Coffee in Common (15 page)

She thought a nice hot shower might make her feel better and reached into the tub to turn on the water. Slowly, she undressed, dropping each piece of clothing in a pile next to the sink.

Steam rose over the curtain as she slid down her underpants and dropped them on the pile with the toe of her right foot. Standing in front of the mirror again, staring at her reflection, she touched her face, then her breasts. Her hands slid down, over her stomach and below, then around to cup the cheeks of her backside. Then she straightened up and threw out her chest.

"Look what you missed asshole. Look what you gave up."

Jillian's feelings overwhelmed her. Despite the steamy warmth in the bathroom, she started to shiver and shake, her knees suddenly weak.

She sat down on the toilet, arms wrapped around herself, head bowed, and rocked.

And cried.

FRIDAY, MAY 7

7:40 AM

Paul stood by the window in the coffee shop, nervously scanning the sidewalk as he'd done the previous morning, the coffee in his hand all but forgotten.

"I don't understand it," he told Rob. "She said she'd call last night and I even left a message letting her know it was okay to call late, but she never did. And she didn't answer her phone this morning either."

Worry lines creased his forehead, though he wasn't sure what to worry about. All he could think to do was to wait here and hope she'd stop by. If she didn't, he planned to call her at work.

"You're Paul, right?"

He spun around to see a lanky, dark-haired girl clutching a take-out tray that held three coffees and a bag. She stood four feet away with a look of utter contempt on her face.

He was taken aback but acknowledged, "Yes, I'm Paul."

"I just wanted to see what a real asshole looked like up close," she said with a sneer before she turned and headed toward the door. Rob turned away from the window, interested to see what would happen next.

"Hey! Wait! Who are you and what are you talking about?"

The woman stopped and faced him again.

"She saw you last night. We
all
saw you with that bimbo."

"Who
are
you?" Paul wondered if this woman had a screw loose or something.

"Marie. I work with Jillian."

"Jillian?" Now the three coffees made sense, but was she saying Jillian saw him last night with Priya?

"She saw everything last night. Everything. She liked you. She liked you a lot. She thought you were different, really special. And then to find out like that that you're just another dickhead."

"Are you telling me that you and Jillian and…some other people saw me with Priya last night?"

"You were out with Priya last night?" Rob was even more interested now.

"We went out after work. We…later, for pete's sake."

He turned his attention back to Marie.

"Where did you see me?"

"In Legal Seafood. We were sitting across the room. And you were so into what's-her-name you never even noticed Jillian watching you."

"But she's just a friend. I work with her."

"What a jerk." She spit out the words with vehemence. "You guys are all alike. You think we'll believe anything, don't you. Well eyes don't lie. We all saw how you two were in the restaurant. And Jillian saw you two hugging and kissing on the Common. I hope you know you blew the best thing that will ever happen to you for the whole rest of your miserable asshole life."

"You kissed Priya!" Rob's voice had risen an octave in astonishment.

Paul ignored him and started to say something but Marie didn't give him the chance.

"All you had to do was be honest. All you guys ever have to do is be honest. But you're all alike. Oooo, I think you're so nice. Oooo, I've never known anyone like you. Oooo, I miss your voice."

"But…"

"Forget it. I don't want to hear your excuses. Jillian's my friend and you hurt her. So leave her alone. Go play your games with the slut you were with last night."

With that, she turned and stormed out of Coffey's.

"Oh shit! Oh shit!"

That's why she didn't call last night. Oh shit, what am I going to do?

He gave Rob a capsule review of the previous night as they walked quickly to the office.

"You kissed her? You really kissed Priya?"

"Rob, you can never let her know that you know. And never tell anyone else at work. She'd be so embarrassed. It was nothing, an experiment to prove a point, that's all. And she kissed me. I only hugged her. Promise me, man. Promise me on our friendship that you will never mention it to anyone, ever."

"Okay, okay, I promise. But you have to at least tell me how it was."

In response, he received a sulfurous glare that left no doubt he would never get the answer to that question.

