Educating Danielle
Part Thirteen
by Karen E. Lea
Chapter Fifty Six
The next morning
we rose early and readied ourselves to go and meet Danielle at the driving
school. After a light breakfast, we showered and dressed. I put on a black
skirt, three quarter sleeve blouse and three inch black sandals. Laura had a
black skirt and a white sleeveless knitted top with a cowl neck. She finished
it off with shoes with a three-inch heel. Our plan was to go shopping at
Chatswood after the meeting with Danielle.
With an easy run
in Saturday morning traffic, we arrived a couple of minutes early. We stepped
from the car while we waited for Danielle. Within a few minutes a Chrysler
Voyager pulled up followed by a red Mercedes CLK320 convertible. I recognised
Sal at the wheel of the Mercedes.
The door of the
Voyager slid open and Sam stepped out. I inwardly groaned. He looked around
while a whole lot of people I didn’t know exited the van. He looked at the
Range Rover and a look of recognition passed over his face, and called out,
“Jeff around?”
I shook my head.
He walked over, “This is his car isn’t?”
“Yes.” Laura
replied, “And who might you be?”
“What’s with Jeff
and chicks, he surrounds himself with them. I’m Sam gorgeous, who are you?”
“Jeff’s fiancée,
Laura. This is his sister Karen.”
I held my breath,
would he recognise me. He barely glanced in my direction, “How you doing,
anyway, where’s my babe?”
“If you referring
to Jeff’s daughter Danielle, she’s not with us…”
“Jesus Christ…
Why the fuck not, that was the whole point of today.”
“If you’ll calm
down for a minute and let me finish, she will be here any minute. And if you
wouldn’t mind, please watch the language.”
“Okay fellas, no
swearing.” He turned and told the group.
The look on
Laura’s face, I’m sure she wanted to strangle him on the spot. I’m glad she
took charge; I wasn’t game to open my mouth. If I had known Sam and a
three-ring circus were going to turn up, I would have come as Jeff.
Before any more
could be said, a Holden Caprice stretch limo entered the car park and glided to
a stop. The chauffeur stepped from the car and walked around to the rear
passenger door. The other front seat passenger stepped out, a young guy about
nineteen, six six, well built, surveyed the group from behind mirrored sunglasses.
He nodded to the chauffeur who then opened the door.
Danielle was the
first out. She was her normal stunning self; she certainly got the young blokes
attention. Sam eyed the young man with the mirrored glasses, I’m sure he wanted
to rush over to Danielle, but thought better of it. The chauffeur assisted Kim,
then Marcie and a little girl about six or seven. The little girl attached
herself to Danielle who was surveying the group of strangers, then her eyes
rested on us, “Mum, Aunt Karen.” She came and greeted us, hugging us both to
death, Kim and Marcie in her wake. We all greeted each other.
“This is Marcie’s
daughter Tina.” Danielle introduced.
“Hi Tina.” We
chorused. She went all shy.
Sam stood there
with his mouth open, I’m sure he wanted to interrupt, but wasn’t game to.
Finally, he had the courage to approach, with one eye on the young guy from the
limo.
“Morning ladies,
I’m Sam.”
Laura took charge
again, “Well Sam, you know Danielle, this is Lady Carrington, her daughter
Marcie and her granddaughter Tina.”
“Charmed I’m
sure.” he said dismissively, “This is Sal, my business partner, Jeremy Dines,
director of the video, these are the boys, Justin, Matthew, Ali and James. This
is Jeremy’s assistant...um…Jenny I think and James’s squeeze, Anna.”
Sam mopped his
brow. We all nodded to each other. I hope Jeremy doesn’t remember me; we worked
together a long time ago.
“Well boys, this
is the star, after yourselves of course.” Sam said motioning to Danielle.
Before anyone
could answer, a large red haired man strode from the office. “I’m sorry folks,
you cannae park here, this be private property.” He said in a broad Scots
accent.
Sam spun to the
speaker; “Yeah…um… we have an appointment with Robert… Robert McLeod.”
“That be me.”
“Sam, Sam Goldstein,
we spoke on the phone.”
“Sorry about
that, you have a wee lassie in need of evaluation and training.”
“This is her.”
Sam said singling out Danielle.
“Oh aye, hello.”
He said shaking hands with Danielle. “Do you have any experience in driving anything?”
“I’ve moved the
Range Rover around at home sometimes.” She said pointing at the Rover.
“Fine, fine.
Would it be possible to use this vehicle?”
