A Man on an Island Ch. 04

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TaLtos6
TaLtos6
1,932 Followers

When he came inside and began to work up some breakfast, Kate asked him if there was anything wrong. He shook his head and apologized if he'd given her the wrong idea, "I got to thinking about my girlfriend. We're in the middle of a rough patch, but I guess I decided that even though we're at that seeing other people stage, I didn't want to complicate my life. I'd rather let that relationship go whichever way it's headed before I do something stupid. I'm pretty good at that. I guess that your cousin must be Sylvia McDonnell, right?"

Kate nodded, wanting to leave just then. A simple phone call brought Sylvia to his door in her truck and Cale waved as they drove off, Kate following her cousin down the road. He smiled to himself and shook his head, but that caused him to look down and he saw Rufus looking up at him.

"Don't give me that look," he said, "I know I lied to her. You might have been smitten there, Rufus, but this isn't the first time I've been around the block. That stuff about advertising? Same-same. Nice lady though," he nodded, "Just a little too much for me, that's all."

They went inside and Cale was a little surprised to find that Rufus followed him wherever he went, as though he was waiting for an explanation or something. Cale poured himself another cup of coffee and he tousled the wiry fur on Rufus' head a little. "She's way out of my league, Rufus. There's just no way to explain it to you."

Cale was reading one long email very slowly. It was maybe the tenth time, and he wanted more than anything to be able to come up with an idea – some sort of plan that might work. His phone rang and he answered it.

It was Sylvia wondering about what had happened and trying not to pry at the same time.

"Oh, nothing much, Sylvia," he said after a sip of his coffee, "I just decided that I wanted to keep it at not much, that's all. Kate's a lovely woman but I'm not in the market for corporate raiders as people that I'd like to spend much time with, on the whole. From what she told me, that's a big part of her job. She closes a place and it makes her look good because she removes the competition for fair marketshare. She never sees the people that she's messed up. I didn't say anything, but I just got really turned off. She's not upset or anything is she?"

"No," Sylvia said, "I'd say that she's a little disappointed, more than anything. She told me that she really liked you. She's a lot like you are, you know."

"I dunno, Syl," he said, "and anyway, I seriously doubt that I'd have been able to hold her interest for long. Her eyes almost glowed when she told me about how her last two takeovers were going to land her a fat bonus. All I saw were a lot of unemployed people in her eyes. Is she still there?"

He heard his friend's sigh as she realized that Cale was right, "No, she left a few minutes ago. She's headed back to Toronto. Her cell found a tower long enough for her to get her messages and she said something about being offered a directorship."

"Well, if I come up on any conversations that you might have with her, tell her that I wish her success in that, would you?"

"That won't happen, Cale," Sylvia said, "I hardly ever see her. She'll probably be the CEO or whatever the next time I hear from her."

-------------------

It wasn't until Cale let Rufus out for the last time before turning in that he realized what it was that had been bugging him for the past day. He let Rufus back in and they went upstairs. Rufus kept looking at him and it began to bother Cale a little.

He turned on his computer and when it was done with its nonsense, he found himself staring at that one email, but he didn't get very far into reading it again when he noticed that Rufus was sitting on the floor right next to him, waiting. On a dog like Rufus, that meant that they were nearly eye to eye when Cale turned his head.

He looked over and he rolled his eyes with a smile as he reached to scratch very lightly in the spot where the dog's foreleg met his body. Rufus had always loved this.

But Cale was wrong this time. Rufus didn't want a scratch there, not this time. He raised that foreleg far more than he usually did and placed his huge paw on Cale's knee – something that Cale had worked long and hard to get him away from. He turned to scold Rufus for it gently but he saw the look in the dog's eyes and the way that he was stretching his head forward. When Cale leaned down just a little, Rufus licked his cheek and went back to looking seriously concerned.

