Intoxicated (7 page)

Blake didn’t notice at first. “So, how was
it?”

“The food was delicious. You were right.”

She smiled triumphantly. Then she took a
closer look at me. “You okay?”

I nodded. “It’s just been a long day.”

Wisely, she accepted my answer. We drove home
in relative silence, and I excused myself to my room under the
guise of needing to unpack. I closed the door, flopping onto my new
queen sized bed. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed
Gracie’s number. She answered on the second ring.

“What’s up, hon?” she asked breezily.

“The room’s beautiful. You’ll have to come
see it. I’ll send you some pictures later.”

“Awesome. I can’t wait.”

I spent the next twenty minutes pretending
that I wasn’t about to have a nervous breakdown. Gracie’s voice was
comforting. We recounted the remainder of our day. She told me
about her latest shopping trip. I told her about the Italian
restaurant. We decided that she needed to go there with me when she
came to visit. I left out all things Matthew.

After we hung up, I remained flat on my back,
staring up at the ceiling. Tears clouded my vision. I had to be
imagining this. Matthew was just being nice. He wasn’t interested
in me. Just one abnormally perfect guy who was attempting to make
me feel welcome. Just a pretty face. Nothing more.

I rolled over onto my stomach, burying my
face in the pillow. Guilt plagued me as I realized Eric’s touch no
longer made me react the way Matthew’s innocent gestures had. Had
it ever? I thought of my boyfriend, en route to Atlanta with no
clue that I was here, thinking impure thoughts. I snorted,
realizing that he would undoubtedly be ogling some showgirls soon
without remorse. From him, I expected that behavior. From myself,
not so much.

Even though I knew that Eric’s phone would be
shut off during the flight, I still texted him. I told him that I
had made it safely to Fort Wayne, that I hoped his trip went well
and that I loved him. When I rolled over to check my phone hours
later, there was still no response.

As I drifted back to sleep, Gracie’s parting
words haunted me.

Are you ready for an upgrade?

My final week of vacation went quickly. I had
finally gotten everything unpacked and organized so that I could
locate it in a timely fashion. The move from a studio apartment to
one room in a house wasn’t too traumatic, especially since half of
my kitchen stuff had found a home downstairs. Technically, I
supposed I could claim the majority of the loft area as my own,
save for Blake’s office/workroom.

I was slowly getting used to sharing my space
with someone else. We had established a routine of sorts, and I was
starting to feel less like a guest and more like I belonged there.
I no longer felt like I was intruding upon her each and every time
we crossed paths. She really seemed to enjoy having me around, as
if I filled some kind of a void in her life. I didn’t question the
strangeness of the situation: a young, talented, beautiful success
story who only associated with her brother and needed a roommate to
find a friend.

One of the things I had quickly learned was
that Blake was not an early riser. Being self-employed, she chose
to open her business later in the morning and work equally late
into the evening. I couldn’t call her lazy, however. After we ate,
most nights she would retreat upstairs and work for a couple hours
more.

As for Matthew, he had stopped by several
times. Once he heard that I was actually a pretty good cook, those
visits seemed to come around dinner time. I attempted to keep my
distance at first, but was drawn to his outgoing personality. After
I decided that he wasn’t acting any differently towards me than he
did his sister, I began to relax. This I could handle. As an only
child, I had always wanted a sibling and now he was going to make
that dream come true. So what if my older “brother” was totally
hot?

In a moment of that brotherly type of
concern, he had grabbed my cell phone and entered in his contact
information. As he explained, since I was two hours away from most
of the people that I knew, I couldn’t exactly call one of them if I
locked myself out of the house or had car trouble. With a fifteen
year old car, he had a point. I just hoped that Eric wouldn’t
notice the addition to my address book.

I stood in front of the mirror on my first
day of my new job, critiquing my appearance. I was dressed to
impress in a conservative navy blue pantsuit and beige high heels.
My hair and makeup had been toned down for the workplace and I
looked every bit management material.

Of course, I had the kitchen all to myself. I
shuffled around as quietly as possible, selecting a bowl of cereal
and a cup of coffee for breakfast. I sat on a barstool and stared
outside at nothing in particular as I ate.