I took the keys
from my handbag and handed them to Danielle.
“Fine, fine.
We’ll do a couple of circuits in the Range Rover, then we will progress to the
Mercedes. I’d appreciate though if you don’t drive in those shoes.”
Everybody stared
at Danielle’s feet encased in four-inch stilettos. “I have some flats in the
limo.” The chauffer went to the boot of the limo, removed a steamer chair and a
pair of shoes, brought them over to Danielle and she changed shoes. “Thank you
Thomas.”
The chauffeur
tipped his hat and smiled.
“Fine, fine.
Let’s go.”
They climbed in
to the Rover; Danielle adjusted the seat, put on her seatbelt and started the
engine. She backed from the space, then accelerated out of the car park on to
the training circuit, vanishing from view. I didn’t realise she had so much
confidence in driving.
We girls chatted
amongst ourselves; they were going shopping to Chatswood afterwards. We told
them that was our plan as well.
Kim suggested,
“Come with us in the limo, young Gavin can follow in your car.”
We agreed to the
plan.
It was becoming
uncomfortable being scrutinised by the group of young guys, luckily, for me,
not Laura, she was getting more than her fair share of attention. Her F cup
breasts are not easily hidden and the knitted top she was wearing moulded to
their shape like a second skin. The short skirt and heels just made the package
more appealing. The young guys from the group were standing around staring,
while Laura tried to ignore them.
The director,
Jeremy came over and spoke, “Hi, is Jeff coming today?”
“Hi, No, afraid
not, I’m his sister Karen.” I replied shaking the proffered hand.
“Thought there
was a family resemblance. I’m Jeremy Dines, I worked with Jeff many years ago.”
“Oh, okay. This
is Jeff’s fiancée Laura.” I replied.
“How do you do.”
“Fine thanks.”
Laura replied.
“Not fine, fine.”
he asked.
“Says it a lot doesn’t
he?” We laughed.
“Tell Jeff I’ll
catch up with him.”
“We will.”
Danielle drove up
in the Rover and parked. Robert stepped out and spoke, ”I think there’s been a
wee mistake. I suppose to be training a girl who’s never driven before.”
“She hasn’t.”
Laura replied.
“Well she could
do the licence test now and pass.”
Laura and I
looked at each other.
“I’ll take her
out in the Mercedes, just to acclimatise her to it, we’ll be finished in half
an hour.” They climbed in to the convertible and drove off.
“Well that was a
waste of money.” Sam lamented.
“We had to do it
for insurance.” Sal shrugged.
While we waited,
Kim led us away from the group, where we could talk. “Now you two, wedding
plans.”
“We’ve been too
busy to think about it.” I lamented.
Nonsense. I’m
going to make a deal you can’t refuse. Have the wedding at my house.”
Both our jaws
dropped. “Kim, we couldn’t do that. No way.” Laura said aghast.
“Don’t talk rubbish,
it will be my wedding present.”
“No, no I just
couldn’t, I...I...” Laura stuttered.
“Laura. Tell me
why?” Kim asked. Laura’s mouth just opened and closed. “Is it because of who I
am?”
“No, of course
not...yes…I…”
“Laura. Danielle
has told me about your life and how you have made the best of everything, even
when things were really tough. I wasn’t always rich with a title and I can
understand where you’re coming from. Look, I’m taking no argument on this,
unless you come up with a better plan.”
“It’s pretty hard
to top.” I answered.
Kim smiled,
“Laura, we’ll get together and sort the issues, I promise.”
“Um… Tina, I
thought Marcie had one child?” I asked.
“Tina is Timmy.
He’s had a lot of fun with Danielle this week. She’s adorable isn’t he?”
“Certainly is,
Um…Danielle didn’t push this did she?” Laura asked.
“No, no, certainly
not. Timmy was very persistent about being made up again. She was very worried,
so she came to me. First it was the makeup, then he wanted to wear a dress like
Danielle. I saw no harm and here he is.”
At that moment,
Danielle pulled up in the red Benz. She climbed from the car, the chauffeur
rushed over to assist, “Thank you Thomas.”
“A pleasure miss.”
Robert spoke to
Sam, “She be not a problem, perfect for what you need to do. I’ll be ten
minutes and ye can take the paperwork with you.”
“Great, great.
Come on honey, I’ll introduce you to the boys.”
“I’ll change my
shoes first.” She walked to the chair and changed back in to the stilettos.