"Forget it, Rufus," Cale said as he tousled the wiry fur on the animal's head, "I learned a new concept, that's all. Advertising. I guess we can call it the art of it seeking to portray things as being better than they really are. How many women have you seen lost in a blizzard come walking into a house like this looking like that?

Don't worry about it buddy," he smiled ,"the world of business runs on shit like that."

Rufus seemed to accept that answer somehow and went to lie down. It wasn't until Cale headed off to the bathroom for a last pee stop before hitting the pillow that it hit him - and this time, he found that he couldn't just push the thought away.

He looked at the man in the mirror there and he told him something. "People do what they've always done. What the fuck is your excuse? You're doing the very same thing, asshole."

He walked to the bedroom and looked at the clock before walking back. Rufus walked over at the strange sound.

"Nothin' Rufus," he smiled, "I'm just trimming the hedgework here before I get out my razor. I'm suddenly a little tired of looking like the captain of a fishing trawler in the North Atlantic."

As he ran his hand over his clean-shaven face, he walked to the phone and placed a call. Sylvia picked up on the third ring.

Cale apologized for the hour and she laughed at him, "It's not even ten yet. What's on your mind?"

"I was wondering if you'd do me a huge favor," he said.

--------------------------

Kate worked all night and was in her office long before the sun came up on Sunday. Whenever she sat back to mull things over for a moment, her eye kept being drawn to the phone on her desk. She finally transferred everything to the meeting table in her large office and that solved the problem. She'd gotten Cale's number from her cousin and she'd planned to call Cale half a dozen times, but every time, just as she was about to walk to her desk to sit down, another aspect of this thing came up and she was off again.

She called a local restaurant for some take-out and drove off to get it. On her way beck, she thought about the ramifications of a take-over. There would be a good number of people on the staff at the target firm who would be downsized out the door from this, but that couldn't be helped. By the time that she got home, it was 1 AM, and she decided to call Cale in the morning.

------------------

Bright and early on Monday morning, Cale's phone rang.

And rang.

Finally the Kate hung up and got back to work prepping for her first meeting.

Not all that far away down the concession road, Rufus lifted his head from where he was sleeping and looked into Sylvia McDonnell's eyes as they opened. She sat up and hugged Rufus as she looked at the clock. Her husband had already been at work for an hour by that time.

"I think that your boss fibbed to me, Rufus," she grinned, "When he asked me to look after you, he told me that you didn't jump up into bed with people, but I guess that the warm spot that Paul left when he got up to go to work was just too much of a temptation for you, huh?"

She laughed at what she took to be his toothy grin, "Come on, Rufus. It's all work for me today and you can follow me around if you want. Just keep your nose to yourself, or one of the cranky mares in the barn will kick you for your trouble."

-----------------

The ball was rolling and Kate wasn't just watching it - she was driving it. Her report sailed higher and higher all day long among the corner offices and she'd chaired several hurried meetings on the best way to handle this before it was even one in the afternoon.

It was unfortunate that her methodology in how to handle this flew out the window a little later on.

By the early afternoon, Kate decided that she'd better get home to bed. She'd been running on the nervous energy of the rush that she could get from her job for the past few days and she knew that she'd have to crash sooner or later. But it was such a high when things worked out - as this one promised to. Her eye fell on the address of the target firm and she smirked.

It was almost on her way home.

That was how she came to be in the little corner restaurant a block away and over the hill. She'd driven by to get a look, not that it mattered much, and once there, she thought about the afternoon rush hour and decided on a meal out. The little family-run place looked kind of charming so, ...

After a look at the menu, she thought that the man at the next table looked even more charming and there was something about him...

She knew what it was a little later as he introduced himself and her jaw landed in her lap. He'd stepped out for a really late lunch and he liked the place and had known the owners for years. She found Paolo to be charming and pretty attractive as well as interested in her. Since he was the head of the firm that she was after for her directorship, she knew that she had better play this close to the chest.

