Stone Cold Fox (23)

“Hey. Bea. Are you okay?” Syl asked, alluding to knowing more than she let on, so instead of barking at her about professionalism in an assistant role, I maintained a soft approach to peel the layers even further.

“I’m fine. It’s just a lunch.”

“Would you maybe want to go to lunch with me?”

What a bizarre creature Syl was. An executive assistant asking her boss’s girlfriend to socialize? No, I didn’t want to go to lunch with her, but I had a feeling she was privy to the conversation behind closed doors. I was practically salivating over whatever intel she possessed. She could be an asset to me. So the two of us popped into a nearby Pret for a salad and a sandwich. I got the salad, obviously.

Syl leaned in toward me at our table; her tone was hushed and exuberant. She really couldn’t wait to spill and I loved that energy from her. This is how we would bond, but it was good to know she wasn’t someone who could keep a secret.

“I don’t even know if I should be telling you this, but I feel like I owe you one after that whole thing with your office,” Syl said.

Yes, accurate.

“Okay, now you have to tell me,” I urged, perhaps too eagerly. She sat back in her chair a bit, enjoying the upper hand.

“I’m pretty sure they’re discussing you.” Syl smiled at me with the straw of her Diet Coke between her teeth.

“Oh? What about me?”

“Well, I couldn’t hear everything, but Collin was basically defending you to his father. He said that you’re like no woman he’s ever met before and that you’re ambitious and beautiful and not like the other ding-dongs they wanted him to settle down with.”

“He said ding-dongs?”

“He did. It was cute.”

“Right.” I shrugged, not really agreeing with her. So I was with a man who used the word ding-dongs in regular conversation? Well, there were worse fates.

“What did Mr. Case say?” I asked Syl. “He barely said two words to me when we finally met yesterday. He didn’t even give me a chance. Neither did his wife.”

“All I heard was something about growing up, being a man and not screwing around with the people who work for them.”

My mouth fell open. My future father-in-law had placed me in the same bucket as the help, not beguiled at all by my southern belle backstory. Unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected. I just had to keep working Collin. That was the move, but was it enough to go against his family’s wishes when it came to marriage? Was I enough?

“But Collin defended me?”

“Oh, absolutely. He’s obsessed with you, Bea. Honestly. I’m with him all the time. I would know.”

“This is wretched,” I lamented, laying it on thick, wanting to keep the lines of communication open between us moving forward. Syl was a gold mine. “I don’t want Collin’s family to dislike me, but it’s like they’ve already made up their minds.”

“I wouldn’t worry about them,” Syl said, smiling again, a piece of tomato lingering in the corner of her lips. She licked it away mischievously. “You can work on the family later. Terrible in-laws are a tale as old as time. You have Collin by the balls and that’s what really matters. You’ll see.”

I laughed out loud. Syl was a character. “See what?”

“I think I’ve said too much.”

I playfully pushed her from across the table. “You can’t do that!”

“I’m sorry! I’m trying to put myself in your position. You might not wanna know.”

“Of course I want to know. Wouldn’t it drive you absolutely mad if I told you I had a secret and then declined to share it with you, all in the same breath? That’s monstrous, Syl. You tell me right now.”

Was it possible the two of us were having fun together? I never had any fun with women, except for the unhealthy kind wherein we engaged in duels of the mind. No, Syl was no Gale. Syl was putting me at ease. Entertaining me. A new sensation across the board.

“I know, I know. I just think I might be crossing a line here. I’m sorry. Really.” Syl started giggling now. “I so want to tell you, though!”

“If you ever want to get lunch with me again, you better start talking,” I said, dangling a carrot of perceived friendship. I could tell she liked me as well.

“Okay. If you’re sure. And you promise you won’t be mad?”

“I can’t promise that if I don’t know what it is.”

“At me, I mean. Promise you won’t be mad at me?”

An interesting development. Syl was acting as if we could become true friends when I would always clearly have the upper hand as her superior’s significant other. Regardless, I leaned into the false intimacy. It would only benefit me.

Sure, Syl. I’ll be your friend.

“Mad at you? Does it have anything to do with you?”

She paused for a second, sincerely wondering if it did. “No. Not really,” she decided.

“All right then. Out with it!”

“Okay.” She inhaled dramatically for effect, speaking slowly. “Earlier today. As in this morning. Collin asked me. To make a list of jewelers. That specialize in engagement rings. In the seven-fucking-figure range.”

“Shut up!” My eyes went wide with the win in sight. An engagement ring already? I thought I had at least three more obligatory months lest we seemed too hasty to the adoring public. Incredible. And in the face of parental rejection? My allure truly knew no bounds. I wanted to openly rejoice with Syl further, but my mind immediately went back to her, wondering if she’d be proud of me.