Green Eyes

Green Eyes

“There’s my favourite kept man!” Colin felt the practiced smile curve his lips. The first few times Jack used this as his opening, Colin had pointed out the company his very successful wife was running had been built by him, but Jack always ignored the statement.

They’d both been members at the exclusive country club they were now sitting in for years, so the banter wasn’t new. Normally, Colin would have let it drop, but he was feeling vaguely discontented today, so he decided to respond in kind. “So where’s your lovely wife today?”

He knew he’d hit his mark when Jack’s face reddened. “She’s…spending some time at one of those new spas upstate,” he muttered, which every man sitting at their table knew meant she was drying out again.

Colin felt slightly guilty for taking the shot, but he put the feeling aside.

Jack was quiet as the foursome played their usual 18 holes and returned to the club house.

“I’m heading home,” Colin said abruptly. There were a few raised eyebrows, but although they’d all know each other forever, they didn’t consider themselves friends, so no one inquired any further.

Colin was surprised to see Joanna’s sporty little silver BMW already in the garage when he got home. He was glad he’d skipped the post golf drinks today, it was a rare treat for her to be home before 8 at night, maybe they could spend some time together.

He went into the house with a genuine smile on his face, but it slipped when he heard her talking to someone in the home office that used to be his.

“Ellen, this is great work! If you can get that other report ready for the 10 am meeting tomorrow that would be appreciated.”

Colin knocked quickly on the door, and poked his head around. “Sorry for the interruption, I wanted to let you know I was home.”

His wife smiled brightly at him, “Hello, darling, how convenient, I want you to meet someone. Ellen, this is my husband, Colin, the brilliant mind behind our company!”

He automatically put his hand out to shake the woman’s hand, but was shaken to the core, when he realized this wasn’t the first time they’d met. The titian hair, green eyes and curvy figure were unmistakable.

It had been one of the weekends when Joanna had been out of town on business, shortly after she’d taken over the company. He’d been feeling restless then, too, and it was the only time he’d cheated in the 15 years they’d been together.

He'd planned on telling his wife, they’d agreed from their first date that they’d never lie to each other, no matter how painful it might be. They’d both been married before and knew how lies could eat away at the foundation of a relationship.

However, when Joanna had come home, she’d been so excited about the deals and connections she’d made, he couldn’t bear to bring it up. He figured he’d wait a few days, but those days turned into weeks and months, and he’d managed to push the guilt to the back of his mind. He’d become a model husband, he’d barely looked at another woman since.

Colin hoped maybe Ellen had forgotten, but when she said, “I’ve heard so much about you, I feel like I already know you,” with a slight wink, he knew that wasn’t so.

His voice sounded shaky to his own ears, when he responded, “Nice..to meet you.” He knew he should say more, but decided a quick retreat was the wiser choice.

Colin headed directly to the bedroom and barely made it to the bed before his legs collapsed beneath him. He wiped his forehead, suddenly sweating, and hoped for a second he was actually having a heart attack, so he wouldn’t have to deal with the situation.

He jumped when Joanna opened the bedroom door, she looked concerned. “Are you OK, Colin? You disappeared so fast….”

He tried to give her a normal smile, but it felt like a grimace. Her warm, brandy-coloured eyes were wide. “You don’t look well, at all, love.”

“I’ll be fine, probably just too much sun.”

He stroked her cheek, slight smile lines reminding him that a few years had passed since they first met. She turned her face and kissed his palm.

“Have I told you lately how truly lucky I am to have you? Brilliant business woman, good heart and beautiful, too.”

She laughed, a carefree sound. “As much as I appreciate it, I’m not sure about the beautiful part! When I look at Ellen, I feel like a middle-aged hausfrau, which is not that far off, I suppose.”

Colin froze. “I…didn’t really notice.”

“Now you’re definitely lying to me! You’d have to be blind not to notice, and you are certainly not blind. I’d be jealous, except I know what a good man you are.”

It felt like a knife twisting in his gut. He opened his mouth, knowing he should say something, but, it was like his tongue had swollen to 10 times its normal size and the words couldn’t pass. He hugged her and buried his face in her soft, blonde hair. What was he going to do?

Joanna called him from work the next day to check up on him. He hadn’t eaten much dinner and went to bed early, claiming exhaustion.

“I hope you’re resting today! I didn’t want to disturb you, but I wanted you to know that Ellen will be stopping by this afternoon, to pick up some papers. I was so worried about you last night, I left them sitting in the office.”

“You know, I’m feeling better, why don’t I drop them off for you? I’d hate for Ellen to waste her time when I’m quite capable of coming by. I haven’t been into the office for a while, it might be nice to see the changes you’ve been making.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, darling, she’s already on her way. She should be there within the hour. I’d better get back to work. Talk to you later.”

Colin stood there frozen, with the phone still in his hand. After a few minutes, he slipped it back in his pocket. He felt hunted, inside the walls of his own home. He contemplated leaving, he was sure Joanna had provided Ellen with a key, so he didn’t really have to stay.