Paul was frantic. He had to fix this and fix it fast. In two minutes, Marie would be telling Jillian what just happened, giving her a name to attach to the face and body of the girl she thought Paul wanted more than her.

She must really think I'm a total asshole. That I was playing her or something. Damn, damn, damn!

He rushed into his office and barked, "Where's Priya?"

"Ladies room, I think," Tom said, evenly. "She should be back in a few. What's wrong?"

Paul couldn't wait. He picked up the phone and dialed Jillian's work number. A strange voice answered on the second ring.

"Good morning. May I please speak with Jillian Marshall?"

"I'm sorry, but Jillian is tied up at the moment. May I take a message?"

The voice was polite, but didn't sound too friendly. He left his name and number and could swear he heard the sound of paper crumpling as the line went dead.

Priya was all smiles when she walked into the office, but the smile vanished when she saw the panic on Paul's face. "What's wrong?"

"Come on." Paul rose from his chair. "Let's take a walk. I need to talk to you about something."

"Does it have to do with last night?"

Paul nodded.

"Then sit down. I know I should have asked you first, but I pretty much told Tom about what happened last night. I mean, we all have to work together, and it would be hell if we had to pretend we weren't more than just co-workers. Eventually one of us would say or do something that would cause them to wonder and, well, it wouldn't be fair."

"So you told him, ah, everything?"

"Pretty much."

"Okay then, here's what happened a few minutes ago."

Paul told her about the confrontation in the coffee shop and about the call that went nowhere.

"I don't know what to do. I can't even go over there. She'll never believe me. And given the way Marie was acting this morning, I'd probably get killed if I even showed my face on her floor."

Tom shook his head. "Oh you are so
screwed
. I feel for you, man."

Priya stood quietly for a few minutes, her head bobbing slightly back and forth as it always did when she was concentrating on a problem. Then she smiled at Paul and turned to Tom.

"Tom, Paul and I need some time off this morning. We have some repair work to do."

8:20 AM

Shandra was on her way back from the ladies room when she saw Paul and the bimbo step off the elevator right in front of her.

Hoo-mama! This should be good!

"Good morning," she said to their backs. "I'll bet you're looking for Jillian."

Paul turned to see who'd spoken.

Good lord, does everyone in the company know who we are?

"My name is Shandra. Jillian works right through there." She pointed to an opening flanked by a set of huge wooden doors.

Paul recognized the name as the third person who took turns bringing the coffee in the morning.

"Hi, I'm…"

"Paul. I know. And I have to say you must have one big set of brass balls to show up here with her." Shandra nodded toward Priya. Despite her words, she seemed calm and pleasant, not at all like Marie had been earlier.

"Look, I…"

Shandra held up her hand. "Not my business. But you had better be nice to her. She has lots of friends in there."

As they entered the huge room, Shandra pointed to an open door to the right.

"Check in there with Cathy O'Hara. She's the manager."

Paul cleared his throat at the doorway, introduced himself and Priya, and explained they needed to speak with Jillian.

Her first instinct was to tell them Jillian couldn't be disturbed, but the look on his face, plus the fact that they'd both showed up here so quickly after Marie had confronted him made her think this mess might not be as straightforward as everyone thought.

She rose from her desk. "Follow me. I'll show you to her space."

Nothing spreads faster than a new Internet virus except juicy news, and it was evident the news had spread here. When they emerged from her office, almost everyone in the room was standing, waiting for a glimpse of the bastard and his whore. Paul felt like a criminal being escorted past the media on a perp walk as Cathy led them down the left aisle, nearly to the end, past assorted nods, glares, and appraising stares.

Jillian was seated at her desk waiting for them. Paul's heart sank when he saw her. She had obviously been crying, probably all night judging from her red, puffy eyes. Priya's hand shot to her mouth when she caught her first glimpse of the distraught girl. She felt like crying in sympathy, understanding completely what Jillian was feeling.

"What do you want?" Her cold eyes locked on Paul.

He started to answer, but Priya interrupted.