My anticipation had caused me to wake up
extra early, and I had plenty of time before I had to leave.
Finally, I couldn’t stand waiting any longer and I decided to get
going. I loaded the dishwasher, grabbed my purse and keys and
headed out the door.

During the week I had been here, I had
ventured out a couple times to help myself get acclimated to my new
city. Therefore, I knew right where I needed to go and the best way
to get there. Even with the morning traffic adding a few minutes to
my commute I still was one of the first cars in the parking lot. I
drove to the far side of the lot, selecting a spot on the outer
edge. I hoped I was not taking someone else’s place. I didn’t want
to create enemies on my first day over something stupid.

Corporate headquarters was a large brick
building that architecturally resembled a rectangle. All on one
level, it stretched expansively across the lot. Since this was
strictly employee-only territory, the focus was on form and
functionality, not on creating a good first impression. I laughed
as I strode up the sidewalk, wondering what Blake would have to say
about that.

The automatic doors slid open for me as I
approached. I walked into the lobby, taking a quick look around as
I went to the receptionist’s desk. No inspiration here either. Grey
commercial carpeting lined the floors, contrasting with the ivory
walls. Someone had attempted to add color by setting giant potted
plants around randomly. A few large prints hung on the walls,
obvious reproductions.

The receptionist was already at her post. She
was a younger looking redhead, perhaps fresh out of college. The
nameplate on her desk informed me that her name was Rebecca. She
smiled brightly as I came closer, greeting me with a polite “May I
help you?”

“I’m Lauren Jefferies,” I replied. “I just
transferred from the Indy branch. Today’s my first day here.”

She consulted something on her desk, possibly
a planner or calendar, then tapped her pen against it. “Ah, yes.
The new Director of Underwriting. If you want to have a seat, I’ll
see if George is ready for you.” Rebecca gestured to a bargain mart
style couch to her left prior to picking up her telephone and
dialing an extension. Effectively dismissed, I took a seat where
indicated.

As I waited, I watched as other employees
began to trickle in. Most juggled briefcases or laptops and their
morning fix of coffee. Some looked barely alive, others appeared as
though they had been up for hours and were eager to begin the
workday. A few glanced in my general direction. I smiled and tried
to look as friendly as possible. I wondered if any of them were on
my staff. Our bank wasn’t anywhere near the size of the megabanks,
but with locations throughout Indiana it was impossible to know
everyone. I was certain that I had communicated with some of these
people before in the regular course of business, but I had no clue
what faces to put with what names.

A few moments later, a distinguished looking
gentleman I assumed to be the George in question strode up to me.
My best guess would place him at about mid-fifties, just a touch of
gray hair highlighting his temples. He was dressed in an expensive
looking three piece suit. We exchanged a brief appraising look at
each other before he spoke.

“Ms. Jefferies?”

I stood, extending my hand. He gripped it
firmly, shaking it as he introduced himself.

“George Anderson, Vice President. A pleasure
to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

He motioned for me to follow him. “I’ll show
you to your office first, then we will do the grand tour. Our
workday will be starting in about-“ he referred to his watch,
“twenty minutes for the hourly employees, so you’ll be able to meet
your staff then.”

I nodded, having to walk quickly to stay on
pace with him. The two weeks off of high heels had left me a bit
rusty. Between that and the nerves setting in, I needed to be extra
careful that I wouldn’t face plant myself in the hallway.

The corridors were equally unimpressive. We
walked past the common areas: restrooms, breakroom, copy machine,
then turned down a hallway that opened up into an expansive area
filled with groupings of cubicles. George made a quick turn to the
left, explaining that this was where my team sat. The door to my
office was on the far left hand side wall. The room was unlocked,
the heavy wooden door propped open slightly. He pushed it open the
rest of the way and flipped on the light.

A large wooden desk sat in the middle of the
room, facing the entryway. When I would take my seat in the faux
leather office chair, I could effectively keep an eye on the
cubicles from afar. Two mismatched cushioned chairs were placed
opposite my perch, barely squeezed into the small space. A cheaply
fashioned bookcase stood empty along the right hand wall.

