Out Of Love Part 15

The familiar voice finally answered the phone, sending a quiver down Judith's spine. "Judith."

"Hi."

104.

"I'm glad you called."

"I got your message . . . except I didn't quite understand it."

"Yeah, I'm afraid the senior moments have already started.

My brain has a tendency to shut down whenever I'm talking to a machine."

Carmen didn't sound much like the self-a.s.sured CEO who had swept her off her feet and almost into bed. This Carmen was definitely more reserved, a sure sign she was dragging baggage from their ill-fated night.

"I was calling-"

"I'm glad you-"

They chuckled at trying to talk at the same time.

"You first," Carmen offered.

Judith relaxed against the back of the park bench. With a conscious effort, she let go of her image of Carmen as the beautiful, dazzling, sophisticated bigwig from the conference. Right this minute, she was just Carmen, and she seemed as nervous as Judith. "I was going to say I was glad you called because I wanted to tell you something important . . . something I wish I had thought of that night at the hotel."

"Okay," Carmen said slowly, her voice filled with apprehension.

"I realized I was just as much to blame as you were, so I should apologize too."

"That isn't true, Judith. It wasn't your fault at all. I should have just told you that you looked like a friend of mine. Then it wouldn't have been such a shock to hear it from someone else."

"Yeah, that part was your fault, but it happened and you said you were sorry. What I did was just as bad if not worse, because I didn't even realize it at the time." Judith sighed in frustration.

"Why is it that I can go over this in my head and get all the words just right, but when I finally get a chance to say them, nothing comes out like it's supposed to?"

Carmen laughed, breaking the tension. "I think that's called 105 real life. I did the same thing before I left that stupid message."

Judith smiled, completely disarmed by Carmen's admission.

"Anyway, what I did was let myself get caught up with feeling like Cinderella. You were thinking about me looking like Brooke, and I was thinking about you being my Princess Charming."

"Princess Charming? Me?" Carmen snorted. "You have no idea how far from reality that is."

"Are you saying the real Carmen Delallo isn't charming?"

"I wish, but lately I think everyone would say the real Carmen Delallo is a jerk."

"You certainly charmed the h.e.l.l out of me."

"Then maybe I haven't totally lost my touch after all."

Now it was Judith's turn to laugh. "No, I'd say you still have it."

"Good to know."

Judith blew out a breath. "Okay, that's all I wanted to say.

Your turn."

"Great. Time to speak clearly and not sound stupid."

"The pressure's on."

Carmen cleared her throat. "I'm going to be in New York on Friday. I have a meeting with Zeigler-Marsh that should last all day. I was hoping you might be interested in having dinner on Friday night . . . and maybe seeing a show."

The giddy feeling she got from the surprise invitation was exactly what Judith had experienced at the convention, but she needed to keep her feet on the ground this time. "I'd love to, but only if I get to see the real you."

"The real me?"

"Not Miss Fancy Big Shot, just you."

"What if the real me isn't all that interesting?"

"I can't imagine that would be the case."

"Now the pressure's really on. I have to be both charming and interesting. I guess that means I can't talk about work."

"I'm willing to grant you a little leeway on that, but I can read 106 all about The Delallo Group at your Web site."

"I'm in trouble then. I have only three days to completely invent a pleasing personality."

"Just be yourself and I promise to do the same." Judith already was catching glimpses of what she thought might be the real Carmen, a woman who conveyed nothing but confidence among professional colleagues, but hid her personal insecurities with self-effacing humor. She couldn't wait to unravel the enigma.

"Okay, but remember, you asked for it."

Judith checked her watch. Todd would be pacing the hallway outside her cubicle by now. She didn't care. She hadn't felt happy since last weekend and she was in no hurry to get back to work.

"Where shall we meet?"

"I'm staying at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. I can send a car if you like. Is six o'clock okay? That'll give us time to eat."

Judith was thrilled at the lavish notion of Carmen ordering a limo for her, but she wasn't going to let herself get swept up again. "The subway works fine for me, especially at rush hour.

Why don't I just meet you in the lobby at six?"

"That works too. Is there anything in particular you want to see, or shall we take potluck with the concierge?"

