Chapter 12

“Yeah, right!” she scoffed. “No offense, Jake. You’ve got a nice cock, but you don’t have girls running out, looking to get on it.”

“Some of those offers are just friends, looking to help put me back on my feet after our breakup,” I admitted. “Some of them are more interested. Hell, there’s even a name from Topeka on the list. People aren’t looking to get next to me because they know a lot of details about my cock. They’re interested because I’m not an asshole. I could have opened my gun-safe and shot you and your lovers when I found out about you. I didn’t. I didn’t start making calls to raise an army to bust anyone up. I could have, but I just let it go with the phone call we had last weekend. I didn’t come to your place to kick the shit out of you or try to get you fired from your job. I didn’t even post the pictures people sent me and some of them were juicy. The shot of you dancing with two guys with your skirt up around your waist was one that would have embarrassed the shit out of you.”

She drew a sharp breath at that. That was the first hint I’d given her of what sorts of pictures I had. That one was particularly bad because it was the start of her getting used by both guys in the alley behind the bar. I had pictures of THAT too.

“Okay,” she said. “You’re a saint among men and I’m the Wicked Witch of the Mid-West,” she conceded. “I’m obviously not going to get another shot at things with you. Is that how you want to leave it?” she asked, pleading with me.

“What else is there?” I asked skeptically. “I mean, we’re not getting back together, there’s really not much chance that I could ever trust you enough for us to be friends. What do you want?”

“I thought we could at least talk about it!” she said, exasperated.

I shrugged. “I’m game if you want to try. What did you want to say on the subject?”

“Mostly that I’m sorry and ask how you felt about it,” she admitted.

“I felt like shit,” I told her. “I thought about opening my safe and getting out one of my guns to use on myself on Christmas Day. I don’t know how long you were stepping out on me, but by then, I knew. I didn’t have any proof, but I knew something was wrong. Who’d you bring home to your parents that week?” I asked her.

“What?!!?” she gasped. It was a lot like when I’d admitted it to Angela. She was shocked, even though she’d helped contribute to how awful I felt over the holidays. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I could feel something off between us,” I told her, “and the more I thought about it, the more I suspected that it was a person that was between us. I didn’t suspect that it was more than one though. I was alone and miserable and figured that you’d be just as happy if I wasn’t around to make you sneak around with your other guy. I figured I’d make it easy on you and check-out.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” she said.

“Lisa saved me. She made me part of her Christmas. You sure as Hell didn’t.”

“I swear, I didn’t bring another guy home with me,” she told me ardently. “I just didn’t think we were at that stage of our relationship yet. You never introduced me to your sister,” she pointed out.

“I barely SPEAK to my sister,” I countered. “My Christmas celebration with her was a ten-minute phone call between the time that she put the turkey in the oven and the point that she had to start getting the side-dishes started.” I stopped and sighed. “Look, I get it. You felt like we were casual and acted accordingly. I felt like we were committed and I acted accordingly. Neither of us were on the same page and because of it, we’re in a place where there’s nothing left for us. I think we should both just learn from it and put it in the past and move on. Just, not together.”

She was quiet about that for a while and sighed. “Sure,” she said woodenly. “I really AM sorry I hurt you, Jake.”

“I know. For what it’s worth, I hope you find someone that’s good to you.”

“This is it for us, huh?” she asked quietly.

“I’m looking forward,” I told her. “You should too. I think your reputation took a beating over this, so you might have some work to get back above water with some people. I’m not saying that to be mean, just pointing out that people know what happened. They saw you having fun and me getting miserable.”

“So, you’re saying that I’ve probably lost some friends over this,” she clarified.

“I dunno if you lost friends, but definitely a lot of respect,” I told her. “Maybe this is a good time to take some time off from dating and focus on yourself for a while. Call up your friends and talk it out with them.”

“Alright,” she sighed. “Is it okay to say hi if we run into each other or would you rather I just not talk to you.”

