Chapter Eight

When I arrived at work the next morning, I couldn't wait to see Carter. The move we'd made by shorting the stocks for New York Solar Company had made more money for Winthrow Holdings than anything I had ever been part of. By far. It pumped me up and gave me confidence that I hadn't felt before. I was suddenly walking with my chest pushed out and my head held high. There was a spring in my step as I stepped through the front door of the building and made my way up to my office. I was on top of the world.

As the elevator doors opened, Cindy looked up from her desk.

“What are you so smiley about?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Even Cindy's negativity couldn't bring me down that day. I just shrugged as I walked past. “What is there to frown about?”

“Jane,” she said, stopping me in my tracks. I spun around before heading through the double doors.

“Yeah?”

“Carter wanted me to let you know that he won't be in until later this afternoon.” The phone in front of her started to ring and she picked it up before I could respond. So I just gave an affirmative nod and made my way to my office.

There wasn't much work for me to do, though. My mornings usually consisted of touching base with Carter, where he'd give me my tasks. I sat at my desk and spent a few minutes scanning through some stocks, but finally I decided that I'd just take my lunch break early and meet up with Maddy. I sent her a text and she immediately replied.

It's like 930 Jane. Who eats lunch at 930?

I replied back quick.

Coffee then?

She replied.

That I can definitely do. Let's do the coffee shop on fifth avenue, just a few blocks away

Some fresh air and coffee sounded like the perfect start to the day. I grabbed my purse and headed out the door.

* * *

Maddy was already at the coffee shop when I walked in the door. She was sitting at a table in the corner, with a gigantic cup of steaming coffee in one hand and a jelly donut in the other. Before making my presence known, I approached the barista and ordered a caramel macchiato. While it was being made, I stepped up to Maddy.

“Hey lady,” I said, plopping down in the chair across from her.

“Hey!” she said, holding her hand in front of her mouth to keep bits of jelly donut from flying out.

Maddy washed down her bite with a swish of coffee.

“Good to see you, Jane,” she said. “I'm so glad you wanted to meet up. How are things going?”

“I can't complain,” I said, wanting to be a little bit vague. I couldn't tell Maddy how amazing things actually were, because I didn't want her to feel bad. The last thing I wanted was to make my only friend at work feel like I was rubbing my promotion in her face.

“I heard through the grapevine that you're some kind of stock prodigy child,” she said, with a playful smirk. “Some of the employees in accounting have been talking about you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

“Yeah. Remember when I told you that news travels fast around Winthrow?” Maddy asked. “I wasn't kidding. A lot of people think that Winthrow Financial only works with stocks and other investments. In actuality, though, we specialize in being the biggest gossip factory in the world.”

She was obviously joking, but I couldn't help but to think that if that were true, then Maddy would have been CEO. The Chief Executive Officer of Gossip Production.

“For what it's worth, I'm not a stock prodigy,” I said. “Sometimes I just get these feelings about an investment, though. It's hard to explain.”

“A feeling?” she asked, squinching her face into a confused expression. “I thought you were a numbers girl.”

“I am,” I said. “Sometimes, though, there's a different part of my brain that kicks in. Or maybe it's not even my brain. It's my gut. It just tells me what to do and it seems like whenever I listen to it, it turns out to be right.”

“A woman's intuition,” Maddy replied. “Maybe you're part psychic. Tell me my future next.”

“I can't tell the future,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Besides, we'll see how many more investments I get right. I've only done well on a couple of them so far and it's quite possible that I've just been lucky.”

“Sure. Luck. That's what it is,” Maddy said, sarcasm dripping off every syllable.

I looked away and watched a woman to my right step up to the counter to order a coffee. She pushed a baby stroller to the side, directly in front of me. I glanced over to see a beautiful baby girl asleep inside of it. She was wrapped in a pink blanket and looked so peaceful. Without even realizing it, I brought my hand to my belly.

I want one of those, I thought to myself. The thought surprised me with the intensity of my desire. Baby fever hit hard and fast.

“Jane!” Maddy said loudly, causing me to face her again. “Are you okay?”

I nodded quickly. “Yeah, I'm fine. Why?”

“You're holding your stomach,” she said, looking down to where my fingers were grazing my belly. “Are you sick or something?”

“What? No, no. I'm not sick,” I replied, quickly pulling my hand away from my body. Not with a real fever anyway.

Maddy looked over to the mom with the baby and then back toward me. She was analyzing the situation, trying to figure out what it was that I was thinking. I'd seen her do it before. Not just to me, but to others as well. I assumed she was mining for something that she could gossip with the rest of the office later. There was a minute or so of silence, then finally she shrugged.

“Anyway, I'm to hear that everything is going well for you up there on the top floor,” she said. “Things are a mess in accounting right now. David has been on my ass about year end reports. It's annoying because...”

Maddy continued on, chatting away at breakneck speed. My coffee arrived and I tried to listen, but my thoughts were bouncing between things that I suddenly wanted.