Disillusioned (5 page)

“I can't wait until he does
something bad”? Tessa could derive nothing from the conversation
that made sense.

Liset, the college student and nanny, was
speaking to her “boss” about a person who might do something
bad.

And “
Tengo
que
pararle”? Liset
had to stop someone? Who? And how could Liset stop anyone
from doing anything? 5'2” and barely breaking 100 pounds, Liset
didn't look as if she could impede a kitten if it wanted to go
somewhere,

Suddenly, a knock shattered Tessa's reverie
and sent her heart racing into her throat. She knew that no one had
passed her on the way down the hall, but she couldn't help fearing
discovery. Pressing herself against the side wall of the threshold
where she stood, she again held her breath, afraid that the noise
of the air moving through her lungs would betray her presence.

Liset's hiss pierced through the darkness.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded angrily, her slight Spanish
lisp deepened by the intensity of her words.

In answer, a deep male voice laughed.

“I came to see you, of
course.” The rich baritone voice carried easily down the hallway,
a
faintly foreign accent tinging the
tone
.
French,
again?
Tessa wondered to herself with
curiosity.

“Sssh! Someone will hear you!” came Liset's
terse reply. “You shouldn't have come here, especially after what
you did today. You're lucky I don't incapacitate you on the
spot.”

“If you would invite me in, no one would see
or hear me.” Though the man spoke casually, Tessa noted a latent
urgency in his tone, and her curiosity billowed.

This time Liset laughed, though in a subdued
tone. “Do you think I'm a fool? Your evasive manner may have some
convinced of your abilities, but I am not impressed. I have no
certainty with whom your loyalty lies, and I won't bet on what I
don't understand. Even now, I would barricade myself in my
apartment if I weren't afraid you might find a way to betray my
presence here.”

“As if I could not force my way in,” he
laughed again. “But if I were to believe rumors, you might prefer
that I did?”

At this, Tessa heard a sharp blow felled,
followed by another deep laugh.

“That was for my honor. I
won't allow you to sully my reputation,” Liset countered.
A slap,
Tessa thought,
her mind now processing the sound. “Do not make me forget myself or
you will suffer more serious repercussions.”

“You are very sure of yourself,” the deep
voice countered, faltering slightly.

Liset barked a laughed, “Considering what you
know about me, I doubt you have as much boldness as you
portray.”

Again, Tessa wondered at
the thought.
Why would a man have
something to fear from little Liset, the gentle young woman with
whom I entrust my children every day?

“Please,” the man pressed
urgently, “I meant only to show you the folly of believing rumors.
Despite what you may have heard, you don't know me.”

“Well, this is not the way to introduce
yourself.”

Tessa could no longer stand the suspense; she
carefully peered around the edge of the doorway.

The sight that greeted her eyes could not
have shocked her more.

Little, petite Liset stood, hands on her
hips, defiantly glaring up at a much larger man. Though Tessa could
not see his face because of the shadow cast by the corridor light,
she could discern the very dark, perhaps black, color of his hair,
and his tight fitting t-shirt revealed defined muscles. Why this
man would fear Liset completely escaped Tessa's comprehension, and
the thought sent a chill up her spine.

“I have much to be afraid of,” he replied,
this time his voice hushed, “but you are not it. Since you will not
hear me, though, I will leave. I have as much reason to avoid
exposure as you if not more.”

“Fine, then.” Without taking her leave, Liset
turned immediately to reenter her apartment.

What happened next occurred so quickly that
Tessa almost doubted her eyes. The man grabbed Liset's wrist to
restrain her, and though he did not seem to harbor any overt
aggression, Liset spun rapidly upon the man. She adeptly twisted
her own arm and her own body in such a way that she, as a result,
stood behind the man, her arm free from his grasp. He knelt tensely
on one knee, and his arm bent painfully behind his back. He winced
with some sort of discomfort.

“Please, Liset,” he pleaded. “I am sorry. I
only wanted to ask you a favor.”

Tessa's heart pounded against the inside of
her chest.

