Cocotte (3 page)

Emily
had the first day of work nerves on her. Her eyes were shifting around my office and she was holding her bag like a new-born child. She stood by my desk and I took a moment to admire her business attire.

“You scrub up quite well
, Emily.”

“Thank you
,” she said with a blush.

A
black skirt started at her hourglass waist, and ended at her knees. She had a pair of shiny black heels, that put her head just lower than my chin. A cream coloured blouse covered her shoulders. She looked more respectable in my eyes and damn gorgeous. Her hair was tied back neat and tidy. She'd nailed the corporate woman look down.

“It all makes sense
now.” I said.

“What does?”

“When I first saw you, I remember you squinting at me.”

Emily
was puzzled.

“The glasses. You’re short-sighted.”

“Oh! Yeah. When I started at my old
job, they told me to ditch them.”

The glasses were of a modern design, rectangular in shape
, that sat well with her eyes. It made the dazzling blue stand out.

“You look completely different
, sophisticated.  A swan…”

“New look
. New woman,” she said proudly.

I smiled.
“Take a seat.”

I took out her contract
from my desk drawer and gave it to her. I noticed how she was meticulous in reading through it and checking all the details. I handed her a folder with everything she needed to know on the details of the acquisition.

“
I will allow you a couple of days, to go through the scope of what I need to do. Your desk is outside my office on your left. I have a couple of handover meetings this week, where there will be a bit of admin from the result of those. It won’t be too much, it won’t put you out of your depth. But if you are unsure of anything don’t hesitate to ask.”

S
he nodded and took a deep breath in, perhaps uneasy at the calibre of the work. I stood up to show her the door, when she stopped.

“Why are you doing all this
, Oliver? Why me?”  

I buttoned up my suit jacket and adjusted my cufflinks. I put my hand on
her shoulder and held it firmly. “I need someone to rely on, I need you.”

***

The next afternoon, Marc was slouched in the chair in my office, playing with the label on his tie. He seemed agitated for some reason. “So…how was the meeting with Sherry?”

I walked over to the
mahogany cabinet to take out the scotch that was aging in there. I thought I would never open it, but this situation warranted it.

“Drink?”

“I thought you wouldn’t ever ask!” he said licking his lips.

I poured the amber liquid into our glasses and handed the lesser filled one to
Marc. He looked up at me and sighed. “That Bad?”

I nodded
. “Sherry is the most-ruthless woman I have ever met.”

“In bed?”
Marc said, laughing.

I didn’t laugh
. “She reneged on our agreement. She wants to dissolve all the sales roles. Here’s the new agreement.” I handed Marc the documents Sherry gave me.

“What!”

“She felt her sales team would only be tainted, by our sales force. Sherry just wants the accounts, they will do the rest.”

“What the fuck
, Oliver! She can’t do that?”

“Mate
, we are out of the picture now. I should have put it in the contract. So much for a gentlemen’s agreement.”

“So what now?”

“I’ll try and renegotiate.”

“
But if it doesn’t work, I will have to tell all those who I promised transfers that they will now be redundant. The difference is with this lot, they won’t have the diamond handshake. She pro-rated their redundancy packages.”

I took a big sip
out of my glass, expecting the sharpness to hit my head and null the pain, but it wasn’t enough.

“What a bitch!”
Marc shouted.

“
Oliver, to be honest we sold ourselves out the moment we agreed to the contract. We didn’t know they would spring this on us.”

“I know
, but it gets you thinking whether our jobs are safe when we work there as consultants.” I said with my hands on my head.

“I couldn’t care less. We are on the gravy train from this point onwards
, whether or not they throw us out. Down the line it’s just an early stop. I’m riding it for as long as I can and so should you, Oliver. Besides we still have twenty percent of the intellectual property we didn’t sell, so that makes us safe if we decide to do another start-up.”

“
Yeah, for now. I’m meeting with Sherry again, I think she might try and make a play for exclusive rights to
all
the Intellectual Property.”

“Mate
, then I need to be there! She’s gonna try and fuck us out of our money or the I.P.”

“Not yet. I want to
be sure if that’s her intention.”

Marc
shoulders fell and disappointment clouded his face.

I didn’t want
him there, because his below the belt thinking would make things worse.

I went through the file and called
Emily in. I watched how Marc stared with intense disapproval, looking at her up and down before their eyes met.

There was some sense
of discomfort when Marc got up to leave. He frowned at her while walking past. Emily held her composure, ignoring him.

Marc
did a blow job motion behind her back at me.

I was trying to keep a straight face.

“Emily, I need you prepare the files, for this lot of redundancies.”

“I finished all the ones you gave me
. You sure this is not a duplicate?”

“No
, it's not.”

I watched when she
flicked through the documents Sherry gave me. It was cute to see her long lashes flutter through her glasses.

“
Oliver… This is our half of our sales force, all the names of our account managers," she said. “What happened?”

“
Sherry.”

Her eyebrows raised and I walked in front of my desk to sit down
on it.

