Flame

  Chapter 3

  I stop by the hospital to sit with Dad. That’s what the nurse calls it – sitting. He hasn’t really opened his eyes or communicated with more than a few hand squeezes since I left last night. I ask the nurse if this is normal.

  “For him it is,” she said gently. I watched her come in with a cloth and some lotion, washing his skin and then rubbing the lotion into his hands, arm and cheeks. “No matter how much fluid we give them, people tend to dry out in the hospital.”

  “I feel so helpless,” I confess. I don’t know who this nurse is, but I make a vow that when I get Lynx back and I’m going to assign my best feature writer to do a story about ICU nurses and what an amazing job they have. She nods empathetically. “Is there anything I can do to help him?”

  The nurse hands me the lotion and wash cloth.

  “I meant isn’t there something I can do to change the situation for him? Help him wake up or get him to move around more? I know there’s really nothing I can do.”

  “My experience is that when there’s nothing you can do,” she says gently squeezing the lotion into my hand and placing it on Dad’s arm. “Small things are sometimes all you can do.”

  She’s right. I finish with Dad’s arm and reach for my cell phone.

  “Mark, it’s Julia,” I say to the voice mail prompt, thankful I don’t have to speak to him in person. “Saturday at noon, Café San Carlo in the Village. Be prepared to pay for three.”

  ~~~

  I sit with Dad most of the morning. He’s still breathing, but largely unresponsive. His grip is getting weaker. Yet, he did signal that he knows I’m there.

  I tell Janice to meet me at 11:30 so I can catch her up with what’s happening and explain why I am allowing Mark to meet with both of us. I probably don’t need thirty minutes to get Janice into the swing of this meeting, but I have to give her at least some clues because I have no idea what’s going to come up.

  “Café San Carlo?” Janice says as she sits down looking at the beautiful Italian décor. “Don’t you think this is a little pricey for a woman who just lost her job and a woman who is probably going to in a few weeks?”

  “We aren’t paying. Order anything you want,” I reply keeping pace with my friend. It’s nice to be talking about anything that isn’t serious. Of course, that will change soon. “I’m ordering the Seabass Marichiara and a nice glass of Lambrusco.”

  “Really? Then I’ll just have one of everything and a bottle of something red,” she laughs. “Seriously, who’s coming to meet us, Rupert Murdoch?”

  “Think local, less famous, better looking and much more stamina in the sack.”

  “Um…wow…if he wasn’t rich I’d say the UPS guy who delivers in the afternoons, but I’m pretty sure he’s not eating here before hauling our packages up from the street. Who is it?

  “Okay, okay. It’s Mark. We’ve hit a break, or a snag – I’m not sure which – with his plan and we need your help.”

  “Mark Stone? You got it. Anything to get his asshole brother out of your office and off my ass,” she holds up a glass to get the waiter’s attention and orders a spicy malbec.

  “I hear you. The plan is to get Lynx back before the papers…”

  “Hey! Wait a minute…” Janice interrupts me in mid-sentence, giggling like a schoolgirl. “How do you know Mark Stone is good in the sack?”

  I blush as I realize this is not going to be as easy or smooth as I had hoped if I don’t cough up at least a few details. I plunge into the part of the speech I rehearsed; hoping Janice’s questioning mind doesn’t take me too far off the planned path.

  “Okay, look. That’s why I asked you here early. I need you to know something and keep it to yourself. If anyone finds out this information, it could be bad for all of us – you included. So, um…”

  “Tick a lock,” Janice says, pretending to lock her lips and throw away the key.

  “I’m…well…I’m kinda…” I stammer and play with napkin. Finally, I blurt it out like someone who is possessed. “I’m sleeping with Mark. It’s not a big thing, or a relationship and we aren’t moving in, getting hitched or planning kids. It’s just sex.”

  “Wow,” Janice sits there with her mouth hanging open. I’m not sure if it is because of my revelation or the blurting, convulsive way I made it. “You and Mr. Stone? Wow.”

  “Don’t mention it to him,” I say nervously.

  “Why? Doesn’t he know you’re having sex?”

  “No! I mean, yes! He knows we are having sex. I just don’t know if he wants you to know.”

  “Oh. But I do know.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “Okay.”

  “But if he mentions it, don’t act shocked about it.”

  “Okay.”

  “And don’t deny it.”

  “Are you sure he knows you two are having sex?”

  “Shut up!” We both are laughing so hard tears are falling from our eyes. It feels so good to laugh again.

  “Lovely ladies on a pretty day. Boy, am I a lucky man or what?” Mark says as he sits down beside me. He reaches under the table and puts his hand on my thigh. The feeling of his strength on my body grounds me. For the first time all day I’m not nervous, tense or giddy.

  “Mark, I don’t think you’ve met Janice. She’s my assistant at Lynx and my best friend.”

  “I’ve talked to you on the phone several times,” Mark smiles while Janice appears to be melting. “It’s wonderful to meet you. I want to thank you for being so brave. Staying at Lynx while my brother runs amok can’t be easy.”