He was intent on playing it that way as well - as close to hers as he could, if he got the chance, he told himself. One thing led to another and the place was exchanged for a hotel room two hours later as she outlined what it was that she did for a living and how it might be a good time to make himself some heavy money by positioning his firm to be in place and receptive to the acquisition offer, since she told him that there would most certainly be one.

He considered for a little while they ordered a bottle of wine and dinner from the kitchen, since they'd decided on a more intimate place to share their discussions. He was still considering while he phoned home and left a message for his wife that he was likely going to stay in the city for the night, since he was running so late and all.

As they began the more personal part of their interaction, they were each focused on it far more than they should have been under the circumstances.

To him, she was fascinating and lovely, energetic and interesting and there was something about her which he found a little familiar in a strange way.

To her, he was handsome and very sophisticated in a rather interesting European sort of way. She liked everything about him - especially the way that he seemed to be leaning toward her idea of just telling the rest of the small board of directors at the firm that he'd set up a decade before that they stood little chance of resisting a take-over attempt if Kate's employers began to buy up their stock. Certainly some of those very same board members would sell for the right money, and then it would be all over but the crying, so the time might be right to get while the getting was silver-lined, as it were.

There wouldn't have been this sort of possibility at all if he hadn't taken the firm into being traded publicly in the first place, but as he'd told his wife at the time, it was a way to draw investors - and their funds.

He wasn't thinking about his wife at the moment, though he should have been for more than the obvious reasons.

She wasn't thinking about his wife either, and it came as a huge shock when she found out that they knew each other. But that would come to them in a day or so.

For now, they had each other in a slightly illicit and naughty way. Kate hoped that this worked out in a number of ways. She'd known that he was married by the ring that he wore, but she didn't particularly care. If she could land this, she thought that she might be able to land him as well on a more permanent basis - if he turned out to be as good in bed as he was in his advertising of it.

She liked everything about him, even his name. Paolo Benelli. She thought he'd make a great personal acquisition if this played out the way that it was beginning to appear to be doing.

Afterwards - days later, it came as a surprise to them both that they'd never met before. But his name hadn't rung the bell that it might have if she had any interest in her family. Other than one cousin, she didn't have much to do with any of them.

The issue was, that she was now about to climb into bed with the husband of that same cousin - she just didn't know it yet.

Hours and miles away, that cousin listened to the messages on her phone as she pulled off her muddy boots and threw a frozen entree into her microwave. She looked at the huge hound which was visiting with them for a few days with a frown, "It's just you and me tonight, Rufus. Paul's staying in the city tonight."

She was about to add, "again", but suddenly sat down with a strange feeling in her breast. There had been times before when she'd known. The first time had been devastating to her. The second time it had only hurt and angered her. She supposed that she ought to be getting used to it and she almost smirked to herself as she hunted for a number in her purse.

There wouldn't be a need after this time, but the only thing which would have made this a little handier was if she'd put the number of the investigation service on her speed-dial. They cost like blood, but they were better than good, and so far, her intuition hadn't let her down as she gave them the name of the hotel that her husband always used when he was staying in the city. The evening desk clerk thanked her and said that they had a two-person team available at the moment, so they'd get right on it.

When she hung up a few minutes later, Sylvia pushed the upset away. This had been coming for a while, and she'd even warned him that she had a limit. If she was given the proof that the investigator's had gotten her twice before in no time flat it seemed, then she no longer wanted to be married to a man who was this stupid, and for the hundredth time, she was glad that she'd kept her name when she'd married him.

--------------------------

In Santa Rosa, she pulled on her blazer as the sun neared the horizon. Delia had booked off early today and the woman sighed as she looked over the reservations register. A bunch of names, she thought. They were always just a bunch of names to her these days. God, she was just so fucking tired of this. Every day, every hour, just another mark going by, each one a bigger tick on the clock.

She was looking down at one surname which had caught her eye. She saw the initial and though she knew that it wasn't the right one, the sight of it made her think back to the right one for a moment.

She was still looking down when she heard the doors open and a man arrived, bustling up to the counter. He'd been talking all the way in through the doors and she wondered who he was prattling to since there was no one here but her today.