“A favor?” Liset did not release him, but her
tone seemed receptive. “Why in the world would I want to help
you?”

“That is the favor. Just come have coffee
with me so I can explain myself to you. I have information for you
that I believe you will find very interesting. It's regarding your
client.”

Her client?
confusion churned in Tessa's mind.
What kind of client would Liset have?

Liset paused, obviously considering. “I will
not meet you. Tell me now,” she demanded.

“It is too much,” he replied, then glanced
furtively back and forth along the hallway. “And too sensitive to
share in an unsecured hallway.”

Tessa's rapidly beating heart suddenly
stopped. Though Tessa had immediately ducked back into the alcove,
she knew that her quick movement had caused a shuffling sound, or
at least a whistle of wind. Would they have heard her? Waiting, she
listened carefully for any indication betraying the fact that one
of them had seen her. For a pregnant moment, she heard no sound,
and her mind raced with new, more pressing questions than her
curiosity about Liset. Most importantly, would she have time to
run? And equally as important, could she find her way out through
the maze of hallways running full-tilt?

Liset's sudden, whispered reply relieved
Tessa's frozen heart and let it beat again. She risked one last
peek around the corner.

“Fine,” Liset allowed.
“Meet me at La
Parisienne
tomorrow morning.” She
relaxed her grip on his arm as she spoke, and he rose to face her,
now tentative.

“I can't wait,” he replied, a sarcastic
twinge replacing his earlier bravado.

Tessa's former anxiety returned as she heard
Liset say, “Until tomorrow, then.” and his reply of, “Goodbye.”

Again, Tessa froze against the door frame, as
motionless as she could possibly stand. Still constantly debating
with herself about whether or not to run, she listened as Liset's
door shut firmly. She paused what seemed an infinitely long time,
though in reality, she stood still for only a few minutes. Then,
anxious lest she encounter the man, Tessa again peered cautiously
down the corridor. To her relief, the two people had disappeared;
Liset, into her apartment, and the man, no doubt exiting the hall
along some other route. After pausing another minute to regain her
composure, Tessa glided cautiously through the hallways back to her
waiting car.

Tessa's head began to
pound.
I must be asleep,
she reasoned.
Things
like this don't happen in real life, at least not in
mine.

A moment later, though, her mind
wandered to the conversation she had overheard. Perhaps Liset held
another job along with the Wilson's, though Tessa could not imagine
that Liset had time for two jobs and a full time education.
Besides, why would Liset keep such a job secret from
Tessa?

Then Tessa considered
Liset's words.
Her client?
Tessa questioned.
Could
Liset be talking about me?
Not likely, in
light of the man's assertion, because Tessa had never seen him
before, so, what information could he have on her? Tessa had no
“information” worth gathering; her life consisted of routine and
boredom.
Except for
today
, she sighed.

Tessa made her way back to her parking
spot, a lengthy trek to a distant spot, since Tessa had feared
discovery. Despite the new information, Tessa felt disappointed and
a little bit defeated. In following Liset, Tessa had sought to
either satisfy herself of her own folly or find something with
which she could go to Merritt. Now, though, Tessa really couldn't
tell Merritt anything. Though her suspicions of Liset's duplicity
had been confirmed, Tessa realized just how Merritt would view her
actions. In order to tell Merritt what she had seen, Tessa would
also have to tell him that she had followed Liset, and despite his
claim of fearlessness, he lost his cool when Tessa acted
recklessly. She didn't particularly wish to face his
reaction.

Of course, she knew the validity of his
opinion. She had acted rashly, in a risky and thoughtless fashion.
Now knowing what she knew, Tessa could effect little without
telling Merritt, not even fire Liset. Fortunately, Tessa had a
month before Liset would be anywhere near her children, and Tessa
hoped to come up with some plausible reason for letting Liset go by
then.

