"Are you sure he wanted to see me?"
"Oh, yes, I took the message myself," she replied.
Suddenly weak in the knees, I felt the
butterflies congregate in my stomach. What did he want to see me
for? I had rarely ever been called into his office, except when
I messed something up. He was usually pretty reasonable, but I
hated feeling like an idiot – pretty much the case whenever
I screwed up. After dropping my briefcase and jacket off at my
desk, I picked up a pen and yellow note pad and headed back down
the hall to his office. When I reached his door I paused, took a
deep breath, then addressing Mr. Lee’s personal secretary,
Molly, I said, "Tell Mr. Lee that James is here to see him."
"Go right in, James," she said, "He is
expecting you."
Cautiously, I opened the door, ready for a
royal butt-chewing session. Mr. Lee sat behind his big oak desk
with his glasses pulled down low on the bridge of his nose,
reading some computer spread sheet. He reminded me of Ben
Franklin only with much shorter hair.
Not even glancing up for a second to affirm my
presence, he said, "Come on in, James, pull up a chair."
He finished what he was doing, and then peered at me over his
glasses. After a long pause he turned his eyes toward the window
and in a commanding voice, clearing his throat he started, "Hrrmph,
I have a problem and I need your help. I think that we have
something we need to talk about."
Then, on the credenza by the window, I spied a
dozen red roses, my roses – oh my god, Gina's roses! They
may have looked beautiful, but I smelled trouble. I felt
unsteady, almost faint. I had done it now; he was going to fire
me for sure.
Then my brain kicked into high gear, "Maybe
he doesn't know that I sent them." Not wanting to play
out my hand just yet, I zipped my mouth shut as I reviewed my
phone call to the florist very slowly, over in my mind. I’m
sure that I had sent them anonymously. Yes, I positively said to
sign the card, "From a secret admirer." There was no
way her father could have known that I was the culprit who sent
them. Perhaps she had just placed them in her father’s
office. Maybe my visit to his office had nothing to do with the
flowers.
"James, do you see those flowers that are sitting behind
me?"