He despised himself for running away again, but went to dress for the club. He had his car keys in his hand, but as he headed for the front door, the doorbell rang.

“Damn,” he muttered. There wasn’t much to be done except square his shoulders, take a deep breath and paste a pleasant smile on his face.

“Nice to see you again,” Colin said crisply. “I’m just on my way out, you know your way to the office, so I’ll…”

Ellen pouted. “Surely you can stay for a few minutes! We haven’t even had a chance to talk yet and I have a lot to say. Joanna would be very disappointed if she thought you were being rude to me, wouldn’t she?”

Colin knew she’d won this round.

“I suppose I have a little time. Since you have to go to the office anyway, why don’t we have our conversation in there?”

“No,” she was decisive. “I’m sure the sitting room would be much more comfortable.”

Colin led the way, gritting his teeth.

When he was almost at the door, he realized Ellen was no longer following him. He turned, she was standing in the middle of the hallway, looking around.

“Your home is lovely, this is exactly what I want.”

“Thank you.” He motioned impatiently towards the sitting room. He was striving for a lighter note, “Unfortunately, this one is taken. Now if you’d care to have a seat….”

The smile he’d been so captivated by seven years ago, now looked more like a sneer.

“Perhaps you misunderstood me, this is what I want and you’re going to help me get it.”

“Are you crazy? Do you think I have enough cash just lying around to fund a whole new lifestyle for you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I want the company.”

Colin made his way on rubbery legs to the closest sofa, but then thought better of it and decided on an easy chair instead. Less opportunity for proximity.

Ellen took her time, strolling as if she owned the place, and took a seat on the love seat across from him.

“You seem like a clever girl, did it escape your notice that I don’t own the company? I’m a shareholder, along with a number of other people.”

Ellen looked at him with mock pity.

“Didn’t you ‘mentor’” she did the air quotes with her blood-red nails, “your wife for the position she now holds? It seems to me it’s about time for new management. And I would be the logical choice, even Joanna would agree with that. She holds me in very high esteem.”

“Small flaw in your plan, Joanna has no intention of stepping down and you really are delusional if you think I can change her mind.”

Ellen smiled brightly. “Scandal it is, then!”

Colin had known this was coming, so he had no problem waving it off like an annoying fruit fly.

“If you think our one night stand is going to impact the business in any way, you’re completely wrong. It’s not like we’re a company that sells bibles, I doubt if there’s one Board member who would even blink at my small indiscretion.”

“And your wife? Clearly she has no idea that you and I slept together or I doubt she would have hired me and given me the level of responsibility she has.”

Colin mentally crossed his fingers. “She knows about it, I told her right after it happened. The only reason she hasn’t connected it to you is the fact that, honestly, I couldn’t even remember your name.”

He thoroughly enjoyed the ugly flush that stained her cheeks at his words.

She hissed, “I was referring to how she’s going to react when I make sure the media knows she got her high powered job because her skills in the bedroom were so impressive, her boss signed the whole business over to her. That wouldn’t look so good with all her bleating about merit being the key to advancing in her company.”

Colin flinched at that and sputtered, “That’s a complete lie, we didn’t go on our first date until after I had stepped down. It was completely above board.”

“Really? That’s not what I heard. Do you remember your former assistant, Doris? She recalls quite clearly making arrangements for the two of you to spend some private weekends together while you were…how shall I put it…teaching her the tricks of the trade?”

“Do you think anyone will listen to the words of a disgruntled ex-employee who was fired because of her incompetence?”

She smiled, a slow, cold smile, her green eyes glittered.

“You may have considered her useless, but she kept very detailed copies of all those arrangements, just waiting for someone to come along who might have use for them.”

Colin stood up abruptly. “I’ve heard enough of your filth, get the hell out of my house!”

He would have loved to physically throw her out, but he’d never stooped that low before and he wouldn’t start now, no matter the provocation.

Ellen took her time, standing slowly and strolling casually towards the front door as he followed behind.

“There’s still time to change your mind and choose the easy way, I’ll give you an hour.”

 She reached into her purse and pulled out a business card. When he refused to touch it, she placed it on a small table in the entryway.

“Talk soon.”

Colin slammed the door behind her.

He headed immediately to the home office, he was out of time.

He dialed quickly, “Joanna, we need to talk.”

Colin put everything else aside and focused on the threat to the business.

“We need to get ahead of this thing, but I don’t know where to begin. We need to discredit her and her source, but how?”

“There is another way,” Joanna said slowly.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Give her what she wants.”

Colin was stunned. “Let her win?”

“Call the Board and suggest her promotion to CEO. Tell them I’ve got a family emergency that will take months to resolve, so I’m stepping down immediately. We sell our shares and after a few months, we start another company, in direct competition to this one. The truly great employees will follow us and bankruptcy is sure to follow. I’ll get the word out to a few trusted people, asking them to be patient, and ultimately we will be the victors.”

It was crazy and risky, but the most important part to Colin was knowing Joanna, in spite of everything hadn’t given up on them.

“I love it.”