Chapter 32 - Emily

**EMILY**

Emily awoke with a heavy feeling in her stomach. The gray light of the morning filtered through the half-open curtains as she slowly sat up and leaned back against the pillows. Her mind was still full of thoughts from the previous evening - the fancy dinner, the soft sounds of the piano in the background, and Alexander Fitzpatrick. The thought of him made her jump. The way he had looked at her, how she had felt in his presence... It had all been too much, exciting, stimulating and nerve-wracking. But now, here in her small, soberly furnished bedroom, it all seemed so far away again, almost like a dream. The glamour, the hot excitement, none of it had anything to do with her real life. She knew that she had to return to the company today, and the thought of it made her stand up hectically.
*What if someone recognizes me?* The pictures from last night were undoubtedly in the newspapers, in the gossip columns. “Will I be approached?” A cold shiver ran down her spine as she hastily pulled her gray pantsuit out of the closet. She had chosen it deliberately - it was simple, almost inconspicuous. Just what she needed today. No attention, no stares, and especially no questions. She wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible to the woman who had been with Alexander Fitzpatrick yesterday. Emily pushed her hair back hard and knotted it into a tight bun. Every strand had to be in place, every hint of playfulness had to disappear. She didn’t want to look like yesterday’s exciting companion. *This isn’t me*, she reminded herself as she looked in the mirror. *Not at the office.*
But before she went to work, she had to take care of something. Emily fumbled in her gym bag for the business card from the hostess agency. She was sure she had put it there yesterday - or was it in her sweat suit? No matter how hard she searched, the card was gone. “Oh no,” she exclaimed in dismay, “I must have lost it!”
With a queasy feeling in her stomach, she left the apartment and took the bus to work. Now she could only hope that the agency would not contact her again and that yesterday’s meeting would indeed be a one-time occurrence - even though she remembered with a shudder how Alexander Fitzpatrick had convinced her to agree to a second meeting. But that was yesterday, when she had played hostess to the billionaire. Today she was Emily Saron, bookkeeper for Fitzpatrick Designs, an employee. There was no way she could meet the stunningly attractive billionaire again. When she finally entered the office building, Emily was almost relieved. No one looked at her strangely, no one whispered or turned around. No one recognized her as the woman from the newspapers, whose picture was displayed prominently on every newsstand. Emily had never realized how much her boss was the focus of media attention.
She walked into the open office and sat down at her desk, almost relaxed. Her supervisor, Ms. Harper, called her over. She immediately tensed. Was this the big reveal?
“Good morning, Emily. Unfortunately, the mailroom clerk is out sick. Please get the daily mail and sort it.”
“Good morning, Ms. Harper. I’ll get right on it.” Relieved, she turned away. She was lucky not to be recognized even in her own department. Emily couldn’t believe that Ms. Harper didn’t read the newspaper before starting work.
She picked up the mail and concentrated on sorting the letters. “Purchasing,” she muttered, placing the letter in the designated pile, “Human Resources... Purchasing... Management... Customer Service...” One by one she distributed the incoming mail. She was always amazed at how many companies still mailed letters instead of using e-mail.
When she had assigned the last letter, she smiled a little smugly. So far she couldn’t think of a way to punish Vivien for yesterday afternoon. She was still annoyed that her colleague and friend had told the trainer that she needed a fuck. She would never have come to the trial session at the gym if she had suspected something like that. But now she saw the perfect opportunity to make Vivien pay.
“Hello, Vivien,” she called with exaggerated friendliness, “can you come in, please?”
Vivien looked up from her desk and looked over suspiciously. “What is it?”
“Would you please deliver the letters to the appropriate departments?” With a sweet smile, Emily pointed to the carefully sorted piles in front of her.
Vivien, who obviously had little desire for the extra work, grimaced and muttered, “Can’t Nicole do it? Usually the trainees are in charge of these things.”
Undeterred, Emily coolly replied, “I’m training Nicole on the accounts payable tasks. It would be inappropriate to send her all over the building right now. You know all the contacts anyway, and I’m sure you’ll be able to do it faster.”
The two women exchanged a challenging look. It was clear that Vivien knew exactly why Emily was so eager for her to deliver the letters. The silent feud between them over yesterday’s gym session was still simmering. Vivien finally gave in, stood up and came to her. She shook her head slightly and reluctantly reached for the piles. Without another word, she grabbed the letters and turned around while Emily watched her triumphantly. It felt so good to be Ms. Harper’s favorite, to almost always get her way. She breathed a sigh of satisfaction and went back to her work when she heard Vivien grumbling as she left: “Even when she’s being fucked, she acts like she desperately needs it!”
Automatically, Emily sat bolt upright. She pressed her lips together and suddenly her victory seemed a little stale. She had never thought that Vivien would actually believe that she had done it with the coach in the ladies’ room. Unbelievable!
Sighing, she shook her head. She had to let go of what had happened yesterday. Although it wasn’t easy, because the evening had been so full of tingling eroticism that she longed for more of it - more caresses and passionate kisses. But since she hadn’t been recognized by anyone, she would have to put last night behind her and see Alexander Fitzpatrick not as a desirable man, but as the billionaire CEO of Fitzpatrick Designs.
Emily took a deep breath and grabbed the pile of letters for her department. “Nicole, can you come here, please?” she called to the trainee who was working in accounting that month. “Here, sit next to me and open the letters, please. Stamp each one with the date received.”
Since Emily had received her trainer’s license, she was now officially allowed to oversee the company’s training, along with the head accountant and the head of purchasing. It was a new challenge that she found surprisingly enjoyable.
Nicole reached for the first letter and began to carefully tear it open. But when she reached for the stamp, Emily raised a warning hand. “Wait a minute, Nicole. Open all the letters first and then stamp them. Otherwise, you’ll be picking up the stamp five or ten times unnecessarily, and that just wastes time. Also, before you stamp for the first time, make a test print on a scratch pad to make sure the date has been updated.”
Nicole nodded eagerly. “Yes, Ms. Saron, I’ll do that.”
Emily smiled. She really enjoyed working with the seventeen year old. Nicole was dedicated and motivated - not a given for all apprentices. Some seemed to just want to do their time without really caring about the content of accounting. Emily, on the other hand, found numbers anything but dry. To her, there was an art to the rows of numbers. Each invoice told its own story, from the products to the smallest details of their production.
“Everything okay?” Nicole had now completely opened the stack of letters and held the stamp in her hand before pressing on the scratch sheet. The proof showed the correct date and Emily nodded in satisfaction.
“Perfect,” she said. “Now you can get started. And remember to sort the bills by sender before you get them booked.”
Nicole smiled proudly and began to work intently. Emily watched her with satisfaction. It was nice to see someone take as much interest in her work as she did. The apprentices - as exhausting as supervising them could be at times - always reminded her that she didn’t just have a job here, but also a responsibility.
And she almost forgot about the contract she had blindly signed the day before. Almost - until the phone rang and an unknown number appeared on the screen...