Authors: Cheryl Richards
My insides crushed. He didn’t
remember. The disappointment showed on my face though I tried to contain it. I
looked down.
He took my hand from my lap
and kissed it. “Hey, wanted to surprise you. Performance is this Friday night
at The Tracks. If you promise to show up, I’ll sing it for you.”
Happiness spilled into my face. “Really? Wow! I’m
inviting everyone I know! How did you learn it so fast? When did you have
time?”
“Last weekend. I worked them until their arms
ached,” he said proudly.
“Tyrant. Now they’ll all hate me!”
“Good. I don’t need any more competition.” He
drove past the backside of Six Flags in Gurnee. “Like rides?”
“Rollercoasters. Ferris Wheel. I puke on
everything else.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
I shrugged. “Due to an inner ear imbalance or
something. Once I got off the Scrambler and puked on Bugs Bunny.”
He laughed. “Nice. With a date?”
“Yeah, I’m lucky that way,” I said with a wink.
He smiled back as I continued. “Eighteenth birthday. First date. He never
called again.” I reached into my handbag and pulled out a plastic bag. “Cookie?
Golden Oreos.”
“Why not? Food and puke go together.” He reached
over and took one.
Fifteen minutes later, he turned left off US-41S
onto IL-176 heading for Lake Bluff.
“Need to stop and get a
hamburger for John. There’s a restaurant I want to take you to, but if you’re
too hungry to wait, we can eat now.”
“No the cookies filled me up. There’s a Wendy’s
up ahead on the right.”
He switched lanes and pulled off two stoplights
down. A quick trip through the drive-through and we were ready to continue.
“A lot of rich folks must live here. Pretty
fancy,” I said as we passed the well-manicured lawns.
“Out of my price range,” he said adjusting the
heat.
“Not if you were a pharmacist,” I said. “Don’t
they make over a hundred, grand?”
“Don’t remind me,” he said admiring the scenery
as we waited for a light to change.
“That’s okay. Your house suits you.”
“Is that like saying poverty suits me?”
I laughed. “No. I mean you look comfortable in
your surroundings. That’s a good thing. Your house is cute. And you certainly
don’t look poor. You have great taste in clothes by the way.”
“Thanks. I’m picky but I know what I like.”
“Does that hold true for relationships?”
“Holds true for everything in my life,” he said
with a small smile. “Here it is.”
He pulled into a huge, blue-mirrored, two building
complex that sat on at least fifty, professionally landscaped acres, complete
with trails and a spectacular backdrop of Lake Michigan.
“Impressive,” I said. “No wonder prescriptions cost so
much.”
“Part of the reason,” he said driving up towards the
parking area of the second, squattier building. “Can you get my parking pass
out of the glove compartment?”
I opened the door and found a blue paper ticket. “Is
this it?”
“Yeah. Just hang it on the rearview mirror.”
I did as instructed and he pulled into a space a few
rows away from the main entrance. He turned off the engine. “Well, let’s see
what John’s got. Think this is a wild goose chase?”
“Part of me hopes it is. Hate to think Mr. Schroeder’s
daughter really is a killer.”
“Know what you mean. Scared?”
“A little.”
He kissed me. “Don’t be.” He stepped out and came
around to let me out. “Like to hold your hand, but I better not in case anyone
is watching.”
“Okay. But if I trip, don’t let me fall.”
I walked as quickly as I could alongside him.
Soon we reached the sidewalk and I stopped to look up at the five-story
building, wondering how many employees worked there and what the average salary
was on each floor.
Chapter
51
Lloyd opened the entrance door. I entered and waited
for him to open the inner door. When I stepped into the lobby, I inhaled
sharply. The interior was magnificent, like something out of
Architectural
Digest
. A white, thirty-something, male security guard with love handles
sat behind a large, semi-circular, blue glass desk gawking at a three screen
monitors. Behind him, water rained down an illuminated Lucite wall. Shades of
blue danced behind its surface like an ocean tide. The white marble floored
gleamed brightly with the sun shining in, highlighting a huge symbol for
prescription drugs set in black marble in the center of the lobby.
“Wow,” I whispered. “Compared to this, I work in the
ghetto.”
Lloyd chuckled and guided me over to the desk. He
showed his identification to the guard and signed us in. “Our lab is this way,
Miss. Kramer,” he said professionally. “If you’ll just come with me.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I look forward to seeing it.”
The guard returned to his attention to his computer
monitors. So far, so good.
We got a quarter of the way down the hall, when a
familiar looking woman approached us.
“Lloyd, hi, haven’t seen you in a while. You look
fabulous. Been well?” she asked huskily, striking a pose in her off the
mannequin Neiman Marcus ensemble. She fluffed her highlighted locks for his
benefit.
Though I personally did not know the woman, I hated
her with all my being.
“Just fine, thanks. Miss Kramer, this is Chloe
Withers. She’s one of our executive secretaries in the sales department.”
“Pleased to meet you,” I said sweetly, offering my
hand. She shook it limply.
“My pleasure. Lloyd, give me a jingle. We can have
dinner some night soon.” She walked away, swaying her shapely hips.
“Over my dead body,” I swore under my breath.
“How’s that?” Lloyd asked, the corners of his mouth
turning up.
“You dated her,” I said with obvious annoyance.
“How do you know that?” he asked surprised.
“Saw you at Bello Mementos.”
He nodded. “Good memory.” He saw my expression and
added, “Just a friend.”
“With benefits?” I countered.
“A gentleman doesn’t disclose such things,” he said
slyly.
“Hmph, that means yes,” I replied. No sooner had I
said it, another woman approached. A buxom woman with milk chocolate brown hair
with deep red lips and long, lean legs in a skirt too short for a business
environment.
