Page 17 of The Hookup
She was seven minutes late and by the time she raced towards his office, with her apology speech ready, Remington’s PA told her that he was over running on his international conference call and would be with her in half an hour.
Drawing a breath, she felt her body loosen, felt the tension of this morning slide away.
It had been too much of a shock, waking up in New York on a dull, gray morning, far from the sun-kissed beaches of Kawaya. At least the morning had started well what with Remington’s conference call running over.
Later, when the meeting did take place, she managed to get through it in a wide awake and fully alert mode.
“I can handle the meetings with the client for the next few days,” he offered as they walked back to their desks after the meeting. Her colleague, Geoffrey had been covering for her in her absence, but as the woman responsible for handling it all, she was eager to take the reins once more.
“Thanks, but I’ll take it from here, thanks.”
“If you insist. Let me know if it gets too much.”
“I can handle it, Geoffrey.”
“We know you can. I’m just suggesting, what with you just having come back.”
She smiled at him and returned to her desk. Remington had charged on ahead, rushing to his next meeting. Kay never saw the guy eat, or sleep. This was how he rolled. He practically lived his life at the bank.
As for Geoffrey, she hadn’t liked him much when he had joined a year ago, fresh out of Wharton with his MBA and his I’m-better-than-you attitude. She had been even more reluctant when Remington had put Geoffrey in charge of her work while she was away at the wedding. But, as she had discovered, her worries had been unfounded because he had done a great job. The client hadn’t noticed that she had even been away, so she owed Geoffrey a couple of drinks at the end of the week.
The rest of the day turned out to be full-on hectic.
Ordinarily, it would have been a crazy day even if she hadn’t been away for the wedding. But now, given that she’d been out of the office for almost a week, and was suffering from jet-lag, it was hard going. This, on top of the Pembroke deal, meant she couldn’t afford to set a foot wrong.
“How did it go?” Her friend, Erin, swooped out of thin air and stood facing her. Kay looked up. “Well,” she replied. “Considering how this morning started.”
“I hate to tell you but you look like death.”
“Thanks for the lifting my spirits. I’m still jetlagged.”
“Lunch later?” Erin asked, pointing her pencil at her. Lunch today wasn’t going to work. Lunch anytime this week wasn’t going to work. She had documents and presentations to review, and subsequent corrections and recommendations to make. All of a sudden a vision of her lying on the velvety sand on Kawaya flashed through her mind.
It was hell being back here. Hell, hell, hell. The cold, dull misery of New York in October fared badly against the sultry heat, sun and sand, and cocktails.
Talking of cocktails, she remembered the smokin’ hot bartender.
Seeing him again would bring a smile back to her face.
“I want to hear all about the wedding,” Erin hissed. “Let's go for a drink later.”
Kay considered the offer. She wanted to go out but these next few days were crucial and she was mindful of Geoffrey’s offer to handle meetings with the client for the next few days while she recovered from her vacation mode.
It was already tough trying to prove she was as capable as any man of doing this job. Working in a male-dominated environment, she had learned to handle the attention, and the dismissive comments, had learned to develop a thick skin and to take these things in her stride. More importantly, she’d learned to hide it when things hurt her.
With the passing of time, her skin was getting thicker, anyway, and she was able to withstand a lot more of the pressure, and the sometimes chauvinistic attitudes of her fellow colleagues. Not many things upset her anymore, and she had learned to give as good as she got. Over time, she had learned to deal with men who assumed that she was useless at her job, men who often joked that she had only been given the job because of the length of her skirt’s hemline.
In that way, she surprised men. It was easy enough to see the shock on their faces. She was good at what she did, and soon kicked to the curb any hesitation others might have had about her ability to do the job, and survive in the tough world of investment banking.
It wasn’t work she sucked at. Only matters of the heart.
“Today’s out of the question,” she said. “It’s going to be a late night.” She knew already that she would be having dinner at her desk, and then going over material with analysts and senior bankers. Sometimes these things could go on for hours. She wasn’t going to get home before midnight most nights this week. “But Friday might be good. Plus, I need to catch up on my sleep.”
“And I need to hear about that wedding.”
“I promise to tell you as much as I can,” said Kay, staring at her screen and trying to force her mind to focus. Post-vacation blues were a nightmare and the idea that Savannah was having the best time ever on that island—just her and Tobias, and no Jacob—made her more wistful.
“Can’t you even show me a few photos from the wedding?”
