Tessa's Wishes (Whispered Wishes #3) (15 page)

“Oh, I’m just teasing. Wow, you really do need some
stress relief.
”

She dropped her voice down to the softest whisper possible. “You have no idea. Especially in the last few days with this meeting coming up today. You know how my boss can be. I’ve barely gotten any sleep.”

“
Tessa
!” Mr. Abbott’s voice was so loud she swore she felt the building shake.

“Shit,” she groaned. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you when I get home later … if I survive.”

She hung up her phone without waiting for Ava to respond and swiftly walked into her boss’ office with a pad of paper and pen, ready for the onslaught of orders. The meeting was scheduled to begin in an hour in their conference room, which was unusual. Mr. Abbott and Mr. Schilling always met downtown. In fact, Nicholas Schilling had never been to the offices of Abbott and Associates before. She gathered from conversations she’d had with Todd that his boss did not have the temper Mr. Abbott had; however, with all that money she imagined he had to be just as self-centered. She wondered how both of their egos would fit in their tiny conference room.

Tessa had gotten to work an hour early. In addition to her professional duties as financial accountant, the job she’d actually been hired to do, she’d assumed that as the only
woman
in the office, her boss would expect that she clean and set up the conference room. Not that he would notice or acknowledge her taking initiative to perform any of these tasks, but she knew had she not done them, he’d find a way to belittle her for missing them. Trying to avoid such a confrontation, she decided to come in early and spend her time vacuuming, dusting, and emptying the trashcan, as he was too cheap to hire a cleaning service to come more than once a month. She set out water pitchers, coffee urns, cups, napkins, tea bags, and anything else she could think of that they might need for morning drinks. She then placed three business folders, complete with reports, papers, and writing utensils on the conference table, one each for Mr. Abbott, Mr. Schilling, and one for Todd, who always accompanied his boss to these meetings. Of course, she’d have to pretend she didn’t know him, at least for now. Hopefully she’d be able to keep her secret. It would be tough knowing he was in the same building.

“Are you listening?” Mr. Abbott snarled.

“I’m sorry, sir, I was just remembering that I needed to get the coffee started. Would you mind repeating that?”

“Tessa, do you have any idea how important this meeting is?”

“Yes, sir,” she responded, looking confused. After all of the work she put in, how could he even ask her such a question?

He got up from his desk and paced the floor. “Word on the street is that Nicholas has been spending a lot of time out of the office lately. My guess is he’s thinking about a new business venture.”

“Is that a problem?” Tessa asked, wondering why this was of significance. Was he not allowed to leave his office? And how odd that people kept tabs on his whereabouts.

He stopped pacing and stared at her. “Of course it’s a problem. Every day he gets some greedy vultures knocking on his door, wanting him to invest in their hot new idea. I’m Nicholas’ accountant. He’s never once considered a new business venture without running it by me first. These early meetings that he’s most likely been going to without me are always the most vital when dealing in business proposals. He’s always valued my opinion. His lack of contacting me can only mean one thing.”

“I’m sorry, I still don’t completely understand,” Tessa responded.

Mr. Abbott stared at her. She knew that look. It was the warning look to let her know he was about to lose his patience.

“Obviously, it means he’s been vetting some new accountant. Someone in the city, someone who can guide him through this new business deal. Why else would he be acting this way? I’ve suspected for a couple of weeks now that something’s been going on. That’s why I insisted on having the meeting here at Abbott and Associates. I was able to schedule it with some flaky temp in his office. I wanted to have home field advantage. I had visions of his cronies all ganging up on me up there on the 31
^st
floor of his building. At least if he fires me here, I won’t have to do a walk of shame out of there.”

 “Well, I doubt it’s anything like that,” she stated confidently.

“How can you say that, Tessa? Do you know something about that office that I don’t?” Mr. Abbott stared right at her, right into her face, as if he knew she had inside information … if he were searching for clues from some great traitor.

“No, of course not,” she responded, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. “Mr. Schilling doesn’t strike me to be someone who likes to waste time. If he wanted a new accountant, why would he go through the trouble of even having a status meeting? Wouldn’t he be more direct, tell you he doesn’t need our services anymore, and then let his new accountant take over these consultations?”

