Chapter 2

My door had barely latched before Belinda was knocking. I opened to find her standing with her hands on her hips.

"You got some 'splainin' to do, Lucy," she said in her mock Ricky Ricardo voice. It was one of her least endearing qualities.

"How long have we worked together?" she asked but she didn't wait for an answer. "You know my kids' birthdays. You know my husband's birthday. You know my anniversary. You probably even know my bra size. Why did I not know you had an ex-wife?"

I answered as well as I could.

"The important days in your life are important days to me, too," I said. "I feel that way about all of you folks. I don't want to schedule something late on your anniversary or early the day after. I don't want you to be in Topeka when your son's birthday rolls around. The fact that I was once married is not important."

Belinda looked at the floor.

"I know you're my boss," she said. "But I also thought we were friends. When we were eating we talked about you. No one knows anything about you. You get us a birthday present. You give us subtle hints that our anniversary is approaching. The only fact we knew about you was that you weren't married and you drive a beat-up pick up that probably has 100,000 miles on it.

"We don't know your birthday or if you have children. We don't know if you like beer or whisky. We don't know if you like pepperoni or mushrooms on you pizza. We don't know where you go or what you do when you leave the office. The only reason we knew you weren't married is because Karen's sister went out with you a few years ago."

I patted her on the shoulder. I could tell that it bothered her.

"I'm pretty private," I said. "I was married for a while. We separated and tried again and again and again. It just didn't work."

"I worry about things like that," Belinda admitted. "I know you do your best to limit the travel but..."

She let the sentence trail off.

"No one will ever be demoted because he or she wants off the travel team," I said with conviction. "At least as long as long I'm around. You have my promise on that."

Belinda chuckled.

"Oh, I don't want off the team," she said. "My time away is the only thing that keeps me sane. I look forward to a couple of days away and Jim and the boys have he-man days. But I can see how a few others might be worried. Is that what happened to you?"

This was crossing into territory that those who worked for me didn't need to be in.

"No," I said. "My job had nothing to do with it. We divorced before I took this job. My wife's work was more a problem than mine. It was very time consuming."

Belinda nodded her head quickly.

"So you make sure that we don't have that problem," she said. "I've seen you walk past a person's desk at five after five and turn off their monitor to send them home. What did your wife do?"

I was purposefully vague. I had seen cutouts of "Tracy" taped to Belinda's computer from time to time and I wasn't sure if Julie was out of the closet so to speak as the creator.

"She's an artist," I said.

"She's pretty," Belinda said and I looked at her oddly.

"You passed the pizza shop," she explained. "We all got a good look at her. You both looked nervous."

It was my turn to nod.

"It's been a while since we talked," I said. "I think we worried about hard feelings and things we wished we would have said years ago."

Belinda was sitting on the couch looking at me expectantly, as if I was supposed to continue. But I was finished.

"And ... what happened?" she prompted. "This is part of becoming closer. You tell me things like this. You know, like I told you how Jim's proctologist visit went."

"I could have done without that report, by the way," I said. "But tonight went about the same."

Belinda laughed like I was George Carlin and Henny Youngman rolled into one.

"Let me guess, part of being a closer friend is to laugh at things that aren't really funny," I said with a smile.

"That was so funny," Belinda said. "Comparing a dinner with your ex-wife to a butt scoping. It would have been funnier if her lawyer was involved. But I liked it."

I could only shrug because while I thought I was hilarious, my humor sometimes got lost in transition.

"Julie made a reference that you might help me with," I said, taking a chance. "It's a cartoon I've seen on your terminal from time to time."

"Tracy Takes Off," Belinda said. "It's so poignant. I read it all the time but Danielle seems to live it."

Danielle was another woman who worked with our team.

"Anyway, she said I resemble Adam," I said. "I've seen the strip but I don't remember him."

Belinda jumped off the couch and was out the door in a flash. She came back moments later with a startled Danielle in tow. Danielle was barely dressed and her face was beet red as she struggled to pull her night shirt down over her panties.

"Belinda," I said sharply. "What in the hell are you doing?"

"Yeah, Bebe," Danielle said. "I'm glad I had my shirt halfway on. I don't think nudity would have stopped you."

I turned my back while Danielle adjusted herself and Belinda waited impatiently.

"Tell him what you said the other day," Belinda declared.

Danielle looked at me questioningly.

"Yes, involuntary commitment is covered under the health plan," I said. "And yes, I will support your petition if you choose to file one."

Belinda shot me a glare and stuck her tongue out.

"I was getting to know David," Belinda announced. "Like we talked about at dinner. Now, what cartoon character does he remind you of?"

A light went off above Danielle's head.

"Oh, he is so Adam," Danielle said with a laugh. "Right down to his mannerisms. The way Ellie describes Adam flipping her off as he holds his nose with his middle fingers when he is frustrated. The expressions you use are exactly the same. I have cut out a hundred strips with Ellie talking about Adam to give to you. But I always chickened out."

