Something Real Page 6

  Jillian reached for Michelle thinking she was forgiven, but Michelle leaned back. “You haven’t forgiven me, have you?”

  “I need some time, Jillian.”

  Jillian stood up and took Michelle’s hand in her own as they walked toward the door. “I really am sorry, Michelle.”

  “I know you are.”

  “Can I call you?” Jillian asked and Michelle nodded unsure.

  CHAPTER 11

  Diane was waiting in her office at eight thirty when Jillian came into the outer office. She had sent Michelle out of the office to deliver a file to another department so she wouldn’t be here when Jillian arrived. “Come in, Ms. Stevens,” Diane called from inside the office.

  Jillian walked over to her with her hand extended. “Thank you for allowing me this interview,” she said shaking the other woman’s hand.

  “Let’s get started. I have a conference call at nine forty-five.” Diane led them over to the sitting area. “Ask away.”

  For the next hour Jillian asked her questions and Diane answered them not only honestly, but with humor. Michelle sat at her desk unable not to stop herself from listening to the interview herself. She was surprised by the things she learned about Diane that she hadn’t learned in the past seven months. The death of Diane’s mother had changed everything for her. She began to work for her father when she was only fifteen. Michelle realized that this was the reason Diane was so good at her job, but she wondered if she had anytime to be a teenager during this period. Diane even went to college nearby so she could continue working for the company. When Jillian asked about her marriage to James, she heard the hesitation in Diane’s voice.

  “James came to work for the company and my father took an instant liking to him. He brought James under his wing and taught him everything he knew.”

  “So your dad picked out your spouse or was it your idea to date James?” Jillian asked carefully.

  “My father thought he was a good man and James admired him so much that it became a forgone conclusion that we would marry.”

  “So basically it was an arranged marriage?”

  Diane stared down at Jillian, not believing she had suggested this. “I would rather you not put that in the article.”

  “I’ll leave it out,” Jillian said immediately. “Tell me about your daughter.”

  “She’s five-years old going on ten.”

  “Her name is Anna?” Diane nodded. “Anna must miss you while you’re at work?”

  “It can’t be helped, but Anna is very well taken care of by good people.”

  “It’s just not the same, is it?” Jillian asked getting bolder with her questions.

  “I would rather not talk about my family. This article is about women in business,” Diane insisted easily.

  “Yes, but that’s what women worry about. How they can have an important job and juggle motherhood at the same time.”

  “It’s not easy, Ms. Stevens. You can put your family first, but then you are a failure in business. Putting your job ahead of your family isn’t perfect, but the time you spend with them becomes more important.”

  Michelle got up from her desk seeing it was nine thirty. “Ms. Baker, your conference call will be coming through shortly.”

  “Yes. Thank you, Michelle.” Diane stood up and extended her hand to Jillian. “I would like to read the article first before you show it to your editor.”

  “Of course.”

  “Get my email address from Michelle. Good day, Ms. Stevens.”

  “Thank you again, Ms. Baker.” Jillian followed Michelle out of the office. As Michelle closed the door, Jillian let out a low cheer. “That was fantastic. I can’t believe how open she was with me.”

  “I can’t either,” Michelle muttered under her breath.

  Jillian kissed Michelle’s cheek. “I’ve got to go and start working on this immediately. I’ll call you later.”

  “Goodbye, Jillian.”

  That is why giving an interview is not the right thing to do. You admitted too much to that woman. She made you comfortable and then you just kept talking. No wonder Michelle likes her. Michelle interrupted her thoughts.

  “I have your conference call, Diane,” Michelle said through the intercom. She picked it up without commenting.

  It was late in the afternoon before the two women had a chance to speak. “I hope the interview was not too painful?” Michelle asked approaching Diane’s desk with letters for her to sign.

  Diane took the stack of papers and laid them on the desk. “Ms. Stevens is very easy to talk to.” She looked at Michelle before lowering her head to begin signing. “I can see why you like her,” Diane admitted.

