He was almost to his door when she spoke again. “I know you’re busy,” she said in her recently-acquired frosty tone, “but I would like to see you for a minute before I leave. Is that all right?”
“Sure, sure,” he said, slightly annoyed. Since when did Iyana have to ask permission to come in and see him? “Whenever you’re ready.”
He didn’t look back as he went into his office and closed the door behind him. Soon he forgot about Iyana and talks and meetings and lost himself in the pile of papers on his desk.
When he heard a knock at his door he glanced at the time at the bottom of his computer screen. Exactly five o’clock. It had to be his assistant telling him she was heading for home. “Come in,” he called out and did a quick stretch then reached up to lock his fingers behind his head as he leaned back in the swivel chair.
The door opened and Iyana walked in as he’d expected. “I’m leaving now,” she said, walking right up to his desk, “but I wanted to give you this before I go.” She held out a white envelope to him.
“Oh? What’s this?” He unclasped his fingers and took it from her.
She didn’t give him a chance to open it. “That,” she said emphatically, “is my letter of resignation.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Where is he?” Arie glanced at the clock for what must have been the fifth time. After they’d had lunch together two days earlier they’d agreed it was his turn to arrange their next dine-out. They’d decided to leave straight from work and discuss some wedding plans over dinner. He’d said he would come get her at five-thirty and it was already eight minutes after six.
“Relax, will you? He’s probably caught in rush hour traffic. Give the man a chance.” Lena, who was working late as usual, shook her head and gave Arie an indulgent smile. “You’re probably hungry but another few minutes won't kill you.”
“I’m starving,” she said, "but it’s not that. He didn’t answer his cell phone. I just want to know he’s okay.”
The words hadn’t left her mouth before Rome appeared in front of the glass doors and pushed them open. “Sorry about that,” he said and nodded to Lena in greeting then walked over to Arie and planted a swift kiss on her forehead. “The day I had a flat tire was the day my cell phone went dead on me.” He gave her a rueful grin. “I forgot to charge it last night.”
That didn’t let him off the hook. “You had me worried this whole time,” she chided. “You’ve never heard of something called a car charger for your cell phone? You don’t have one?”
“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to get one of those for the longest.” He shrugged. “I just never got around to it.”
“Well, guess what? First thing tomorrow you’re going to get one. I don’t ever want you to be stranded without the use of your phone.” She’d been hiding her concern behind a stern exterior but now she dropped it and slid her arms around his waist. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. Don’t you know that?”
Rome dipped his head to kiss her on the nose. “I know that. I’ll get the charger tomorrow. Promise.”
They bid Lena farewell and headed off to Antoine's in the French Quarter. They didn’t have reservations but luckily for them, because it was the middle of the week, there were free tables. They made themselves comfortable by the window looking out onto the street where musicians played and entertained passersby. While they had their meals of poulet aux champignons and chateaubriand they discussed their wedding plans.
“Like I said, nothing big. I hate too much fanfare.” Arie took a sip of her pineapple juice.
Rome shrugged. “And like I said, it’s your call. Big or small, I’ll be there. But remember, I’ve got a huge family.”
“I know,” Arie said with a grimace. “A family that doesn’t like me too much.”
He gave her a look that was half regretful, half apologetic. “They’re coming around,” he said as if that should be comforting.
But it wasn’t. Not really. She sighed and gave him a wistful smile. “Sometimes I wish you were more like me.”
He gave her a quizzical look. “Meaning?”
She chuckled. “Things would be so much easier if you were alone. You know, no family to contend with. Then we could just go in front of a judge and be done with it.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “I thought women loved the idea of big weddings.”
“Not all women,” she said, shaking her head. “Definitely not me.”
“And I have no problem with that,” he said. “We could get married in the bathtub if you want. I don’t care. As long as I snag you I’m happy.”
That made her laugh and then they got to talking about work and how much of it they had to wade through.
“Right now I’m worse off than you,” Rome said, “taking care of things on my own. I still haven’t found a temp I like. My HR manager is getting tired of me. Says I’m too picky.”
“What do you mean?” Arie asked. “What’s the temp for?”
“Remember my personal assistant?”
Arie smiled. “How could I forget Miss Frosty?”
“She quit.”
Her smile disappeared. “She quit? How come?”
Rome shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. That day we went out to lunch, when I came back she said she needed to see me then at day’s end she walked into my office and handed me her resignation.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
Arie frowned. Something was not right with that picture. “And before that day she’d never given any indication that she was unhappy?”
“No sign at all,” he said. “At least none that I noticed. It was the weirdest thing…” His voice trailed off and his gaze took on a look of confusion.
For some reason Arie didn’t like the sound of that. In fact, thinking back on that afternoon she was beginning to remember some things that now seemed downright suspicious. The cool reception, the rolling of the eyes, the abrupt dismissal when the assistant was ready to go back to her office. It was all adding up to something that she was almost too scared to say out loud. But she had to.
“Rome,” she said, her voice deceptively calm, “before that day you introduced me as your fiancée did your personal assistant know that you were engaged?”