After-Hours Memory

Veronica avoided me for two days until I had her served with divorce papers at her work.

"You're not even going to try?" She asked when she entered the house that evening, holding the divorce papers.

"Did you try? Did you try when you realized you were starting to have feelings for Don? Did you try when you started fantasizing about fucking Don? Did you try when you were trying to figure out how you could lie to me, fuck Don, and still remain married to me? Did you try when I asked you if you weren't spending too much time with Don? Did you try when..."

"Alright, alright, alright," she interrupted me, waving her arms in surrender.

"I can keep going, I have a whole bunch more," I offered.

"No, you've made your point," she said, looking at the divorce papers in her hand.

"You're really done?" Veronica asked after a moment.

"Yeah, told you that a few days ago, when I asked you to move out," I reminded her.

"Uh, yeah. You know we got pulled off the Jaaffer Merger," she said.

"Jaaffer Merger? And who's we?" I asked. I had no idea what she was talking about.

"Yesterday, Don and I got called into one of the other partners' offices and told to stay away from each other during work hours because rumors about us were getting out of hand. We had been working on the Jaaffer Merger for a while and were going to get a pretty big bonus when it was done, but now we're not because we got removed, thanks to you," she complained.

"Well, that's what happens with affairs. There's always collateral damage," I reasoned.

"It wasn't an affair," she protested.

"Oh, then what was it? I'm dying to hear your explanation of your relationship with Don," I said sarcastically.

Veronica was quiet for a long time.

"Fuck you," she muttered as she walked away towards the guest room where she had been staying.

I was surprised to find her copy of the divorce papers on the kitchen table the next morning, signed. Of course, they would have to be signed in front of a notary later, but hell yeah!

I leafed through them, and she hadn't made any notes or changes. I was surprised that she was going to keep my last name.

Two days later, Friday, I came home to find Veronica sitting at the kitchen table crying. I didn't want to ask because I really didn't care, but she was another human being in distress.

"Veronica, what's wrong?" I asked, remembering that her asking me this same question had been the beginning of the end of our relationship on Monday.

"Jesus, Rick, I can't believe it. Don was a spy for the other side in the Jaaffer Merger. It all came out earlier. He was working for the Harrisburg Corporation and feeding them information as we were working through the vulnerabilities and legal wranglings that go into any merger. We were wondering why things were progressing so slowly with Harrisburg and how they seemed to keep asking questions at the most inopportune times, but it never occurred to anyone that they had a spy in our office." Veronica stopped talking and just stared out the window.

"How did they catch him?" I asked the obvious question.

"He, uh, he, tried to get back on the merger team yesterday. Like was arguing with one of the partners about it. It struck Hugh, the partner he was arguing with, as odd. So, he has our investigator pull Don's phone records off his work phone and his computer email history from his work computer. This morning, the investigator showed Hugh what he found, and it was Don sending Harrisburg everything on the merger and calling them numerous times every day with information." Veronica's hand was shaking as she took a drink of wine. "They called him into the office and started questioning him. The evidence was overwhelming, and there was stuff about me in there, Rick," she cried. "His whole thing with me was just to distract me because I was the lead on the merger. He didn't give a shit about me. He just wanted me all flustered so he could steal information about our side of the merger. I'm such a fucking idiot," she exclaimed. She dropped her head into her arms on the table and began to sob.

Veronica had been honey-trapped by a corporate spy.

"I'm sorry you got caught up in that, but it doesn't change anything," I commented.

Veronica looked at me in shock.

"Why not? It was all fake," she argued.

"But your actions and reactions to it were real. We're getting a divorce, and I wish you would hurry up and move out," I stated. I left the kitchen.

Veronica was gone the next day.

That Saturday and Sunday, I started wandering around the house, thinking about how I was going to redo the interior.

Sunday evening, Veronica called to coordinate movers to get her stuff. There were a few pieces of furniture she wanted that I let her have, along with the bed out of the guest room she had been using.

I heard that the Jaaffer Merger collapsed when Veronica's firm advised Jaaffer to withdraw because Harrisburg had been acting in bad faith. Harrisburg Stocks began to plummet as word that the merger was not going through became public knowledge. I knew Harrisburg had lots of physical assets but little working capital, so I grabbed a bunch of their floundering stocks myself. Mr. Jaaffer and company saw an opportunity, and the merger became a hostile takeover because the volume of available stock was too great for Harrisburg and their confederates to maintain a majority interest in the company.

I was happy for Veronica because she did end up with her day in the sun when she walked into the boardroom at Harrisburg Corporation as a member of the acquisition team. I smiled at her when she walked past me. I had managed to secure almost 5% of the stock in Harrisburg by leveraging almost all the properties I controlled.

Veronica broke stride with the other lawyers when she saw me. Shocked to see me doesn't even come close to describing her expression. Her jaw would have hit the floor if it wasn't attached to her face.

After only a quick pause, she caught up and was soon seated with the other lawyers from her firm.

