Chapter Twenty-Four
Having begun under a canopy of thick low clouds, Monday officially became a rainy day by mid-afternoon. Around two o’clock, a cold drizzle came ashore and spread eastward. In Southern California hardly anyone ever comments on the weather when it is good (which it is nearly every day). But when it’s bad, everyone gets to whining. Natives and tourists alike go on a campaign against Mother Nature: “No bad weather welcome here.”
But Danny went against the grain. Caught without an umbrella, soaked-through from the short walk between the Convention Center and the hotel, he remained completely unperturbed. His mind, after all, was elsewhere — had been all day long. Besides, he planned to put on clean clothes anyway.
After showering and dressing he dialed his voice mail at Base Line. Having spoken to his travel agent during the lunch hour, he was pleased to find her message confirming reservations at Harrah’s in Las Vegas for Thursday and Friday nights. But there was another message too, a brief but stinging admonishment from Vic DeSalvo concerning the hiring debacle Gillian mentioned earlier, not entirely unexpected, but not a welcome development either. Perhaps he should have injected some sanity into the situation this morning with a phone call and some encouraging words to let everyone know he was on top of things. But what could Vic honestly expect him to do about the problem from out here? At some point, the organization should be able to function without him there to take all the beatings, however cathartic such sport might be for power-crazed bullies like Vic.
After a moment’s consideration, Danny punched the DISCARD button. Bye, bye, Vic.
His position was indefensible anyway. For the time being at least, he was safely outside of the retaliation zone, beyond the reach of the boom, should Vic choose to lower it, which he probably would before week’s end. Danny silently rejoiced at being temporarily free of the brutish and vindictive Vice President of Technical Services. Gillian, on the other hand, would definitely be earning her salary this week. Perhaps she would discover that the overly large VP was a misogynist as well.
Danny’s thoughts turned to the recruiting conference. Though that first day’s speakers fell somewhat short of awe-inspiring, the sessions had proved interesting, mentally stimulating, and informative. A review of the tried and true every now and then can be refreshing and even helpful. Plus, Danny picked up one or two new techniques that, if used properly, might mean the difference between success and failure in a hiring situation. His mandate was clear: He had to make the most of every opportunity. If this seminar helped them hire one or two more candidates a month, it will have been worth the investment.
In addition, Danny was getting a chance to network with other professionals in the business: head hunters, HR types, and recruiting managers like himself. He particularly liked comparing notes with recruiters in non-competitive industries. They were almost always willing to share a secret or two. And he especially enjoyed participating in the role-plays like they had in yesterday afternoon’s session, entitled: “The Job Interview — How to Sell Your Company.” He came away with a taped critique of his own performance and had some good fun as well.
For Julie, going back through the doors at SunBurst would be a nerve-racking experience of the highest order. But, since it was unavoidable, she planned to do it with a flourish. At eight o’clock sharp, dressed in her expensive linen suit and highest heels, looking like the consummate businesswoman, she sucked in her pride along with a breath of ocean air and proceeded straightaway into the office building along the Mariner’s Mile. With any luck at all, Mike would not be in yet this morning; she was not exactly relishing a confrontation.
Without speaking a word to anyone along the way, she headed straight for Mike’s secretary’s desk. Julie greeted Margaret with a crisp hello and handed her a sealed envelope marked CONFIDENTIAL containing her resignation and the letter threatening Mike with a lawsuit if he did not agree to pay her two year’s severance. He would naturally see it as blackmail, but she knew his reputation was important enough for him to actually consider paying her to go away quietly.
“Please see that Mike gets this as soon as he comes in. It’s been nice working with you, Margaret, and everyone else, especially Spence, but most good things do eventually come to an end. I’m officially resigning.”
Leaving Margaret speechless, she turned on her heel and walked over to her desk. She quickly gathered up her few belongings, placing her desktop items and personal files into an empty file box. On her way out of the building, she spoke to no one else. Christy Blankenships’s vacant eyes followed her down the hall from the strategic vantage point of her administrator’s cubicle, the very spot where Julie had cut her own career-ripping teeth. Julie managed to throw a sardonic smile her way before exiting to the gloomily lit parking lot.
In her heart she wished Christy and the others all the best. But she knew it would have been pointless to say anything, one way or the other. She was the enemy now. The other women had their own careers to worry about first, regardless of how humdrum their jobs or how meager their incomes. Any concern they might have for Julie and her predicament would drop right off the bottom of their respective priority lists. And she certainly did not want to hear any disingenuous encouraging words spoken her way. She was much too jaded for that.