"Jillian, my name is Priya Kumar. Is there someplace a little more private we can go to talk?"

Jillian didn't move. "I don't think…"

"Please?" She noticed a big aluminum straightedge on the drafting table. She pointed to it and said, "And bring that. When we're done, if you think we've wasted your time, you can bend it over my head."

Jillian's lips twitched at the corners, not really into a smile, but enough to let Priya know she'd convinced her for the moment.

She stood, took two steps, turned back to grab the straightedge, then walked out of the space without even a glance at Paul as she passed him. She led the way to the break room, casually tossed the straightedge on the table, and sat in one of the chairs.

Priya walked in behind her but turned and blocked the door.

"Not you," she told Paul. "You wait out here."

"But…"

"Don't argue. This is between us girls. You'd only get in the way and mess things up like men usually do."

With that, she closed the door in his face and took a seat next to Jillian.

"I don't know what he told you, but we're nothing to each other. We just talked a few times."

"And had a most eventful lunch."

"You know about the lunch? You must have had a good laugh over that one." She sounded bitter.

"Laugh? I don't think so, Jillian. I thought that was one of the sweetest stories I ever heard. I was so excited for him when Paul told us what had happened."

"Us? Who else did he tell? Is this his…"

"Jillian, please listen to me. He told me and Tom and Rob. We all work together in one small office. We're close. We share things. Especially when we're happy and excited. And girl, I have never ever seen anyone as happy and excited as Paul was when he returned from lunch Wednesday. The man literally floated into the office. He accomplished nothing all afternoon because he was thinking about you."

Jillian felt her fury abate the tiniest bit.

Is it possible she really is only a co-worker? But the kiss!

As if she'd been reading her mind, Priya said, "Look, I came here today because I care about Paul, but not in the way you think I do. And despite what you think you saw last night…no, that's wrong. You saw what you saw. But it was not what it looked like. Anyway, Paul's become one of my very best friends. But we are not into each other the way he is into you."

Jillian sat quietly, listening closely as Priya gave a detailed account of her relationship with Paul, beginning from the first day she started work. She told her almost everything, even her parting thought last night about someday surprising him on a birthday with a glimpse of her naked. She knew it was important for Paul that Jillian believe all the way down to her soul that she was hearing the complete truth.

As the story wound down, Jillian realized her anger and the ache in her chest were gone. She'd made a terrible mistake. She'd allowed her assumptions to almost ruin things with Paul when she should have confronted him about what she'd seen.

Still, Priya was enough to make anyone jealous and Jillian still felt a bit uneasy.

"I feel especially bad about having kissed him as I did. I'll bet that right up until that moment you were giving him the benefit of the doubt."

Jillian's face betrayed her.

Am I that transparent to this woman?

Priya continued. "I know I said this before, but it's really important you know that I kissed him because I had to make sure he was telling the truth about not being attracted to me anymore. I had to really know I would be able to trust him, that he wouldn't be tempted to use our friendship to try to manipulate me into bed."

"I suppose I can understand that."

Jillian found herself warming up to this straightforward person with the polite manner and quick humor.

I want to believe her…I…I think maybe I'm even starting to like her a little…but she's so damn beautiful…I feel like an ugly duckling sitting next to her. If she's going to be Paul's friend, how long will it take before he notices how bad I look in comparison?

"So what happens now? You and Paul are like buddies or something?"

"I guess so. This is new for both of us."

"And you share everything? I don't know if I'm all that keen on the idea of you two talking about me. If anything ever happened, I mean."

Priya smiled. "Well, think of it this way. Let's say you two get together, and one day you have an argument. You go storming out of the house because he acted like a jerk but refuses to admit it. What's he going to do? He's going to call a friend for advice. Now, who would you prefer he call? One of his guy friends who's as simple-minded as he is and who'll tell him he's right and that you'll soon come running back ready for some make-up sex? Or should he call me, who'll listen to what he says, find out what
really
happened, and then tell him he acted like a jerk and he'd better buy you flowers and jewelry pretty damn quick before you come to your senses and realize what an idiot he is?"