“I think it’s okay to say hi, but let’s keep it at that. We’re broken up. It’s for the best, at this point if we keep our conversations short and infrequent.”

“Alright. Take care of yourself, Jake,” she said. “I wish things had been different between us.”

“Take care, Jennifer,” I said. “Don’t worry about me. Sometimes something bad has to happen before something good can come along. Lisa’s good to me.”

There wasn’t a lot to say after that, so we hung up and she was out of my life. It was possibly the messiest, most awkward breakup that I’d ever been through. Charlene and I had broken up to hook up with other people with the intention that we’d bring that knowledge back to each other at some point.

I put the phone back on the charger and the three of us were quiet for a few minutes. “Are you okay?” Lisa asked, knowing that I’d been miserable over things leading up to the breakup.

I nodded and came to wrap my arms around her. I wanted to feel close to her. “She can’t hurt me anymore,” I told her certainly. “The two of you take up too much of my focus. There’s none left for her.”

I felt her arms wrap around me and she squeezed me tight before Sugar joined us and we hugged it out. We decided to spend the evening next door at their place, but I wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous tonight. The phone call from Jennifer had dampened my mood and Lisa understood. So I packed up the suit I was wearing tomorrow, the work-clothes for after lunch and made sure that my tools were loaded into the trunk of the car for the morning. I really needed a larger work vehicle. Maybe Saturday, I’d take the girls shopping to see what I could find.

We settled down in front of their TV and just cuddled on their couch. I smiled to myself, thinking about how much life had changed in less than a week. I had a girlfriend, fiancé, a teenage mistress lined up, a Prom date waiting in the wings, an office romance heating up, a new grandfather, two new clients and was planning on buying a new truck for work. No wonder I was tired.

The three of us climbed the stairs to bed that night and settled in to sleep without resorting to sex. Lisa looked relieved that she had another day to recover and I was okay with that. I didn’t want her to think I was just in this for the sex.

Thursday was a big day. We got up and I shaved while Lisa showered, showered while she made breakfast and the three of us sat down before we bothered to get dressed for the day. We were all excited about my day working at Henderson and Riggs and it showed. I was still planning on picking Kelsey up after school, but warned her that I might be a little late getting there.

“Text me if I’m not there when you get out,” I told her. “I’ll let you know where I am and how long I’ll be.”

“I can walk home from school, Dad,” she said with a smile. “I did it all the time until this week.”

“Alright,” I relented. “Message me and if I’m tied up and can’t get away, I’ll let you know and you can walk.”

After breakfast, we went and reluctantly got dressed for the day and separated. I had my briefcase for the morning to complete the corporate look. I parked my Charger in the parking lot and consulted the building’s directory before taking the elevator to the ninth floor.

I greeted the receptionist and she asked if I had an appointment. “I’m Jake Landry to see Jeremy Riggs.”

“Ah, Mr. Landry!” she said, picking up her phone. “I’ll page Mr. Riggs secretary. If you’ll just have a seat for a moment, she’ll be right with you.”

I took a seat in the reception area and waited for the secretary. I wasn’t sure what to expect, given that Ryan had painted a picture of this place as a meat market. When I heard my name, I smiled and stood up to introduce myself.

The woman standing there was looking at me expectantly. She was somewhere in her mid-forties, but well-kept, with a professional look to her. “Hi,” I said. “Call me Jake.”

“I’m Martina Simpson,” she told me. “I answer to Marty or Mar, but never Tina. Mr. Riggs asked me to show you where you’d be working and then show you around a little bit.” She was friendly and engaging as she led me back through the maze of offices and cubicles to a small office that she unlocked. Inside, it was outfitted with a desktop and a laptop set up on the desk. “Mr. Riggs said you’ll be doing a complete audit on our network today,” she said quietly. “The desktop is our standard and the laptop is available for you to install anything you need to work with. It’s easier for our IT guy to scrub the laptop than to disconnect the tower.”