  Michelle’s jaw dropped open. The last thing she wanted to tell Diane was that she wasn’t sure she wanted to continue to date Jillian. She had some good qualities, but she couldn’t forget that Jillian risked her job to get her interview. “Jillian is easy to talk to.”

  “I guess I was wrong about her.” Diane couldn’t meet Michelle’s eyes as she spoke.

  “Is that why you agreed to the interview? So you could prove that she was only after the interview?” Michelle didn’t want to raise her voice to her boss, but it was becoming difficult.

  “I guess I wanted to see for myself if Ms. Stevens was sincere. You are a very sweet woman and I didn’t want to see you get hurt.” The look on Michelle’s face told her that what she had said was out of line.

  “I am very capable of taking care of myself, Ms. Baker. I’m not a child.” Michelle didn’t need her boss commenting on her personal life.

  “I didn’t say you were. I just didn’t want to see you hurt.” Diane was back pedaling quickly, but it wasn’t working. The look on Michelle’s face told her how far she had crossed the line.

  “You already said that.” Michelle took a breath trying to calm herself. “This isn’t the kind of conversation that an employer and employee should be having.”

  Diane stared at Michelle for a moment. “You’re right. I was completely out of line. Please forgive me, Michelle.” She nodded and left Diane’s office. Diane gave Michelle time to cool down and then came out to the outer office with the letters. As she handed them to her, Michelle didn’t look up. “Would you come to dinner tonight?” Michelle looked up surprised. “That is if you don’t have plans. Anna would love to see you.”

  “You play dirty,” Michelle said with a casual smile and Diane just shrugged.

  “So you’ll come?” Diane asked smiling.

  “Yes.” You are an idiot. Do you know that? Yes, unfortunately, I do.

  “Okay. Let me make a phone call and then we can leave.” Diane rushed back to her office and picked up the phone. “Cecilia, there will be three for dinner tonight. Would you let Anna know I have a special guest for her tonight?” Diane paused listening to her housekeeper. “Thank you. I’ll see you shortly.” She grabbed her coat and headed for the door. “Let’s go.”

  “I just want to get these letters in the envelope and mailed. I’ll see you in a half hour.”

  Diane nodded smiling. Great. That will give me time to make a stop before going home.

  Michelle rang the doorbell. The door opened and Diane stood there in a pair of comfortable jeans and a light sweater. “Please come in, Michelle.”

  “Thank you,” Michelle said as she stepped into the foyer. She watched as Anna came running toward her and she lowered herself to Anna’s level. “Hi, sweetie. How are you?” Michelle asked as Anna wrapped her arms around her.

  Diane looked at the two of them and automatically smiled. “Anna, let Michelle take her coat off before you attack her,” she said with a laugh.

  Anna released Michelle and stepped back. “You are having dinner here?” she asked smiling.

  “Yes I am.” Michelle took off her coat and Diane took it from her.

  “Would you like a glass of wine?”

  “Thank you,” Michelle said as Anna dragged her into the living room. Her eyes carried to the flowers
that were sitting on the coffee table in a vase.

  “Shell, do you like my mommy?” Anna asked innocently.

  “Uh,” Michelle said staring at Anna, “what?”

  “My mommy likes you because she bought you flowers,” Anna said pointing to the arrangement.

  Diane came back into the room carrying two glasses of wine. She handed Michelle a glass. “Anna, you spoiled the surprise.” Diane looked at Michelle. “I wanted you to know how sorry I was for speaking out of turn.”

  “That wasn’t necessary, Diane,” Michelle said feeling tongue-tied. She leaned over and smelled the beautiful roses. “They’re beautiful.” Michelle stood up and looked at Diane. “Thank you.”

  “See, Shell. Mommy likes you,” Anna said taking Michelle’s hand.

  “I like your mommy too,” Michelle said glancing at Diane. “And I really, really like you, sweetie,” she said squeezing Anna to her.

