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CHAPTER twenty-eight

  I made one last call before leaving for the day.

  "Hi. It’s Kate," I said.

  "Well I know that," Jay said. "How’s your day been?" He sounded awfully chipper for someone who’d lost his job. Well, he probably had every right to feel chipper. He was out of this hell-hole. I guess I’d feel chipper too if I didn’t have to come back in the morning.

  "My day’s been so-so. Actually, pretty rotten. But that’s boring and I’m sure you don’t want to hear anything about it," I said. "How’s your day been?"

  "Not bad, all in all. Why don’t I tell you all about it over dinner tonight?" he asked.

  "Dinner? I guess I have to eat. And I couldn’t think of anyone nicer to eat with. Where should we meet?"

  "How about somewhere close to home? Any ideas?"

  "Yeah. I feel like Italian. How about Tony’s? We could meet about six-thirty."

  "I thought Tony’s was just take-out," Jay said.

  "He’s got a few tables. And he’s got other things besides pizza. You’ll like it."

  "Okay. Fine by me. See you there about six-thirty," he signed off.

  I turned off my computer and left my desk in its usual mess. I decided to leave by the reception area, just to let everyone know I was leaving early. No sneaking out the back door this time. I asked myself if I was being petty and bitchy and decided I wasn’t. If everyone else can act like babies, I could act like a toddler.

  Traffic was lighter than normal and I realized it had been a long time since I was out of the office at ten to five. I arrived home in thirty minutes and took a leisurely shower. I dressed in jeans and a loose blouse. Because this was almost like a date, I put on clean, white sweat socks. I arrived at Tony’s fifteen minutes early.

  "To be punctual, is to be princely," my father used to lecture. I had tried over the years to be late for things and just couldn’t do it. If I was five minutes early, I got palpitations of the heart and considered myself late. Fifteen minutes early was just right by my father’s standards. I could drive around the block a few times but I saw a good parking spot in front of the Pizzeria and grabbed it.

  Alfredo was on the phone behind the counter when I walked in. I glanced to the left and saw that none of the six tables were occupied.

  "Are Monday’s always this slow?" I asked him when he hung up.

  "No darling. I just had a feeling you were coming in so I cleared the place. We did the same for the Pope you know, the last time he was in Toronto." He came around the front of the counter with a menu in his hand and gave me a bear hug.

  "Are you taking out or eating in?" he asked me.

  "Eating in. With someone. He’s meeting me here in a few minutes." I headed over to my favourite table at the back, beside the window. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten here with someone. Usually, I eat alone and read the newspaper.

  "With someone," Alfredo mimicked me as he followed me. "And it’s a him. Ooh. Someone special Kathleen?"

  I sat down and hooked my purse over the back of the chair.

  "Yes, Alfredo. It’s a him. And is he someone special? None of your business," I teased. "Now can I please have a drink?" We both laughed.

  "Right away." He was singing the Katie song as he made his way back to the counter.

  I stared out the window and watched the traffic as I waited for Jay. I knew I had really pushed Didrickson to the limit today. Twice. I had never talked back to him like that. Most times I was my usual sarcastic self and most times I got away with it because I knew when it was appropriate. And I didn’t think my sarcasm had any menace to it. It was mostly teasing.

  But today he had made me angry twice. And both times I let him have it back. My parents had brought me up to respect authority and I know now that my mother regrets teaching us that. "Blind respect for authority will get you nothing but trouble," my mother says now. "Let them earn your respect first." My father on the other hand still believes in blind obedience. That’s what made him a first class, infantry soldier.

  I still have trouble defining the line between blind respect and earned respect. But I had learned over the last couple of years that just because someone is in a position of authority, doesn’t mean they deserve to be in that position.

  Usually, I’m a good soldier. And I admit that I’m a soldier. I do what’s asked of me to the best of my abilities. But even a good soldier gets tired of the assholes.

  I noticed Jay’s car drive by and I yelled at Alfredo for my drink.

  "Come on. The service in this place is going downhill. All I asked for was a measly soda water. Did you have to go to the restaurant down the street to get it?"

  "Hang on. Hang on," he yelled back. He was bending down behind the counter and he was triumphant when he stood back up. "Found it!"

  He paraded to my table with a soda water in one hand and a round, red glass ball with a candle inside. He placed the soda in front of me and fumbled in his pants pockets for some matches to light the candle which he put in the middle of the table.

  "Please Alfredo. Let’s not make a big deal out of this. And you better not make a fuss when he comes in or you’ll lose your best customer. Please," I begged him. I hated being the center of attention.

  "Sure, sure. Don’t you worry. We’ll make this a very," he strung out the word verrrrry, "romantic dinner."

  "I didn’t say I wanted a romantic dinner. If I wanted romantic, I’d go somewhere else. Somewhere nice," I teased. "I want food. Good food. Come on Alfredo. Don’t embarrass me," I pleaded.

  "Ah, Cara Mia," he crooned.

  "Cut the phoney Italian shit, Alfredo. Now go away. Get," I ordered him. We were both laughing so I didn’t notice Jay standing behind Alfredo.

  I leaned sideways and smiled at Jay when we both realized he was there. He was wearing jeans and a faded Levi jean jacket with a white T-shirt underneath. Very sexy. He looked good enough to eat. "Come on Jay. Take a seat. Let me introduce you to my great-grandfather Alfredo. Alfredo, this is Jay Harmon." They shook hands and Jay sat down. Alfredo continued to hover.