Sam then led her
to the boys while the chauffeur put the chair away. He started with a tall boy,
nearly six foot. Matthew was dark haired, earring, probably the best looking of
this lot. They exchanged hellos. The next was James, blonde and five eleven, his girlfriend firmly attached. She obviously
considered Danielle a threat going by the body language. Danielle nodded to
both of them.
The next was Ali,
he looked of Middle Eastern appearance, oversized jacket and shorts, baseball
cap on backwards, constantly moving from foot to foot, he couldn’t keep still. “Hiya
babe.” He said chewing gum.
“My name is Danielle.”
“What ever you
say babe.”
Danielle just
stepped to the next boy, ignoring him. Justin was well over six foot, close
cropped hair and a goatee beard. He said, “Hi.”
“Hi.” Danielle
nodded.
Sam moved to
Jeremy and his assistant Jenny. He shook her hand. “Hi, I worked with your
father many years ago, a nice bloke.”
“Yes he is. Nice
to meet you.”
“Well Sam, you
said you had a stunner, now I believe you.”
Danielle looked
through lowered lashes, blushing.
“Well this is
coming together nicely.” Sam said rubbing his hands together.
“Can we go now
Auntie Dani?” Tina asked.
“I think so,
we’ll see you in a fortnight.” Laura said taking charge again.
We quickly said
goodbye. I gave the keys to Gavin for the Rover and we all elegantly as
possible clambered in to the limo. We laughed and giggled all the way to
Chatswood shops.
The reason
Danielle drove so well was that Thomas had been giving her driving lessons in a
‘S’ class Benz during the week. Gavin was one of Kim’s nephews and playing
bodyguard appealed to his sense of humour.
“He had Sam
bluffed.” I giggled.
§§§
The group watched
the limo leave, turn left on to the main road and speed towards Chatswood.
“Stuck up bitch.”
Ali spat.
“Hey, don’t knock
it, that stuck up bitch is going to pull in a heap of money for us.” Sam
answered crossing his fingers behind his back. Danielle’s contract had blown
the budget. It took him a while, but now he realised his mistake, this just had
to work.
“Stuck up or not,
she’s one good looking babe. I bags first.” Matthew answered.
“In your dreams.”
Justin replied.
“Hey hey guys,
mixed company.” Sal admonished.
The others agreed
on Matthews’s judgement. James’s girlfriend elbowed him for agreeing. Robert
bought the paperwork out, exchanged it for a cheque from Sal and wished them a
good day. The group climbed back in to the Voyager.
Sal pulled Sam
aside. “I don’t know how I got involved in this shit, a bloody big black hole
that sucks money. These pricks with no manners. I’ll tell you what Sam, things
had better get better because I’m thinking of cutting my losses.”
“Sal. Calm down
will ya. The guys go in to the studio this week to cut the single, next week we
do the video. Week three we hit the market. Week four we will be rolling in
it.”
“I bloody hope
so, the only person so far is the girl and it’s my money she’s rolling in.”
“She isn’t yet,
she hasn’t been paid.”
“The woman she
turned up with today, Lady Carrington. You know who she is, don’t you?”
“Lord
Carrington’s wife, so?”
“The largest
media owner in Australia and she and her family are friends with
them. She was in the paper with them last Sunday.”
“So bloody what.”
Sal let out a
huge sigh, “So what, I’ll tell you so what, friends in high places, that’s
bloody what. Makes us look like paupers. I think you underestimated her and
Jeff in all this and that aside, I don’t know how I got talked in to this
madness.”
“Hey, I’ve done this
heaps of times, always made money.”
“So you keep
telling me. Tell me again Sam, why don’t you have any capital in this?”
“I’ve told you,
it’s tied up at the moment. Listen I want this to succeed as much as you do,
and it will, trust me.”
“Tell you one
thing Sam,” Sal said as he walked towards the Benz, “It fucking better succeed.”
“See you
Wednesday when they put the single down.” Sam said as climbed in to the
Voyager.
“With my cheque
book no doubt.” Sal retorted.
Sam furrowed his
brow as Jeremy started the engine and headed back to Sydney. He didn’t need a nervous backer at this stage of the game, without
Sal’s capital, he couldn’t pay for a sandwich, let alone anything else.
Sal followed the
Voyager deep in thought. Sam hadn’t put one cent up yet, Sal had written cheque
after cheque and he was quite aware he had to spend money to make money, but
this was beyond the pale. Sam seemed to think the girl was the answer to their
prayers. She definitely was pretty enough. But Sam’s reluctance to part with
money rubbed Sal, so much for fifty fifty. Sal wasn’t poor, and Sam had caught
him up in the glitz and glamour of being a producer. After some thought; Sal
decided a few checks were in order. Something he should have done in the first
place.