“Lloyd Harper. Where have you been keeping yourself?
Missed you. Meeting’s next week. Will you be here?”
“Thursday, ten. I’ll be here. Don’t see how I can
avoid it.”
“Good. Swing by if you if you have time on the way
out,” she said with a salacious grin. “If not, we can do lunch next week.”
“Marketing,” Lloyd said by way of explanation. If he
noticed my growing anger, he chose to ignore it.
“Any ugly women work here?” I asked sarcastically.
“And if you say in bookkeeping, I’m taking your car and stranding you here.”
He chuckled. “We keep them in the basement mailroom,”
he said turning down a corridor to our right.
We walked into a room filled with light blue cubicles
as far as the eye could see. The outer walls were mostly windows, though none
of the employees could glimpse the spectacular view of the lake from their
desks.
“Do you have an office or desk here?”
“No. Strictly work in the field. I only come down here
for meetings or to pick up marketing materials, which I try to do on the same
day if at all possible.”
“I could use a new pen,” I said.
“I have
a box in the trunk of my car. Remind me.”
He headed toward a door marked stairs. “Need to climb
up a couple of flights to the second floor. This is a shortcut.”
When we neared the door, a young female voice sounded
over the cubicle walls. “Hey, Pills? Is that you sweet cheeks?”
Lloyd and I looked up. My eyes fell upon yet another
Allied Health beauty queen standing just outside the opening to her cubicle.
This one was petite with curly, reddish-brown hair resting a couple inches past
her shoulders. Her bright, hazel eyes were set into a flawless competition with
just a splatter of freckles. Not beautiful but pretty. Enough to bother me. I
started wondering if there was something magical in the water.
“Nik!” Lloyd said, his face lighting up. “How you
doing?”
She waved him over.
“Sunny,” he said to me. “Wait here. I won’t be long.”
He strolled over to her cubicle and I watched them hug
and kiss cheeks. I was beginning to wish I had skipped this trip and stayed at
Ageless Grace to research old, unpaid claims. A very unpleasant task but
enjoyable compared to this torture. I crossed my arms, leaned up against the
wall, and ignored employees walking by, giving me the once over. I tuned into
Lloyd and Nik’s conversation like a cat listening to the noises within a house.
“Pills. I’m so glad you’re performing Friday night.
Everyone’s missed that voice of yours. Are you back for good?”
“Looks that way. I missed it.”
“Pusher’s happy. He said Eric’s voice sucked and you
know Rob hated playing lead.”
“Eric’s better with the edgier songs.”
The chatting went on and on and eventually my patience
expired. I took a deep breath of encouragement and walked forward. When I
reached them, I tapped Lloyd on the shoulder to get his attention.
“Mr. Harper,” I said as professionally as I could
manage. “My time is valuable. If you wish, I can return to Wisconsin and keep
our current pharmacy vendor. I’m sure they would be willing to give me the same
discount.”
Shock registered in his eyes and he swallowed. “Sorry
to keep you waiting.” He turned to the girl. “Nik, I have to run. See you
Friday.” He took my arm, led me to the stairs where he held the door open as I
entered. After we walked up the first flight of stairs, he turned on me. “Whoa!
Who flipped on the bitch switch?”
My hands flew to my hips. “You were being rude. I hope
you don’t treat real clients that way.”
He studied me for a moment before his eyes glittered
with recognition and a smile played at the corners of his mouth. “You’re
jealous.”
“Am not,” I answered back too quickly.
“The hell you’re not,” he said laughing.
“You would say that. Ever since we’ve walked into this
place, it’s like you’re some damn Sultan with his choice of harem girls. Why
don’t you just relocate to Illinois? The women here are ready and willing to
stroke more than your ego. ”
He laughed harder.
“Suppose Nik is just another
friend
. You
singing a song for her Friday night too?”
The laughing stopped and he grew serious. “No. And Nik
is
just a friend. She acts that way with everyone. I’ve known her
practically my whole life. She grew up a couple doors down from me.”
“Cozy,” I said narrowing my eyes and twisting my lips.
He sighed loudly. “Wait. I’ll be right back.” He
turned and ran down the stairs and exited the door we had just come through. A
moment later, he came back through the door with Nik in tow.
When they reached me he said, “Nik, this is my
girlfriend, Sunny Kramer. I told her she had to pretend to be a client if she
wanted to come along.”
“Oh my God!” she said with excitement. “We’ve all been
wondering what the girl was like who stole Pill’s heart. He sure pushed the
guys to learn that song for you.” She hugged me and kissed me on the cheeks.
“Very pretty, Pills, just like you said.”
“Thanks,” I replied awkwardly, looking and feeling
quite guilty.
“Sunny, Nik is the
fiancée
of Rob Grier, the
band’s rhythm guitarist. She lives with him in Kenosha.”
“Nice to meet you. Listen, I’m sorry I—”
“No apology needed. Pills has that effect on women.
Don’t you?” she taunted.
Lloyd shrugged.
“Modest. Well, I have to get back. See you guys Friday
night. Lloyd can show you where the band wives sit. That’s you.” She smiled,
hugged us both again, and ran back down the stairs, exiting with a small finger
wave.
When she was gone, I looked sheepishly up at Lloyd.
“Sorry for being so nasty. Perhaps you should sing “Evil Woman
”
to me
instead.”
“Band members would kill me on such short notice. Next
time,” he laughed.
“Is what Nik said true, Pills? Did I…steal your
heart?” I asked with my fingers crossed behind my back.
He held me at arm’s length and sighed. “Yes, Sunny.
Romantically he added, “My heart. My soul.” He chuckled, “My sanity.”