Page 109 of Empowered
Chapter 28
“If you want to call Mr. Manning,” Sarah said, referencing the first name underMin Mr. Monroe’s top secret contact list, “then you need to officially go through his wife first. That isnotMrs. Manning.” Was Alisha even paying attention? God forget about the new girl, some thirty-year-old who had claimed to have worked for some of LA’s top executives before setting her sights on the east coast. She was lost the moment Sarah tried to show her the official Monroe shorthand. “That would be Ms. Templeton. She didn’t change her name when they married twenty-six years ago.”
Alisha sat back in her seat and regarded Sarah with a sour look. “You’re kidding, right? Why do I have to call a completely different person to get tohim?”
“Because you’re a woman.”
“I…”
“You’ll find out when you have to call her the first time.” Ms. Templeton was always convinced that her husband was a cheating scumlord, and every woman calling must be trying to get into his pants. Which, contrary to what many might assume, meant she had to be called first, lest her husband be caught talking to some unknown woman in his study. Going through the wife meant fewer surprises for everyone involved. “Now, Mr. Mathers – the oldest one, not the younger one – is agreeable and usually has an empty schedule these days. He’s a low priority contact when it comes to arranging meetings.”
“Just put a bullet in my head, honestly.” Alisha rubbed her temples. “I can’t remember this shit.”
“You can. You will.” Sarah shrugged.
Mrs. Monroe popped out of her office, probably on another bathroom run since she was up to one every twenty minutes… and her personal bathroom couldn’t stand the pressure anymore. Plumbers had been in and out for the past two days, but she still couldn’t use her own bathroom twenty feet away from her desk.
“How’s it coming along?” Alice tried to play it cool by standing like she didn’t have to pee a gallon. Again.Unfortunately, I’ve heard the details at her doctor’s appointments.When Mr. Monroe couldn’t go, Sarah was the one tasked to hold the Missus’s hand for the ultrasound.
For now, anyway. Sarah had formally handed in her two weeks’ notice ten days ago. Only a couple more days before she was officially unemployed. And Lucas wasn’t going to hang around much longer, either.
After Jill sobered up and spent a few days in a rehab clinic, they met for mediation. Jill spent an hour crying based on Lucas’s reports. But she finally relented, saying that it was agreeable to move to Copenhagen if Victor really was better off with his father during his schooling years. In return, Jill could take their son back to America during long vacations. When Victor got older, he could decide where he wanted to do the remainder of his schooling.
But they wouldn’t be moving immediately. There were plans to make and contracts to see through. A lot of those plans now included Sarah, who had agreed to move to Copenhagen after having a long discussion with her family.
Elizabeth was ecstatic, not only because her daughter was moving to Europe in the near future, but because she had “snagged” herself a man like Lucas Blackbourne. Funny. The privileged woman who had married a middle-class American out of love urging her daughter to marry a rich European. (The fact that Lucas was half-American and largely spoke with an American accent hadn’t changed Elizabeth’s opinion. Lucas was based out of Denmark, and that was all that mattered.) In a way, Sarah understood her mother’s point of view. When hadn’t Sarah been freaking her mother out these past couple of years? First the miscarriage that rocked them both out of their orbits.She didn’t even know I was pregnant until it was too late.The look on Elizabeth’s face when Sarah went home crying would remain burned in the back of her memory for the rest of her life.
Then this scandal that shined a large spotlight on Sarah’s depraved idea of empowerment. Elizabeth had never passed verbal judgment on to her daughter, but like everyone judged Jill, Sarah knew everyone judged her too. She may be in a much better place now, but she also knew it was tenuous. Moving across the ocean would be both good medicine and a huge shock to her system that may make her embrace old habits again. Luckily for her, Denmark had some of the best therapists in the world. She had already interviewed with one of them so she could start therapy as soon as she arrived.
Naturally, the one who took the news the hardest was Nigel.
At first, it hadn’t crossed Sarah’s mind that she would be leaving her brother for the first time in her life. Since the time they were conceived, they shared a home together. Childhood, college apartments, their current abode… Nigel certainly couldn’t afford it on his own. Sarah was bold enough to ask Lucas if Nigel could come live with them in Copenhagen, and even though he said yes, Sarah had seen the look in his face.I thought he was annoyed that I was inviting my brother along.Now she realized that the look was one of disbelief – disbelief that Nigel would ever accept an invitation like that.
He hadn’t. He turned it down the moment Sarah brought it up.
“It’s time, Sarah. We need to live apart for a while. You have your life, I have mine… we’ll always have phones to keep in contact. Besides, it’s an excuse to do some traveling. For the both of us. How long has Mum been demanding we have a family reunion in London? Now it will be easier than ever.”
He put on a brave face, didn’t he? Sarah knew him so well that she heard the tremble in his voice that nobody else could. This was the man who was willing to do whatever it took to protect his sister. Now she didn’t need him anymore. Yet instead of losing his mind, Nigel had decided to take his life in a different direction. Likewise, he didn’t need his sister constantly by his side anymore.
Perhaps that was the usual for most siblings. Except they were twins who barely spent five minutes apart for most of their lives. Living on opposite sides of the Atlantic was going to be a challenge at first, but Nigel was already looking at cozy one bedrooms with Carly and talking about a possible promotion at his job. Maybe he’d finally get that cat he had been wanting for years.
“Ms. Clayborn?”
Sarah snapped back to reality at the sound of Mrs. Monroe’s insistent voice. “I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind right now, ma’am.”
“No worries. Are you still available to come with me to Mr. Lowenstein’s? I really need to get out of here and stretch my legs.” It was that kind of talk that made her husband grumble she was going to end up on bed rest. But Mr. Monroe wasn’t there. He was one city over, conducting a meeting with a power company interested in funding for new energy conservation research. While the husband was away, the pregnant missus tried to get some play in. “Play” meaning a jaunty ride in her car.
Lucas popped out of his office. The moment he saw Sarah and her soon-to-be former employer, he approached the desk and said, “Road trip? I have something I need to drop off as well. Why don’t the three of us go in the same car?”
Well, if Lucas was going, Sarah couldn’t say no!
Alice excused herself to finally use the restroom. While they waited for her to finish up, Sarah and Lucas discussed who would drive since Alice’s usual driver was on vacation.
“I like to drive,” Lucas reminded her.
“I know exactly where to go.”
“Uh, so do I. He lives two doors down from my ex-wife.”
