Her Wolf

“I’m not going to do this by going the back door route, Ryan,” Catherine objected, holding her hand up. “It’s not fool proof, it sounds foolish to me. I’m not going to hold back on my opinion just because you may have done this before. I want to know exactly where I can put my money and it’s not going to be with something shady.”

Catherine tapped her toes against the side of her desk while she waited for Ryan to protest to anything she was saying. “Is he considering my approach?” She asked herself, watching him carefully.

“Doing this the proper way, even if it does give the developers and anyone else an idea of what we are doing, shows professionalism and it shows that we are serious,” Catherine continued. “I hardly doubt that they are doing anything shady because if they were, these documents about part of the land belonging to the tribe wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t even know about it had I not looked for myself, so it’s a good thing that someone is looking out for my interest here.”

Ryan took a final sip from his coffee and stood from his seat. He tucked his stark white shirt neatly into his pants and stretched his arms above his head. Catherine was mystified. “Is this his way of distracting?” She idled.

“It doesn’t look like we are going to come up with a compromise today and I have another meeting to get to this afternoon,” Ryan said. “We will need to come to some sort of an understanding in order to get this sorted out. So why don’t we both just take a few days to really think things over and I’ll call you to work out a time for us to meet next week sometime.”

Catherine nodded her head and plastered on a smile that was more for the sake of appearances than anything else. She felt her throat close slightly as she shook Ryan’s hand and allowed his fingers to linger upon hers for just a moment. The atmosphere in the room was intense and Catherine wasn’t sure if it was because of their constant bickering back and forth, or if it was because on some level, she knew that he was envisioning what was beneath the expensive suit she was wearing.

“I found your flaw,” Catherine said suddenly before she widened her eyes as it dawned on her that he had no idea what she was talking about.

“What does that mean?” Ryan asked with a short laugh.

“You’re not the only one who does their research, Ryan,” Catherine answered, opting on telling him the truth even if it did make her sound crazy. “I wanted to know who I was going to be working with, so I spent my time on the internet digging up the dirt just like you did with me.”

“And did you find any?” Ryan’s brow perked. “Dirt, that is?”

“On paper—or at least the internet—you’re a pretty clean, stand up guy, Mr. Metcalfe,” Catherine said, casually brushing past Ryan to make her way to the door of her office. “Generally you don’t get the dirt unless you really start to dig. You looked pretty perfect upon first glance. But now I know your flaw.”

“Do you care to fill me in on what it is?”

Catherine’s lipstick painted mouth pulled back in a smile as she tugged her office door open and stepped out of the way, leaving room for Ryan to make his exit and intentionally leaving him hanging with curiosity.

“I could tell you,” she said. “But then what would I have to hold over your head during our next meeting?”

Ryan’s laughter filled the office and caught the attention of Jessica who was still working aimlessly at her desk that sat just a few feet away from Catherine’s office. Her eyes flitted towards his broad frame and Catherine lifted her brows in response to Jessica’s shameless display.

“That wasn’t jealousy, right? That was just me being a boss and wanting my colleagues to be treated respectfully,” she said to herself. “I may need more convincing.”

The sound of the elevator chimed as Ryan walked from Catherine’s office and she offered a wave to his retreating form. Her throat was dry from the lack of moisture in her mouth and her head throbbed with the thought of just how many arguments were going to brew from this project. The first day on project Save Snow Drift National Park was a complete bust, aside from finding out that the land is virtually untouchable without expending millions of dollars.

“No regrets,” Catherine whispered beneath her breath.

“Jessica, can you order my usual from the Chinese food place down the street?” She asked, stopping only to direct her attention to her young secretary. “And make sure that the accounting team doesn’t release any of the funds I’ve set aside for the Foundation without my approval. I want to know exactly where the money is going. I have a feeling that this one likes to play hardball just like I do.”

“I guess he doesn’t know you very well, Miss Goldberry,” Jessica spoke meekly. “Otherwise he would know that you always win.”

Catherine walked to where Jessica’s desk sat and perched herself on the corner, her arms folded across her chest as she took pride in the words that Jess had said. It had been a long time since Catherine had treated her like a friend and that’s exactly what she was before she started.

“Let’s scratch the Chinese take out, Jess,” Catherine said in an amicable tone. “There’s nothing left that you need to do today, so why don’t you and I go out and grab something to eat? I’m starving and I’d love to tell you all about this project that I’ll be working on with Mr. Metcalfe.”

Jessica stared blankly for a few moments and looked up at her boss. Her smile was demure and reminded Catherine of how she was in University.

“You want me to take the rest of the day off?” Jess questioned, confusion lacing her expression. “I don’t know, I’m not really sure that I can afford that.”

“Don’t worry, you can take it off with pay.”

Catherine reached over and flicked off the monitor to Jessica’s iMac before she slid her bag towards her. Every aspect of Catherine’s life for the past five years had been circulating around words and she had forgotten what it was like to just have a friend. Her headache vanished almost instantly and her mood lifted. She retreated to her office in order to lock up and gather her things before she returned to greet Jess who was waiting patiently.

“Do you remember that park I used to always go to with my parents?” Catherine asked, walking into the awaiting elevator with Jessica at her side.

“I do remember. I went with you a few times,” Jess replied.

The elevator sounded and the doors closed, keeping Jess and Catherine cut off from the rest of the building until hitting the main floor lobby and Catherine beamed at the thought of the sparing times Jess had joined her with her parents.

“I’m going to save it.”

The doors to the elevator opened and when they did, they were greeted with the warmth of sunlight peeking through the clouds that had loomed for the past few hours and a sense of accomplishment filled the air. Catherine would convince Ryan to see things from her perspective and within a matter of time; a monument would be set at the Snow Drift National Park, honoring her and her parents’ memory forever.