The Other Other Woman (2 page)

More often than not during these conversations, he would ask me again when I was coming down to visit. He insisted that it had to be soon because he just knew that we would have so much fun together. He often mentioned my sense of humor and how he “almost” looked forward to receiving emails from me. I was starting to lose quite a bit of weight by this time, a combination of my thyroid meds finally kicking in and changing my diet radically, so I was becoming more confident about getting in front of people in the branches.

Because we had to give our approval on various items throughout the day, if I was ever out of the office, I had to put my out of office email assistant on, so our brokers and sales assistants would know to go to someone else in the department. I sent this out for my South Carolina visits in late February:

__________________________

From: Lockhart, Mallory

Sent: Wednesday, February 22nd. 10:00 p.m.

To: EAST COAST BRANCHES

Subject: Thursday and Friday

Hi Everyone,

I am going to be traveling out in the branches for all of Thursday and most of Friday, so I will have very limited access to emails.

If you need approvals, please contact Theo Morgan, Chris Bennett, Vanessa Tyler, or Leslie Cabral. Thanks and I will see you Monday!

Mallory L. Lockhart

Risk Management Consultant

He replied first thing the next morning:

__________________________

From: Wynne, Matt

Sent: Thursday, February 23rd. 7:14 a.m.

To: Lockhart, Mallory

Subject: RE: Thursday and Friday

Great, what time will you be here?

Matthew Wynne

Senior VP Corporate Sales

__________________________

From: Lockhart, Mallory

Sent: Thursday, February 23rd. 8:12 a.m.

To: Wynne, Matt

Subject: RE: Thursday and Friday

Very funny. I don’t know if my car will make it that far!

__________________________

From: Wynne, Matt

Sent: Thursday, February 23rd. 8:15 a.m.

To: Lockhart, Mallory

Subject: Re: Thursday and Friday

Rent one. Company is paying.

Matthew Wynne

Senior VP Corporate Sales

__________________________

From: Lockhart, Mallory

Sent: Thursday, February 23rd. 8:38 a.m.

To: Wynne, Matt

Subject: RE: Thursday and Friday

I should have probably said “driver”!

__________________________

From: Wynne, Matt

Sent: Thursday, February 23rd. 8:41 a.m.

To: Lockhart, Mallory

Subject: RE: Thursday and Friday

Wow… the company pays for you to have a driver?

I am dutifully impressed.

Matthew Wynne

Senior VP Corporate Sales

At this point, it seemed only proper that I send him a picture of Ron Burgundy from Anchorman, with the words “I’M KIND OF A BIG DEAL” spread out in bold letters. He seemed pleased that, once again, we shared the same sense of humor.

****

I wanted to head down to Atlanta when the weather was nice, so in early March I sent him an email:

__________________________

From: Lockhart, Mallory

Sent: Friday, March 9th. 9:36 a.m.

To: Wynne, Matt

Subject: Throwing around dates

Are you and Brooke going to be in the office on April 18th? I was going to do the week before but with it being tax time, probably best to wait.

I still need to check around with other people, I think I’m going to do ATL and AUG, both in the same trip.

Mallory L. Lockhart

Risk Management Consultant

__________________________

From: Wynne, Matt

Sent: Friday, March 9th. 9:40 a.m.

To: Lockhart, Mallory

Subject: RE: Throwing around dates

Yes, we are here… don’t know about the rest of office. In fact, we have a little party scheduled that evening at 5:30 with our Pimco friends. I would love to take you with us.

April 17 works also.

Matthew Wynne

Senior VP Corporate Sales

He wanted to take me with them? Just reading that made me anxious. I didn’t want to interrupt some big party that they already had on the schedule, plus I wanted it to be a smaller group of us so we could get to know each other, so I picked the 17th. and hoped he would be okay with that.

__________________________

From: Lockhart, Mallory

Sent: Friday, March 9th. 10:49 a.m.

To: Wynne, Matt

Subject: RE: Throwing around dates

Sounds like the 17th. might work for Augusta. Let me get with Heather and see if that works.

Mallory L. Lockhart

Risk Management Consultant

__________________________

From: Wynne, Matt

Sent: Friday, March 9th. 11:07 a.m.

To: Lockhart, Mallory

Subject: RE: Throwing around dates

That sounds like a plan. Let me know.

Matthew Wynne

Senior VP Corporate Sales

Under any other circumstances, I would have asked the branch manager when the best time to come visit would be. But since he was one of the highest producers in the branch, and he had graciously offered to take me out after work, naturally it was important that he be there, right? But the fact that I was making these plans with him directly did make me feel like I was misbehaving a little bit. I was okay with that. He forwarded me the assistant branch manager’s announcement of my impending arrival.

__________________________

From: Wynne, Matt

Sent: Tuesday, April 3rd. 2:39 p.m.

To: Lockhart, Mallory

Subject: FW: Mallory Lockhart Visit

Awesome.

Matthew Wynne

Senior VP Corporate Sales

From: Downing, Heather

Sent: Tuesday, April 3rd. 2:38 p.m.

To: ATLANTA BRANCH

Subject: Mallory Lockhart Visit

Mallory will be here for a branch visit on Tuesday, April 17th. She will be driving down from Raleigh that morning so will be in Atlanta early afternoon.

Thanks!

Heather Downing

Assistant Branch Manager

An instant smile swept across my face. I quickly replied:

__________________________

From: Lockhart, Mallory

Sent: Tuesday, April 3rd. 2:42 p.m.

To: Wynne, Matt

Subject: RE: Mallory Lockhart Visit

I was just telling Brooke you need to cause some trouble because I never get to talk to you guys anymore!

__________________________

From: Wynne, Matt

Sent: Tuesday, April 3rd. 2:43 p.m.