  “Are you going to live with us like daddy did?” Anna continued innocently.

  Michelle and Diane both wore shocked faces. “Anna, Michelle works for me and I made her unhappy today. These flowers were to say I was sorry.”

  “You not sad now, Shell?” Anna asked wrapping her arms around Michelle’s leg.

  “No, honey. I’m not sad anymore,” she said directly to Diane.

  *

  As Irene came to get Anna ready for bed, she ran over to Michelle. “Good night, Shell.” She squeezed Michelle tightly. “Night, Mommy,” the little girl added, but didn’t offer a hug to her mother.

  “Thank you for having dinner with me, Anna,” Michelle said smiling.

  “You can come back tomorrow,” Anna offered quickly.

  Michelle chuckled. “Thank you, honey, but not tomorrow. Good night.” Anna followed Irene out of the room. “She is a spitfire.”

  “I’m sorry if Anna made you feel uncomfortable earlier.” Diane motioned Michelle over to the couch.

  “She didn’t. I thought she was cute.”

  “Anna would see James bring me flowers after we argued and she just assumed…” Diane said with a shrug.

  “Diane, don’t worry about it. Thank you for dinner and the company.” Michelle stood up and walked into the foyer for her coat.

  “Don’t forget your flowers, Michelle.”

  Michelle turned and came back into the room. “Wouldn’t think of leaving them. It’s not very often that I receive flowers.”

  “Then you aren’t dating the right women because you deserve to get flowers every day,” Diane said smiling.

  “I doubt that very much.” Michelle moved over to Diane and hesitantly pulled her into a hug. Diane no longer tensed up and she returned the hug. “Thank you for the flowers and dinner.”

  Diane followed Michelle out to the foyer. “You are welcome here anytime. It’s not just my daughter that is a fan of yours,” she admitted still smiling.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night, Diane,” she said touching Diane’s arm.

  “Good night, Michelle.” Diane leaned against the door once it was closed. “Out of mouth of Babes,” Diane said to the empty room.

  Michelle drove home and then turned her phone back on. She had shut it off so Jillian wouldn’t interrupt her time with Diane. Michelle saw she had called three times. She turned her phone on when she opened the apartment door and the phone rang instantly. “Hi.”

  “Where have you been? I’ve been worried,” Jillian began without a greeting.

  Michelle chuckled. “I had dinner with Diane and Anna.”

  “Oh,” she said softly.

  “Did you finish writing up the article?” Michelle asked.

  “Just the draft, but I still have a lot of work to do on it.” Jillian paused. “So why did you have dinner with her?”

  Should I admit to her that Diane was apologizing for her behavior? Somehow she didn’t think she should. “I promised Anna I would have dinner this week with her.”

  “So Diane wasn’t there?” Jillian asked quickly.

  “She was there.”

  Jillian wondered if Diane had an interest in Michelle as more than her employee. She couldn’t bring that up to Michelle because she would be angry and upset with her questions. “Diane is terrific, isn’t she?” Jillian tried a safer question.

  “She is,” Michelle said easily and she meant it. She was starting the softer side of Diane. Michelle stared at the flowers and put the vase on the table.

  “Wow, where did you get those flowers?” Donna asked walking into the room.

  Michelle covered the phone, but it was too late. “You got flowers?”

  “Diane gave them to me.” Both Jillian and Donna were shocked.

  “Is there something you want to tell me, Michelle?” Donna asked.

  “Donna, I’m on the phone with Jillian. Can I finish one conversation at a time?” Donna held up her hands and left the room.

  “So why did she give flowers?” Jillian persisted.

  Michelle could hear the anger in Jillian’s voice. Should she admit the fight? “Diane was thanking me for the hard work I’ve been doing.”

  “That’s inappropriate for a boss to give her employee flowers for doing a good job.” Jillian let out a breath. “What kind of work are you doing for her?”

  “I don’t appreciate your tone, Jillian. You know there is nothing going on between Diane and myself. How could you insinuate something like that?” Michelle didn’t disguise her anger as Jillian had tried.

