Running From Fate (17 page)

James cleared his thro
at and tried to clear his head. 
“There’s something that we need to discuss, Barry.
I’ll see you in my office.”
After a quick glance at Mira, he strode swiftly out of the room.

Barry looked at Mira and shrugged his shoulders before turning an
d following James out the door. 
Mira was left alone in a room that
suddenly
seemed empty.
  She hoped they weren’t discussing her
, at least not negatively
. 
James had spent
much too long
studying her work.

**********************************************
************

By noon Mira was starving.
S
he had grabbed a strawberry Pop-T
art before
going out
, but hadn’t eaten anything else since then and all the coffee she had consumed this morning was making her stomach jittery
. 
It
was time for lunch.

She turned from her work and looked across the room at Amy
Fairchild
.
The short, black haired woman was staring vacantly at a computer screen while chewing on the end
of a pencil.  The 28-year-
old
’
s
irreverent sense of humor, outrageous wardrobe, and free-spirited outlook toward men
—
she changed boyfriends almost as often as she changed hair color
—
made her an amusing and interesting
companion
.
She could do with some of that liveliness today, Mira thought.
 

Amy jolted when Mira tapped her on the shou
lder and spun her chair around. 
The pencil fell from her mouth and rolled across the floor.

“I was going to ask if you wanted to get something to eat,” Mira quipped, “but it looks like you already have.”
She glanced down at the gnawed on pencil that had come to rest against her feet.

“This,” Amy replied as she bent down to retrieve the pencil, “is just an appetizer
. 
I’m ready for lunch
and,
besides, the computer is starting to fry my brain.
Let’s get out of here.”
She stood up
and powered
down the computer.

“I don’t understand why you insist on working on that thing,” Mira said as they headed toward the front door.
“Working on paper gives you much more creative freedom and it doesn’t strain your eyes.”

“I like my computer.  What's more
, I work on practical buildings not those
fanciful pieces of whimsy that you’re always working on.
Oomph,” she said as a woman ran straight into her.

“Watch where you’re going, little toad,” the tall,
blond
woman
sneered
.

Completely ignoring the fact that she had caused the collision, she patted her sleek hair and ran her glacial blue eyes scornfully over Amy’s blue and green plaid skirt, knee high boots, and emerald
toned blouse. 
“I see you haven’t developed any
fashion sense since I last saw you,” she
taunted
.

“Hello Kimberly.
It doesn’t look like you’ve
developed any class since I last saw you.
” 
Amy glanced disparagingly at the plunging neckline of the woman’s undoubtedly expensive silk dress.

“J
ames happens to like this dress,
”
Kimberly pouted.
Lightning swift
, she turned and focused her laser eyes on Mira.
“Who are you?” she demanded.

“Mira Anders.”
Deciding it was more polite to play nice, at least at first, Mira
held out her hand.
The other woman took it gingerly and, after a perfunctory shake, pulled back as if afraid she would catch something.

“Wait a second,” Kimberly said derisively, obviously not willing to give Mira the same courtesy that she had received.
“
I recognize you.
Aren’t you the woman who was forced to quit her job after your boss’ wife found out he was sleeping with you?”
Her voice was alight with malicious glee.

“No,
” Mira corrected calmly.
“
I’m the employee who was
fired
from her job for testifying against her bos
s when he tried to commit fraud.
”
 
It was ridiculous what people believed, she fumed, especially when their information came from seedy tabloids.

“Oh
you poor dear
,” the woman gushed
crooned with fake sweetness
.  “
You look like you could use a friend and
I would love to hear the whole sad story
.
”

More likely, Mira seethed, she just wanted to hear some juicy gossip that she could distort and spread around.  There was no way.  She hardened her gaze and remained silent.

When she realized that she wouldn’t get anything out of Mira,
Kim’s eyes suddenly narrowed and
she switched direction, eying her
with
undisguised suspicion. 
“You had better not try to steal James.
He’s mine.”
She
looked down her patrician nose.  “We’re getting married,
”
she informed both women haughtily.

“Is that what he says or just what your deluded imagination came up with?”
Amy asked snidely.

Kim frowned deeply and opened her mouth to reply when James strolled into the lobby.
Her face suddenly cleared and she plastered a sickeningly sweet smile on her face.

“Th
ere you are James,” she purred. 
“I just had the most interesting conversation with your two lovely employees.”

James looked over at them.
His eyes locked on Mira’s and stayed there.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” Amy said.

“Thank you, Amy,” James mumbled,
not knowing what she was talking about and not particularly caring
. 
His
hungry
eyes never stray
ed
from Mira’s face.

“Come on James. 
We’re going to miss our lunch reservation.”
Kim’s slim hand locked around his wrist, her scarlet nails making dents in his suit coat.
She tugged.

James tore his eyes from Mira and looked vacantly at the woman standing next to him.
For a second h
e couldn’t remember who she was.
Then
it hit him
,
Kimberly Roberts.
The woman he had been seeing for four months.
He glanced distas
tefully at her manicured hands,
professionally done hair, and pouting red lips
.
Her father was a very influential businessman in the local area so he would have to be careful, but he thought it was about time that he
broke it off.  She was getting way too possessive
.

“The restaurant isn’t going to give away our reservation, Kim,” he said.
“I’ll be just a minute.”
He turned
with some idea of
speak
ing
to Mira, but
both women
were gone.

*************************************
*********************

“Married, Pat, she said married and your son didn’t refute it.
”
Mira clenched the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she worked on preparing a grilled chicken salad.
A Clash CD played in the background, the gritty 70’s punk a perfect counterpoint to her restless mood.

“It’s nothing to be worrying about,
darlin’,” Pat soothed.
“Sure as faith, the lad will be seeing a different lass soon.”

“What!
Are you sayi
ng that your son is a playboy?” 
She clenched her teeth and
grabbed a knife to work
on decimating the chicken that she had just removed from the pan.

“
Ah, no.
That’s no what I’m saying at all,” he hedged.
“The lad just needs a good woman to settle him down.”

“And I’m that good woman?”
Deciding that the chicken was done, she scooped it up and dumped it on top of her salad.

“Of course you are,” Pat replied cheerfully, completely ignoring her sarcasm.
“You were always it for each other.
Just like me lovely
Fiona
.
I knew it the first time I saw her dance…”

Mira dribbled some Italian dressing on her salad.
She sat it on the breakfast bar and grabbed
a glass from the cupboard and
a bottle
of wine from the refrigerator. 
Pat droned on in her ear and she made appropriate ‘listening’ noises while she ate her dinner
and mentally composed the week’s shopping list
.
Her cupboards were starting to look a bit empty.

“…grandchildren…”

“What?
What did you say?” Mira asked.
She swallowed
too
quickly and
almost choked
.

“Pay attention lass,” he chided.
“
I was just saying how
Fiona
would have loved to be a granny.”

“Um, yeah,” she interrupted
quickly.  She did
not
want to have this conversation. 
“Listen.
I’ve got an early morning so I need to get to bed soon.
”

“I
understand,” he mumbled forlornly.
“
Goodnight
then
Mira
my lass
.
I’ll
ring
soon.”