It felt good to pull out of SunBurst’s driveway onto the PCH for the last time. Regardless of how Mike responded, whether he paid her the money or not, she was now officially free of him and the prison he had recently constructed around her. How foolish she had been to allow him to isolate and marginalize her, to make her his latest conquest. Thankfully, she was beyond all that now.
Another chapter in her life had ended — a rather dark and disappointing one, to be sure. But it had not been a total bust. At the very least, she had gained a wealth of experience that could only help her succeed in future endeavors. Next time, she would be miles closer to a successful career before even getting started. Quite rightly, she had known all along that getting involved with someone at work was dangerous business. Too bad she did not stick to her guns, or better stated, her “rule.”
She headed her car toward the downtown health clinic. Though she had never had occasion to use it in the past, she had often noticed the signs on busses and heard the radio spots advertising that walk-ins were welcome and test results could be obtained the same day. Frankly, it had not dawned on her until just recently why such a service might be valuable. Now, of course, it all made perfect sense. Thank God for the impressions a good ad campaign can make, even on the unsuspecting.
After a weigh-in and check of her blood pressure and heart rate, she got to see the doctor who performed a digital exam, a visual inspection of her private parts, and the extraction of four vials of blood. Before leaving, Julie made arrangements to phone the attending Physician’s Assistant after four-thirty for the test results. She could not get out of the building fast enough, the mere smell of the place nauseated her. But at least everything looked okay — according to the doctor, anyway. Getting molested by health practitioners was a small price to pay for peace of mind, she reasoned. Fortunately, the “doc” was a woman.
She was one day into — and already a day behind — her campaign for a new job. Basically, she had done nothing so far, except for bringing her resume up-to-date. To get herself on track, she would stop at the library and borrow a copy of the local business directory, then go home to pour over the HELP WANTED ads from Sunday’s paper. Perhaps later this afternoon, she would get on the Internet and see what she could find in the way of local job openings before Danny showed up. He was expected around six-thirty. Fortunately, she had lots to keep her mind busy until then. Still, she found herself constantly beating back thoughts of uncertainty about the future, and what it actually held for her now that she was unemployed again and almost to the point where she might be willing to sacrifice her life on the West Coast, if that’s what it would take to get her marriage back. And her peace of mind.
By five-thirty she was ready to put the job search aside until tomorrow. She had worked straight through, somewhat mindlessly, got twenty-some query letters written and stuffed into envelopes along with fresh copies of her resume, took a short break to call the clinic for what turned out to be good news (what a relief!), and then spent a relatively fruitless hour on-line. Apparently, her skills were not in extremely high demand in Orange County. At least companies did not seem to be posting open secretarial positions on the Internet like they were jobs for engineers, data processors, and management personnel. No big deal, she thought. I’ve run this gamut before. With a little patience, the right opportunity will come up.
Fortunately, her bank account was in pretty good shape, so she had no real worries over keeping the bills paid. She still had almost all the money she got from the sale of the cottage in Northern Michigan. She hoped not to have to dip too heavily into those funds, however. They constituted her entire life savings. Danny’s offer to help her financially was generous and no doubt sincere, but she did not necessarily want to tap him for money either. The last thing she wanted at this stage of her life was to be a debtor. Borrowing money was a clear indication of weakness, and she did not want to appear weak. If she and Danny were to get something going again, she wanted it to be on an equal footing, especially in the area of earning potential. Of course she had no clue as to how to elevate her fiscal standing quickly enough to make things come out that way, but it was her goal, nonetheless.
Her lifestyle was far from extravagant, and her expenses were minimal. When it came right down to it, she did not need that much money, nor was she inclined to worry about finances. Danny had always been better in that department, quite capable, really. Moreover, her level of happiness and contentment had never been tied to her financial status. Realizing this, she wondered why she had been so taken with Mike’s wealth and the prospect of sharing it with him. Maybe it was just another appealing part of the package that she saw herself getting with a guy like Mike, a bonus of sorts. Yet, in the end, there wasn’t much else she could say that actually attracted her to him, except for maybe his looks. He certainly wasn’t a good listener, or much of a conversationalist for that matter, unless he was talking about himself. So, why had she been willing to play the game with him, to let things go as far as they had, short of the moment when he revealed his true nature? It made her wonder whether she was capable of ever understanding her own needs and desires.
