perky. This isn’t like him. I didn’t know he had it in him.”
“Scooter’s pretty sharp and doesn’t take a lot of shit, despite the smiley face and Leave it to Beaver act.” Logan looked contemplative. “Kid’s actually been through a lot.”
“I never would have guessed.”
“He’s a trooper. I’ll let him tell ya about it.”
“That’s fine.” She laced her fingers together in thought. “He’s a good friend.”
“Yeah. He always has been to me. He knew my wife, back when…it’s just been a long time.” Ororo froze, and her eyes widened.
“Wife?” Her voice was sharp and accusing. It struck Logan what he’d said and what she no doubt believed, and he hurried to recant.
“No. No, no, no. Not present tense. Knew my wife.”
“What does that even mean? Like, an ex-wife, or wife wife?” Ororo felt her blood pressure skyrocketing, and it was hard to keep anything resembling composure. “Logan…PLEASE tell me you weren’t cheating on her with me.”
“I didn’t…”
“I won’t be any man’s mistress! I’ve been in the position of having the wool pulled over my eyes before!” Ororo’s eyes were snapping, and Logan felt his chest tightening and a pounding in his temples.
“Calm down,” he told her curtly. “I didn’t cheat on you. I ain’t the kinda man to cheat on anyone, alright?” He was up and pacing the tiny room. “I loved Jeannie. I loved her with all my heart, way before I ever met you. Get the idea of me cheating right outta yer pretty head, Ororo.” His expression was dark and brooked no nonsense, promised her no excuses.
“Don’t pull the ‘pretty’ card, buddy. I’m not that shallow. Flattery doesn’t get my mojo running.” Ororo felt herself growing more lathered up, defeating the purpose of Scott’s subterfuge.
“Fine. I’m clutching at straws here. So far, all I’ve seen is that yer stubborn, bossy, love to argue with me, and yer quick to jump to conclusions. Want me to go on? That doesn’t make ‘pretty’ sound so bad, does it? Have ya always been so hard?” His words rankled, making an ugly flush crawl over her skin and stiffen her spine.
“No. My ex leeched all the ‘nice’ out of me, thanks.” That surprised him.
“You were married?”
“Yes. I was.” Her posture was stiff as she stood and took the opposite corner of the closet from him. “He was the kind of man to cheat. More fool me. I don’t have patience for men who act like they want a relationship but who get conveniently distracted. Or make excuses.”
“So ya take that choice outta their hands. Miss One-Night Stand.”
“To hell with you,” she snapped. “No. That was a oneshot deal, pal. I don’t do that. I just…I needed a night for myself. Just one.”
“For what? Why me?”
“Because I saw you sitting there and thought, why not? I wasn’t expecting much but a drink, at first.” Her voice became more plaintive. “I don’t normally do that. That’s not like me. I’m just not much of a dater anymore. You looked like a man who knew how to have a good time. I didn’t plan much beyond that, since the ones who know what they’re doing in bed are the first ones who creep out the door the next day without so much as a goodbye.”
“So ya beat me to it. Hnh…”
“You didn’t cheat on your wife. Good. You get a brownie point, I’ll give you that.”
“Yay, me,” he said gruffly.
“So why did she leave?”
“She drove off one day and didn’t come back.”
“No explanation?”
“No.” He paused, and his voice became eerily calm. “They called me from the hospital to tell me she was brain dead. Her car was totaled. Three-car pileup during rush hour. A teenage girl was coming too fast through an intersection and didn’t stop on time. She rammed Jean past the light into a guy making a left turn.”
She’d put her foot in her mouth again. Ororo was speechless. Logan did the talking for them while Ororo felt herself deflate and lose every ounce of built-up steam.
“If ya wanna make generalizations or think all men are assholes because ya got used or deserted or lied to, that’s yer business, darlin’. That ain’t me. I still don’t know why she left. She didn’t take many of her things. Maybe she just wanted to get away and think. She left without a word. No note. No itinerary.” Ororo had a hard time meeting his gaze, and eventually she stopped trying. She stared at her hands as she picked idly at her thumbnail. “She’d been distant. She wasn’t herself those last few days.”
Ororo remained silent.
What? No more assumptions? My head’s still here on my shoulders, do ya feel like chewing it off still, or are ya full? Ororo cleared her throat and stood, then walked to the door. She wouldn’t face him as she carefully knocked.
“Scott,” she said without rancor, “our meeting’s over. We’d like to go back to our work day, now.” She knocked again. She paused a few seconds, then knocked again.
Suddenly she heard a frantic set of footsteps and a jingling of keys, and the doorknob was jiggled from the outside. Relief flooded Ororo’s chest as Sam’s face greeted them, looking completely chagrined.
“Doggone it, m’so sorry. Ah was walkin’ by, and I heard this knock and didn’t know where it was comin’ from. Did ya’ll get locked in by accident? This door’s tricky, it sticks.” Ororo felt Logan’s dark mood from behind her and shivered.
“Accidents happen,” Logan offered easily. Ororo strode quickly for the conference room door.
“Thank you, Sam. No harm done.” She breezed back to her office without looking back.
“Hope Ah didn’t throw a monkey wrench into yer day, man, leavin’ ya’ll that long in there.”
“Nah. It was already a mess,” Logan told him. He clapped him on the back and left the room. When he reached the hall, all he saw was Ororo’s low-heeled brown pumps and a brief swish of her hair retreating around the corner. His fists clenched at his sides.
“Okay, then. That went well.” He shook his head mirthlessly and headed to the break room for some coffee.
*
Once Ororo was back at her desk, she dove back into her files and worked productively for a half an hour.
Abruptly her fingers stopped typing and trembled slightly over the keys. She clenched them to make them stop, then relaxed them and tried again. Then they shook unimpeded until she snatched them away, then held them in her lap, kneading them. A weariness stole over her that made her hug herself.
Hate herself.
She propped her elbows on her desk to think, leaning her face into her hand and kneading the space above her brows. Her vision blurred slightly over the shame stinging them, and warm drops dampened the day planner calendar of her desk.
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