§§§
Kim told us she
hoped that Danielle never got rich enough to have servants. Hers would leave in
a moment to work for her. In fact, she has charmed anyone coming into contact
with her.
The limo glided
to a stop outside the larger of the two centres in Chatswood. We all clambered
out and headed for a ladies room, then a coffee shop for morning tea. Kim had
given instructions to Thomas, that he wouldn’t be needed for a few hours.
We shopped for a
couple of hours, then went for lunch at a restaurant to rest our weary feet.
Tina hadn’t left Danielle’s side, even telling a shop assistant that Danielle
was her pretend mummy.
Gavin followed us
around and put to good use carrying shopping bags. By four o clock we were all
shopped out. Danielle had bought a couple of outfits, using her own money.
Saying goodbye to everybody and hugging Danielle, Gavin led us out to the Rover
in the car park. We thanked him and he rushed back to the others.
We headed for
home, “Quite a day.” I said.
“Danielle looked
happy and radiant. It was good to see her, I feel lost without her at home.”
Laura answered.
“Me too, can’t
wait to have her at home again. What did you think of the group?”
”Not much and if
Sam calls me gorgeous again, I’ll rip his throat out where he stands.”
“I’ll thought you
were going to do it today.”
“Soon as he
opened his mouth, I disliked him.”
“Well, once the
video’s over, we can see the back of him and his bunch of misfits.”
§§§
The limo headed
back to the city. There was animated conversation amongst the occupants about
the day. Tina had fallen asleep lying up against Danielle.
“Mum. Karen and
Laura, are they an item?” Marcie asked.
“Why do you ask?”
Kim asked. Danielle was trying to stifle a giggle.
“Well they seem
more than good friends, I’m sure they held hands at lunch today.”
Kim looked at
Danielle, Danielle nodded, “No harm I guess, Karen would never deny it if confronted.”
Kim thought for a
moment, “Laura is Danielle’s mum.”
“I know that, I’m
sorry Danielle, I am so curious.”
“That’s okay.”
She smiled.
Kim continued,
“Karen isn’t exactly Danielle’s aunt.”
“So, close
friends can be called aunts.”
“Karen is my dad,
she’s a guy.” Danielle said softly.
“Curiosity
settled?” Kim asked looking at Marcie’s disbelieving face.
She nodded her
head slowly. “Sex change?”
“Um no. She’s a
cross dresser… transvestite.” Danielle answered. Marcie’s face had a look of
bewilderment.
“But she…he looks
so good.”
“No point going
out dressed looking like a guy in a dress. Sort of defeats the purpose.”
Danielle said.
“I just realised,
this makes Timmy one too.”
“It’s not a
illness.” Danielle stated.
“I never meant
that…I mean you read about these things, never realising the implications or
they’re real people. Does Timmy know what he is?”
“He would have
feelings he doesn’t understand.”
“Oh. I’m glad I
bought this up. But why does Karen…you know…out and about today?”
“Karen goes about
her business, she doesn’t go out to shock, just to be part of society. The
female part of her just wants to blend, just as much as the male part does.”
“Marcie dear,
we’ll talk later, but for the moment, we’ll just leave it at that. I consider
Karen a friend, so please keep this to yourself.” Marcie nodded.
The rest of the
trip was spent discussing their purchases.
§§§
We awoke Sunday
morning; we were really missing Danielle’s presence in the house. Laura went to
get the Sunday papers from the street as I was still in Karen mode and didn’t
want to show myself to the neighbours. It was one thing to drive down the
street dressed; I didn’t think a personal appearance at the front gate was
needed.
I had the table
set when she walked in with the papers. Unwrapping the Telegraph as I sat at
the table, I started at the society pages. Danielle and the Carrington’s again
had their picture, this time an evening at the Wharf theatre, opening night for
a play. Meanwhile Laura had opened the Herald and was checking the society
pages; there was an intake of breath.
“What’s the
matter?” I asked.
She turned the
paper to me and pointed, there was a photo of us at the makeup launch, with a
caption that read ‘Millionaire makeup artist and photographic studio owner Jeff
Williams with his fiancée Laura Marsden.’
“Shit. Excuse the
French.”
“I thought you
said nobody knew about you being a millionaire.”
