A Mile High Rendezvous Page 3

  She wished she could have it all. Amazing nights with Tyler, dinners with her family, and enough time to make Mr. Horowitz happy with her work performance.

  Unfortunately, life didn't work that way. It forced you to choose even when you didn't want to.

  As Sarah hugged her mom goodnight, her mom said, "Can you do me a favor? Can you pick up the cake for Katie's party? I'm not going to have time to."

  Sarah winced. The party was in three weeks—the same weekend Sarah was supposed to see Tyler again. They were meeting in Frankfurt this time.

  "What?" She glared at Sarah. "Don't tell me. Another business trip."

  Sarah looked away. "Mom. It's work. I can't say no."

  Her mother sighed. "Look, young lady. I may not know how that world of yours works, but I know a girl who's sneaking around when I see one. So, what? He married? That it? You screwing some married man?"

  "No."

  "No?"

  "I said no, Mom. He's not married."

  Her mother nodded. "But there is a guy. So another weekend away then? Gonna miss Katie's birthday just like you missed Paul Junior's?"

  Sarah bit her lip.

  "Fine. Whatever. Just remember, Sarah. Men come and go. Family is forever. Be sure you don't treat 'em so poorly they aren't here when you finally need 'em."

  Sarah opened her mouth and closed it again.

  "I love you, Mom."

  Her mother hugged her. "I love you, too, sweetie. Just think about what you're doing, would you?"

  * * *

  Sarah struggled through the next three weeks. She was exhausted after two weekends in a row of flying to Paris and it didn't help that she had to stay up late into the night just so she could talk to Tyler on Skype.

  She even fell asleep in a status meeting. Not for long—just a minute or two—but long enough for Mr. Horowitz to see it. She struggled through, reminding herself that soon she'd be back in Tyler's arms and it would all be worth it.

  At three o'clock on the Friday afternoon when she was supposed to fly back to Tyler's side, Mr. Horowitz came by her cubicle. "Sarah. My office. Now."

  She startled out of a dream of Tyler's mouth on her breasts and followed Horowitz down the hall. She'd never heard him so angry before. What had she done?

  "Close the door."

  She did, but didn't sit. She crossed her arms against her chest and then uncrossed them again remembering that it made her look even bustier than she already was. "What is it, sir?"

  He grabbed a report from his desk and shoved it at her. "What is this?"

  "It's the monthly report, sir."

  He grabbed the report back and flipped through to page five. "And what's this?"

  She read the offending paragraph and cringed. "I must've forgotten to run spellcheck. I can send you a new draft."

  He grabbed the report back and flipped to another page. "And this? Are you telling me that month-on-month profits decreased 10,000% when we've been seeing an upward trend all year?"

  She stared at the offending graph, shaking her head. "No. That doesn't make any sense. It can't be."

  She glanced up at him. He was no longer the disappointed father. Now he was the pissed off father who'd just found out his kid was stealing from him to buy crack.

  "I'm sorry, Mr. Horowitz. It won't happen again."

  "No. It won't. I want you to go through this entire report and check every single figure, graph, and word in it. Have a new draft on my desk by Monday morning at eight."

  Sarah stared at the hundred-page report, her mouth hanging open in shock. It would take her the entire weekend to review it.

  "And here. Sign this." He held out a single piece of paper.

  She read the document, her skin growing cold and clammy with each word. It was a probation letter. It said she understood that if she didn't improve her performance within thirty days she'd be fired.

  "Sir?"

  "Sign it." Horowitz glared at her over his wire-rimmed glasses.

  "Do you really have to…?"

  He nodded. "Yes."

  Sarah bit her lip to keep from crying. "Yes, sir." She signed the paper and thrust it back into his hands. She turned to leave before she completely lost it. Crying was a definite no-no.

  "Oh, and Sarah."

  She didn't turn back.

  "Yes, sir?"

  "You might want to reconsider whether sleeping with the head of your company is the best choice you can make for your career."

  She turned back around to explain that she'd never lied to him, but he'd turned his back on her and was pointedly taking his time filing away her performance warning. He clearly didn't want to hear it.

  Sarah left his office and ran to the bathroom. She locked herself in the last stall and cried her eyes out.

  How could life be so perfect and so wrong all at the same time?

  * * *

  Sarah called Tyler from her desk.

  She bit her lip as the phone rang and rang and rang. What time was it in Frankfurt anyway? Ten or eleven at night?

  Finally, a groggy Tyler picked up. "Yes?"

