"What a day," I mumbled from the back seat of the police car. It was the first time I was ever in one. The narrow legroom, bulletproof glass and handleless doors were enough to make anyone claustrophobic. Add to that the fact that I was hung over and still a little hazy as to why I was here, and it was unpleasant to say the least.
'Can it get any worse?' I asked myself silently.
A couple days ago I was as happy as I could ever remember being. I had a damn near perfect job and reasonably good health. The best part was that I finally found a woman who I loved enough to chance getting serious with even after the fiasco of my first marriage.
She was a couple years younger than me, but older than I would have expected considering the average age of the women I dated normally. It surprised me when I first realized that I didn't care. Bethany was intelligent, attractive and definitely the best partner I ever had.
She loved me too. I knew that. Yet it turned out that her love wasn't strong enough to get past her fear of relationships. All day, as I proceeded to drink myself into a stupor, I found myself wondering why? Was it simply that she didn't feel the love as strongly as I did? Or was it because her ex-husband had hurt her worse than my ex-wife hurt me? Certainly, the fact that he had left her damn near penniless and with a child had to be part of it. Yet, that happened decades ago.
Bethany had overcome it and done well for herself. She raised a fine daughter who was now married and had a child of her own with another on the way. She was self-sufficient and nothing I could do would take that away from her. There was no reason for her to pull back from me like she was other than fear. How do you fight that?
So, all because of a woman who spurned my love, I woke up this morning, went into work and resigned from the best job of my life. It was stupid and I knew it, but I couldn't continue to work at the same place she did. I also couldn't force her to leave. She had committed a large part of her life to the company and it would just be too cruel to take that away from her no matter how mad and hurt I was feeling.
"We're here," the police officer driving the car said as he parked. I waited impatiently as his partner got out of the car and opened my door.
"Thanks," I said, feeling much better out in the cool night air. I never realized just how claustrophobic I could feel. I think it was the fact that I had no control of the doors rather than the cramped space. I looked around and frowned.
"This isn't the police station. It's a hospital," I said in surprise. The policemen nodded, but refused to comment.
"Please follow me," one of them said, leading me in. I followed numbly wondering what was really going on. I should have asked more questions when they arrived at my house, but I was too groggy to think straight.
I spent most of the elevator ride up with my thoughts split between trying to figure out what this was all about, and deciding who I should contact in order to gain the services of a good criminal attorney if need be. I knew a couple good corporate lawyers, but this was different.
"No use overreacting," I told myself. The stony faced policemen didn't comment.
"In here," one of them said as we exited the elevator. He was pointing toward a waiting room. I saw that there was another pair of policemen at the door. I walked past them and was stunned to see the room empty except for Bethany.
"What's going on?" I asked her, my tone stony. I was not ready to face her after the day I had.
"I have no idea," she replied curtly.
"I guess we wait," I shrugged. Bethany nodded in agreement. We sat there for ten minutes in silence. I couldn't think of anything to say to her. She looked worn out. I'm sure I looked worse.
The entrance of a rather small, elderly woman interrupted my thoughts. Her hair was white and her skin pale, but she was well dressed and wore some rather expensive jewelry.
"That will be all gentlemen," she said to the policemen. "Thank you." The officers nodded and left. My eyebrows rose. This lady had to have quite a lot of political power. I turned back toward Bethany and saw that she recognized the woman. Her shocked expression made that obvious.
"Cherie, what's wrong?" Bethany asked. "Is it Brad? Is he okay?"
I looked at the woman once more. So, this was Brad's wife. She was smaller than I expected, but the intenseness of her gaze made her seem bigger. She looked irate as hell.
"Why should you care?" Cherie spat back. "Either of you!"
"What do you mean?" I asked in surprise. "Is something wrong with Brad?"
"Is something wrong?" she asked sarcastically, and then added in a tone that damn near dripped with it, "No, I always stand in hospital waiting rooms for no apparent reason."
"Please," I said. "Is Brad going to be okay?"
"Cherie! Please!" Bethany added. Cherie looked at the concern on both of our faces and calmed slightly.
"Yes, no thanks to you two," she replied. "He's recovering from an operation."
"What happened?" Bethany asked.
"Well, he's not a young man you know," Cherie replied, not really answering.
"Was it his heart?" I asked, not able to believe it possible, but wanting verification. Brad was the fittest seventy-two year old I'd ever met.
"It could have been, considering that two of the people he cares most about abandoned him," she replied acidly.
"Abandoned him?" I asked. "What are you talking about?"
"What? You didn't leave a written resignation on his desk this morning?" she asked me, her voice once again dripping in sarcasm.
"Yes, but that had nothing to do with abandoning Brad," I said with a frown. "I just thought it would make it easier. I didn't want to hurt anyone."
"You didn't even have the decency to do it face to face!" Cherie snapped.
"You quit?" Bethany asked in amazement. I shrugged and she continued, "But you loved that job! I'm sure Brad planned on making you CEO eventually."
"Brad already offered him the job," Cherie said succinctly. "It was my understanding that they were just waiting for the right moment to announce it."
"Brad made you the CEO and you resigned!" Bethany cried as she stood and faced me. She was obviously angry. "How could you? Brad was willing to rely on you to take care of his company and you threw it in his face! What about the employees? Those people need you!"
"And what about you?" Cherie asked Bethany, cutting through her rant. "Wasn't your resignation also on his desk? Again, not even enough common courtesy to face him. You were his right hand for over two decades!" All the anger in Bethany melted away and she fell back into her chair.
"I can't believe you resigned," I sighed. "You love that company like it was a second child." Bethany looked at me and shrugged. I found myself wondering if she did it to be with me, but if she had, why hadn't she told me?
"What exactly is going on?" Cherie asked. "Why did both of you resign on the same day?" She waited, but neither of us answered. I tried to meet Bethany's eyes, but she refused to look at me. I sighed to myself. Bethany didn't quit to be with me, she quit to avoid me. I wondered how she rationalized it considering her whole argument to keep us apart revolved around us working together.
"Brad told me about you two, but I just didn't believe him until right now," Cherie said, interrupting my thoughts. "Don't you both think you're a little old to be letting your personal lives interfere with work?"
"Yes," I said glumly. "That's why I resigned."
"Me too," Bethany added.
"So, my husband ends up in a hospital because you two are too..." Cherie began, but then she stopped herself and shook her head.
"Cherie, what's really wrong with Brad?" I asked into the silence that followed. The woman looked at me carefully before answering.
"Well, after you left Brad had no choice but to fire Karl," she said. I frowned and then nodded slowly. It made sense in away.
"He couldn't afford to keep someone as inept as Karl on considering," I sighed. Cherie nodded.
