On Monday morning, Andrew started to greet Amanda with a kiss on the cheek when he walked into the office, but she pushed him back. "Get away, Andrew," she scolded him. "Don't you touch me!"
Andrew was taken aback. "What's the matter?"
"Who is she?" Amanda demanded.
"Who's who?" Andrew asked, puzzled.
"Oh, don't play dumb with me. I know there's another woman."
"Amanda," Andrew sighed. "I honestly don't know who or what you're talking about."
"Fine, then I'll spell it out for you," Amanda said, trying not to get upset, but failing. "Who was that woman you were with on Saturday afternoon, in front of the mall?"
Andrew frowned a moment as he thought back. Finally, it came back from him. "Oh, you mean Vanessa. She's just a woman I met once and happened to run into on Saturday. I barely know her."
"That's not what it looked like from where I was standing," Amanda said. "It looked like you knew each other very well."
Andrew shrugged. "She's an actress. She's very expressive."
Amanda threw her hands in the air and said sarcastically. "Oh, great. That makes it so much better."
"Honestly, Amanda. You're getting upset over nothing."
Amanda turned away, but Andrew followed after her. "I swear, there's nothing to be upset about. I met Vanessa at a bar that night after you and I had a fight and we talked . . .well, more like I babbled on and on about you and she listened, but that was it. I never saw her again, until we happened to run into each other downtown and said hello to each other. I told her that we'd worked things out and that the wedding was back on and she was just congratulating me, that's all."
Andrew waited for Amanda to say something, but she still wouldn't turn around and look at him. "Come on, Amanda. You're the only woman in my life and you're the only woman I want in my life. Our wedding's going to be in a few days, it would be a shame to call it off now."
Amanda smiled in spite of herself and when she finally looked at Andrew again, she couldn't stay mad at him.
"Hi there."
Hector looked up from his cubicle to see Eileen standing in front of him. He rose from his chair with a smile. "Well, hi yourself. What did I do to deserve this surprise?"
"Nothing. I just have some time to kill," Eileen replied coyly before giving a serious answer. "I dropped by to talk to my dad, but he's in a meeting with Reese and somebody named Keller, I think."
"Oh really?" Hector said, staring at the door to Arthur's office.
"That's what Amanda told me," Eileen shrugged. "So I thought I'd drop by your desk and see what you were up to."
Hector broke from his thoughts and turned back to Eileen. "I'm glad you did and you know there's nothing I would like better than to spend time talking to you, but I've got a lot of work to do right now."
"Sure," Eileen nodded as Hector started to excuse himself. Before he could walk away she asked, "Do you know if Lawrence is around?"
"Lawrence?" Hector repeated. "Uh, no. I think he went out on an errand . . .Why do you ask?"
"I just thought I'd say hello," Eileen shrugged.
"I didn't realize you were friends," Hector said. He tried to keep his tone teasing and light, but couldn't keep the suspicion out of his voice.
"I talk to him sometimes after my night class . . .Actually I was hoping to see him there after my class last week."
"Did you pick up some psychic vibes on him or something?"
"Something like that. Maybe."
"Was it good or bad? I'd like to know. Maybe I can get in on his good fortune or maybe I should stay out of his way."
Eileen smiled. "It was nothing like that. We were talking about past lives and something reminded me of him, I think."
"Oh, well. That's alright. As long as I'm the one in your future," he said with a wink before walking away.
In his office, Arthur was holding a private meeting with the company's legal representative, Reese Burroughs, and its accountant, Jerry Keller. It had been Jerry who had first noticed a discrepancy in the books and that a large sum of company money had seemed to vanish into thin air. But money didn't just vanish on its own. Further investigation would be necessary to find out what had happened to it.
If word of this was to get out, the company would be in serious trouble, so Arthur was determined to keep the investigation quiet, especially among his own employees. He asked Jerry to come in after business hours to look through the computer data and hopefully find a way to clean up this mess. Reese was asked to help as well to oversee any legal aspects that may create further difficulties. Blaine would be there to help with the computers.
"I heard it's easier to listen through doors if you hold a glass to your ear."
Hector turned quickly from Arthur's office door to see Lucy standing behind him with her arms crossed and an unamused expression on her face. He laughed and tried to sound casual. "You really think that I was eavesdropping?"
Lucy stared back at him, matching his hard stare, but not his light tone. "I know you were, Hector. I'm on to you."
Before anything else could be said, the office door opened and Arthur escorted Jerry and Reese out. As Lucy and Arthur greeted each other and Eileen made her way over to the group, Hector went back to his desk, glancing over his shoulder at Lucy until she disappeared into the office with Arthur and Eileen. "She doesn't know anything," he assured himself, before going back to work.
"Well, girls, what can I do for you?" Arthur asked.
Lucy and Eileen exchanged a look before Eileen started to speak. "We're kind of worried about you, Dad. You seem so tired and Veronica says you haven't been sleeping well-"
Arthur cut her off with a laugh. "It's sweet of you all to be concerned about me, but I'm perfectly fine.
"We think it's time you picked a new vice president."
When Arthur looked too confused to reply, Lucy spoke up. "I know if . . .things hadn't happened, you would have already promoted someone to the job and started your retirement. Giving someone else the job and the office won't be replacing my father."
Arthur sighed. "I know you're trying to help and I appreciate your concern, but I can manage on my own. The two of you shouldn't be worried about my job or about the company. I can take care of things just fine."
Eileen looked at Lucy and they both knew that he was just humoring them. "Ok," Eileen said with a shrug as she kissed her father on the cheek. "but don't forget to take care of yourself too."
Lucy waited for Eileen to leave the office before saying, "Someone really should take over my father's job . . .but not Hector. There's something about him that makes me uneasy, and I know my father felt the same way."
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