She was certain of one thing, though. Considering her track record for romance, her screw-ups with Danny and Mike, the fault had been just as much hers as theirs. The blame rested equally upon her shoulders. In truth, her gradual estrangement from Danny, his cheating on her, the divorce, the disaster with Mike — each of these had been imminently preventable, and she, even more so than the man involved, could have single-handedly prevented them. And, though self-incriminating, more importantly, this meant that she, for the first time in her life, recognized that her destiny was in her own hands and no one else’s.
But she was just as convinced that she did not want to live out the rest of her life alone, no matter how safe and insular a strategy independence might be. Such a safeguard against future calamities would be a cop-out. Besides, she had already experienced the independent life and found it hollow. It only tended to make her more self-absorbed than she was by nature, and she hardly needed help in that department. Consequently, she was now more persuaded than ever that she would take another chance on love. And, considering all she’s learned of late, in all likelihood, the little tremors of everyday life would no longer upset her equilibrium or throw her involuntarily into depression or restlessness. So, from this day forward, she swore to herself that she would remain in complete control of her thoughts and feelings — and especially her reactions.
Just then, as her mind was beginning to entertain the rekindling of her love for Danny, the doorbell rang. With a quick glance at the clock, she moved toward the door. She wasn’t expecting him for another hour. She hadn’t even had chance to clean up and get dressed. But it wasn’t Danny standing there. It was Trace.
“Hey! Come on, open up. I’m getting soaked out here.”
After removing her coat, Tracy took a moment to shake the water out of her hair and smooth it with her hands. Then she told Julie she had been worried about her, saying that she’d half-expected to hear from her by now, and when that didn’t happen, she decided to stop by after work. She wanted to know what her best friend had chosen to do about her job, and her boss, and what she had been up to all weekend.
“Well, besides getting my head on straight, I’ve been entertaining an old flame.”
Tracy’s eyes widened. “It’s your ex-husband. Am I right?”
Julie said she was, then proceeded to tell her how they spent the weekend, doing things together.
“Is he still in town; am I going to get to meet him?”
“Well, if you hang around till six-thirty, he should be here.”
“Oh, no. I look like something the cat drug in. Maybe I better use your bathroom to freshen up.”
“You’re welcome to it. But don’t take too long; I’ve got some work to do in there myself.”
“Are we trying to impress someone?”
“I just want to look my best, that’s all. And that takes some effort. Unlike you, my youth has gone and left me.”
“I don’t know about that. You look pretty good to me.”
“You think so? Because that’s what Danny says too.”
“Uh-oh. Looks like you’ve gone and done it again.”
“Done what?”
“Fallen for another guy, that’s what.” Trace shook her head and smiled a coy smile. “I can’t leave you alone for two days, can I?”
“I guess not.”
Danny arrived to find the Camaro in the driveway. It gave him pause as he wondered who its owner might be. This, he reasoned, was a decidedly masculine car — black on black. He prepared himself to find Julie entertaining a suitor, maybe even the guy she had written about, Rene or Revy or whatever — some Frenchman. His stomach somersaulted during the walk to her door, and not from hunger either, though he surely felt that as well.
Needless to say, he was relieved to discover that the car belonged to a pretty platinum blonde Julie referred to as her “best friend.” Instantly he made the connection — just like some people and their dogs resemble each other, that car was made for Tracy Wendell.
There were three beers in the refrigerator from yesterday so Julie served them up. Danny quickly saw why Julie and Tracy got along so well. He, himself, felt an instant affinity for the blonde spitfire. For her part, Tracy proved she knew how to hold court with a man in the room. Julie, the odd person out of the discourse on cars and point spreads, the Lakers and Kings, finally nosed in. “Trace, would you mind not monopolizing my husband a minute, so we can decide what to do about dinner?”
“Sorry, Jul, but I didn’t know you two were married. Is there something else you haven’t told me?”
Danny chuckled.
Julie tilted her head slightly to the right and gave Tracy a look.
“If you girls know of a good Mexican place, I’ll spring for dinner,” Danny said, trying to spare Julie any further embarrassment. He smiled inside over the two words Julie had just uttered — my husband. This was more than he had expected.
“What do you think, Jul? Is there any good Mexican food in California?”
“Silly question. A better one would be, ‘how hot is it?’”
“Well I like it hot,” Danny replied, mainly for Tracy’s benefit. After twenty years his tastes were well known to his wife.