  “Blake’s not as nerve-wracking as Valerie James. Every time she comes in I get the shivers.” Janice leans toward Mark as she talks, opening her body stance. My anthropology professor would have said she was ‘inviting the mate’. “If you ask me, you’re the brave one, Mr. Stone.”

  “Oh, how so?” Mark asks. I reach my leg over and give Janice a good swift kick in the shin under the table. She blinks, but never shows her pain. Good woman.

  “For taking on your brother and putting your own position at risk to defend Julia,” Janice makes up a good cover. “I’m happy someone has taken an interest in her…ah…helping her! Taken an interest in helping her.”

  Mark smiles politely. He asks what I’m planning for lunch and browses the menu. We listen to Janice babble on about running the office without me, and how the tension is high when Blake or Kenneth show up to lock themselves in my office, but people actually find excuses to leave the room when Valerie is there. The waiter appears and Mark flags his attention.

  “The lady will have Seabass Marichiara with house vinaigrette on the side and glass of Sorbara Lambrusco, and I will have the shrimp scampi with Mosel Riesling,” he says and gestures to Janice for her order. She’s so shocked so stumbles through her decisions and I’m not sure she even got what she wanted.

  I have to admit I have never been ordered for since I’ve become an adult. There’s something old fashioned and quaint about it, yet I blush thinking Janice is probably about to pass out. Lord knows if Greg had ever tried a stunt like that I would have lectured him until his ears bleed. But with Mark, it didn’t seem like a “stunt” – he genuinely likes to care for me.

  “Why does Valerie keep coming to the office?” Mark asks Janice once the waiter leaves.

  “Why does a lioness stalk her prey?” I answer.

  “But Lynx isn’t prey anymore,” Mark responds. “She’s already got it. If we can’t file a rejoinder with the court in time, it’s a done deal.”

  “Yes, you’re right.” I agree, looking at his face – so earnest and masculine. I catch Janice out of the corner of my eye still staring at me. I’m sure she’s thinking the old me would have argued with him, even though he’s right, just to make sure my voice was the dominant one. But I don’t need to argue all the time anymore. I really am happier just letting myself be me. “Janice, why is Valerie there?”

  “She’s looking for something,” J
anice says, ever guarded. “She spent the first week or so in your office going through every folder, every paper, and every computer file. She would spend hours in front of your computer. Then she started talking to staff, using the notes Blake and Kenneth provided from their interviews with us. She keeps asking what we worked on in the past year, and what we are working on now. She pretends she’s just getting info to merge us into Ladies World, but it’s clear she’s not getting the answer she wants.”

  “If she was on Julia’s computer, she did more than talk to the staff. She’s been searching their files,” Mark says.

  “We figured out. Well actually, Mark figured it out. When that IT guy from Sandstone came and put that management software on my computer he was actually installing a way my computer can see every file for all the staff, and a way Blake could interact with our network.”

  “Oh my gosh,” Janice responds. I’m not sure at first if she’s reacting to the idea of Blake’s being in our system or the fact I gave Mark credit for the idea. “If Blake can access our network, he can see everything – our emails, our contact lists, and our finances. He would have access to everything!”

  “We need to shut the network down,” I say reacting to Janice’s energy and the thought of Blake Stone’s slimy finger rummaging through the files of my company.

  “No,” Mark disagrees. “We need to keep it open and get the records of what he’s done. We also need to find a way into his system.”

  “You’re right,” I say to Mark. “But how do we do that? Can you get your IT guy to come back and change the program? If you can see us, why can’t we see you?”

  “No, he would complain to Blake he had to do off site work, and Blake would catch us. If he thinks we have a clue about what he’s been doing, he will destroy the evidence. And, with Valerie all over the place, she’s sure to notice a change. She’s got a good eye for things like that.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked, completely distracted from the real issue for a moment. His hand squeezes my thigh teasingly.

  “Because she is one of our largest properties, remember?” He said nonchalantly. “Does Lynx have its own IT person?”

  “Kevin. He’s a good kid. Runs the network and the website.” I say when I notice Janice shaking her head.

  “Kevin’s gone. They fired him the same day they fired you. Kenneth said we wouldn’t need any more IT help because Ladies World had a whole department for IT.”

  “They’re definitely using the computer for their scheme,” Mark confirms.

  “Good news is that Kevin got a job with R&C Associates on the next floor. They were looking for a good IT guy. Maybe I can get him to come down when Blake and Company aren’t around. I’m sure he’d love to help us get back at those jerks.”

  The food came and it was delicious. I have good taste in places when someone else is paying the tab. Mark continued with his gentlemanly manners – offering me more wine, picking up my napkin when it fell. This is actually the first meal we have had in public together. In all the chaos, I realize we skipped the dating and went straight the heart of the matter. This dating thing is kinda nice, and yet – I keep looking down at his lap as we sit here, imaging myself just leaning over impulsively and taking him in my mouth. When did I start having sex fantasies over lunch?