I nodded and set my briefcase down behind the desk. “This is perfect, Mar,” I said with a smile. “I’ll be able to work with this just fine.”

“Okay,” she said brightly. “Let me show you around a little and I’ll let you get started.” We slipped out of the office and she locked it while we were away from it so that no one would be tempted to snoop. She led me around the office and introduced me to a few people, studiously passing by the office that was marked “Ryan Porter” without stopping. She showed me the coffee machine, the break room, restroom and told me that the senior partners were planning on taking me to lunch for a preliminary report around noon.

“Thanks, Mar,” I said gratefully, shaking her hand. “It’s a little strange to work around the office from this angle. Usually, I’m running cable through walls and connecting computers.”

She smiled. “You’re more hands-on, most of the time?”

I nodded. “I’ll be changing after lunch to start working on the physical inspection, but this morning is a different experience.”

“I hope it’s a good one,” she said with a smile, gave me the key to the office and then left me to start working.

I sat down and started looking through the diagnostics that I had access to through Windows on the desktop while I installed better tools on the laptop. I tried to get a sense of what their network was supposed to look like and where the breakdown was occurring, but it was abundantly clear that the network was unstable. I won’t bore you with the details, but I was thinking more and more about laying out the network from scratch and scrapping what they were working with. I spent part of the morning on finding out what their network picture was, making notes about the number of computers on their network, the programs they used, their network traffic and whatever else I’d need to know to make intelligent decisions about how to fix their problems.

I was engrossed in the job when there was a knock at the door around mid-morning. I looked up to the open door and saw Ryan standing there. “You didn’t stop in and say hi,” he said, coming in to shake my hand.

I put a smile on my face and stood up to greet him. “Ryan!” I said warmly. “Thanks for coming by. I would have stopped in earlier, but Mar was leading the tour.”

“That’s okay,” he said. “She introduce you around?”

“Some,” I admitted. “I’m here for the short-term though. It’s not really important that I know everyone’s name.”

“You find anything yet?” he asked.

“No root causes yet, but I have a few suspicions. I think your new network is bolted onto your old network. It’s behaving like it’s got old equipment trying to carry network load that it’s not built for. Was the network slow before the migration?”

He nodded. “That was one of the problems that was supposed to be solved by the new network.”

I nodded. “I think I’ll find the problem this afternoon, but it runs more like an upgrade to your old network than a whole new beast.”

“Sounds like you have your work cut out for you,” he said sympathetically. “Lunch?”

I shook my head. “I can’t. The senior partners are supposed to take me to lunch for the preliminary report.”

“Nice. Already rubbing elbows with the partners, huh?” he teased.

“Think about it,” I shrugged with a grin. “Every time the network gives you a headache, they get one. Multiply that by the number of employees muttering curses at their screens and they’re probably pretty anxious to get a handle on what’s going on.”

He nodded. “Wish I could get myself invited along, but I’m not one of the partners ... yet,” he said with a certainty that made me want to roll my eyes.

“Trust me,” I told him. “This isn’t going to be a social lunch. They want answers about the network. That reminds me, I need to talk to Mar about a few things before lunch.”

“I’ll show you the way,” he said and we left the office. I locked up and he led me back to the executive offices, where I saw Mar deep in conversation with one of the other staff. I thanked Ryan for showing me the way and he left me there to wait for Mar to have a free moment.

Mar noticed my arrival and introduced me to her friend. “Ashlyn Dash, this is Jake Landry. He’s looking at the network today. Jake, Ashlyn is Mr. Henderson’s secretary.”

“Pleased to meet you,” I said to her and offered her my hand and a smile.

“Same,” she said, shaking it. “I hope you can help us. It’s been a rough month.”

“I’m getting a clearer picture where the breakdown is,” I told her. “I was actually interested in seeing a copy of the original contract for network migration if that’s possible,” I told them both. “I’ve got a suspicion that the devil’s in the details of what work they contracted for. It feels like they tried to upgrade the network without replacing some of the more obsolete pieces to save money for you or to shave their bid.”