“Maybe.” Mr. Abbott sunk back into his seat. He suddenly looked smaller, less confident. Tessa almost felt sorry for the guy.
Almost.
“Go on,” he said, waving his hand at her. “Make the coffee. I want to go over these numbers one more time before he and that annoying financial guy he drags along everywhere with him get here. And don’t forget to put out the scotch and cigars.”

“Right,” Tessa said, cringing as she walked out the door.

Chapter 30

Tessa watched from her office window as the limousine pulled in at exactly ten o’clock.
Right on time and arriving in style
, Tessa thought. She stood up from her desk and wiped her sweaty palms on her skirt. It was time for her to play receptionist. Walking into the lobby, she waited by the door as the two men approached. The sight of Todd in a suit took her breath away. She’d never seen him look quite so handsome. Mr. Schilling, on the other hand, looked exactly as she expected—stodgy and old. If she had to guess, she’d say he was close to seventy. He was also impeccably dressed in a suit and a very nice one at that. She wasn’t surprised. With the amount of money he had, he probably had it custom made. Both men held briefcases as they entered through the front door.

“Hello, welcome. I’m Tessa,” she said nervously, holding out her hand to Mr. Schilling first, then to Todd.

He winked at her as he held her hand a second longer than he should have. Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling, she darted her eyes away, hoping her cheeks were not too flushed.

With her heart beating way too fast, she continued, “Mr. Abbott is waiting for you both in the conference room. Please, follow me.”

Trembling, she walked down the hallway, trying to steady herself with each step.

“Mr. Abbott,” she announced as she opened the double doors, “Mr. Schilling and his assistant are here.”

“Nicholas, Todd, welcome,” Mr. Abbott said, in the same professional voice he used over the telephone. He shook their hands and motioned for them to sit down.

“Can I get anyone anything to drink?” Tessa asked. When they said no, she said a prayer of silent thanks. Her hands were so shaky she certainly would have spilled coffee all over something or someone.

“Thank you, Tessa, that will be all,” her boss stated.

Nodding, she closed the doors behind her, taking deep breaths as she made her way back to her office.

“Holy shit,” she whispered as she sunk into her desk chair. She was so out of sorts, even the smallest tasks couldn’t keep her attention. She sat alternating between watching the clock on the wall and the birds on the trees outside her window.

The buzz from the intercom on her phone twenty minutes later nearly made her jump out of her seat.

“Yes, sir?” she meekly responded.

“Could you come in here, please?” Mr. Abbott asked.

“Yes, sir,” she repeated.

He sounded calm. Oddly calm. She’d never been called into a client meeting before, and she had a bad feeling this wasn’t going to go well. Now she could add getting yelled at in front of their biggest client, not to mention her boyfriend, to the list of reasons why she hated her boss. She grabbed the same pad of paper and pen she carried into his office earlier and started her walk of shame toward the conference room.

 As she entered, she kept her eyes on her boss, but noticed out of the corner of her eye that the Todd and Mr. Schilling stood to greet her. Mr. Abbott, however, stayed seated and motioned for the two men to sit, without offering her a seat.

“Yes, sir,” she said, addressing her boss.

She wanted to look at Todd, but she knew if she did, she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on whatever it was Mr. Abbott was about to tell her. Or maybe having a distraction that allowed her to tune out getting yelled at by her boss would be a good thing. No, she needed to have all her wits about her right now, even if it meant being the brunt of his temper.

“Tessa,” he said, keeping his voice pleasant, “would you mind running off another set of reports? I’m afraid we’ve had a little mishap.” He subtly pointed to a wad of wet paper towels in front of Mr. Schilling.

Having been so nervous when she walked in, she hadn’t even noticed. No wonder her boss was being so nice. Old man Schilling had spilled his coffee everywhere, and the last thing her boss probably wanted to do was embarrass him. Although, she was sure that after the meeting was over, she’d get blamed somehow.
Tessa, why didn’t you make sure the table was perfectly level?

