Chapter Six

    She could swear she saw jealousy in the eyes of some other journalists. So much for a good first impression, she thought. As if it couldn’t get any worse, she was assigned an office rather than a desk like every other journalist. Surely, this treatment might send the wrong messages to her colleagues but, she eventually chose not to let that bother her and celebrate the fact that she would be working in her own office.

    “About your biography Mr. Johnson,” she asked on getting to his office where he handed her a file to fill in the necessary employee details. “Was it an open contract?”

      “Yes.” He replied. “I was going to give it to one of the other journalists before I stumbled upon your blog.”

       Well that explains the flash of jealousy she thought she had seen. “Thank you again sir.”

       As she turned to leave, Sam burst into the office, with a clearly annoyed expression on his face. His mid length tousled black hair was what caught her attention. It came to the side of his face and he ran a hard through it, pulling it back. Theresa forgot herself whilst staring at him. If the disgusted look he gave her was not enough to make her snap out of her silly thoughts, she didn’t know what else would have. He was the head Publicist in the agency, and quite a fine man, clearly arrogant and without manners, she thought.

    “What is this I hear about delaying tomorrow’s paper?” he asked, flinging his hands in the air. He must have been too annoyed to notice the warm smile she gave to him when he turned again to look at her, she felt stupid when that disgusted face replaced the exasperated one just as he turned to her. Just what did she look like to him? This was certainly not how she wanted her first day to go. It would seem like she had made enemies already without even speaking to anyone.

     “We’ll talk about this later, Samuel,” Robert replied in a low husky tone. She wanted to quietly exit the office as it seemed like there was going to be a heated exchange. Rather, Sam stomped out of the office much to her relief.

      Robert sighed, leaning into his chair. “And that’s Samuel Johnson. My nephew. Just make sure to be on time in whatever might involve you two working together and you’ll be fine.”

      She nodded in understanding. “I’ll fill these in now.” She motioned to the file in hand and left the office.

                     ************

        For the better part of it, Theresa’s life seemed to be perfect. Or at least her career, and at the moment, that’s all that mattered. She still couldn’t comprehend why William had been ‘stuck up’ lately. He barely slept over at her place anymore and always had an excuse to miss dinner or lunch and whenever she wasn’t available, he would get upset. Well, in the end of the month, she received her first and very appealing pay check which got her grinning for an entire week. Things were great at Havens Cloud. Her colleagues were quite welcoming. Everyone except for Sam. Not that she cared, but he never seemed to be happy. She had never seen him smile at anyone and especially not at her. They barely had to work together, thank God, or she might just end up strangling him in the course of anything if he dare throw her another disgusted look. She was non-existent to him and she very much liked it that way. Robert had scheduled a few meetings with her to talk about his biography and she always looked forward to learning of his interesting and roguish past. Everything was just fine until Mary Johnson came knocking on her door.

          On a Friday evening, she was at the agency preparing to call it a day when her phone rang. She dug dip into her bag, as she searched for her phone from where she had thrown it in earlier. It was an unknown I.D. Certainly not Robert Johnson’s secretary again.

     “Hello?” she called through the receiver.

      “Hi Theresa,” Mary’s voice came in a soft hollow.

     “Mrs. Johnson?” she definitely recognized that soft and peaceful voice from the few times she had been at Robert’s house.

     “Yes dear,” Mary replied. “I was hoping we could meet somewhere and talk.”

      Talk? She instantly became curious.

     “Is everything all right Mrs. Johnson?”

     “Everything is fine. I just need to discuss something with you. I’ll text you the place and time, if you don’t mind.”

      “O – Okay.” Theresa said and the line went off.

      It didn’t seem like much of a request to her. Mary’s voice always came out soft but today, it was worrying. The text came in immediately and she quickly packed her things into her bag and texted William that she wouldn’t be able to make it for their dinner date before heading out to the diner Mary proposed they’d meet.

       Taking a seat across Mary in the Oakleys diner, Theresa studied her for a few seconds before breaking the silence.

      “You look troubled Mrs. Johnson,” she asked in concern.

       Mary took a breath in and forced herself to put on a smile. Anyone could see something was weighing her down and she was trying not to make it obvious.

     “I know you’ve been spending a lot of time with my husband and he’s been telling you a lot of things,” she started.

     Theresa’s expression changed. She knew exactly where this was going. Mary was going to confront her on the rumors of her and Robert supposedly having an affair. This rumor circulated around the agency when she just came in but she paid no heed to it.

    It was as if Mary noticed Theresa’s change in expression as she immediately placated. “I heard the rumor, but that’s not why I asked you here.”

      Relief replaced the worn out expression on her face. “Thank goodness,” she muttered quietly.

     “But,” she started again, earning a frown from Theresa. “There’s something about his past that troubles him. Something he never mentioned to me.

     Theresa sat back to listen tentatively.

     “And since he tells you things about his past, he might have mentioned it to you.”

     “Uh – uh I don’t have any idea – “

     “Has he mentioned anything about the time he got his breakthrough contract to write the sequel to a book, Double Shadows?” she asked curtly.

      Robert did talk about getting this sequel but nothing much was said on it. She dare say he was avoiding a lot of details when he spoke about it. But then, maybe there wasn’t more to what he had told her.

     “He has mentioned this sequel but only that the book was a stepping stone to his success.”

     “That all he said?”

      She nodded in affirmation. “I don’t know if there’s more. If there is, he certainly haven’t said anything yet. He still talks about his folly high school days now. So maybe, we’ll get to it.”

      Mary was disappointed. “When he talks about it, please let me know.”

      Theresa still wasn’t sure what this was about but decided not to trouble her any more than she already was with questions. So, she let her curiosity sink.

      “I’m sorry I wasn’t of any help Mrs. Johnson.”

      “Oh Theresa. Call me Mary.”