  “I’m sorry, Michelle. I’ve never been the jealous type.”

  “Good. So don’t start now.” Jillian was just as bad as Diane had been with her accusations. Why did these women think she was incapable of handling her love affairs on her own? Love affairs. I’m not having a love affair with Diane. Yes, she gave you beautiful red roses. Red roses that mean love or passion. Something like that. Her head felt like it was going to explode. “I’m tired, Jillian. How about we argue about this tomorrow?”

  “I don’t want to argue with you, Michelle.”

  “Thank you because there is nothing to argue about. Good night, Jillian.”

  “Night, Michelle.”

  Michelle threw the phone on the bed and began to change clothes. She didn’t get far when Donna stepped into the open doorway. “Are you going to argue with me too?”

  Donna laughed. “No. I just can’t believe the cold bitch has got a heart.” Michelle made a face at Donna’s assessment of Diane. “I just never heard of her giving flowers to anyone.”

  Michelle blew out a breath and sat on the edge of the bed. “This stays between us.” Donna put her hand over her heart. “She was apologizing for the way she spoke to me.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She thinks Jillian was using me to get the interview.” Donna remained silent. “By the way, she got the interview today.” Michelle waited for Donna to comment. “Now you are quiet?”

  “Well, I may have thought the same thing in the beginning when I heard that it was Jillian trying to get the interview,” Donna admitted quietly to her friend.

  “Do you believe that now?” Michelle asked awaiting her friend’s response.

  “No.” Donna answered quietly.

  “You don’t sound so sure.” Michelle removed her pants and put on a pair of sweats.

  “Well,” she began, “when Jillian said she noticed you that first day and asked about you, I became suspicious again.”

  “You heard her say that no one knew who I was.”

  “I don’t believe that because she was sitting at the table with Kathy Summer.” Donna could tell that Michelle wasn’t understanding. “Remember I introduced her to you and told her we worked together? You weren’t interested in her, but she asked me a lot of questions when you walked away. She knew that you worked for Diane.”

  Michelle listened to what Donna was telling her. “That doesn’t mean that Jillian asked her.”

  “I know, but it does sound suspicious.” Donna sat down next to Michelle. “May
be she knew who you were before she approached you that day in the bar, but Jillian does appear to be smitten with you,” she said wrapping her arm around her. “And for some reason, Ms. Cold Hearted is looking out for you.”

  “First of all, I spoke to Jillian first and Diane is not cold.” Michelle shrugged. “Not too much anyway.” She began to laugh and Donna did the same.

  “Is she interested in you, Michelle?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

  This time Michelle laughed harder. “For god’s sake, Donna. The woman was married and had a child with him.”

  “Oh excuse me. She would be the first lesbian to do that. Her husband was the biggest flirt in that building. He cheated with any woman that would have him. Diane’s marriage to him was dead long before he physically died. The rumor for years was that they stayed married for the business, but it wasn’t a real marriage.”

  “How do you know these things?”

  “It’s a big building with a lot of people and people like to talk.”

  “How come you never told me any of these things?” Michelle rubbed her hand across her forehead trying to push the headache away.

  “Because I don’t gossip. Just because people tell me things, I don’t have to repeat them.”

  “So why are you telling me now?”

  Donna stood up. “I just wanted you to have all the information on Jillian and Diane Baker.” She winked on her way out of the room.

  Everyone has lost their minds. Michelle crawled under the covers and hoped she could find some sleep this evening.

  CHAPTER 12

  Michelle arrived at work the next day to find a message from Diane on the voicemail. “Michelle, I will be out of the office today at meetings. Please rearrange my schedule if anything important comes up. I’ll call you later in the day to see if there is something I should handle.”

  This would be the first time that Diane stayed out of the office for the entire day since she had taken this position. Michelle was just finishing her sandwich when the phone rang. She quickly swallowed and picked up the phone. “Ms. Baker’s office.”