Out of Nowhere, стр. 18

She may never forgive him.  Franklin knocked on the door.  Jason must not have heard him standing there as he knocked on the door a little louder. “Jason..why is it every time you have a meeting lately your mind seems to be a million miles away”? Jason gave a half smile “Probably because it is. I’ve been trying to reach Vicky for a couple of days and keep getting her voice-mail.  I know she might be a little angry that I was out of touch when I went to Australia and didn’t call.  It just seems a bit much that she wouldn’t accept my calls.” Franklin was looking a little guilty.  Jason narrowed his eyes at Franklin “You wouldn’t know anything about that would you?” “She came to see me on Wednesday to see if you were ok.  I guess you hadn’t kept up with your ‘nightly’ calls and she was worried.  I told her you were fine.” “Is that’s all you told her? Why do you look like there is more to the story?” “Maybe I insinuated that she didn’t know you well enough to know what you would or wouldn’t do and that if she was a gold digger and hurt you there would be hell to pay”. Jason was pissed “you said WHAT?” “Look Jason, I’m sorry.  I felt bad afterwards and I tried to call her to apologize.  I left a couple of messages on her home voice-mail as well.  She wouldn’t pick up and she didn’t call me back either”.  “I’ve got to go down to Customer Service and talk to her before the meeting”. “You don’t have time to go down there.  The meeting starts in 10 minutes“. “Damn it!” Jason stopped in his tracks and turn around.  He went back to his desk and picked up his notes and presentation.  He then headed for the All Employee’s meeting room. “Franklin, I didn’t get to tell her that I’m the CEO and you called her a gold digger.  She has a lot of pride Frank.  This could end up badly for me”.

Janice was sitting next to Vicky for the meeting.  She hated these things.  They were so long and boring.  Plus, she wasn’t in the best of moods lately.  She was angry with herself for getting her hopes up thinking that Jason was taking their budding romance seriously.  He obviously hadn’t and Franklin Roth made her feel like he was too good for her.  That’s what hurt her the most because deep down she’d thought maybe he was right.  She didn’t really have much to offer him.  The best thing she had in this world was Angel.  Jason had been calling her the last couple of days but she needed time to lick her wounds. She wasn’t quite sure what they were doing.  Everything between them seemed to have happened at warped speed.  Franklin Roth had been calling her at home as well.  As long as he called her at home she knew it was personal and would not answer it.  Somewhere in the distance she heard Franklin speaking.  Then he introduced the President and CEO of CkR International, Jason Kincaid Rutherford and everyone started clapping.  Vicky clapped out of common courtesy until she looked up and saw JK walk up to the podium.  Her mouth dropped open “Oh, my GOD..That’s JK”.  Jason spotted Vicky immediately in the crowd.  Her expression when she recognized him made his heart sink.  This was going to be a long presentation.

As soon as the presentation was over Vicky made a mad dash to get out of the hall.  She wasn’t sure she could keep it together long enough not to lose it in front of everyone.  He was just playing games with her.  JK wasn’t Jay Kincaid.  He was actually Jason Kincaid Rutherford, President and CEO of CkR International.  How could she have not known that? I guess it would explain his connection to Franklin Roth and why Franklin not only thought she wasn’t good enough for him but that she was a gold digger.  There is no way somebody like him could be really interested in somebody like her.  How could anybody be so cruel?  They must have gotten a pretty good laugh at her expense behind all of this.  Vicky made it back to her floor and found an empty bathroom stall where she just let the tears fall.

Jason saw her leave.  He tried to get to her as fast as he could but the executive team and others wanted face time with him and blocked his departure.  Jason gave Franklin a look for help so he could get away and explain everything to Vicky.  He could only imagine all the crazy thoughts that were going through her head.  Franklin did his best to block for Jason.  By the time Jason made it out of the hall he’d lost her somewhere in the crowd.

Vicky made it back to her desk.  There was no way she could concentrate.  She could barely make out the words on her screen.  If she could just get through the next couple of hours she could get out of here and go home.  A few moments later, Sandy came over to Vicky’s desk looking very concerned and nervous. “Vicky, Mr. Rutherford would like to speak to you.  Since it is so close to the end of your shift why don’t you just shut it down and I’ll see you on Monday”. Vicky turned around and there stood Jason Kincaid Rutherford at the end of her aisle…in Customer Service.  He’d pulled rank.  Vicky slowly gathered her things together and shut down her system.  What could she say? She couldn’t tell the President and CEO to go to hell and keep her job could she?

She walked towards Jaay err Jason but couldn’t meet his eyes.  However, everyone else in the office was curious as to what Mr. Jason Kincaid Rutherford was doing in customer service and asking to speak to Vicky.  “Can I talk