I had never realized that I was viewed as unapproachable.

"Well, now that I've seen your underwear, I guess you can stop being afraid of me," I said. I hoped I wasn't creating a hostile work environment because our trip was financed by the corporation.

Danielle blushed again and I apologized but she brushed it off.

"So, tell me a little bit about Adam and Ellie," I said.

"Oh, you never see Adam," Danielle said. "You only know about him when Ellie visits for coffee. Tracy will talk about how horrible her ex-husband is. And Ellie will tell her that not all men are jerks. Then she'll tell a story about Adam. It's a line that runs mostly on Sundays' where she has more room. But she has taken a one-week arc of Adamisms. He is one of the most popular characters in the chat rooms, although some think Ellie just makes things up about him to perk up Tracy's spirits.

"I tell the people who say that about you," Danielle said with another blush. "Adam even works as a personnel director. It really is art imitating life. You don't know Emily Proctor, do you? Although I don't think it's her real name."

I assured Danielle that I had never met a woman named Emily Proctor. It wasn't really a lie.

"So how is getting to know David going?" Danielle asked. "Do we know his birthday yet? How about his favorite color?"

Belinda said she hadn't gotten to either yet.

"It's late," I said. "It'll give us something to talk about on the way home if we can convince that crazy woman that the union is going to wind up closing the plant if she isn't careful."

I spoke with Julie daily during my L.A. excursion. The union was unwilling to bend on even the smallest point so my team and I left after a week to let the chips fall where they may.

I spent Saturday evening dining with my ex-wife. We kept the conversation neutral and I had a good time. She invited me to stay the night with her but I declined. She took my decision gracefully.

"Even when things were bad we were still good at that," Julie told me as she dropped me at the hotel. "If you change your mind during your stay, just give me a call. And if you want to get together for dinner again, same deal. You might not believe this, but I will make time for you."

I had hoped to spend another evening with Julie but this trip it was my time that was limited. We did manage to spend a little time chatting before I flew back north. As with our dinners, the conversations were benign. I didn't ask about her life in L.A. while we still were married. She didn't make any further comments about returning to my life.

The flight home from L.A. took only an hour but with security checks, flight delays and baggage claims it was almost four hours from the time I arrived at LAX until we all found our rides home.

Danielle and Belinda kept me occupied with their version of 20 (or 2,000) Questions. It was pretty innocent until we were landed then all bets were off.

"We are officially off company time," Belinda said with a grin. "You have ceased to be our boss and this is the time for personal questions."

I shook my head violently but since I was a captive in Danielle's SUV on the freeway for another 20 minutes, I saw no means of escape.

Still, I verbally put my foot down.

"This has been eye-opening," I said. "But I think we've learned all we should of the other for right now. I'm not sure how comfortable I will be a) sharing personal information with you and b) hearing about any personal information that you might want to share with one another."

Belinda and Danielle glanced at one another with smug smiles.

"So, how did your research project go, Bebe," Danielle said.

"It went well," she replied. "You would be amazed what a simple public records search can accomplish. Once you gave me the name I was looking for I just Google the hell out of them.

"For example, did you know that David's ex-wife is a cartoonist?"

"Why no. Hmmm, I wonder if I've read anything she's done."

"Well, her personal Web site said she is a political satirist. But there is a link to another site that I found most interesting."

"OK, OK," I said from the backseat. "You know the whole sordid story. Julie Whatever Her Last Name Is Now draws your favorite comic strip. It is not public knowledge and I think Julie would prefer it be kept that way. Julie told me that Tracy is based upon her; Maeve is based upon the person I was married to; and Ellie is based on how she would like her life to be. Rex is not based upon me but rather upon her second husband, a person I didn't know existed until a few days ago."

The women in the front seat exchanged nods.

"Was that so tough," Danielle said. "The more I thought about how similar the character was to you the more it bothered me. Then when Bebe told me your wife was an 'artist, ' well, it didn't take a rocket scientist to fill in the dots. She's still Julie Newman, by the way. At least that's the name on her California business license and her driver's license."

"Did you do a full investigation on company time or was it just a little snooping into Julie's private life?" I asked with frustration.

Either Danielle didn't care or she didn't notice the tone of my voice.

"Just a little," she said. "I didn't touch her tax records or her credit report. I redacted her Social Security number so no medical reports came back. And I did this on my own time with my own funds, thank you."

I sat back wearily and looked at the top of the car interior.

"This is why I don't let people into my personal life," I said to no one in particular.

"Look at it this way, David," Belinda said. "A guy from Danielle's past suddenly shows up. You can tell from her actions that their relationship ended badly but there he is anyway. Then you can tell further that something strange is going on in Danielle's life because of this person coming back. Are you just going to sit back and hope nothing terrible happens to her again?"

As usual, I didn't get the chance to reply before Belinda prattled on.