I flashed him a questioning look.
He hastened to explain, “Back when she started here, Madison was worried about getting caught with alcohol in the office. In that demented little mind of hers, she was sure it would result in termination. Her paranoia grew to such an extent that she started hiding things in my office, just in case. Thus, she’s well aware of the full stash here.”
That sounds like Madison.
I shot my friend a sarcastic grin and shook my head. “Madi, that was so sweet of you, to share the liquor and the guilt.”
“Oh, Madison Montgomery is nothing if not sweet,” Caleb teased, his eyes twinkling with a mischievous smile.
She flashed him a withering look. “You didn’t seem to mind so much at the time.”
He laughed again and downed his second drink in a single gulp. “Well, as you so tactfully pointed out to Della, we were both fucking quite a lot at the time. Letting you use my office for storage of your contraband seemed like a fair trade to me.”
Just when I was beginning to think I’m the office weirdo, these two have a conversation like this.
“Now, do tell about this so-called existential crisis, dears,” Caleb continued, looking a great deal more relaxed than when he did when we burst into his private space just a few minutes earlier. “Can I do anything to help?”
“It isn’t really that kind of crisis, but thanks,” I said, raising my glass. “And thanks for this too. I’m sorry we interrupted your phone calls.”
Madison shrugged as if she couldn’t care less, but Caleb’s smile faded slightly as he sank back down in his chair.
“Act
ually, you kind of whooshed in at a perfect time. I was about to lose what little is left of my sanity.” He ran his fingers through his hair and let out a tired sigh. “For the last nine hours, I’ve been on the phone with Italy, trying to fix Robert’s latest mess. I haven’t made much progress.”
Madison’s tough exterior melted away completely when she saw that he was genuinely upset. The next second, she was standing behind him, rubbing gentle circles into his back. “Cost versus inventory?”
He rolled his eyes and poured himself another drink. “I swear to God, it’s as if the man has never read one report we’ve sent him. I know he’s all for getting out from under his father’s thumb, out of Daddy Dearest’s shadow and all that, but we mustn’t forget that Ben was and is a fucking genius. Robert seems to want to make a name for himself, but he forgets that the Cross name is one his father did a damn good job with. There are far worse shadows to be stuck in.”
Madison flashed me a look, and I bit my lip and frowned. It was yet another huge inconsistency, one I desperately wanted to ignore. The man I remembered didn’t seem like the type to even have a job, but I knew if he did, he would handle it better. Things came effortlessly to him, and he was the epitome of a cool head. Not only that, but never in a thousand years would I have pictured him yelling at anyone.
“You’ll work it out with Moretti,” Madison soothed, then diplomatically steered the conversation back to things of a less explosive nature. “Della and I will even stay late, if it will help.”
Caleb looked up in surprise, mixed with a great deal of relief. “Yeah?” he asked hopefully. “You would do that for little ol’ me?”
“Of course,” I replied with a smile.
We toasted to the idea with another generous helping of vodka, then settled in for an afternoon of work, which was far more relaxing than any of our morning had been.
In addition to being attractive, available, and a ridiculously charming conversationalist, Caleb was also damn good at his job. It was easy to see why Madison was attracted to him in the first place, and the fact that the two of them could joke so openly about their failed relationship somehow made them both all the more endearing.
It wasn’t long before the three of us managed to untangle the corporate knots Robert had made. We even brokered some sort of peace with our sister companies in Italy. By the time the sun slipped down into the horizon, we had actually come out a point or two ahead.
“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it’s done!” Caleb threw his pencil down with a grand flourish, then pounded down another shot of vodka in celebration.
As the printer spat out page after page of our combined brilliance, we helped him polish off the bottle.
“You’re lucky they could even understand you by the end,” Madison teased with a grin, easing the bottle out of his hands and into her own. “Things could have gone quite differently, you know. It isn’t wise to drink and deal.”
Caleb scoffed dismissively. “Everyone knows my Italian gets better when I drink,” he slurred. “It’s only those damn vowels that give me trouble.”
I laughed loudly as I closed my laptop and slid farther down on the couch. When I first applied to Cross Enterprises and then again when I first stood outside on the curb, gazing up at the top floors, that was exactly the kind of day I imagined, the kind of workday I wanted to have. I longed to be surrounded by likeminded, talented people while I made my own mark on the corporate stage, one deal at a time. Now, I had that chance, and I loved every minute of it.
The liquor had smoothed away a lot of my inhibitions, and I was about to say as much when the alarm dinged on my phone. Both Madison and I stared down at it before glancing up at the wall clock in unison.
Madison playfully punched her old flame in the arm before looping the strap of her designer handbag over her shoulder. “Actually, Della has to be on webcam to talk to her family back in New York. With the time difference and all, she has to get home so she won’t miss them.”
I was shocked that she could lie so easily and confidently, but I was even more shocked that it worked.