It’s Only Temporary by Iona Rose

Connor

I’d been jumpy all morning and when a knock came on my door, I jumped, startled. It was Joe. He entered and shut the door, something no one ever did. My door was always open.

“Hey,” he said and sat down. He had creases of worry across his forehead which didn’t surprise me. Everyone in the office had a similar look, including myself, I was sure.

Worse was the atmosphere of despondency that had descended on us. It was as if we were in mourning. It didn’t help that no one was saying anything. Marjorie should have provided us with some information. I was sure she knew more than we did, which was nothing.

“Do you have any idea of what’s going on?” Joe asked. “Are we going to lose our jobs? Man, my wife and I just had a new baby and she doesn’t have a job. It’s all on me. I can’t afford to be out of a job now.” His voice carried a tinge of hysteria but I didn’t blame him.

I hadn’t even known that he had a newborn. “Congratulation’s daddy. Boy or girl?”

His lit up. “A little girl who looks just like her mother. Her name is Amber.”

“That’s a pretty name,” I said, part of me envying him. It seemed so long ago that I had dreamed of having a family with Angie.

“What will I do if I lose my job?” he said.

I felt his pain. He had a family who depended on him. I had no one except for myself and if I lost my job, I had savings that would keep me afloat until I found a job. And if the worst came to the worst, I always had a job at the lodge, though that would be a last desperate option.

“Hey, relax. No one said anything about anyone losing their jobs. I’ll have a talk with Marjorie today and see if she knows anything, okay?”

Slight relief came over his features. “You’ll let me know what she says?” Joe said.

I nodded. “I promise.” I was dreading going to see Marjorie but I’d committed myself. I had to have some info for Joe otherwise he was going to kill himself with worry.

“Thanks,” he said and left my office.

I finally worked up my courage to go into Marjorie’s office just before lunch. Her door was shut as usual and I gave it a light knock.

“Come in,” she said from inside.

I pushed the door open and stepped. “Hi, can I have a word?”

Marjorie had circles under her eyes and for once, her grey hair was not perfectly styled. She smiled but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. It was worse than I had imagined if Marjorie was that worried.

“Sure,” she said.

I sat down and met her gaze. “I’m worried about my job and so is everyone else. We don’t have any information and being in the dark like this is affecting all of us.”

“Tell me about it,” she said and placed her palms flat on her desk. “Do you want to go out for lunch? I have a reservation somewhere.”

I was taken aback by her invitation. Marjorie had been the source of speculation for many years until everyone grew bored of it. No one knew where she went for lunch. Everyday for years, she got into a cab which drove her away and then she would return an hour later.

She had never once joined us in the salad bar down the block where we all ate our lunch.

“I’d like that,” I said.

She got up, picked up her handbag and swung it over her shoulders. “Let’s go.”

As we cut across the open plan office, I could feel everyone’s eyes on us. I could just imagine the questions I was going to face later or maybe not as everyone’s mind was focused on their jobs.

Downstairs, Marjorie led the way to a waiting cab. I grabbed the door and opened the door for her.

“Thank you,” she said and slipped in.

I followed her in and the cab started moving without any directions from her. I guessed Marjorie and the cab driver had an arrangement where he picked her up every day at lunch time.

It took us fifteen minutes to reach out destination. It was one of the older but very posh restaurants in the city. The kind where you took someone you wanted to impress, most likely for business.

The cab came to a stop and we got out. Marjorie took the lead and I followed her in.

“Your usual table,” the hostess said to Marjorie respectfully.

“Yes please. That would be wonderful,” Marjorie said.

A minute later, we were seated at a table that faced the whole restaurant but which also provided a little privacy as it was tucked in a little alcove in a corner of the room.

The server came and we both asked for water and for the main course, Marjorie asked for a salad while I went for a steak. No wonder she was stick thin if that was the lunch she ate every day.

She smiled at me when we were left alone. “I’m sorry I haven’t provided leadership at this time. The news took me by surprise as well and to be honest, I was thoroughly disappointed. Brent and Oliver never told me they were planning on selling the company.”

“They told me after they’d already sold the company.”

I could hear the hurt in her voice as she spoke. Brent and Oliver were the owners of the company and while in the initial years they had been very involved, they had moved on to other things and now rarely came into the office. From what I heard, they had turned their attention to buying companies in trouble, turning them around and then selling them.

