A Charitable Scandal

The Unwanted Confession

After I collected my thoughts, I rose up with my tablet with the intention of grabbing Alec to meet in the conference room. However, when I turned for the door, I found that very man with his hand raised, ready to knock on the glass separating us. He wore a small, apologetic smile on his face and I gave him a fragile grin in return. Then I gestured for him to come in as I retook my seat.

"I saw Emily leaving and I thought I'd just come over."

"No problem, I was about to get you myself. All my stuff is still pulled up on my computer anyway." I put my tablet into my drawer and instead opted to use the larger monitor screen situated on my desk for us to review.

He grabbed Emily's chair and rolled across the small room to my desk. I tried to push away so he could move in closer to the screen, but our wheels caught each other and Alec simply chose to lean in to read. He was close, so close that our shoulders were only an inch or so apart. It felt nice. Familiar. Comforting. Maybe, he'd still allow moments like this so long as I allowed them in return. I could smell the spiciness of his deodorant and the nutty aroma of a recently downed cup of some designer tea. I liked it, even if he was distant, at least he was still there.

"Sorry," he said, disrupting my thoughts, "do you mind moving over some so I can get my chair in?"

"Oh, sorry." I rolled away and he pulled up to the desk to scrutinize the table I had made to organize the project.

"Do we have any control over the music? There's nothing listed here about what will be playing while we're there."

"Right, um."

Alec turned and looked at me from over his shoulder. He was missing that warm smile that had always caught my breath.

"Is everything okay?"

I took a breath, straightened my back and offered him a professionally fake smile. "Yeah, just trying to think. It never occurred to me to ask about music. The lounge is above the main restaurant, they're practically two separate buildings. I'm sure the audio systems must be independent of each other and we should have control over what is played, but I can call them right now..."

"Great, let's do that." He turned back around and continued to scan the data.

"Okay, great."

We both got to our work, stopping only now and again to ask terse, cold questions. After about an hour or so of this we'd exhausted all the dinner details and ran out of ideas for conversation points to help nudge our wealthy guests into investing in the charity. I glanced up at the clock and found that it was finally pushing towards seven. Alec had promised he'd get us out of there in time for drinks and I noticed he was making the telltale signs of closing up shop. He pulled away from the desk, powered down his tablet, and stretched in Emily's chair.

"Shall we call it a day then?" I asked, not trying to sound too eager.

"Yes, I'm sure you want to get to the bar to meet the rest."

There was a note in his voice. A sort of pulling sadness that coaxed his eyes away from mine. "You aren't going, are you?"

"Depends, I suppose." He looked to the ground as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"On what?"

"On your reaction to what I have to say."

He drew near, rolling his chair back towards mine. He came as close as our knees would allow and he leaned forward to brace his elbows on his armrests. I did another scan of the office, looking for where there must have been a camera standing sentry for just this reason, but I still couldn't find any evidence of it.