It was I think, after the third or fourth meeting that I realized a change in me towards him. Suddenly I would get butterflies in my stomach right before it was time for me to go face him down, and not the nervous sort. I found myself looking forward to sparring with him as serious as the situation was. And every evening after that, I left feeling like I’d lost something vital once out of his sight.
I’d brushed it off as nothing more than nerves and the events of the last few weeks finally catching up to me. But I secretly knew that there was more to it than that. Especially when he started following me into my dreams. Now that there was no need to see him again, that feeling of listlessness prevailed even now in the midst of my new venture.
I got started on the latest orders while shunning thoughts of him. I had to grudgingly admit that he was not the thief I first thought him to be, and that only made way for the attraction I’d been keeping at bay. I could no longer kill any thought of him with the idea that he was a thief, that he’d robbed me and my mother of what was rightfully ours. And with that barrier, that last line of defense gone, it seems I was now wide open to let the thoughts flood in.
As I closed and labeled the last box for shipping I gave up the fight not to go snooping into his life. Until now my only interest had been in his business practices. I had no need to go searching through his personal life. But now in the early morning hour before mother awoke with her constant needs to keep me occupied, the temptation proved to be too much.
All it took was adding his name to the search engine and there was his life story for all the world to see. I still bore some slight resentment against him, unfair as it may be. But how could I not when he had taken over my dad’s office, and had already begun implementing changes from what I could see? I chose to go to him at end of day when I was sure that certain of the past employees he’d kept on would be gone. It will be a long time before I overcome the embarrassment of my fall from grace.
I’d once walked through those doors to smiles and warm welcomes, but the first time I’d gone to face him down, the looks bordered more on self-pity, and even some had held glee at my demise. There’s nothing worse, it seems, than losing one’s fortune in the eyes of some people. I’d even heard a few whispers, which I’m sure were intended to be overheard, about my poor state.
Apparently I was seen as nothing more than a useless blonde headed bimbo who would now set her sights on some rich older man to get me out of the predicament I find myself in. Some of my so-called friends were even beginning to distance themselves, though how they knew that we were that desolate was beyond me.
True our set was a close-knit circle where everyone knew each other. Wives lunched together while husbands made deals in the boardroom. I’m sure some of those husbands talked shop with their wives, and probably knew more about what went wrong with the company than I did. I knew that this hurts mother as much as daddy’s death. She so relished being the ‘queen’ and now that she’d lost her crown she was finding it hard to cope.
I spent the next hour reading all about how he came from nothing to be one of the foremost contenders in the business world. I didn’t understand how a software programmer had risen so high and so fast in the industry, but it was obvious that the man had his fingers in a lot of pies. “Quite the little entrepreneur aren’t you?” I sneered at his profile before hitting the image button.
Each picture was of him and a different woman. The little snippets under each said that he never kept one around for long, no more than a couple months at the most. “Dog.” I hid the little blip of jealousy under snark. Why should I care who he sleeps with, or what he does with his life for that matter? Our association was at an end. I had no more need to be in his presence since he’d proved to me once and for all that daddy had indeed sold him the company, lock, stock and barrel.
It was very telling though that the write-ups on him were very superficial. Almost as if at some point after he first came on the scene ten years ago, he’d faded to black. There were pictures of him yes, out and about around the globe, but there was no real substance, only guesses and innuendos. There; someone else had caught on and written a story about the secretive Mr. Storm who kept his private life meticulously protected. I wonder what he thinks about my lifestyle? If he’d ever cared to look.