The partners from her firm saw me, smiled, and nodded. They did a good job of hiding the fact that they had no idea why I was there.

Don Singletary was there. I assume acting as legal counsel for Harrisburg. His days as a lawyer were numbered because he had misrepresented himself during the merger, acting in bad faith with Veronica's firm, falsifying employment records, and corporate espionage. Losing his license to practice law was actually the least of his worries as Veronica's firm was pressing criminal charges. All that and he was about to be fired.

Any day I'm party to making lawyers sad is a good day.

The board meeting went quickly. Jaaffer had a controlling interest with the proxies and my added shares.

The partners nodded their understanding when my contribution to the vote was announced, and Mr. Jaaffer acknowledged my presence.

Mr. Harrisburg was removed as CEO. The company voted to become a subsidiary of Jaaffer Enterprises and cease to function as Harrisburg Corporation.

Mr. Harrisburg had had enough at this point and left the boardroom.

Mr. Jaaffer asked if I wanted to sit on the board after the meeting. Apparently, the partners had told Mr. Jaaffer how I had contributed to the current situation, and he thought an appointment to the board of directors was a just reward. I laughed when I shook his hand in agreement with his offer.

"I do have to tell you, I have no idea what this appointment entails," I admitted.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of you," he assured me. He walked off to receive the congratulations of others.

Veronica waited until everyone had left to talk to me.

"Hey, Rick," she said, trying to sound casual.

"That's Director Palance to you," I said, laughing. "I see you're back on the winning team," I commented, referring to her being part of the acquisitions team.

"Oh, yeah, I'll get my bonus, but at a reduced rate for being an idiot," she admitted.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you are back on track," I encouraged.

"Oh, no, I'm on double secret probation for six months. Hugh and Bert sat me down, and we had a long talk about me being an idiot, but a useful idiot. If you hadn't talked to Bert about Don, he never would have popped up on Hugh's radar as a threat," she said, reaching into her purse and pulling out an envelope. "Here's your share of the bonus. Hugh insisted I share it with you. It was a stipulation of me remaining employed at the firm," she said, holding out the envelope for me to take.

"Uh, thanks," I said, hesitantly taking the envelope.

"If you hadn't caused such a ruckus, we would have gotten screwed in the merger. Harrisburg would have known where all the bodies were hidden," Veronica explained.

"I don't get it. What's the big deal?" I asked.

"Unlike Harrisburg, Jaafer has no real property. Everything is leased and currently leveraged to the max," she finished. "Financially, Jaafer was not in as strong of a financial position as we were showing on paper."

"Yeah, Harrisburg had lots of real value. One of the reasons I invested," I commented.

"Yeah, over one-hundred and twenty thousand shares?" She asked, incredulous.

"Oh, I'm leveraged to the max. Don't ask about the house for a few months, okay?" I joked.

"No, Rick, we're good. My lawyer said our divorce will be final next month. You were more than fair, like you said you would be. I screwed up, and somehow you saved me again, even though I didn't deserve it," she admitted.

"I was just pissed and wasn't going to be disrespected anymore," I explained.

"I see that now. Thanks for not burning it all to the ground," Veronica said.

"You were gone from the relationship. I just wanted it over with," I reasoned.

"I still love you, Rick," she argued.

"Your actions told me otherwise," I retorted.

"I know. I can see that now. I am sorry. You didn't deserve to be treated like that. Not by anyone, especially your wife," she apologized.

"Well, I have to get back to the office and direct our clerks to file all this legal paperwork. Congratulations Mister Director, sitting on the board." Veronica teased me about the new position I had, which I knew nothing about.

"Yeah, Pete Jaafer said he was going to do that when he found out how much of the company I owned," I explained.

"Wow, you get to call him Pete? He's still Mr. Jaafer to us mere mortals," Veronica joked.

"Well, it was my nearly five percent that gave him majority control of the company, so I became his new best friend," I laughed.

"Well, now that the company is back on solid ground, that five percent should make you a lot of money," Veronica speculated.

"Yeah, I need it to pay back the loans on all my properties," I joked.

"You'll be fine. You always are. I have to go. I'll talk to you later," she said as she left.

"Bye," is all I said. I almost said, "See you in court." As that was when I would probably see her next, when our divorce is finalized, but I decided not to be too big of an ass.

On my way out the door, an Administrative Assistant gave me a phone number to call if I had any questions about my board appointment.

I sat in my truck, thinking about the past few months and the weird path my life had taken. Things had worked out the way they had because I faced things head-on. I didn't let my wife play me too much, and when the opportunity presented itself, I voiced my displeasure with her and those who could affect the situation, like her bosses.

I stayed true to my principles and didn't compromise my integrity.

I hope Veronica learned from her mistakes, but what she does with the rest of her life is not my concern.

I'm going to head back to my office. The Operations Manager hired a new interior designer for our company who kind of looks like Sophia Vergara. I think it's time she met the boss. My house needs a new interior is as good an excuse as any.