Connections

Michael

A half-hour later, I was at my desk. I’d only finished about half the smoothie. A few days away from it had made my taste buds turn against it. I choked down the rest of it, not delaying the inevitable. The chalky after taste was still in my mouth when I picked up the phone.

I called Sandra first. She answered on the third ring.

“Hello?” a muffled voice said from the other end of the call.

“Sandra?” I asked, checking to see I had the right number.

She coughed and loudly cleared her throat. I pulled the speaker away from my ear.

“Yeah, boss. Sorry. I’m getting a cold.”

Getting? She sounded like hell. I rubbed my forehead, feeling the beginning of a headache. She spearheaded all of the interviews for the assistant position; I needed her well, like now.

“Are you healthy enough to chat?” I asked firmly. It was rhetorical and she knew that.

There was a shuffling sound on the other end. “Of course I am. What do you need?”

“How many interviews are set up for tomorrow?” My headache grew at the thought of entertaining interviews. I needed to find someone to weed through the interview process. I mentally made a note to make that happen the next time we needed someone new.

“Three in the morning and three in the afternoon. I had to schedule them around a few phone calls.” She coughed and it sounded like something that had just crawled out of the crypt.

I nodded. Breaks were a necessity. I needed time to pace the floor and decompress from the ignorance that I was sure would abound while entertaining a new wave of people who thought they knew what hard work was. “And how about the rest of the week?”

Sandra gave me a quick outline of my schedule. With the abbreviated work week for Thanksgiving and my trip to Bar Harbor, I knew I’d be coming home to a jam-packed calendar. Which was fine with me. I liked being busy around the holidays. It kept me focused and there was less time to think about Cynthia or Lisa.

“Did I get any messages while I was gone?” I asked after she finished with the schedule.

“Several, but they can wait until tomorrow,” she said. “I did want to ask you about one. Sal Rossi, he’s a potential client. He seemed very insistent on speaking with you as soon as possible. I informed him that you were out of the office. Would you like me to schedule a phone call tomorrow with him?”

I chewed the name over. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. “Yes, schedule a phone call for tomorrow. I don’t want him to look elsewhere before I get a feel for him.”

“I will contact his assistant today.”

“And after that, get some rest. I need you alert this week.”

There was a muffled cough on the other end. “Okay, Boss. I will.”

“Talk to you tomorrow, Sandra,” I said and hung up the phone only to pick it back up to call Sam.

He answered on the first ring, “Sir?”

“Send some chicken noodle soup over to Sandra’s and a care basket.”

“Right away, Sir. Is that all?”

“For now.”

I put the phone down and jotted the name ‘Sal Rossi’ on the notepad on my desk. I stared at it for a minute, as if the answer would jump off the pad. Why did that name sound so familiar?

My phone rang and I checked the caller ID. It was my brother, Fredrick. I grabbed the receiver. “Hey you. Happy belated Thanksgiving.” A smile lifted my lips in anticipation of talking to my brother. We only had one another for most of our lives, at least until I met Cynthia and he met Tara. Sadly enough, both of the women from our pasts were gone, and much of our stability and happiness went with them.

“Same to you, Michael. What’s going on with you? Did you fall off the grid for a while?” Thumping music colored the background on his end.

I spoke louder to make sure he could hear me. “I went to Bar Harbor, remember?”

“I know that. I meant the two months I heard squat from you before that.”

Preparation for the Bar Harbor trip on top of my own work had made the days speed by. Had it really been two months since I’d seen Fredrick?

“I’ve been busy. You know that. Let me make it up to you. How about lunch this week?”

“You got it. As long as you’re paying.” Fredrick laughed at his own joke, a little too hard.

“Do I ever not pay?” I rolled my eyes.

That made Fredrick laugh harder. We were both successful and wealthy, independent of each other. His club, Kadia, was one of the prime clubs in the City, and though it had some nefarious dealings, the clients seemed to enjoy the edge it provided.

“How’s business?” I asked.

Fredrick went on about all the women he’s slept with over the past two months. He had a habit of mixing business with pleasure. And women flocked to men who could get them free drinks and private rooms in the hottest club in New York.

My eyes wandered to the note on my desk. “Hey. Questions for you.” I interrupted him as he started to tell me about another one of his sexcapades. We were honestly getting too old to be sharing our bedroom stories. “Do you know someone named Sal Rossi? He called the office looking for me. And I swear I know that name from somewhere.”

There was a long pause on the other end. Had I dropped the call?

“Fredrick?”

“Yeah, Michael. You might want to be careful with that one.”

“Yeah? Why is that?”

Fredrick sighed. “I don’t wanna get involved. Call Demetri about this.”

I sat back in my chair. Demetri Demarco was a dangerous man that we dealt with from time to time, but only when we needed to. He was head of the Castaletta Syndicate, a Chicago Mafiosi family that had survived a lot, and still kept their various businesses thriving.

Did this Sal guy know about my relationship with Demetri? Is that why he contacted me? The guy sounded like bad news, and I wasn’t necessarily interested in stepping in shit when life was going well.

The conversation sobered up, and I promised that Sandra would set up lunch with Fredrick later in the week. If my brother was concerned about this Sal character, then I should have been too. We said our goodbyes and hung up.

I stood from my chair and went to the glass wall that stretched from floor to ceiling, giving me a landscape view of the City.

I raked my hands through my hair and smoothed down the ends. What the hell was going on? I debated on ignoring the phone call from Sal completely but I was also curious. I’d talk to Demetri first and see what was going on.

To stop myself from dwelling, I went back to my desk and focused on work. I didn’t want to talk to Demetri yet, though I had a feeling Fredrick was already on the phone with him. I loved my brother but he had a tendency to stick his nose where it didn’t belong. It was my fault for asking, but I had to figure out how I knew the name. My business might be at risk if it turned out bad, so I didn’t care about ruffling feathers to get the answers I needed.

In the hours spent catching up on work, the phone only rang twice. I was used to the long hours working, but after being around so many people in Bar Harbor for those few days, the loneliness was more noticeable.

I sat back in my chair, releasing the tension in my shoulders. I already had the love of my life once before. But it would be nice to have someone to spend the holidays with. I picked up my cell and flipped through my contacts. There were a few women that I could call up that would be thrilled to spend time with me.

I stopped on Natalia’s name. My finger hovered over her number. She was always up for a good time. And she’d be the perfect distraction.