‘Tarin, it’s time you stop this foolish attitude. There are things I need to discuss with you.’
Her father had called. The one thing she’d been waiting for, for so long. He’d finally bridged the gap between them. Tarin’s body sagged with relief at the sound of his voice. It was over. They could work things out. She hugged her cell phone to her chest and imagined it was her dad giving her a big hug, not that he ever had but it was part of her new dream. Her lips stretched into a natural smile; everything was going to be fine.
Regardless of her heart’s response, her mind wouldn’t allow her to bask in her newfound comfort. Why did he call? What am I missing?
To prove to herself that it was all good, she listened to his message again, only to promptly wish she hadn’t. Though she listened to his words, it was his tone that caught her attention. She immediately became the child that had stolen a flashlight and silently hugged her teddy bear in her closet so her dad wouldn’t discover that she was frightened of the dark and the monsters that came with it. Hopes of ever having a close relationship with him were slipping through her fingers like the misty layers of fog.
Reality was settling in. Instinctively, she reached up to tug on her hair, which reminded her of the shorter style she’d yet to become accustomed to. Cutting her long hair had been a small sacrifice to help camouflage her identity. At least Chance didn’t seem to mind it.
Leaving Chance was harder than she thought. Picking him up, he clung for a few moments big tears filling his eyes. Then the new puppy Bobbie had just gotten, came bounding down the stairs with Kim. Chance wiggled to get down and was soon playing with the dog. It made Tarin happy and sad at the same time.
Knowing Chance was okay made it easier to focus on getting ready for work and out the door on time. Her mind soon shifted to focus on one thing—her father. The weight of her father’s disapproval sat heavily on her shoulders. By the time she’d pulled into her new employer’s parking lot, she still couldn’t shake her thoughts. My father called. What does he really want?
Reminding herself that she needed to get it together to start her new job, she climbed the flight of stairs. Taking a deep breath and pasting on a smile, she entered the office. “Good morning, Graham.”
“Good morning, Tarin.” He smiled and gestured toward the desk she’d used for her interview. “This will be yours. As you can see, this space also serves as kitchen and exercise room. The bathroom’s just down the hall.”
Tarin studied her new workspace. It was a large area with her desk on one side, a counter and fridge in the far corner and a workout machine in the opposite corner near Graham’s office.
“It’s great, thank you.”
“To tell you a bit about us, we have a couple of companies—Knights Computers is downstairs; we fix computers there. This is Knights Associates—”
Graham explained their businesses and explained her responsibilities. Then he gave her access to one of the email accounts he wanted her to monitor. He went on to explain security and how they did things. The technical knowledge she already knew and she found her mind wandering back to the thoughts plaguing her since she’d received her father’s message.
Why did he phone? Why now?
Something didn’t feel right. It wasn’t just that his tone admonished her as though she was a child; it was also the timing. Chance immediately came to mind. Did her father know about him? Every now and then, she wished she could tell Chance he had a grandfather but the fear of giving him hope that he had a sweet old gramps, kept her from saying anything at all.
Chance. How’s Bobbie making out with babysitting him?
Tarin placed her hands on the desk in front of her and took a deep breath. It wasn’t a great start to her first day at her new job. She couldn’t believe she’d actually been hired. The guilt of how she’d got it crept in to dampen her mood but she pushed that away when she thought about why she was there. She was going to find the answers she needed.
Did I dress okay for work? She looked at the navy blue blouse and beige skirt she’d finally settled on that morning after trying multiple outfits.
“And so?”
That tone catapulted her back to the here and now. Her mind was like a butterfly flitting from petal to petal, not really sticking with anything.
What did he say? Graham’s hard stare let her know he wasn’t going to give her any help.
“So you want—”
“Hi. You must be Tarin.”
She tamped down the instant sense of gratification at the interruption and stood to shake the hand of her other boss.
“I’m Guy and this is Bailey, my fiancé.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“You too. I’m sad to see you cut your gorgeous mane.” Bailey shook her hand.
Tarin felt the color leave her face. “Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry. After Graham interviewed you last week, he was rather evasive about describing you, so I went on the internet.”
Feeling shaky, she rested her hands on her desk. “Oh?”