Not perfect, but at least it was better than
I was accustomed to at the branch.

“Of course, you may bring in some personal
touches to make this seem more like home,” George smiled as if he
sensed my disappointment. “We have sent for some of your reference
materials to be brought in from the other office. They should be
arriving sometime today, by the looks of things.”

“Sounds good.”

Since we had already seen most of the other
important sections of the building on our way to my office, the
grand tour really didn’t amount to much. The facility had a
basement, where the mailroom was located as well as the company’s
server room. All in all, this building housed most of the
operational functions of the organization. The official, true
corporate headquarters of the bank was found downtown in a much
more glamorous location. To say I was slightly discouraged was an
understatement, but I reminded myself that a promotion was a
promotion.

I wouldn’t mention the majority of the
details to Eric. He would definitely gloat if he ever found
out.

The tour finished, George escorted me back to
my office. He informed me that my computer should already be ready
to go and I should be able to use my same logins and passwords as
before. He paused in the doorway to remind me that his office was
just three doors down and to feel free to stop by if I needed
anything. His sense of bravado had diminished greatly by this point
in time, and I decided that I liked him.

I sat down in my chair and powered up my
computer. As I waited for everything to come up, I pulled my cell
phone out of my purse and set it on the desktop. The notification
light flashed brightly at me, and I checked to see what or whom I
had missed. There were three texts wishing me luck. One from my
father, one from Blake and the last from Matthew. I smiled as I
read through them, deleting my dad’s and Blake’s immediately after.
For whatever reason, I kept the one from Matthew.

When I was able to sign in to my work email,
I clicked on the message from Gracie first. She was also wishing me
luck, of course, and I quickly typed back that I would call her
later with all of the scoop. I knew this would make her happy, and
also fill her with anticipation. She knew me well enough to know
that if everything was favorable, I would have just come right out
and said it. However, I wasn’t about to write anything that could
be considered a critical review of my surroundings and send it via
company email.

True to George’s word, my team filed in right
before eight in the morning. Trust me, I sympathized, having been
there, done that. I would be overseeing four employees who
basically did the same job that I had done at the branch. However,
most branches did not have a field underwriter. The sheer volume of
applications processed in the Indianapolis market had made me a
necessary anomaly; the majority of underwriting was done right
here. In essence, the loan officer took an application, then sent
the complete file to me, the Director of Underwriting, to
distribute amongst my team for processing. I would now have a
supervisory role, though all tough decisions would ultimately be my
call.

I locked my workstation and rose from my
desk, eager to meet the people I would be working with. This was
where the nervousness came into play. Being as young as I was, I
was no stranger to the fact that others might have a hard time
taking orders from me. I wanted to come across with just the right
mixture of friendliness and authority. I had no clue what their
opinions had been of my predecessor. I only hoped they would give
me a fair chance.

As I crossed the distance between my office
and the grouping of cubicles, four sets of eyes turned and looked
back at me expectantly. Fortunately, none of them looked like they
were ready to bite my head off.

“Good morning,” I said with more confidence
than I felt, “I’m Lauren Jefferies. It’s a pleasure to meet
you.”

I walked from desk to desk, shaking hands
with each person. Bob Patterson was the employee with the most
seniority in the department, almost sixteen years’ worth. I spied a
family picture on his desktop. He had a lovely wife and a son that
looked like he was in high school. Samantha Walters was next; she
had just started at the bank about four months prior. She was
middle to late twenties, single from the looks of it. The only
picture on her desk was a candid shot of her puppy. Lisa Allen was
a rather established employee with five years’ experience. She was
more of a mystery; her workstation was very clean and lacked any
personality whatsoever. Kelly Jones rounded out the group. I had
actually spoken with Kelly several times on the phone, and she
looked nothing like I would have imagined. She had a girlish,
almost bubbly voice, but in reality was a little on the Amazonian
side. An imposing presence indeed. Kelly had been with the company
for the last nine years.