“Who are the new owners?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “No idea. Haven’t met them yet but Brent told me that they’re going to come in at the end of the week or next week. We have to wait until then to find out our fate.”

I was in the same boat but for some reason I felt sorry for Marjorie. She had dedicated the last decade or more to the company. She could never have imagined that it would come to this where her job was in the fate of strangers. Brent and Oliver had trusted her to run it and she had done a wonderful job through the years.

Our clientele list grew every year and we had built a reputation of handling very big corporate clients. I couldn’t imagine why Brent and Oliver had sold it.

The server brought our water and then retreated.

“Do you know why they sold?” I asked Marjorie.

“They said they got an offer they couldn’t resist,” she said.

She didn’t look so frightening and intimidating any more. She was feeling vulnerable and it was showing. She reached for her glass and drank the water in one go and then placed the glass back on the table, her mind clearly miles away.

“If I lose my job, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said.

I’d hoped to get some comfort from her that I could pass on to the guys at the office, but I found myself doing the comforting. “Maybe you could start taking it easy now. Enjoy the grandchildren.”

It dawned on me then that I knew absolutely nothing about Marjorie and this was after working with her for almost five years.

She stared at me with a blank expression. “I don’t have any grandchildren or children. The closest I’ve come to having children is stepchildren. My ex-husband had two daughters.”

“Were you close?” I asked her. Any other time, I wouldn’t have dared to ask her such personal questions but the occasion called for it.

“No,” she said bluntly, taking me aback.

In other words, Marjorie was all alone in the world. I didn’t suggest that she would now have more time to spend with her friends. I suspected she had no close friends either. Her work was her life.

Our food was brought and as I ate, all I could think was that I did not want to end up like Marjorie.

The steak looked juicy to the eye but it became tasteless in my mouth. I had too much on my mind to appreciate it. I could have been eating wood for all the attention I paid my food.

The glimpse into Marjorie’s life had shaken me. I saw myself twenty years from now, with nothing to show for my life except my impressive C.V.

I loved my work but I wanted love and a family too. My thoughts meandered to Bianca. I wanted more. I wanted someone to love. I wanted what Bianca and I had. Permanently.

I wanted to care for her when she was sick and vice versa. She was perfect for me and my relationship with her was everything I’d dreamed a relationship would be.

Ikept sneaking glances at Bianca as I prepared the chicken for the oven. She looked so freaking gorgeous with her hair held away from her face.

“You’re smiling,” she said as she looked up from her notebook.

We were in the kitchen and as I cooked, she was sketching in her notebook. I’d texted her earlier in the day to tell her that I was cooking dinner.

“Does that mean that the meeting with your boss went well?” she said.

I shook my head. “I’m just happy to see you. The meeting was unproductive. She doesn’t know any more than we do but she did confirm that the new owners will be coming in soon.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Bianca said. “It’s better to know.”

“Of course,” I said. “How was your day?” I didn’t want to think about work anymore. What would be would be and worrying about it wasn’t going to change anything.

“It was good. I got a call from a new client. She’s getting married and she wants a necklace and bracelet to complete her look.” Bianca held out her notebook and I went to her side to look at the sketches.

It amazed me that she could turn the pretty images on paper into something tangible. “They’re beautiful.”

She turned another page. “I like to have several options to show the client.”

“Sort of the way we do our proposals. We pitch more than three ideas and even though they take time, it’s totally worth it. It gives the client options and ideas.”

“Exactly. I can’t wait to show them. She and her fiancé are coming by tomorrow,” Bianca said.

I frowned. “Is it safe to have strangers coming to your house?”

“I usually don’t unless it’s a woman. Usually we meet in a restaurant and in this case it’s not possible. Don’t worry I’ll be good. She sounds really nice and she was pointed to our website by an existing client,” Bianca said.

I could tell she was excited about the pieces she was designing. I loved how passionate she was about her work but clearly it didn’t go to the obsessive levels that Angie had taken hers.

Dinner was ready in an hour and I placed the baked chicken on the island with flourish.

“Oh God that looks so good,” Bianca said. “Look how perfectly golden it is. I’m forever in your debt.”

I laughed, pleased with her compliment. “No you’re not.”

A mischievous look came over her features. “I have a few ideas on how to show you my gratitude and they involve my bedroom.”

All the blood in my body dropped to my cock.