To: Lockhart, Mallory

Subject: RE: Mallory Lockhart Visit

Trouble is no problem….

Matthew Wynne

Senior VP Corporate Sales

I laughed and shook my head, that flirty little shit. I checked our company site for hotels nearby and forwarded the choices on to him and Brooke a few days later for their opinions.

__________________________

From: Lockhart, Mallory

Sent: Friday, April 6th. 2:04 p.m.

To: Wynne, Matt, Nelson, Brooke

Subject: RE: Mallory Lockhart Visit

Hey Guys,

Since I have never been to your fair city, where out of these possible places should I plan on staying where I will be least likely to get mugged, shot, stabbed, or all of the above? As you know, they allow us to book only the finest establishments available.

Residence Inn Atlantic Station

Courtyard Atlanta midtown

Atlantic Inn 18th. Street

__________________________

From: Wynne, Matt

Sent: Friday, April 6th. 2:30 p.m.

To: Lockhart, Mallory

Subject: FW: Mallory Lockhart Visit

Hi there,

Courtyard Atlanta is about 3 blocks away from the office. The Residence Inn is also close by, maybe 6 blocks. Both are near where we will go for refreshments after work.

NO on Atlantic Inn.

Matthew Wynne

Senior VP Corporate Sales

I quickly booked my room. With a plan now in place, we continued to speak every few days, usually only briefly. About a week before my trip, we were chatting on the phone again when he caught me off guard and asked me for my cell phone number. I panicked for a second and thought
This is going to cause me nothing but trouble
. Still, I didn’t want to appear that I thought he was implying anything improper between us, so I gave it to him anyway. And then I began to anxiously anticipate how long it would be before he texted me. I can probably admit now that I was a little disappointed when I didn’t hear from him right away. He waited until the morning of my visit.

Are you on your way? Drive safely!

Well that was sweet of him! I responded back:
I am, but I’m driving my older car, it’s less of a gas guzzler, so if it doesn’t make it, I may need you guys to come get me!

Do you want me to leave now or wait 5 minutes?

I think I just purred like a kitten. I felt that familiar prickly flush in my cheeks and flutter in my stomach. I hit the gas. Hard. I didn’t even know why exactly, but I suddenly couldn’t drive fast enough. I’m a notorious lead foot anyway but I was about to get to Atlanta in record time. I wasn’t stopping to pee, get food, nothing. I just wanted to get there as quickly as humanly possible. I texted him several times to let him know my progress.

Now in Charlotte! Just passed SC Welcome sign! Georgia Border!

He would immediately respond back:
Keep trucking, baby!

I arrived around 1:45 and got checked in to my hotel room. In warp speed, I changed out of my jeans and into a much cuter, yet work-appropriate outfit: black and white flowered A-line skirt, black wrap shirt, and red espadrilles. I had spent a fair amount of time carefully choosing it the night before. I spruced up my hair, got cleaned up, and headed to their offices, less than a mile away.

Just before I arrived at the building that stinker texted me that he wasn’t even there. He had previously scheduled an appointment and he and Brooke were out of the office for at least another hour. I was overly annoyed that he hadn’t mentioned this before. Why would he make an appointment on an afternoon when he knew I was coming down?
This was practically his idea
, I thought to myself. I wanted to feel like he was looking forward to seeing me as much as I already was him.

I managed to pass the time by walking around to the other brokers and introducing myself again. I talked about what we do in our department (which includes monitoring all investment activity and external emails), and answered any questions they had. Jeff Russo and I were hanging out in his office just finishing up our conversation when I heard that unmistakable southern drawl just outside the door.

When he walked into Jeff’s office, I quite literally sprung out of my chair and threw my arms around his neck. No awkward half-arm hug this time. He had the slightest little scruff of hair around his mouth, not quite a goatee yet, but without thinking twice, I grabbed his face and exclaimed, “WHAT IS THIS?!” as if he was my property already. I couldn’t help but notice he had major dimples when he smiled. He greeted me with a hearty laugh and a kiss on the cheek, taking me by the hand and leading me down to his office. I also couldn’t help but notice he shut the door as I sat down.

He asked about my trip, about my former boss (with whom he was friendly), and made sure I was okay with where we were going for drinks, a place called Rosa Mexicano in Atlantic Station. He was in the process of hiring a new assistant. I used to be an executive assistant, so he asked me several questions about the different candidates, such as: how much should he be willing to pay them, should he hire someone who may have no industry experience but a better “people” personality? It was nice knowing that he respected my opinion enough to ask for my thoughts. But admittedly, I was sort of distracted by the way he was sitting casually kicked back in his chair, his arms resting behind his head and his legs spread out. As my eyes looked him over, I saw that he had rather large feet, and then I laughed to myself that I would even consider checking out such a thing.

I was disappointed when Brooke suddenly announced she wasn’t going to be able to come with us after all, since I knew her better than anyone else. Her husband was a cop and had to work weird hours, so she had to go pick up her kids. She assured me that Matt would take good care of me, that he was very skilled at making people feel at ease and keeping them in the conversation. Not that I was particularly worried about that. I’m sure she wasn’t aware of just how familiar I was with Matt’s conversations, but I sort of wanted her there to keep me out of trouble.

We walked out together so I could follow him over to the restaurant. He stopped at a gas station for me and waited for me to fill up (these old guys have such nice manners!) to be sure I wouldn’t get lost. I was now running on fumes after only stopping once to fill up the entire way down there.

When we arrived at Rosa Mexicano together, Jeff was the only one already there. Since we had beautiful weather that day, sunny and about 77 degrees, he had scored us a nice large table outside on the patio and was just sitting there waiting.