“Just a media
guess, I guess… Nice photo though and hey, they got our names right.”
We finished
reading the papers and eating our breakfast. Then the phone calls started,
three of the girls from Laura’s work rang, then her sister, all had seen the
paper.
By the time
evening rolled around, she had had two more phone calls.
Chapter Fifty Seven
Monday morning, I
had barely sat down, when Cindy knocked at the door.
“Hey boss.”
“Hi Cindy.”
“Aren’t me and
Charlene good enough?”
“Good morning
Cindy. I had a good weekend too, thank you for asking.”
She threw a
magazine on my desk, “The question still stands.”
My eyes followed
her finger to the magazine. It was the article of the wedding, pacifically she
was pointing to the photo with Karen, Laura and Danielle in it.
“You work here
don’t you, I employ the best.” I said looking up at her.
“Not good enough
for this gig.” She replied stabbing the page with her finger.
“It was a
personal summons, otherwise, yes you or Charlene could have had the job.”
“Who is this
Karen? Daniel and Laura I recognise.”
“Um… My sister.”
“How does your
sister rate a job like that… hang on a cotton picking minute, you don’t have a
sister, you told me once you only had brothers.”
I stared at the
magazine. Bugger.
“Hey boss, did
you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“You’re not going
to tell are you?” I stared at her, hoping she would go away. “Who this Karen
bitch is.”
“She’s not a
bitch. Who have you discussed this with?” I asked.
“We’ve all
discussed it, most of last week. It irked me the most, I had to… confront you.”
Cindy picked up the magazine and studied the photograph again, looked at me,
furrowed her brow, “It’s you isn’t it?”
After a moments
thought, I gave a sheepish smile. “Afraid so.”
She plonked
herself in the guest chair, “Sorry boss, if I knew it was you, I would have
never started this little crusade, I was so… I thought you were hiring people
behind our backs.”
“Cindy, I’ve
always been fair to everybody. I’m a little upset you didn’t talk to me first,
but… I guess I will have to talk to everybody now.”
“But Lady
Carrington hired you, she knows this person?”
“Lady Carrington
knows me as both, it wasn’t actually a paying job. Like I said it was a
summons, Karen to attend.”
“Laura and
Daniel, they must know, going by this photo?”
“Yep. I was even
dressed as Karen when I proposed. They met Karen before they met Jeff.”
“Wow. I don’t
believe this, how come we‘ve never picked up on this before?”
“Us…um…I, meaning
cross dressers, are very careful people, when we get caught though, it’s
usually exciting stuff. Not unlike this moment in time.”
“Are you going to
tell the others?”
“I didn’t know I
had a choice not to, someone has been running around winding them up, I think
they’re owed an explanation… so… I guess I will.”
“I’ll get back to
work, leave you to it.”
“Gee…Thanks.”
Cindy left the
room and I let out a huge sigh. I needed to talk to someone. I called home and
told Laura what had transpired. She listened without comment, when I had
finished, she spoke, “Are you going to tell them?”
“I guess.”
“When you do,
I’ll be standing there with you, promise.”
“You don’t have
to…”
“I want to, it’s
the least I can do.”
We kept telling
each other “Love you.” Trying not to be the one to hang up. Finally I did,
Kelly was at the door waving.
“Yes Kelly.”
“I need a
signature please,” she said smiling. “Must be fun to be in love?”
“Sure is.” I
replied signing the document.
After a fairly
quiet day, mainly due to Kelly intercepting problems before they got to me, I
decided on an early mark. I drove home deep in thought, how to break the news
to the rest of the staff. I wanted to do it myself, Cindy could be ham fisted
at times and I didn’t want her putting her spin on it, no matter how much she
thought she understood.
Laura met me at
the garage, after a hug and a kiss we entered the house.
“When are you
going to tell them?” Laura asked.
“I thought
tomorrow morning, get it out of the way.”
“Come with me,
I’ve got a plan.”
I followed her to
the bedroom; laid out on the bed was a matching grey skirt and jacket with a
cream blouse. I had bought it a while ago and had never worn it. I looked at
Laura.
“Go as Karen,
show them. I’m not sure what female managing directors wear to work, but I
think this outfit works.” I just stared at her with my ‘are you out of your
mind look’.
“Think about
this, you go in looking like you normally do and say I dress as a woman, what
are they going to think?”
I shrugged. She
was right; they would think a guy in a dress, hairy legs and so on, despite
seeing the magazine.
