Fiction - Outsourced - Part 32

– Shannon McNamara –

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Outsourced © 2008 Shannon McNamara. All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Buy me a cup of Coffee!

I walked past the line that had already staked out the sidewalk, so I could give a glance into the crowded, standing-room-only area in front of the counter. The owner was running back and forth, flinging sandwiches up on the formica and yelling names. His daughter rang up at the register, taking money and throwing change over and over again. Nowhere in the midst of this chaos was a man in a designer suit and tie. I backed away from the door before the mob tarred me for cutting the line.

I perched on the edge of the curb and pulled my cell phone out of my purse when I felt a whoosh of air behind me and heard, “Megan, hop in.”

I turned to see a slick black SUV with the back window down and Andrew smiling from the seat. He had a driver up front who did not glance in my direction or even acknowledge my presence.

“I thought we were meeting for lunch. I hate to say this to you, but we are going to have to get in line. Manny does not care how nice you look; he’s going to make you wait for that sandwich just like everyone else.”

He smirked and shook two brown bags in the window.

“Get in.”

I obliged.

As I made my way around to the other side of the car, the driver’s side door opened, and an extremely large man got out, opened the back door without saying a word, and waited for me to get in.

“Oh, um, thank you.” I slid into the seat, and Andrew handed me a bag just as his phone rang. He put a finger up in the air and smiled at me.

“Henry, yes.” He paused and sipped from a bottle of iced tea. The fancy kind I never sprung for. He winked at me and handed over a cold bottle to go with my bagged sandwich.

“I hear you, Henry. Listen, before we proceed with this merger, we need to conduct a thorough title search. I won’t want to run into any encumbrances on the properties involved, and I don’t want any surprises with this deal. My office will draft a letter of intent outlining those basic terms. Once we have this agreement in principle, we can move forward with due diligence. I’ll get on the horn with Town Hall. The guy there owes me a few favors.”

He motioned at the driver, and we pulled away from the curb, navigating back down Main Street and turning right at the light.

“I need to know that the local zoning authority can confirm that everything complies with all the municipal regulations. Again, I am not fond of surprises when there is this much money on the line. We will also need to review the deeds and confirm that there are no easements or restrictive covenants that could affect the land use. You know how it was thirty years ago, it was the Wild West with the utility companies paying off every homeowner in town to use part of their land as an easement for the utility.”

We turned again and came up to a small park with a parking lot attached. I had parked my Jeep there to walk over to the deli. At least I was saving myself a walk back, I guess. I took a sip of the iced tea. Damn, that was good. Might be worth the splurge next time.

“So yes, figure this out. Then and only then will we prepare the necessary documents for filing with the land registry. Honestly, we should be prepared to execute this formal merger agreement within the next few weeks. I’ll have the paralegals at my office schedule a call to discuss the draft merger agreement and get one of the other lawyers to do the grunt work on this. By that point, the necessary approvals and red tape with the town should be tied up.”

He took another swig of the iced tea, and at this point, I had no idea what to do. I began to slowly tear at the paper of my sandwich bag. I was starving. As I moved the bag and the paper crumpled, the driver in the front glanced up and looked at me in the rearview. I immediately stopped and sat still. Great.

“Well, you tell me, Henry? If that is what you want, a deed of trust, we can consider this. Yes, this will definitely secure the financial aspects of the merger. I am not questioning or arguing that with you. Great. Yes. Once everything is in place, we’ll execute the final documents and ensure the land is properly consolidated in accordance with the town and state laws. Ok, I’ll have my team follow up with your team. Yes. Talk soon.”

He hung up without a goodbye.

“Hello,” he turned to me.

I just sat there, not sure if we were supposed to eat in the car or what was going on here. All I knew was I was starving, and drinking iced tea seemed to be acceptable.

“Umm, hello?”

The iPhone lit up again.

Andrew sighed and gave me the “one-moment” finger.

“Andrew.”

I tried to get the eye of the driver, but he was back to looking out the windshield. I turned to look out at the park and decided to step out of the SUV. This was ridiculous. I could have eaten at work and actually had a conversation. Why bother calling for lunch if you are going to be on the phone the whole time?

We get it, you are important.

I quietly opened the door and just as quietly clicked it closed; his driver never acknowledged any of this taking place. This must be an everyday part of this job? I walked over to the bench. The sun was shining and the wood felt warm against my legs and arms. Ok fine, it could be worse. I could be in the musty breakroom, pushing dust off the tables before I ate.

I heard footsteps behind me and smiled to myself as I turned around. Better late than never.

It was not Andrew.

“Oh, sorry, I thought you were…”

“Mr. Tulson regrets that he will not be able to accompany you during lunch as he has some work that needs his attention back at the office. I drove back here to where your vehicle was so you would not be inconvenienced and need to walk back with your lunch.”

“So, he knew this before I got in the car?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss Mr. Tulson’s schedule, ma’am.”

Ma’am. Yikes.

“Ok, thank you, Mr…” I looked back up, but he was on his way back to the SUV. Ok then.

I sat for a second, trying to decide whether to go back to work to eat or just dive into the sandwich right here on the bench. As is usually the case, my stomach got the better of me. I opened the bag and pulled out a turkey with Swiss cheese on whole wheat. It would not have been my first choice.

I heard a trill and grabbed my ringing phone out of my purse.

ANDREW

Before I could even say hello, the voice on the other end started talking quickly.

“I’m sorry about that. Work. You know how it is.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Sure.” I mumbled back. The top piece of bread was starting to slide off the meat and towards my lap. I hurried and put the phone between my ear and my shoulder so I could finagle the sandwich back together.

“I shouldn’t have scheduled this today. I tried to be spontaneous and look where it got me. So I am going to make it up to you. Dinner tonight.”

I licked the mayo off my fingers and sighed.

“Listen, it’s ok. You don’t have to…”

“No, I want to. This time we will go out. No grill, no sandwiches, a real sit-down dinner. And some good wine.”

I laughed.

“So, what you are saying is you served me bad wine last time?” I smirked despite myself.

“Never.”

The line disconnected.

He really had a habit of not saying goodbye, didn’t he?

I took a bite of the colossal mess in my hands. The turkey wasn’t half bad.

Buy me a cup of Coffee!