14

Monday Morning

On Monday morning, Helen got dressed with unusual deliberation. She intentionally dressed herself to look prudish. She couldn’t help it. If she showed up at work looking even a little bit playful she knew it was going to be a day of backlash. She wore black trousers, a white collared shirt, no accessories, and only minimal product so that her short hair didn’t look unruly. Her glasses looked thick even after she applied her mascara. She had to look professional and steady.

When she came into the office, Mark was waiting for her. Leaning against the wall in the reception area, he said, “Drop your bag off at your desk. We have a meeting with Collin this morning." Then he handed her his half-filled coffee mug and said, “Oh, and please top me off.”

Helen took the mug from him and headed down the hallway toward her desk.

Collin? Helen had heard the name before from one of the other girls in the office, but what had she said about him? Helen flipped through her office directory until she found him, but it wasn’t easy since Mark hadn’t told her his last name and that was how the names were alphabetized. His name was Collin Jackson and he was the director in charge of marketing and public relations. He was Mark’s boss. The thought made her shoulders slump. They had to explain their mess to someone that important. Ugh!

Helen dragged herself to the kitchenette and tossed out Mark’s coffee so she could pour him a new cup. If only she could remember what she heard about Collin. She knew it would make all the difference, but nothing came to mind as she walked back to reception. She took a deep breath and handed Mark his coffee.

She wasn’t sure if Mark was as rattled as she was. He looked almost the same as always, except that he was wearing a suit and tie instead of his usual black attire. Maybe he paid a little extra attention to what he wore that morning the same way she had. That thought was sobering for Helen. After all, he was only twenty-four or twenty-five, and still starting in the professional world in the same way she was. He was just as worried about his future as she was about hers. She ought to be easier on him. Although, she couldn’t wish she hadn’t yelled at him. She honestly felt everything she said was correct and he was just being arrogant.

Mark looked at the clock. It was a quarter after nine. “Okay, time to go. Are you ready?” Mark asked her skeptically.

“Yes,” she said, even though she was very nervous. Normally, when she went to a meeting, she took a notebook with her, but of course, there would be nothing to jot down. It made her feel like she was going to her last meeting.

Mark took her up the elevator to the next floor. “Collin lives with the marketing people instead of with the P.R. officers. They need more room when they prepare for their advertising campaigns, so the biggest offices are up there.”

The marketing floor was much different than the offices Helen was used to. There were tables laid out for design and there were tons of old posters and campaign material everywhere. The people working there also looked a lot different. They seemed to Helen to either be very chic or very… non-chic. In other words, she saw a woman dressed as a goth consulting a man in a green plaid shirt. No one in the place was dressed like Mark and Helen. They looked like high powered executives compared.

After speaking with the receptionist, Mark steered Helen into the corner. Collin’s office was not at all what she expected a director’s office to look like.

While it was a warm, sunny June morning, all the blinds in Collin’s office were pulled tightly shut. Instead, track lights gave all the illumination that was necessary to stop the place from being completely like a bedroom. His office was large enough for a couch and actually, there were two. Both of them were covered in zebra print furry blankets. It was really the director’s office? How strange. But at the same time, Helen wanted to laugh. She suddenly remembered what she heard about Collin. The other office girls said he was a complete womanizer, but a lovable womanizer. He was the center of the office gossip. He had to have a girlfriend. She had to be someone who worked for Capier, but who was she?

Helen inwardly chuckled. Mark had to explain their situation to a man who had his office decorated like the inside of a party van? Yeah. Helen had been right. There was no way he was going to hit the roof.

However, even though Helen felt relieved, the problem was still not resolved. If she couldn’t get along with Mark (her real boss) on a day-to-day basis, she might as well find a new job. It looked like he was still mad at her.

Mark knocked politely on the door-frame since the door was wide open and a melancholy voice called from within, “Mark, is that you?”

“Yep!” Mark said cheerfully, sounding every inch the ‘go-getter.'

They went in and Helen got a chance to look at Collin. He was a piece of work— dark with deep hollows in his cheeks and a ridge in his chin. He sat in his swivel chair like it was a throne covering his eyes with one hand and tossing the other hand carelessly aside. He held a pair of glasses in that hand as he beckoned for them to sit down.

“Ah, Mark,” Collin said, taking his hand away from his brown eyes. “What have you done now?”

“Do you mind if we close the door?” Mark asked.

Collin rested his scruffy chin on his bony knuckles and agreed.

“Helen, would you mind?” Mark asked.

Helen immediately got up and closed the door for them, making the room even darker and more intimate since the light from the hall was gone. Mark didn’t speak again until Helen joined him on the couch.

“Do you remember a conversation we had last winter before the seasonal office party?” Mark asked.

Collin looked at Mark like his opening statement was the last thing he expected to hear. “Sorry, I don’t. Around Christmas last year, the only thing I remember was fighting with the board of directors that Internal Relations shouldn’t be part of my division. As if I can handle office drama as well as our corporate image. How stupid!”

“I remember the restructuring hassle,” Mark said steadily. Helen kept her tongue in her head as he proceeded with his voice that was smoother than butter. “But what I was talking about was our conversation before the New Year’s party. You asked me if I had a date, and when I admitted I hadn’t had time to ask anyone, you suggested I call an escort service.”

Helen nearly choked. His boss had been the one who told him to call for her? What the heck had Mark been going on about consequences the day before?

Collin laughed. “Yeah. I remember. So? Why’s this coming up now?”

Mark didn’t stutter or choke or anything, he just said, “Well, I decided to take your advice.”

“You did?” Collin laughed. “I think I saw who you brought. She was stunning. So, how did it go? But, Mark, I have to ask you. It’s great that you’re telling me this—I’m really interested—but I would have been more interested in January. Why is this coming up now? And why did you bring your assistant? You could have just walked in.”

“She needs to be here. You see here, my new assistant, Helen Paul. She is the escort I hired that night,” Mark said, introducing her.

Collin’s eyes bugged out of his head.

“You have to understand I didn’t hire her as my assistant myself,” Mark started. “Elizabeth from Human Resources took care of it for me. Also, when I knew Helen as an escort, she went by the name ‘Vera.’ When she came to work for me as my personal assistant—I didn’t recognize her. However, Laura did recognize her and informed me. I didn’t believe her, but then Helen told me herself that was the case.”

“Really?” Collin said, looking speculative. “Really? Hmm…”

Helen bit her lip. There, Mark had got the chance to explain himself to his boss, so everything should be square with them, right?

Suddenly, Collin got up from his chair and came over to where Helen and Mark were sitting. “Stand up,” he said.

Helen and Mark both got up.

“Not you,” Collin said to Mark. “Just her." He was looking at Helen very carefully. “Helen,” he said mildly. “Would you mind standing under one of my track lights for a second?”

“Not at all,” Helen stammered as she moved to stand where he told her to.

“Would you take off your glasses, please?” She took them off.

Then Collin asked, “Are your eyes are naturally green?”

“Yes.”