Gulp

I set my drink down. Victoria has told Penelope about me? What the hell? About what? I tamp down my rogue fear they they are conspiring against me before my plans proceed further. Her steady gaze isn’t helping.

I sigh. “That can’t be good. Do I want to know?”

“No, it’s not good. Then again, she has never spoken well any of her assistants, so it doesn’t necessarily mean that much.” She sips her bloody mary. I take it as a cue to sip mine as well. “Of course she eventually fired all of them.”

I almost swallow it wrong. I clear my throat and ask, “Is she talking about firing me?”

“That is just the problem, Warren. Victoria has been avoiding me for some time now. Not even a call on my birthday. Then she sends her lackey to deliver a gift three days late. I’m surprised she let you drive her car. The point is, when we used to have regular lunches together, I was aware of things of that nature. When I’m shut out, I don’t.”

Interesting. She is only talking with me for the purpose of getting more access to Victoria’s life. “So if I help keep you in the loop, you will do the same for me.”

“Bingo.” She walks to the side table and picks up the gift. She brings it back to the island.

“That sounds reasonable... under one condition.” She raised an eyebrow at that, waiting to hear it. “Don’t mention to her that I drove her car. She gave me the keys to get the package from the car, but as a put-upon lackey... I took liberties with the situation.”

“That won’t be a problem. But be warned, that car is her baby. You could be playing with fire.”

I look at the time and realize that it is close to lunch time. If Victoria plans on going out for lunch today, she will expect to see her car in the same place she left it. I pull out the business card that Victoria gave me and write my cell number on it. “Thank you for the amazing drink, Penelope. I need to get back to the office now.”

“Alright, Warren. We’ll be in touch.”

I feel a little relieved once I’m outside of the house, although part of me would have liked to stay long enough to gauge her reaction to her gifts. {if victoria_altergift = true}Now that Penelope and I have a loose agreement, I feel a little bad about tampering with it. I had better be careful around her, too.{endif}

I take a direct path back to work, really wishing I had more time to luxuriate in the car. Even though I am in a hurry, I slow down when passing some attractive pedestrians. A couple of them looked interested in going for a ride. If only I had more time!