“Certainly, sir. Let me get that for you.” Scooping up the wet towels, she finished cleaning the area and said, “I’ll be right back.”

Within minutes, she knocked on the conference room door and returned carrying the new folder for their wealthiest client.

“Here you are, Mr. Schilling,” she said, as she placed the papers in front of him. “Can I get you anything else, sir? More coffee?”

“Tessa,” Mr. Abbott said, now sounding a little annoyed, “that’s not Mr. Schilling.” He looked over to Todd and added, “I’m so sorry, Nicholas. My assistant appears to be a bit confused.”

Not Mr. Schilling? What the hell was going on here?
She gazed at the old man she believed to be Mr. Schilling, but he only stared back at her with a blank look on his face, before shifting her attention to Todd. Remorse filled his eyes as he met hers, before she quickly glanced away.

Grasping the table in hopes of keeping the room from swaying, she tried to calm her racing heart. Looking at Mr. Abbott, she softly said, “Of course.” She then turned her head back to the man she had known to be Todd for the last six weeks and coldly stated, “Please forgive me, Mr. Schilling.”

 “Tessa, please,” he started as he rose from his chair, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to find out this way. You have to believe me.”

“No,” she said, backing away from him as he reached his arm out to her. “No.”

“Please, I tried to tell—”

She never heard the rest as she raced out of the conference room, grabbed her belongings, and ran out of the office, ignoring Nicholas’ excuses and pleas to wait.

Chapter 31

Ava sighed into the phone. “What do you mean you quit your job?”

Tessa paced back and forth in her tiny kitchen, clutching her cell phone in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, explaining the events that transpired that morning to her oldest sister. Despite being home for thirty minutes already, her body was still trembling. She placed the tea on the table, unable to keep it steady with just one hand.

After learning the truth, she bolted. She realized that probably wasn’t the most rational decision, but there was no way she could possibly stay there in the building with
him
in the conference room down the hall. Nor could she continue to work on his files.
Who the hell was he anyway?
At some point she’d have to return to retrieve her personal belongings: a couple of plants, a framed photo of Sophie, a mug, and some hand cream. Come to think of it, nothing there was really all that important. She had plenty of other pictures of Sophie, and the plants were half dead.

“Well, I didn’t quit exactly,” Tessa explained. “I just ran out … with the intention of never returning. Not that Mr. Abbott would let me return to work anyway. I’m sure I completely tarnished his
good name
.”

“Tessa, just calm down for a moment. Have you spoken to Todd?”

“You mean Nicholas? At least I think it’s Nicholas, I can’t keep up these days. I mean, he could be a George or a Luke for all I know.”

Ava sighed again. “Yes, I’m talking about Nicholas. Have you spoken to him?”

Tea splattered over the sides of her cup as she tried to take a tiny sip. Nicholas, Todd, or whoever the hell he was had texted her six times since she’d left the office and left three voicemails, all pleading with her to talk to him. She’d ignored them all. At least he had the decency not to show up at her door. Not yet at least. What would she tell Sophie when she picked her up from daycare later? That the man she’d come to care so much for wouldn’t be coming by anymore? She wasn’t prepared to mend two broken hearts.

“No, I haven’t spoken to him,” Tessa replied. “And if he doesn’t stop trying to call and text, I’m going to change my number. He’s getting dangerously close to me filing a harassment charge.”

“I’m just thinking maybe you need to give him a chance to explain,” Ava told her.

“The same way I gave Scott a chance? Do you see a trend here, Ava? Men suck. I’m seriously beginning to think you and Holly got the last two good ones.”

“I know you’re hurting, and I don’t blame you for being completely furious. All I’m saying is it’s possible he had a good reason for hiding his true identity.”

Tessa laughed. “A good reason? Next you’re going to tell me he’s some CIA operative. Ooh, maybe I was dating James Bond. Do you think he goes by a code name like 007? Or maybe he’s really a superhero like Batman or something. Do you think after he’d leave me, he’d change into his tights and cape and fight crime? But what if he’s really a villain and uses his power for evil and not good? That would really suck.”