They looked at each other to consult. “We’ll have to take that to the partners,” Ashlyn told me.

“Sure. If you need to redact the financial parts, I understand that. I’m just trying to get a picture of what sort of work they were obligated to do according to the contract. If there’s a written document that has the network requirements you wanted when you first went looking for the migration to start, I can start working on options.”

“That, we can get you,” she promised. “Come with me and I’ll print you a copy.”

“I’ll talk to Mr. Riggs about getting you a copy of the contract to review the work they did,” Mar promised. “I’ll drop it off to you when I can.”

I thanked her and then I was following Ashlyn to her desk.

“I noticed you talking with Ryan Porter,” she said, opening the conversation. “Friend of yours?”

“More of an acquaintance,” I told her. “I’d never met him until this week. I do IT work and network management for a small law firm near here. I met him at Mallory’s when I stopped in for lunch. Conversation broke out and I gave him my card when he told me that the network here was in need.”

She nodded. “Be careful,” she cautioned me. “He doesn’t have the most stellar reputation around here after what happened.”

I nodded. “I heard about his divorce,” I told her. “Don’t judge me too harshly.”

She laughed. “Don’t worry. I haven’t seen you wandering around the halls, looking for girls. Between you and me, I don’t know why they didn’t fire him after that.”

“I assumed it was because he was good at what he did,” I shrugged. “Sort of a necessary evil, you know?”

“That’s probably the best description of Ryan Porter that I’ve ever heard,” she chuckled and sat down at her desk. I stood by while she searched for the document she wanted. “Just don’t let him set you up on dates and you’ll be fine.”

I laughed. “I have a different philosophy for dating than he does,” I assured her. “Married women are off-limits. That’s a good way to get shot by an angry husband.”

She made an agreeing noise. “I wondered why none of the husbands shot him too,” she confessed.

I shrugged. “He said that they all got served on the same day. They must have known for a while to get everything set up like that. Whoever figured it out probably calmed the others down before they could load the guns. It’s still damn reckless, especially to pick people you work with.”

She nodded and sent the document to the printer. “So what IS your philosophy on dating?” she asked curiously.

“I generally keep it simple. Don’t fish off the company pier, don’t go after married women, avoid hooking up with anyone that’s friends with an ex. Sneaking around is for kids. If I can’t kiss her in public without worrying about who might see, then I shouldn’t be dating her.”

“That’s a good policy,” she agreed and got up to lead the way to the printer. She got me the document and then treated me to a smile. “I’m glad that you’re not like him,” she said. “One of the women that he was cheating with was a friend of mine. After her divorce, she decided she couldn’t continue to work here and moved away. If he’s not really a friend of yours, I’d suggest keeping him at arms-length.”

I nodded. “I got similar advice from someone else,” I confided. “I honestly just met him this week a couple of times for lunch since we were in the same place. We talk a bit, but it’s not like I’m inviting him over to watch football on Sundays.”

She nodded. “Understandable. I’ll warn you that knowing him will probably polarize some of the staff about how to react to you.”

I nodded. “I can imagine. I got the impression that Mar doesn’t like him either. She managed to skip his office on the tour.” I smirked a little about that.

“Most of the women in the office have a frosty disposition toward him,” she confirmed.

That gave me an idea. “Think you can do me a favor?” I asked with a mischievous smirk.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked, the hint of a smile on her lips.

“Think you can get a few of the angrier ones to play nice with me, even though he suggested me for this job?” I asked. “Not everyone. Just a few of the ones that have the deepest hate for him.”

She thought about it and shrugged. “I don’t see a problem. We have a good crowd here. No one’s going to give you problems unless you do something to earn them.”

I nodded. “Just think of it as a harmless practical joke. I don’t want to say more.” I paused and looked around. “Every office has the same problem: the walls have ears.”