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Tracy said, giving him a sultry look of her own. To save herself, she added, “That must be why you and Julie hit it off so well. She’s one hot tamale, you know.”
“Is that a fact?”
After dinner, Danny suggested they go bowling. “Great idea,” Tracy replied. “I’d just be going home to college reading anyway. You have no idea how boring polytheism and the Hindu caste system can be. It’s all so repulsive. I’m sure if I were born over there, I’d have the dharma to be an Untouchable, out there begging on the streets of Calcutta.”
Julie gamely interjected, “You mean soliciting, don’t you?”
“No, not at all, smarty. Untouchables don’t make good prostitutes. None of the other castes will have anything to do with them, that’s why they’re called Untouchables.”
Danny asked what dharma meant.
“It’s kind of like your destiny for a particular incarnation,” she told him. “See, the Hindus believe that after you die the karma you built up in your previous life determines your dharma for the next. Plus, if you’re good, you get reincarnated into a higher caste. But if you’re evil, well, you drop down the totem pole a notch or two, if you know what I mean. So you can see how easily I might end up as an Untouchable. It would only take one or two short lifetimes and I’d be right there, at the bottom of the heap.”
“Trace, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Julie said. “You’re really a good person. One of the best people I’ve ever known.”
“You really believe that?”
“Yeah,” Danny added, “if it were up to me I’d put you right on top of the pole.”
“Well, just give yourself some time to get to know me, Daniel. I could screw up a one-car junkyard.”
“Join the club,” Julie threw in.
“Yeah,” Danny said, “We’re both charter members.”
Three games were more than enough to prove that none of them could bowl. Danny’s best score was 128. Tracy actually got lucky one game and rolled a 133. She almost shattered his eardrums when she got two strikes in a row. Julie barely broke a hundred, even with some coaching from Danny, who was rooting for her all the way. But they all had fun.
Before leaving, the ladies went to the washroom together. While there, Tracy called her friend up short, “Will you just tell me why on earth you ever let that man go?”
“He cheated on me, so I thought I had a good reason.”
“And now, you’re thinking...?”
“I screwed up, Trace. And you don’t know the half of it. But I have a good feeling that things are going to work out between us again. I’m hoping we can both put the past behind us.”
“Well, you better snap him up fast because if you don’t, I’m taking a shot at him.”
Julie gave her “the look” one more time.
“Just kidding, you know that. Besides, I’ve seen the way he’s been gawking at you all night. If you know what’s best, you’ll reel him in before he gets away again. I can’t believe you were going to throw your life away with that yuppie-snake from work. Danny’s got him beat ten times over. He’s a real person — not some pretty-boy-centerfold with an inferiority complex.”
“Aren’t you quite the psychoanalyst tonight?”
“Look, Julie. If there’s one thing I know in this life, it’s men. Besides, I had PSYCH 101, remember?”
“How could I forget? I had it with you. And you know what?”
“What?”
“You’re exactly right.”
Back at Julie’s villa, Trace took her leave with hugs all around. Once in Danny’s arms, she squeezed him hard and whispered in his ear, “Go for it, Daniel. She wants you bad.” Then she kissed him smack on the lips. As far as he could tell, knowing her for all of three-and-a-half hours, Tracy needed to revise her opinion of herself. From his viewpoint, the karma she put out seemed pretty damn good.
As it was dark, Danny grabbed Julie’s hand and insisted they walk Tracy to her car. They stood holding hands and waving as the resonant sound of Tracy’s car faded into the distance. It was still spitting rain and quite chilly, but under the soft glow of the corner streetlight, Danny put one knee down onto the damp concrete. “Julie,” he said. “I love you more than anything in this world. Will you marry me?”
She studied his eyes for a moment, then replied, “Isn’t this a little sudden?”
“Well, I’ve already lived too much of my life without you, and I don’t want to screw-up my next incarnation because I was stupid enough to let you get away. From now on, if you’ll take me back, you are going to be number one in my life.”
“All right, Daniel. I’ll marry you again. But not for any of those reasons.”
Danny stood up with a broad smile on his face. He took both her hands. “Why, then?”
“Because I want to, that’s why. Besides, if I wait too long, Tracy will go after you, and there’s no way I’m going to let that happen.”
“Too bad I’m not able to handle two women at a time, or I’d marry you both.”
“Not in this lifetime, you won’t.”
“Maybe in the next one then.”
“Don’t count on it.” She pulled him to her and kissed him smack on the lips.