  "Tyler." She sniffled. "It's Sarah. I…I can't make it this weekend."

  "What? Why not?" He suddenly sounded much more alert than he had a moment before.

  "Um, there's a report I need to finish. And it's my niece's fifth birthday party."

  There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. "Your niece's birthday. And you didn't know about it until now?"

  "Of course I did." And of course he'd skip right past the report she had to finish and focus on that.

  "So why the last minute change, Sarah? Why didn't you tell me sooner? I would've stayed in Moscow if I'd known. The only reason I'm in Frankfurt is because of you."

  "I know. I'm sorry."

  He sighed. "It's been three weeks, Sarah."

  "I know." She tried to hide the sadness from her voice, but she knew she sounded like a scared little girl, her voice small with pain.

  "I have to go to the Sydney office on Monday. It'll be another three weeks before I'm back in the States."

  "I know. But what can we do?"

  They sat there in silence as Sarah studied the image of a beautiful Costa Rican beach wishing they could both be there right now instead of having this miserable conversation.

  "You could come to Australia next week. Take a few days off."

  She shook her head. "No. I can't…No. I…can't miss any more work right now, Tyler. I'm hanging on by a thread as is."

  "Then come see me this weekend. The report can wait. And your niece won't really mind, will she? She's a kid. What does she care if her aunt is there?"

  Sarah bit back her first comment. How could she expect him to understand that it wasn't just the birthday party, it was family.

  "No. Look. I'm sorry. I have to fix this report. Horowitz wants it done by Monday morning. My job is on the line here."

  "I'll call him. He can't force you to work the weekend."

  "No!" If she could've, Sarah would've jumped through the phone to stop him from making that call. "You can't."

  "What? What aren't you telling me, Sarah?"

  She bit her lip. "You have to promise me you won't do or say anything."

  "What aren't you telling me, Sarah?" he asked again, enunciating each word.

  She sniffled, fighting back tears. "Horowitz put me on performance review."

  "Performance review? What the hell! He can't do that."

  She laughed, a short, bitter sound. "Yes. He can. And…he was right to do so, Tyler. The report is a mess and I turned it in without even realizing how bad it was. My performance has slipped lately. A lot."

  "Because of me."

  She didn't answer. She didn't have to. "I need to make this right, Tyler. And…I need to spend more time with my family, too. They're…they mean a lot to me."

  He was silent on the other end of the phone.

  "Tyler? Please. Tell me you understand." She picked at a piece of tape on the edge
of her desk as she waited for him to respond.

  "I don't. This could all be solved if you'd just agree to quit and travel with me."

  "That's not true."

  "No?"

  "No. How does spending weeks in Asia with you help me spend more time with my family?"

  "You could fly back every couple of weeks if you really wanted to."

  She shook her head. He didn't get it. That was it, wasn't it? The fundamental difference between them.

  It wasn't the money. It was family.

  She let out a deep breath. "I don't want to fly back every couple of weeks, Tyler. I want to have Sunday dinner at my mom's house like I have since I was little and go to my niece's ballet recital on a Tuesday and watch my nephew play t-ball on Saturday and sit on my sister's porch with a beer in my hand and just shoot the shit every once in a while." She bit her lip, suddenly realizing the truth. "I can't do that if I'm with you."

  "So that's it then?" His voice was flat and cold.

  Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I guess it is."

  "Fine. I…I have to go." His voice broke slightly on the last word and he hung up.

  Sarah collapsed into her chair and stared at the wall, lost.

  * * *

  The story continues in A Mile High Surprise. Or you can read the entire eight-story collection, A Mile High Romance: The Complete Collection.

  About the Author

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  * * *

  You can contact the author at cassidycoal@gmail.com.

  * * *

  For other titles by Cassidy Coal as well as titles by C. Coal and C.K. Carr visit http://ckcauthor.com/.

  Steamy Short Stories by Cassidy Coal

  A Mile High Romance: The Complete Collection

  An Undeniable Attraction: The Complete Collection

  A New Year’s to Remember

  * * *

  Sweet Short Stories by Cassidy Coal

  writing as C. Coal

  Puppy Love: Volumes 1 to 13

  * * *

  Novels by Cassidy Coal writing as C.K. Carr

  Something Worth Having

  Something Gained

  Text copyright 2014-2015 M.L. Humphrey

  All Rights Reserved

 

 

  Cassidy Coal, A Mile High Rendezvous

 

 

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