“
Sherry Rowan is the national sales manager for Cerberus petroleum. With the acquisition, we agreed that that
only
the duplicate roles in our company would be made redundant.

“And she made the decision to lay off all
of them.”

“Exactly
. I need you to finish off the rest of the documentation so I can call a meeting next week. Sherry has also asked for another meeting with me to finalise.

“Okay.”

I paused. “Are you free for dinner tonight?”

Her ears pricked up and she
finger-combed back a lock of her hair. “Oh! Oliver?”

“
Sherry arranged a meeting over dinner and I want you there.”

“You sure?”

“I want to keep this professional and having you there will change the dynamics.”

“Dynamics?”

“I picked up very early in that meeting with Sherry that she has a fondness for younger men.”

Emily
cracked up laughing. “She’s a cougar…”

I nodded.
“I was hoping to get the rest of the information but she purposely stretched it out.”

“W
hat info do you need from her?”

“The file
she has details of about the Pro-rated payments, of all our account managers, based on the individual’s performance and time in our company.”

“That sounds fair.”

“No. when we signed the agreement we asked for a significantly higher payout, to recognise their efforts and loyalty.”

I glanced at my watch and it was
two p.m. "Emily, I need you to go through all the documents and get a heads up. Take the afternoon off, to find an outfit. I expect you to have a change in wardrobe now you are working for me.”

She smiled at me and held the folder against her
chest.

“No clear heels then?”

“I’d fire you if you turn up in those.  Dinner is at nine pm. I’ll pick you up.” I added.

***

I adjusted my black tie and unbuttoned the lowest button, of my steel-grey suit. I had trouble finding my key to my grey Lamborghini, then I realised it was in the left pocket of my jacket. I guess having those bundles of cash in them from the week before, nulled out any sensation of objects being in there.

The night was
hot and humid, so I took the canopy down. The benefits of a convertible. The moon was beaming brightly through the clouds. It looked like it was going to clear by the time I arrived at Emily’s apartment.

The
Lamborghini’s engine sounded like a growling cougar. I upshifted on the paddles on the steering wheel, to get to my destination faster. The jolt from the gearbox engaging gear made me flinch and thwarted my thought process. My mind started to ask some questions about Emily that got me thinking about that awkward moment with Marc.

I shook my head
, wondering what kind of woman Sherry was, setting a business dinner at nine p.m. I drove down Queen Street and turned right onto Customs St, to see Emily waiting by the bus stop. She looked breathtaking, in the humid heat of the night. I loved how she flicked her shoulder length hair to one side. She wore a dark red dress that had ripples and folds. She held her red purse, looking out for me. The way she stuck out was like a rose, in the thorn bushes. But the outfit she'd chosen was not appropriate, regardless of how great she looked.

I pulled up at the bus
stop and noticed she wasn’t wearing her glasses. She had a dollop of Russian red lipstick on her lips and the rest of her makeup was neutral, which was good. I was still disappointed.

“Get in.”

She tried to open the door. “It’s locked.”

“You have to
pull the door up.”

The people in
the bus stop snickered when the door rose upwards like pair of scissors. Emily climbed in and got comfortable and peered at me with an excited smile on her face. I reached into the glove box and gave her tissues.

“
What’s that for?”

“Wipe off the lipstick
now.”

“Why?”

“Just do it. Where’s your glasses?” I said.

“
In my room.”

“Go get
them.”

Emily
wanted an explanation.

“
This is a business meeting. I want you to convey a professional image. I don’t want you squinting on the relevant documents Sherry will give us and I don’t want her to have the impression, that you are some tag along.”

“You mean you don’t want her to think I’m an escort.”

“To be blunt, yes. Emily, in this world first impressions go a long way, I need you on your A-game."

“I am on my A-game.” she
said.

I frowned. “Where
is your notepad and tablet then? How are you going to note any significant information?” I shook my head. “Did you bother to read over the files?”

S
he went red with embarrassment and got out of the car. The people at the bus stop cracked up laughing. My fingers were tapping the steering wheel, my mind wondering if I made the right choice on her.

***

The drive to the restaurant was a silent journey. I glanced at Emily to see her sulking, I put my hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry
, I was tough on you back there. I shouldn’t have taken my frustration out on you.”

Emily
's eyes were red like her dress. She took off her glasses to wipe the fog that had built up on them. “I understand. You said it was a business meeting. I just wanted to impress you that’s all.”

I exhaled
and we arrived at the bar and restaurant and parked in the adjacent car park. I turned to her as she put her glasses back on. She had her notepad and tablet ready on her lap. She used the last tissue to wipe off the lipstick and her tongue to moisten her lips. I raised my eyebrows and nodded. “I want you to take note of anything that might be of importance to us. Sherry is a ruthless and shrewd woman, who will try and knock me down on the redundancy packages. I need you to look through the files so I can concentrate on finding out more about her intentions.”

Emily
nodded and swallowed. I got out of the car to adjust my suit and cufflinks.