As I entered Tyson, knowing that I wouldn’t have Luc to flirt with all day, or watch his beautiful body as he was busy at work, I felt off about being at work. Yes, I enjoyed my job more than anything, and I was so grateful, but it was spending time with Luc that had become the highlight of my day. Not that we were together all the time. We definitely weren’t. Luc was the boss, he was busy taking care of everything and running in and out of meetings, but he would always take a second, here and there, to step into my office. He would close the door and embrace me in his strong arms. He gave me a quick hug and a hot kiss before he stepped back out, but it was enough to reassure me that things were good and I wasn’t alone. We had fallen into a routine without even realizing it. One minute I was forcing myself to try something with him because he was lost and so was I, and in our attempt to save each other we found something real. Something worth fighting for.
“Good morning, Vicky,” Sheila, the secretary, lifted her head smiling at me.
“Good morning, Sheila.”
“Mr. Lebaum thought it would be a good day for you to visit the plant, they are putting a new model together,” Sheila suggested. Luc never mentioned anything to me, but sometimes he does things like this, so that I truly look surprised when confronted by coworkers and they won’t be suspicious of us.
“That sounds great, Sheila, I just have a few things to finish up from yesterday. Can you let the shuttle know I will be ready for noon?”
“Sure dear,” she smiled kindly and continued her work.
As I sauntered into my office I placed my purse on the floor and started up my computer. Thinking of my night with Luc made me feel warm in all the right places, but I put my dirty thoughts aside since I needed to get my work done.
As I went through all the building logistics the hours passed. By the time I noticed the clock on the bottom right screen of my computer, it was a quarter to twelve. Darn, I had to get down to the shuttle in fifteen minutes. I didn’t have time to eat lunch and I’ll probably be at the plant until the end of the day. I was grateful to Luc right now for my warm morning croissant. I quickly ran to the bathroom to relieve my bladder and headed down the forty floors in the elevator to the main lobby. Since the night of the sex party I hadn’t heard from Scott Wellington and I hadn’t seen him either. Luc mentioned that he brought up Scott’s name to Bryce and Bryce only mentioned that his company wouldn’t be a good fit for Tyson. Although I am guessing that Luc maybe convinced Bryce that Scott wasn’t a good fit for Tyson. Having been in the building for over a month there are some familiar faces. As I arrived in the lobby my cell phone rang. I figured it was Luc. He probably had a minute and wanted to check in with me, but when I pulled my phone out of my purse it said, No Caller ID. I figured it’s one of those telemarketers trying to sell me something, and I didn’t pick up. It was already five to twelve and I didn’t want the shuttle to leave without me.
“Hi, Maggie, is the shuttle here?” I asked. Maggie was one of the ladies that sat at reception in the main lobby, she directed people around Tyson and she was also responsible for setting up the shuttles.
“No, hon, he should be here any minute.”
“Thanks,” I said, walking outside. Working in an office means I didn’t get much fresh air, so I tried to get outdoors when I could. As I waited outside, the November air had a cold bite to it, but the sun was shining and I looked up to the beautiful blue sky. The wind picked up and sent a chill through my body. My cell phone rang again and once again I hoped it was Luc. It was ridiculous I knew, but I missed him. The same No Caller ID popped up on my screen and I began to worry.
Hesitantly I pressed the green button to pick up the call. “Hello?” I asked questioningly, not knowing whom to expect.
“Oh thank goodness, Vicky, I was trying to get a hold of you….”
As I heard the voice I tried to place it. It sounded familiar.
“Marie?” I asked, my voice turning up a notch.
“Yes, honey, Oh, Vicky….” she whimpered into the phone and my stomach dipped.
I stopped my pacing on the sidewalk. I’d been here before; I could hear the despair in her voice. Something bad had happened.
“Vicky…where are you, honey?” Marie pled and I knew she was asking because there was bad news. I could feel every bone in my body tensing.
“I’m in the middle of a sidewalk…” I muttered as my heart beat a mile a minute. “Please, Marie…” I pleaded with her to tell me. Whatever it was I needed to know. Was it Joe? Was it my father? What could it be? I felt like screaming at the top of my lungs.
“Can you go inside somewhere and take a seat?” she asked with a calm voice. I knew she was worried about me after everything that had happened with my mother, but I needed to know. I needed to know now.
“Dammit, Marie, just tell me,” I snapped and then regretted it. I knew she didn’t mean any harm, but my nerves were so on edge I thought I might lose it completely.
“Sorry, honey… it’s your papa. Hal went to check on him just now, and he didn’t have a pulse, honey. He died.” As her words rang in my ears, I knew they couldn’t be true; he could not have died. He was an alcoholic but he was okay. He would eat a little and spend his days drinking in the kitchen or on the balcony but he was okay. “Are you there, Vicky?” Marie asked frantically.
With the phone still to my ear, I fell to my knees and held onto my stomach. Pain radiated through my body. I couldn’t handle anything she’d said. It was too much to process. This was my fault. I had left him all alone. He needed me and I was angry with him. He had cared for me and loved me since I was a baby, and I didn’t do the same for him. I had tried to convince him to go to rehab, and he refused to admit he even had a problem. He ignored me and it infuriated me. He didn’t step up to help when Mama got sick. I loved him but he let me down, he let Mama down, and he chose to live his days searching for the end in a bottle. It was painful for me to watch. Marie and Hal tried to come over and help me get him to rehab, but nothing we said mattered. I knew deep down he didn’t want to live, and this was his way of ending it. I just couldn’t believe this was real. I heard myself crying loudly on the street, and I wondered how long I had been on the ground this way.
I was pulled out of my trance when I heard Bryce’s soft voice from behind me, he was trying to lift me, but I was fighting him.
“Vicky, its okay, what happened? It’s Bryce,” he whispered softly in my ear. His voice was soothing, but the news was too painful. This was my fault. I should have tried harder to get him into rehab. I shouldn’t have left him alone. Bryce lifted me up and cradled me in his strong arms. I placed my head into his shoulder and sobbed. He carried me back into the building and I thought into the elevator. I felt like I was on a cloud. This was not reality.
“Hush,” he whispered, still holding on to me. As we reached the top floor I could feel that I was getting heavy for him by the heavy steps he was taking. We made it into his office, and he walked over to the couch and placed me down gently. Then he got on one knee and caressed my head and looked at me through worried grey eyes. He looked fatherly, and he is my father, but the only father I had known growing up was now dead. “Vicky, what happened?”
“My papa back home died,” I responded through heavy sobs. I knew my eyes must look bloodshot and I felt slightly embarrassed now that I had come to. I must have made quite a scene. I think I saw cameras flashing, and I wondered if the media had taken pictures. I knew the reporters tried to follow Bryce around a lot, and he spent too much effort having to evade them.
“Oh, Vicky, I am so sorry to hear that,” Bryce said taking a seat beside me on the couch. “Tell me what I can do? Anything you need…” Bryce trailed off looking at me with sorrow filled eyes.