Knowing she would never be brave enough to
try to eavesdrop on the conversation at La Parisienne, Tessa
immediately gave up the idea of learning any more about Liset.
Tessa knew she could never successfully maneuver Merritt into
leaving her alone in the morning. Anyway, knowing the danger
inherent in following Liset, Tessa couldn't think of any reason,
except base curiosity, to know any more about her soon-to-be
ex-nanny. With the vision of the man on his knees, Tessa determined
that she would forever say goodbye to Liset Cortes.

The music throbbed loudly in Tessa's head
causing a relentless ache in her head, and the resulting pain
sapped her of her usual mental acuity. As the unknown crowd milled
around her, the crash of tinkling glass pounded her brain like a
thousand tiny hailstones against a shattered window. The
overwhelming tang of alcohol warped the air with its pungent scent.
The sensations sent Tessa's mind reeling, impotent to manufacture
the poise she so desperately wished to maintain in her present
circumstances. It did not help Tessa's state-of-mind that she
loathed her husband's office parties; so much so, in fact, that the
lingering effects of parties past created in Tessa a visceral
aversion, an involuntary revulsion prone to resurface at a moment's
notice.

Like a scene from a movie,
every person in attendance wore designer clothes on his slim form
and carried a designer drink in his soft, polished fingers. The
dimness of the overhead lights intensified the shimmer of
streetlamps in the city below, and Tessa pressed her way directly
to the opposite wall.
Not a
wall
, she corrected herself. Instead of
masonry, every corner and divot of the room looked through
transparent glass to the earth below. Only the floor and ceiling
offered Tessa any sense that she did not float, suspended, four
hundred feet above the ground.

Tessa leaned her forehead
against the cool glass, trying to catch a breath in the pocket of
air above some decorative potted plants. She felt no desire to
mingle among the other attendees, drunk as they would soon become.
Not
that Tessa was a teetotaler, but she
could never comprehend the sheer idiocy of people who paraded
themselves in front of coworkers and bosses with the
unpredictability brought on by inebriation.
Not the brightest of ideas,
she
scoffed. Contrarily, Tessa determined to sip on a single glass of
wine all night, a trick she had learned in order to avoid standing
out in a crowd of drinkers.
She had come
to the conclusion that abstainers made drinkers feel guilty.
Regardless of others' opinions, however, Tessa would not subject
herself to the vulnerability that came from drunkenness.

From the reflection off the glass, Tessa
could make out a few faces that she recognized. She saw Merritt's
administrative assistant, Paula, a woman of generally good
character, though Tessa sensed a deep ambition in the lady. Behind
Paula, the unexpected face of David Brabham peered out into the dim
room. Tessa had not expected the other vice presidents to attend
the Phoenix party, and she felt a particular dislike for David
Brabham. For some reason, the man had made a bad initial impression
on Tessa, and she had never quite recovered her good opinion of
him.

Next to David stood Walter Theodore Johnson,
President and C.E.O. Of Pericorp Communications. Unlike David, Walt
Johnson had never exuded any negative vibes to Tessa. He seemed
smoother than she would have preferred in a man, but she sensed
that he just held the salesman's ability to work a crowd. The fact
that she so easily spotted the veneer almost made her less
concerned about Walt, regardless of his creepy speeches about
“loyalty” to Pericorp.

Unwilling to deliberate any more on the
subject of her husband's fellow executives, Tessa turned her
attention to the “less important” people. Occasionally, she spotted
a familiar face, and she graced its owner with her rather striking
smile. As much as possible, however, Tessa tried to fade into the
transparent windows.

Blending in had never come easily for Tessa -
not that her looks drew excess attention, her being attractive, but
not beautiful. Tessa thought that the best thing about her physical
appearance was her elegant height. Other than that, she saw nothing
remarkable about her misty, dark blue eyes, which, though large,
were a little too close together to be classically beautiful, her
straight dark-brown hair, pretty but not envy-worthy, or her
heart-shaped mouth which didn't match the current trend of large
full lips. Her looks merely pleased, not intrigued those who saw
her. Rather, though Tessa could hide for a while, she inevitably
drew attention by her tendency to ask challenging questions.