I turned my back on Mom and looked down at the caller ID of my ringing phone. Victor. I swiped right and answered.
“Hey…” My heart fluttered the instant he spoke.
“Hey, everything alright?”
“Mom…” My voice sagged more than I wanted it too. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure she was far away.
“Want me to make it better? Come by my place tonight.”
His invitation was music to my ears, but I had plans already. “I can’t, bud. I have things tonight. This weekend is one show after another, and I won’t be free until Monday when I have a day off.” The line was quiet a few seconds, as if he were disappointed. “If I could make it I would. I’m so sorry.”
“No worries.” In spite of the slow response, he sounded chipper as usual. “Lunch Monday at the office. You know where, right?”
“Sure. I’ll be there. What time?”
We discussed what I should bring, what time I should be there, and what I should wear even, and I let him go. After sex at his house, it had taken him long enough to ask me out again. I almost broke down and asked him myself, but I had the feeling he was traveling or something. Or maybe he was seeing someone else—that thought hadn’t occurred to me until just then. Regardless, I was excited to see him again, and I couldn’t wait for the weekend to be over.
9
VICTOR
The morning flew by, meeting after meeting, and by the time lunch arrived, I was famished. I’d been focusing on work so intently that I hardly remembered Katherine was joining me until a slight knock at my door interrupted my typing.
“Come in.” I continued typing the email to our prospective client, offering details about a golf outing we would take him on to discuss more about the prospective partnership.
Someone cleared their throat, and I looked up to see Katherine looking radiant, next to a grumpy-looking Ivy. Her nostrils were flared, her foot tapping, and her arms were crossed over her chest.
“You have a visitor.” Her tone was anything but professional, which pulled me completely out of the work I was doing. I saved the email to my drafts, and minimized the screen, then turned to welcome Katherine.
“Come sit. You brought lunch?” I focused on Katherine, to avoid Ivy’s angry glare, but Ivy gestured.
“Mr. Beringher, can I have a word with you?”
Kat smiled, sneaking into one of the chairs opposite mine and setting the bag of food on the desk. “It’s okay. I’ll get everything ready.” She smiled at me, and I rose to follow Ivy out of my office. It was rude to keep her waiting, but I knew Ivy would make a scene if I didn’t go with her. Somewhere along the line she had nominated herself my mother hen, and if I didn’t oblige these occasional tantrums, it got a little messy.
“What?” I asked as I shut the door so Kat wouldn’t hear a word of it. “What could you possibly need to lecture me about right now when I’m having lunch?”
She whipped around, her voice a lot louder than it should have been. “You damn well know what I’m upset about. Victor, that is just a little girl in there. You are taking advantage of her and you’re going to ruin your reputation and that of the company too.”
I glanced down the hall at Adam’s office, door open, and eyes locked on me. “Keep it down,” I hissed, grabbing her by the elbow and leading her away from my office back to her desk. “This is none of your business.”
“Hell, if it isn’t! My name is on that website just below yours, mister, and if this company starts to get a bad rep because of your poor choices, I would be affected.” She jerked her arm out of my hand and planted her hands on her hips.
“She is a legal, consenting adult, and I’m not pressuring her into anything. Besides, there is history here you don’t know about.”
Ivy scoffed, shaking her head. “She’s 14 years younger than you. That means you’re legitimately old enough to be her father.”
“God, Ivy. This is the last time I’m going to tell you. Mind your own fucking business.” I stormed off, leaving her huffing and puffing. Pausing at my door to gain my composure, I waved at Adam who raised an eyebrow but returned to his work unfussed. Then I let myself back into my office and locked the door.
“Sorry about that.”
Kat had the entire lunch set out for us, napkins and cutlery included. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and I had to admit, she was stunning, even in less-formal attire than the last two times I’d seen her.
“Everything okay?” she asked, offering me a soda in a paper cup with its plastic straw still covered by the wrapper protruding from it.
“Thank you.” I took the cup and sat, pulling the last part of the straw wrapper off and taking a sip. “Everything is fine. Ivy has a burr in her ass about your age.” I figured it didn’t help our situation to start with convenient secrets, and if we were going to have any chance at having a relationship of any sort, we needed to start with transparency. Especially when it came to this topic.
“Ugh.” She took a bite of her burger—tastier apparently than the ceviche I had ordered her—and chewed. When she had swallowed, washing it down with a drink, she continued. “Yeah, Mom confronted me about it too.”