Lovers and Takers by Katherine Cachitorie Page A

knowing he had to think up something fast.   “I’ve ordered him to sit behind that desk and keep trying to reach a certain client of ours.   A client that his incompetence caused us to lose.   But in the meantime,” Druce said, putting his arm around her shoulder and steering her toward the exit, “what you say to me and you getting out of here?   We can go to lunch, maybe stop by my place?”
    “Oh,” Pam said.   “That sounds fabulous actually.”
    “Good,” Druce said.   “I’ll stop off at the executive restroom and then we’ll be good to go.”
    Pam moved to Druce’s pull.   She looked back at Troy, however, at who was perhaps the prettiest boy she’d ever seen, as they left.
        

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

 

     
    SIX

     
    Six days later and you could hear a pin drop in the second floor office inside the Wingate Law Center.   Roni was seated behind her desk, and Griff Armstrong was seated in front of it.   And for the longest time neither one of them knew what to say.
    Until Griff finally exhaled.   “We’ve got to consider laying off more staff.   And, yes, that includes investigators, Roni.   Because if we lose another sponsor, another big one like McCormick, then we all might as well pack our bags and go home.”
    “We’ve already cut back on staff, Griff.   If we lay off any more investigators how are we going to work these cases?   We’ve got to keep our boots on the ground.”
    “I agree with you, but McCormick has pulled out.   That changes everything.   Their foundation was providing fifteen percent of our revenue stream.   Fifteen percent, Roni!   We can’t lose fifteen percent of anything and expect to come out of it unscathed.   This is a devastating blow.”
    Roni leaned forward, her elbows on the desk.   “I’ll talk to our remaining donors,” she said, “to make sure they stay on board.”
    “Charm them, Roni.   You’re good at it.”
    “Yeah, right.   Me charming a bunch of fat, jowly guys, all of which are trying to get in my panties.”
    Griff laughed.   “Not all of them are fat, come on.”
    “You know what I mean.”
    “We’ve got to do something.   We can’t take another hit.”
    “I agree.   I couldn’t agree with you more, Griff.   But that doesn’t make it any easier.”
    Griff nodded.   “Amen,” he said.
    Roni’s cell phone, seated on her desk, began to ring.   She quickly answered it ,   hoping it was McCormick changing their mind.
    “Veronica Wingate.”
    There was a pause.   “Hello, Veronica.”
    It was Jake.   It was the man she had been trying not to think about since he left her shower, and her home, nearly a week ago.   Especially after he hadn’t bothered to so much as phone her since that time.  
    “Hello,” she said.
    “Hi,” Jake replied, his voice attempting to sound upbeat.   “Did I catch you in the middle of something?”
    “Other than work you mean?”
    Jake laughed.   “I won’t keep you then.”   But then there was another pause.   “I can move some things around if you care to have dinner with me tonight.”
    Yeah, Roni thought, she knew what kind of dinner he wanted to have.   But the crazy thing about it was that she wouldn’t mind having that kind of dinner herself.   She probably needed that kind of dinner.   Especially the way he prepared it.  
    But she couldn’t do it.   She didn’t like the after burn.   She didn’t like the way she felt when day after day after day, she wanted him to phone, and he didn’t.
      “Can’t tonight,” she said.
    Griff smiled.   “Is it a man?” he mouthed.   Roni nodded her head.
    “You can’t?” he said, a slight twinge of surprise in his voice.  
    “I can’t,” Roni repeated.
    There was hesitation on Jake’s part, as if he didn’t expect a no .   “Okay,” he said.   “Well.   Well.   You take care of yourself.”
    That was it?   No pushback at all?   Roni wasn’t exactly