揑t抎 been twenty-four hours, and he抯 thirty-six. That抯 not old enough for stuff to stop working, right??
揌e抯 only thirty-six??she shouts. 揧ou said he was old! No, that抯 not an age at which anything stops working.?
Which leaves me back at the drawing board, wondering why the hell he抯 acting like this is more than it is.
I put on the red dress I discarded a few days ago and take it right back off. Nothing has changed in the two days since I decided red was the color of sex and I refuse to let Mr. Maybe-I-Wanted-to-Get-to-Know-You think I抦 trying to seduce him. That ship has sailed.
I will take my free milk elsewhere. Fuck Ben. No more free milk. I抦 putting it back on the shelf, in the paid marketplace.
I probably need to work on my analogies.
I get to the office and try to focus, but it抯 a struggle. Every two seconds I抦 picturing him looking at me last night梥aying, 揑 want to be someone you trust enough to invite home.?And each time I think of it, I soften a little, but how long would those good intentions of his possibly last? I let him come over once, and then he keeps coming over, and the moment I decide to trust him is the moment he抣l decide to move on to something else.
I put my head down and focus on the Lawson case. I抳e found ten different employee reviews now of managers who got promoted despite 搃ncidents? It抯 probably enough to get Margaret a decent settlement, but I want better than decent. I want a number so high that it gets the press抯 attention and Fiducia is forced to publicly admit they fucked up. But how? Margaret said there were outings she hadn抰 been invited to. Maybe it was discriminatory, or maybe Margaret is the pain in the ass they抳e implied she is, and they just didn抰 want her along.
I call and she sounds excited to be hearing from me, which is unfortunate since I don抰 have any especially good news. 揌ow抯 it going??she asks.
Not as well as I抎 like.
揋reat,?I say. 揃ut we need more, so I抳e got a quick question for you. You said there were a bunch of trips and nights out for staff that you weren抰 invited to. Were other women invited? And do you know what they were doing??
揘ot as far as I know,?she replies. 揑t sounds like it was mostly drinking, but a girl in accounting told me they were always at strip clubs too.?
My foot starts to tap furiously. 揝trip clubs,?I repeat. If someone in accounting knows about outings to strip clubs, that probably means they were submitted as an expense, yet there was no mention of them in the reports sent to us. 揥ould she talk to us??
揑 doubt it,?Margaret says. 揝he抯 still there. She抎 lose her job.?
揘o one has to know,?I promise. 揑t would be completely, one hundred percent off the record.?
One hour later I抳e got a meeting set up with Leona, the woman in accounting. Ben抯 out of the office, but I抦 too excited not to tell him. I call, feeling the oddest tension inside me at the sound of his gravelly, 揾ello敆I don抰 know if it抯 fear or excitement.
揂re you busy??I ask.
揑抦 pretty busy,?he replies.
I roll my eyes. 揧ou抮e not that busy. You wouldn抰 have answered if you were.?I quickly sum up the call with Leona and tell him she wants to meet at her house because she can抰 afford to be seen with me.
揟hat抯 amazing,?he says. 揑抦 in court all day, but I抣l be out of here by five.?
Oh. So, he actually is busy. And he still took my call.
I wouldn抰 have taken his.
揧ou抮e not going to convince her to testify,?I argue. 揑抦 capable of collecting facts on my own.?
揂re we certain about that? Because only one of us has made partner so far.?
I laugh. 揧ou just love to throw that in my face.?
I can hear the smile in his voice. 揑 do. Mostly because you laugh, every fucking time.?
When we arrive at the address in Beverly Hills, Leona is waiting by the side gate. She leads us into the pool house she抯 renting and takes the seat across from us. 揑 need you to promise this will never get out,?she says. 揑 can抰 afford to lose my job right now, and they抎 find a way to fire me, I assure you.?
揧our name will never come up, unless you change your mind,?Ben says.
His voice seems to soothe her. He comes across as trustworthy to strangers. He抯 even starting to seem trustworthy to me. I wish he wasn抰。
She crosses the room to the kitchen counter and grabs a file. 揑 made copies of the expense reports. It抯 been going on for years.?
I take it from her and open it on the coffee table so Ben and I can look at the same time.
The amounts spent are outrageous. Some are out of town, accompanied by massive hotel bills and greens fees, but most of them are in LA, at a club near their office.
揑t抯 always pissed me off,?she says. 揥e have employees who need to work a second job just to survive, and these assholes are blowing twenty grand on girls??