A Whyte Christmas by Michele Brouder

Author:Michele Brouder
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Michele Brouder
Published: 2016-11-10T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

The office buzzed with the talk of a black-tie Christmas gala. Everybody was excited. Everybody, that is, except Kate. She knew that if anyone could pull it off, it would be Alexis. For the first time since she didn’t know when, the employees at Cline & Co. were running at full throttle.

This did not go unnoticed by Mr. Cline when he strolled by a few minutes before noon. He paused at Kate’s desk and looked up, like a retriever trying to get a scent off the wind.

There was no one at the water cooler. No one was milling about. No one was draped over a cubicle wall talking to their neighbor. No raucous laughter drifted out from the break room.

“What’s going on here?” he asked, scanning the office. “It seems like there is actually work being done.”

“Yes sir, it does,” Kate said, not looking up from her computer screen.

“Humph. There must be delirium going around. Check for high fevers among the staff.”

And with that, he stomped off to his office.

***

Kate was rinsing out the coffee pot in the break room when the door opened and Alexis popped her head in.

“Kate, if you’re not busy, could you come down to Mr. Cline’s office for a few minutes?”

Behind her back, Kate lifted her eyes to heaven. “I’ll be along shortly.” What could he possibly want now?

She poured the water through the top of the coffee maker, placed a filter in the basket and added a few scoops of coffee. She turned it on and as it started to bubble and brew, she left the break room.

She gave a light rap on Mr. Cline’s door before walking in.

He sat behind his desk wearing a black pinstripe suit and a horrendous tie. Mentally, she shook her head, thinking he was hopeless.

Alexis stood behind him with her ass perched on the window sill, wearing a black suit with a pink blouse. On her feet were a pair of black Chanel boots that had everyone in the office talking.

There wasn’t only Mr. Cline and Alexis to contend with, but another man, as well. He was tall, corpulent, and wore too much styling gel—his hair looked as if it had the consistency of cement. His face was pockmarked and puffy, either from too much alcohol consumption or the over-ingestion of large quantities of air. However, he presented a much better suit and choice of tie than did Kate’s boss. The newcomer stared at Kate. Immediately, she was leery.

Mr. Cline stood up and indicated with his hand that she was to sit in the empty seat next to the stranger.

Kate sat down, not saying a word.

“Nick, this is Kate O’Connor, our receptionist. She’s our person of interest for this project,” Mr. Cline said, smiling broadly.

The man called Nick turned to Kate, held out his hand for her to shake, and said, “Nick Sommers, RTN. Reality Television Network.”

Kate nodded and said nothing. She wanted to squirm as she felt Sommers assessing her.

“Oh yeah, Ed, I think this could work,” Nick said.

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