“But you go in
looking like a million dollars, with a really good looking babe on your arm,
that’s me by the way…”
I burst out
laughing. She had a point. Before I could think of a reply the phone rang, I
picked it up from the bedside table, “Hello.”
“Jeff. Tim …
thank god.” Tim was the managing director of a real estate agent at Port
Macquarie, a holiday destination three hundred and fifty kilometres north of Sydney; I had a lot of properties, mainly holiday units on
the books with him. “Listen I’ve had some hard-nosed bitch querying some
invoices for your properties up here in Port. Been giving me a hard time.”
“Oh right. What’s
her name?”
“Got it here
somewhere…um Laura…Laura Marsden. Look Jeff, we’ve always done the right thing,
but she’s querying everything.”
“Like what?”
“You know,
receipts and stuff, we’ve always had like a gentleman’s agreement.”
“Tim, things
change. Hang on and I’ll put the hard-nosed bitch on who I might add is also my
fiancée…” I handed the phone to Laura with a smile, who made some comments,
then hung up.
“What a
snivelling prick. He is blatantly ripping us off and now he wants me to forget
it.”
“What are you
going to do?”
“Throw all the
work out to the market, he can bid on it like the rest of them. Except he
hasn’t a chance.”
“A bit harsh?”
”He’s been
walking around with his hand in your pocket for ages. You’ve been a soft touch,
but I’ve met his type before, I’ve spent sixteen years dealing with these sort
of people, payback time.”
“You’re the
boss.”
“Thank you. A
couple of others in for a shock too… Now back to our other little problem.
Shoes, you’ve got no grey shoes, so I thought these black ones, three-inch heel
and tan panty hose.”
“Sounds good.”
“Let me do your
nails, then we’ll have dinner. Do you have any appointments tomorrow?”
“Nothing planned.
Kelly could take care of anything that crops up. I can hide in my office all
day or change for that matter. Anyway I’ll have to bring you home.”
“Not necessary,
I’ll stay and watch. I’d like to see what happens in the halls of mystical
glamour.”
“Okay. Bring a
book to read, can get a bit boring. No excitement and glamour on offer
tomorrow.”
”You turning up
dressed will take care of that I think.”
“Yeah… you’re
right about that.” I replied staring at the ceiling.
Laura busied
herself doing my nails. She then removed the burgundy polish I always wore on
my toenails and did them in the same colour as my fingernails. We shared a
bottle of wine with dinner and she told me of her findings in her new job,
before an early night for bed.
Chapter Fifty Eight
After a restless
night, I was in the shower well before six. Once dry, I commenced my makeup at
the vanity. My thoughts were starting to unnerve me, and was having trouble
concentrating on the task at hand. On one hand I had always wondered what it
would be like to go to work dressed, now it was a certainty, I wasn’t sure that
I wanted to or needed to know.
Makeup completed,
I stood and perfumed my naked body, then started to dress in my underwear,
false boobs next, panty hose. Laura came in to the bedroom as I put on the
blouse, “You okay.” She asked.
“Really really
nervous.” I replied.
“I can imagine,
but look on the bright side, it wont get any easier if you wait a week or a
month.”
“Maybe it would
be best not to tell them at all.” I said hopefully.
“I think you have
gone too far for that. Anyway Cindy probably would just blurt it out. I’m not
saying she would be malicious, at least this way you have some control.”
“Yeah, you’re
right, and it wouldn’t be any easier telling them in male mode.” I said as I
pulled up the skirt and straightening it.
“Breakfast?”
“God no, I don’t
think I could hold it down. Thanks.” I replied as stepped in to the heels and
pulled on the jacket.
Seven fifteen saw us heading down the driveway and in
to the melee called peak hour. Laura had numerous files with her, but she
wouldn’t elaborate on their purpose. Fifty-five minutes later I turned in to
the car park. John or Cindy’s cars weren’t in their usual spots and I breathed
a sigh of relief, it gave me a chance to get up stairs and in to my office.
Upstairs, I
turned on the computers on and cleared the fax of the overnight junk. Laura
made herself comfortable at the spare terminal next to Kelly’s desk, which had
been installed for future expansion. “Don’t get too comfortable.”
Laura looked up with
a question.
“Danielle
normally sits there.”
Laura smiled “I
have seniority, anyway she’s at Kim’s.”
I laughed, a
laugh I desperately needed. “The reason Danielle likes sitting there is because
of the person who sits at the next desk.”
“Oh. Kelly.”