"Honestly," the man said to nobody in particular in a rather nasal voice, "you people need to get yourselves a freaking airport. It ain't that short a haul from the airport in Vegas, you know. Just a regional field with a couple of them loud-assed turbo-props would be fine. I could put up with their noise if it would get me here a little quicker."

He stopped then. "Are you even listening to me at all ... "he squinted at her name tag. "Miss Nervarra? I'd hope that you are, otherwise I'm afraid that the shit's going to be hitting the fan at an alarming rate around here."

She drew a breath and let it out, trying to compose herself before something really good slipped out.

"Good afternoon sir," she said automatically, "My name is pronounced Novarro. How may I help you today?" She kept her head down a little longer on purpose. She found that maybe just today, she was very short on patience for some of the asshole tourists who came in here as if they'd just discovered that morning that they owned the place or something.

There was a short pause then and the voice began again, but without the nasal edge to it.

"I was just wondering if you had any plans for Christmas this year, that's all, Maya. I thought I'd, ... you know, come on over and ask."

Maya's head shot up and she stared for a moment before she began to smile softly, but that only lasted a second. After that, she seemed to crumble a little before she was over the counter and in Cale's arms and whimpering softly into his ear as she tried with no success at all to keep herself from crying.

"Cale, you're nuts," she smiled as she wiped her face a minute later, "You are absolutely out of your mind. You came here to ask me that? You could have just asked me in an email."

He shook his head, "Nope. I'd never have stood a chance like that. I got to thinking and I decided that I don't care. I just know what I want."

"And that is. ..." she asked.

"I wanted to see you again," he said, "I know that we couldn't figure out anything when we talked before I left. I spent time with you where you live, and ... well I was wondering of you'd like to spend Christmas with me where I live. Somewhere in there, we could talk some more."

Maya looked at him searchingly for a moment, "Give me a minute."

She reached for the phone and dialled a number and when the other party came on the line, Cale listened to one half of a rather animated and lively conversation in Spanish before Maya hung up with a purposeful smile, "I'm filling in for Delia, but my cousin will be right over to cover for me – and if that doesn't happen, I'll lock up and they can all try to figure out how to run the place without me."

The doors flew open a minute later and Cale watched as Maya laid down the law to someone whom he could only assume to be the cousin in question for a minute before she led Cale to a room where he could park his bag.

"Come on, Cale," she said, "I need a coffee in the worst way, so you must as well if all you have is the swill they sell you poor people up there as coffee. Down here, we know that stuff by a different name – washwater."

She led him to the new coffee shop that had been a recent addition. As they sat at a table, Cale watched as Maya spent far more time playing with her coffee and looking uncomfortable than drinking it. "It's been a long while," she said finally, "I guess I'd like to know why now. Why are you here now?"

Cale nodded, "When I got back, I bought the house that I live in now and sold my other one. The place needed so much help and for a long time, I needed every nickel to get what I absolutely needed to get done and finished before the winter. I didn't have much of a bank balance until last summer. Now, I've got enough for this and to offer to fly you up and back."

Maya nodded and looked at her cup for a moment, "How many people would you say that you interact with at Christmas? I think the number of relations that I have to see must number nearly a hundred, for sure. I can't just leave, Cale."

"You've got someone, don't you?" he asked. He knew the answer in the way that she paused.

"Yes," she nodded finally, "I've started seeing Hector. You remember the cop?" She leaned forward, "I never heard a word from you, Cale. I didn't know that you were even thinking about me until I got your email a couple of months back, and even so, you never mentioned anything like this. Hector's a gentleman and after him asking me out about a thousand times, I gave up."

"Do you love him?" he asked, and he got a roundabout sort of nod in reply, but Cale decided that he wouldn't press the point. Maya was right, after all.

I feel terrible now," she said, "and you must feel – "

TaLtos6
TaLtos6
1,932 Followers