"It doesn't matter to me. I can even pick up tickets if you like."

"You don't trust me? You're afraid you'll end up at Logistic Regression: The Musical?"

"I hope not, because I don't even understand what you just said."

"I'll find something light and frivolous. We can turn off our brains and relax."

"That sounds terrific. I could use a little relaxation."

"So how are things at work? Sofia said she hadn't heard from you."

107.

"I'm trying to stick it out at Rainbow. It's hard to leave a place after seventeen years, especially one that's just six blocks from my apartment." That wasn't exactly true, but Judith didn't want to get into all her reasons for not following up with Sofia. She just didn't feel comfortable calling, especially after the way things had turned out. And if she and Carmen eventually became friends, she wouldn't want to take advantage of that.

"She'll be disappointed to hear that."

"I should call her and tell her what I've decided."

"She'll try to change your mind."

"Does she . . . know about . . . what happened?"

"No, I don't usually trumpet my embarra.s.sing moments. I have Cathy for that. She keeps my head from getting too big."

"I liked Cathy."

"She liked you too. In fact, she was glad to hear I was calling you. I think she was afraid I was going to keep stomping around here and eventually fire the whole staff."

Had Carmen really been that upset about last weekend?

"That doesn't sound very charming."

"I warned you."

"So you did."

"You can rig one of those emergency plans with a friend. You know, you send her a text message from the bathroom and she places an urgent call ten minutes later telling you to come at once because there's been an accident."

"I get the feeling that happens to you a lot."

Carmen laughed. "It probably should."

"I'm not worried. In fact, at the risk of sounding overly excited, I'm not dreading dinner with you at all."

"That's the spirit."

Judith was, in fact, ecstatic about their plans. They could start again, this time with everything out in the open.

"I guess I should be going," Carmen said, interrupting her daydream. "Cathy's probably getting ear strain from standing 108 outside the door."

"I'm glad you called."

"Me too, and I can't wait to see you."

They said their good-byes and Judith started to pocket her cell phone. Instead, she called Todd to say something had come up and she would need the rest of the afternoon off. A date with Carmen Delallo called for a new outfit.

Carmen walked the length of their offices to a climate-con-trolled room humming with computers and servers. This was Raul's domain, and she rarely ventured this far from her corner office.

"Hey, boss," he said, jumping up to open the door.

"Everything okay down here in the cave?"

"Couldn't be better. What can I do for you?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to see how things were going and try to make you feel appreciated. I've heard that social reinforce-ment is a better motivator than a raise or time off." She shot him a grin before turning back toward the staff offices.

"Don't believe everything you hear!" he shouted.

She laughed and stuck her head into a workroom shared by four research a.s.sistants. "You guys doing all right?"

"Lenore's working our tails off."

"I'm sure it's good for you . . . builds character . . . that sort of thing."

One of the young men handed her a report. "Here's that data run you wanted for Durbin Dreams."

"Great. Now all I have to do is put a bow on it and kiss his a.s.s good-bye." She stopped next to speak to Richard, then to Kristy, commending both on their recent work. She ended her circuit in Lenore's doorway. "You're doing a fantastic job. I know because all the research a.s.sistants look haggard and underfed and Raul has his door locked."

109.

Lenore looked up wearily. "Our deadline on the time-share conversion is going to be very close."

"Do you want me to tell Hinkle it won't be ready until the fall?" The idea of sucking up to Bill Hinkle and asking for an extension was distasteful, but they wouldn't take shortcuts to get the job done on time.

"Lord, no. I don't want to owe him anything special. He might want to take it out in trade."

"So we'll make the deadline?"

"Yes, but like I said, it's going to be close. Can you clone Raul?"

"You need another programmer? I posted an ad at the conference but we didn't get any bites."

"If he had somebody to do the routine data runs, he could concentrate on this."

"Are we talking temporary?"

Lenore bobbed her head from side to side as she considered the question. "For this, yeah. But we're taking a big chance having Raul be the only one in the company who knows how to read this data. We should think about bringing someone else on board."

Carmen ran some numbers in her head. "The new revenue should more than pay for it. See if Raul knows anyone from UC and let's do some interviews. If the temporary gig works out, we can make it permanent."