That certainly made sense.
Ignoring the urge to crawl back into my bed, I wrapped a bathrobe around my shivering body and walked into the hall to get this admittedly extremely pushy sales clerk out of my life.
“How can I help you?” My voice sounded a little hoarse from the lack of sleep, but you could still hear the frosty undertones.
“Miss Brooke Stewart? My name’s Jake Clarkson from Clarkson & Miles. I’ve been trying to reach you for two weeks. Did you get my letter?”
Holy cow, he didn’t beat around the bush. “I don’t think I have,” I said, slowly scanning the glossy magazines and newspapers stacked neatly next to the phone, when I remembered Sylvie had mentioned a mysterious envelope. I had asked her to leave it in my room so it wouldn’t freak her out. “Actually, I haven’t opened it yet since I only just arrived back home.”
“No problem. We can discuss its contents. Would you be available to meet with me, preferably sooner rather than later?”
His questions struck me as odd. Why would he want to meet with me, unless it was an emergency? “Did anything happen?”
He laughed briefly, and I knew it was fake. “No, of course not, Miss Stewart. Please understand that I’m not in the position to discuss such important business with you on the phone. I’ve come all the way from London, and I really need to talk with you in private.”
Important business sounded grave enough without the serious undercurrent of his tone. And if a person came all the way from wherever he came from, I figured it was double serious business.
“What did you say your name was?” Regaining my wits, I grabbed a notepad and pen. As he repeated his details, I scribbled them down.
“Jake Clarkson. I’m an attorney with Clarkson & Miles. London headquarters.”
An attorney. And he seemed even more no-nonsense than me. I didn’t like lawyers. They had brought me nothing but bad news. My pulse sped up and my hands turned clammy. I wiped my palms on my bathrobe and cleared my throat to get rid of the sudden lump. The Britain part was pretty obvious from his accent.
What would someone like him want from me…unless I did something wrong and the offended tried to resolve the issue with the help of an attorney before the whole thing escalated into something ugly?
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Everything’s fine. Are you available today?” he persisted. “Any time would work for me. Even evening. It wouldn’t take long.”
“Today? It’s that urgent?” Given that the digital clock on our answering machine stated it was already ten past six, the guy sure seemed anxious to get a meeting. I briefly considered whether it was a bright idea to meet up at this time of day. It probably wasn’t, so I decided against it.
“I could meet with you tomorrow after work. Maybe around six-ish?” I offered.
A pause, then, “Let’s make it six.”
I gave him the address of a café which was on my route home, about half an hour away. Good enough not to inconvenience me, but not close enough so he could follow me in case he had stalking tendencies.
“Thank you. Have a lovely evening.” He hung up, leaving me no chance to ask him for his phone number in case I couldn’t make it.
“Weird, huh?” Sylvie said from the doorway, not even hiding the fact she had been eavesdropping.
“Hm.” I motioned her to follow me as I rushed into my room and found the envelope on my desk. With a quick flick of my wrist I tore it open, ignoring the look of dread on Sylvie’s face. When nothing blew up, she inched closer to peer over my shoulder.
I pushed the white crisp paper into her hand. “It’s just a formal letter inviting me to get in touch with them regarding urgent matters.”
Skimming the contents of the letter, Sylvie nodded slowly and then placed it on my desk. “What do you think he wants?”
“No idea. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” I couldn’t quite hide the worry in my voice.
“Do you want me to accompany you?” She trailed off, leaving the ‘in case’ part hanging between us.
I shook my head. “Looks like he is who he says he is, so I’ll be fine. It’s probably not important. Maybe I won the lottery or something.” In spite of my attempt at infusing humor to take off the heat, my voice didn’t quite manage to hide my nervousness. Luckily, Sylvie always knew when to make me feel better.
She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and leaned in conspiratorially. “Tomorrow’s your first day at the new office, huh?” I nodded, unsure where she was heading with this, and let her continue. “We never really got a chance to celebrate.”
And that’s when her intentions became clear. She wanted to party. Of course.
“Oh.”
She nodded, and a huge smile lit up her big blue eyes. “Yeah.”