Cocotte Read Free Page B

her. Her eyes were shifting around my office and she was holding her bag like a new-born child. She stood by my desk and I took a moment to admire her business attire.
    “You scrub up quite well , Emily.”
    “Thank you ,” she said with a blush.
    A black skirt started at her hourglass waist, and ended at her knees. She had a pair of shiny black heels, that put her head just lower than my chin. A cream coloured blouse covered her shoulders. She looked more respectable in my eyes and damn gorgeous. Her hair was tied back neat and tidy. She'd nailed the corporate woman look down.
    “It all makes sense now.” I said.
    “What does?”
    “When I first saw you, I remember you squinting at me.”
    Emily was puzzled.
    “The glasses. You’re short-sighted.”
    “Oh! Yeah. When I started at my old job, they told me to ditch them.”
    The glasses were of a modern design, rectangular in shape , that sat well with her eyes. It made the dazzling blue stand out.
    “You look completely different , sophisticated.  A swan…”
    “New look . New woman,” she said proudly.
    I smiled. “Take a seat.”
    I took out her contract from my desk drawer and gave it to her. I noticed how she was meticulous in reading through it and checking all the details. I handed her a folder with everything she needed to know on the details of the acquisition.
    “ I will allow you a couple of days, to go through the scope of what I need to do. Your desk is outside my office on your left. I have a couple of handover meetings this week, where there will be a bit of admin from the result of those. It won’t be too much, it won’t put you out of your depth. But if you are unsure of anything don’t hesitate to ask.”
    S he nodded and took a deep breath in, perhaps uneasy at the calibre of the work. I stood up to show her the door, when she stopped.
    “Why are you doing all this , Oliver? Why me?”  
    I buttoned up my suit jacket and adjusted my cufflinks. I put my hand on her shoulder and held it firmly. “I need someone to rely on, I need you.”
     
    ***
     
    The next afternoon, Marc was slouched in the chair in my office, playing with the label on his tie. He seemed agitated for some reason. “So…how was the meeting with Sherry?”
    I walked over to the mahogany cabinet to take out the scotch that was aging in there. I thought I would never open it, but this situation warranted it.
    “Drink?”
    “I thought you wouldn’t ever ask!” he said licking his lips.
    I poured the amber liquid into our glasses and handed the lesser filled one to Marc. He looked up at me and sighed. “That Bad?”
    I nodded . “Sherry is the most-ruthless woman I have ever met.”
    “In bed?” Marc said, laughing.
    I didn’t laugh . “She reneged on our agreement. She wants to dissolve all the sales roles. Here’s the new agreement.” I handed Marc the documents Sherry gave me.
    “What!”
    “She felt her sales team would only be tainted, by our sales force. Sherry just wants the accounts, they will do the rest.”
    “What the fuck , Oliver! She can’t do that?”
    “Mate , we are out of the picture now. I should have put it in the contract. So much for a gentlemen’s agreement.”
    “So what now?”
    “I’ll try and renegotiate.”
    “ But if it doesn’t work, I will have to tell all those who I promised transfers that they will now be redundant. The difference is with this lot, they won’t have the diamond handshake. She pro-rated their redundancy packages.”
    I took a big sip out of my glass, expecting the sharpness to hit my head and null the pain, but it wasn’t enough.
    “What a bitch!” Marc shouted.
    “ Oliver, to be honest we sold ourselves out the moment we agreed to the contract. We didn’t know they would spring this on us.”
    “I know , but it gets you thinking whether our jobs are safe when we work there as consultants.” I said with my hands on my head.
    “I couldn’t care less. We are on the gravy train from this