“Hey look. I like the new blonde, short style. Totally changes you, though. I’m sorry; I can tell this is bothering you. I’m here because these two don’t like doing paperwork, so they asked me to help you make sense of all the forms you have to sign.” Bailey grabbed the stack of papers out of Graham’s hands, pulled up a chair beside the desk and sat.
A distinct bell rang. Ignoring it, Tarin sat as well.
“Is that yours?”
Tarin waved her hand. “Yeah, it’s my cell. It’s nothing,” she said, a little more abruptly than she’d meant. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to her personal life. Thankfully, from the distinct tone, she knew that one was from Bobbie, checking in with updates about Chance. She’d have shut it off or muted it but knew that wasn’t going to happen for a while. Leaving her child behind after two years of staying at home with him was tearing her apart. Her son had waved good-bye with his porridge-filled hand and tear-filled eyes. She hoped he was okay.
“Okay, so we need to...” Bailey was all business, setting the forms down in front of her, explaining their purpose. It wasn’t long before Guy and Graham disappeared into their office and closed the door. There wasn’t a peep coming from behind it, which Tarin found intriguing. She was tempted at one point to stop Bailey’s awkward and stilted explanation of what the forms were for and let her know she was well versed in hiring practices. Even though it had been a few years since she’d had to deal with them, it was coming back fast. Since she hadn’t shared that experience on her resume or in her interview she kept her mouth shut and listened and signed where directed.
An hour later, when her eyes felt glazed over and her mind had gone numb, she was rethinking that. She signed the last document.
“All right, there you go. You’re all signed up. Graham said you handed in your Criminal Record Check already. So that’s done. I think that’s it.” Bailey stood and moved to the door.
“Thank you for your help.”
Bailey returned her smile before knocking and entering her new bosses’ office.
Tarin was tempted to stop her but instead watched as Bailey disappeared into the other room. If she’d kept her mouth shut, Bailey might have remained friendly rather than turning business-like. Then she reminded herself she wasn’t there to make friends. She was there to get answers. She stared at the closed door, realizing for the first time in a long time that she was on the outside, and she didn’t like it. In her job in the hotel business, she’d always been in upper-management so she’d been involved in most meetings. In fact, she was the one who ran them. It was unsettling to think she wasn’t part of the team that made decisions. Although, as she looked around at the sparsely furnished office, she reminded herself that it didn’t look as though it was a booming company—but that was precisely what played in their favor. If her cursory investigation was correct, they were pulling in nearly a cool million annually. She pushed away those thoughts; it was time to get to work.
The look that Graham had given her before going into his inner office stuck with her, as if he doubted she could do the job. It made her wonder how desperate they really were, and why they needed to hire someone so quickly. When he’d called to tell her she’d gotten the job, he hadn’t sounded like he was very happy about it.
A distinct musical note interrupted her thoughts. She closed her eyes for a moment before pushing away the knowledge of who would be texting her. He would stop soon, she was sure. Stephen had never been one to waste his time with something that was labor intensive, at least not when it had come to her. One or two texts were fine but that was his limit or had been until the day she’d left. It wasn’t as though he loved her; thankfully, his girlfriend kept him rather busy. So was it all about losing face. The thought made her sick but it reminded her a lot of her father. She’d sworn she’d never marry anyone similar in any way to him and yet along comes the first man to offer his hand and she jumps in as though he’s her lifesaver only to discover he’s going to drown her in his obsession for status and power—exactly like her father.
Blowing out a heavy breath, she considered her new position. She felt almost giddy about it. It had been the first one she’d gone after and gotten on her own. In fact, it was the first one that wasn’t under her father’s thumb. Guilt crawled over her shoulder like a slithering snake, which made her wonder if Graham knew she’d sabotaged his other interview, leaving him with little choice but to hire her. It had taken a bit of convincing to sell the other woman on the idea of the company being investigated for fraud but she’d finally left, more than happy to get away. If Graham had known, he’d never have offered Tarin the position. His attitude made her wonder, though. From the time she’d gotten in that morning he’d been as cold as an arctic front and as abrupt. Rather than wait for her to start her laptop, he’d reached over and turned it on and then he’d talked about antispyware and antivirus programs as though she’d never heard of them. For some reason, he’d taken an instant dislike to her. Or for all she knew, maybe he treated all women that way. She would have guessed he was one of the good guys but her history only reminded her she had no clue when it came to men.