My home office phone rang. It was Paul James, the CEO of WTI.
"I don't know how to begin," he said, "but we've made some poor decisions." He explained that he had advance information that another group was making a bid on his target, tomorrow morning. At a huge premium to their bid. Amanda's bid. He sheepishly apologized for choosing Amanda, and offered to not only pay me what he was paying her, but gave me a 100% performance fee, doubling my payment if I could somehow snatch the acquisition away from the competitors. I agreed and got into the office in record time.
But I forgot that I had given the office to Amanda. Amanda was there, wearing a trashy red suit and black naugahyde pumps. She was on the phone, and I could tell that the conversation was not going well. "I did know Brian James! He was in my class at Yale law! He must have forgotten ... Yes, I meant Georgetown Law, that's where I went!" She was being trapped in a lie, and was awkwardly making it worse instead of dancing out of it.
She slammed the phone down and walked over to me. She looked me in the eyes, almost crying, and said "Robert, help me, can you vouch for me?"
I didn't say anything and just looked at her. The dirty blond streaks, the nose, the chin, the great legs, she was a perfect Amanda. She was wearing one of the slutty suits I had seen her wear when she first came to work for me.
As I was admiring the work, she looked into my eyes and started to
tear up. "Please, you did this to me, you can undo it." She
gave me the look she had given me for six years of our marriage,
pleading. I thought about the last two days with my wife, and
realized that I wanted to finish the job.
I said "No. It was your choice to lie about Brian James, and that's what unraveled everything." Amanda swallowed hard, forcing Samantha deep inside of her tarty little body. "Well I'll go get my client back, you'll see. You can go to hell!" she yelled and walked out the door. She slammed the door as hard as she could. It bounced back open and the nameplate with Amanda's name fell on the floor, uncovering the original lettering. I threw it in the trash.
next