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“Good morning, Frances,” she called, without taking her eyes off of her screen.
I put my head down and worked for the next three hours without saying a word. It wasn’t until nearly noon that my stomach growled and I decided to break for lunch. Checking Mariam’s afternoon schedule for anything urgent before I took my break, I noticed she’d booked a new meeting. The appointment was with “RM”.
I knocked on her office door while she typed. “Come in,” she called.
“Mariam, I’m checking if you need anything for your three o’clock meeting. I noticed you just added it to your schedule.”
“Yes.” She looked up and her blue light glasses slid to the edge of her nose. “Can you bring me the land registry for this address?” She wrote it down on a piece of paper.
“Not a problem.” I picked up the note and brought it back to my desk.
Typing the address into my laptop, my heart sank when I saw the name of the property owner: Robert Morgan. Was Sterling the competition Paul had warned Colton about?
I printed out the land registry information and brought it to Mariam.
“Is your three o’clock meeting with Mr. Morgan?” My voice sounded hesitant, even to my ears.
“It is,” she said
“Do you need me to set up the boardroom for you?”
“No, we’re meeting at his office.”
Mariam hadn’t told me about this appointment, nor did she ask me to help her with a presentation. I wondered if this was the first meeting or the final one. She had kept me out of the loop, which only made me wonder why she had hidden it from me in the first place.
“Do you require me at this meeting?”
Mariam looked up and removed her glasses. “I know you’ve already met Morgan when you were working for Crawford Corp. I don’t want any conflict-of-interest concerns, so I think it’s best if I handle this one on my own. After we purchase the property, we can discuss how to proceed.” Putting her glasses back on, she turned toward her laptop.
After? She sounded pretty confident in Morgan selling her the property. This would devastate Colton.
It’s not your problem, Frances. Stay out of it.
I skipped lunch, having lost my appetite, and took a walk to clear my head. It didn’t work. When I returned to my desk, I forced Colton out of my thoughts and focused on work instead.
Except I knew too much. I knew how much this property meant to him. I knew how hard he’d worked on his presentation, on the plans he had for Morgan’s property and the land around it.
An idea popped into my head, but I quickly dismissed it. It wouldn’t be ethical, would it? We were friends, though. He did say I could call him anytime, and Dr. Lee suggested I get out more. It would just be two friends having a drink. If business came up, well, that happened between friends sometimes, didn’t it?
I found his number in my contacts and sent him a text.
Me: Hey Paul, it’s Frances. How are you?
I didn’t expect a reply right away, but I hoped for one. When the three dots appeared on my phone, my heart cheered. I sat clutching my phone, waiting…
Paul: Hello, Frances. It’s great to hear from you. I’m good. How’s everything with you?
Me: I was hoping we could grab a drink sometime, maybe catch up?
Paul: Would love to. Are you free this Friday? I can pick you up at six for dinner.
Did I want to have dinner with Paul? It would be easier to talk with him at a restaurant instead of a bar.
Me: This Friday works. Looking forward to it.
Paul: Me too.
That night, I called Erika and told her everything.