  "Jay, Alfredo has decided to make my life miserable this evening. Please order something to drink so he’ll go away," I told him. I smiled up at Alfredo very sweetly.

  "I’ll have a beer. Labatt’s Blue," Jay ordered.

  "Right away, sir. And I’m not related to her," he said over his shoulder as he headed back to his counter.

  "So," Jay started. "Tell me about your day. How were things at the office?"

  "You don’t want to know how things were. Things were shitty."

  Alfredo arrived with Jay’s beer and hovered.

  "Can we wait a little while before we order?" I asked him. "I know there’s a line-up out the door and down the street, but please sir, we’ll tip big."

  "All right, already. D’you want another soda water?" he asked.

  "Not right now. Thanks. I’ll yell when we’re ready to order, okay?"

  I looked over at Jay and he was smiling.

  "You don’t spare anyone do you? But that’s one thing I adore about you Kate. You treat everyone the same."

  I smiled back at him and thought about yesterday afternoon at his apartment. I leered at him and did my best Groucho Marx imitation. "Well not exactly the same, if you know what I mean."

  "So, please. Tell me what happened today," Jay insisted.

  "Well, I left the office at ten to five. Traffic was light coming home. I made it in thirty minutes. I went for a long walk at lunch down to the lake." Jay’s eyebrows went up.

  "A long walk? I’m impressed. Are you turning over a new leaf?" he teased me.

  "No. For a moment I thought I was. But I took a cab back to the office," I replied.

  "That’s all very nice. But what happened when you got in this morning?"

  "I had coffee with Vee."

  "Are you avoiding the subject Kath
leen? I just asked what happened today at the office."

  "And I don’t especially want to talk about it right now."

  Jay took a long drink of his beer which Alfredo had poured into a tall pilsner glass.

  "All right," he said. "Let’s talk about my day. I got up. I went for a run, not a walk. I had coffee by myself. I didn’t get caught in traffic. There. That was my day," he laughed. "Now tell me about yours. And stop being cute. I’m not going to drag it out of you."

  So I told him. About being late and getting chewed out by Didrickson. About the press release going out before the market opened. About the continuing slide of the share price. About my long walk at lunch. About meeting Constable Lofaro. And the smelly garbage. About my talk with Danny. I left out the part about my conversation with Cleve and Rick Cox’s severance package. I didn’t want to rub dirt into his wounds.

  I was fairly long-winded and by the time I finished my story, two more couples had come in for dinner and had already been served their pizzas.

  "So, that’s it in a nutshell," I said. "Hey waiter," I yelled at Alfredo. "Can we get some service over here?" Alfredo shook his fist at me from behind the counter.

  Jay picked up the menu and glanced at it. "I’ve only had pizza from here. What else is good?"

  "Everything. I’m having pizza. It’s my favourite. I could eat it morning, noon and night. Now tell me about your day."

  "Like I said, Kate. I ran, I drank coffee and I didn’t get stuck in traffic. I played a little on the Internet."

  Alfredo took our orders and returned with more drinks.

  "The Internet? You’re not turning into a geek on me are you?"

  "No," he answered. "You’re only a geek if you surf the net all day and all night. I have other plans for tonight."

  He grinned and continued. "I found some interesting things on the net. I was looking up information on the companies we’ve acquired over the last few months."

  "Yeah? What would the Internet have on those companies that we wouldn’t know already? We cover off almost everything on due diligence. I even know the size of most of the major shareholders’ boxer shorts by the time we’re finished with them," I said.

  "Well, because most of the companies we acquired were American, and publicly traded, their public information is filed on EDGAR through the Securities & Exchange Commission. All of their old 10-K’s, prospectuses and stuff like that are on the web. And as you know, those documents contain facts about the company, their officers and shareholders. And their products. You just have to take the information a couple of steps further and it’s magic. Amazing the stuff you can dig up."

  This was interesting.

  "So what amazing stuff did you come up with? Come on. Give."

  "Nope. I’m still researching a few things. I could only get so far on the net and ended up at the library in the reference stacks. Bear with me though. If things lead where I think they’re going, we could be in for a very interesting ride."

  "Bear with you? Whaddya mean? Come on Jay. You know I live for this shit. You can’t hold out on me," I said. Jay was grinning like the Cheshire cat. I grinned back.

  "Me?" he asked. "Hold out on you? Now why would I do that? You and I both know that I follow your example. I share all the information with you." He looked a little more serious now and his tone suddenly changed. "Just like you do with me Kate."

  "Right Kate?" he asked me when I didn’t answer.

  "Sorry. I thought it was rhetorical. Yeah, I share everything," I said quietly. My bluff and blarney was disappearing. I peered at Jay in the candlelight to see how serious he was. He was serious, not angry, but I wasn’t sure what he was getting at.

  "Okay, buster. What didn’t I share with you?" I asked.

  "Two million in severance? You can’t tell me you didn’t know that. And by the way, it’s not the two million. It’s the severance. The son of a bitch got fired. Fired. And the press release said he resigned. And he got severance?" Jay was angry now.

  "Hey, don’t get mad at me," I said defensively.

  "I’m not mad at you about the severance. I just get extremely angry whenever I think about it. And I’m thinking about it right now and I’m angry."

  Alfredo chose that moment to arrive with our food. Timely, I thought. The man is very timely.

  I dug into my pizza and after a few mouthfuls I put down my fork and asked Jay, "How did you find out about Rick’s severance? Will you share that with me?"

  He finished chewing what was in his mouth. Good manners.

  "Sure. I’ll share. Tom James told me. He told me everything."

  Why wasn’t I surprised?