  “So, let’s do this. I’ll see if I can look around Blake’s office and find where he’s keeping the records. Janice you have two jobs. Access your network’s history page and start printing out every transaction, website, or change that’s been made since the transition, and see if you can get your friend Kevin to reverse the backdoor so we can see all of my brother’s dirty little deeds.”

  “What about me?” I ask. “I know I’ve made a mess of things since this started, but I need to be proactive and be a part of saving Lynx.”

  “Your job is to figure out what Valerie James is looking for, and give it to her.”

  “WHAT?” Both Janice and I speak in unison.

  “Look, she isn’t hanging around Lynx to transition it into her magazine. She has people to do that. She’s looking for something you have. A source or a lead or something. The only way to get her hands out of the mix so we can do this safely is to give her what she wants. Do you have anyone or anything you think she might be after?”

  “She probably wants the…” Janice began but stopped abruptly, quite possibly because of the sharp pain she felt in her leg from my shoe.

  “The T list,” I blurted out. “The T list is a collection of people around town…um…everyone from street people to cops to shop owners who give us tips. We get a lot of our exclusives from folks on the T list.”

  Janice stares at me making it painfully obvious I’m making this crap up as I go along. But, Mark seems to buy it for now.

  “And you don’t keep this list in your computer?” He asks.

  “No. It’s too valuable. Can you imagine what someone would do with our list of secret sources? The only copy is at Janice’s house. I don’t even keep it at home because I don’t want anyone finding it,” I babble. Now the crap is really flying. “But, I can’t give it to Valerie James. It would cut my heart in two.”

  Mark looks over at Janice to see if any of this is true, but she has buried her head in her crab lasagna and won’t look up. Still, she’s not denying it.

  “Okay. So Julia, you and Janice go through your ‘T-list’ and redact any source you can’t afford to give up, but don’t take all the good stuff out – you need to make it seem legit. Then Janice can tell Valerie when she comes in that she found it in a file and thought Val might need it. That will back her off.”

  We finish lunch chatting about music, interests and plans for Lynx if we get it back from Blake in time. Mark is cordial, charming and Janice is clearly smitten by him. He pays and excuses himself from the table so he can get back to work and figure out a way into Blake’s office.

  “What in the world?” Janice asks the minute he is out of hearing range. “You nearly took my leg off!”

  “Look, I trust Mark,” I start.

  “You trust him? You’re freaking in love with him – but you don’t trust him.”

  “Take two: I am learning to trust Mark. You know Greg messed me up. Anyway, you and I both know Valerie is looking for the Wall Street story. But I’m not ready to give that up yet. It’s the only thing of value that Lynx has left. Mark isn’t a journalist. He doesn’t get how much difference the right story makes. He would want me to turn it over, and I don’t want to argue with him about it.”

  “Since when?”

  “What?”

  “Since when do you, Julia Sharp, genius raging editor of Lynx not want to argue with anyone?”

  “Look, if we get through this, a lot will change. I want to do things differently. I want Lynx to be a different kind of place. I want to have a different kind of life.”

  “So, the wildcat of Lynx has been tamed,” Janice coos.

  “What makes you say that?” I defend. I haven’t really been with Mark around anyone else and didn’t realize the changes in me would show so clearly. Balancing the submissive with the assertive is going to be harder than I thought.

  “Julia, for the first time in your whole life since I met you, you look... content.”

  “I am,” I admit. “My dad is dying, my career is in the balance and I am going through hell right now, but I guess I’m more content that I have been in some time.”

  “Then all I really can say is - Don’t blow it.”

  Chapter 4

  “Tim Tebow is still working on his passing game,” the TV in the next room blares. Thank goodness for inspiration. I write “T-BONE” on my list, make him a street informant who hangs out by the Bronx Cathedral. Then I add “not very accurate” beside the name.

  “I don’t think you’d like this very much,” I say to my sleeping father as I sit besides his bed. I sit with him and work on the fake “T-list” for Janice to give to Valerie James. Like all good parents he taught me to
be honest, fair and giving. I don’t think he’d especially care that I’m giving a total fraud to Valerie, but he would be profoundly disappointed I lied to Mark about its existence. Still, I’m actually making one up instead of just telling Janice to drop it.

  I look at my silenced phone to see the text light blinking. It’s from Mark. Again. I’ve been avoiding him the past two days. Not because I don’t want to see him. I’d love to see him. But, I need to get this lie done with before I’m face to face with him.

  “Come over tonight,” he writes. I decide I can’t put him off forever and answer him.