The Night I Got Lucky by Laura Caldwell Read Free Book Online

when I’d raised it, I felt like a little kid in a big La-Z-Boy. It was too deep, my feet barely touched the floor. I found a Chicago Yel ow Pages, the shape and weight of an anvil, and put that under my feet. I took my camel sweater off the hook behind the door and bal ed it up behind my back. Now what?
    I turned on my computer. Everything looked the same there. I clicked on my e-mail account, scanning a note from an old col ege friend who was coming to town. There was also an e-mail from Odette suggesting new ideas for how to promote her book. I made notes on a pad of paper, reading Odette’s e-mail slowly. The last line said, If you don’t have time to call, don’t worry, just have your assistant, Lizbeth, give me a buzz.
    I put my pen down and sat back in my big chair. Who the hel was Lizbeth?
    I looked at the phone—a sleek black model with typed speed-dial names. One of them said “Lizbeth.” I stared at that a second, then slowly lifted my index finger and brought it down on the button.
    “Hiya, Bil y!” A chipper voice shot through my phone. “What do you need?”
    “Uh…” I considered my possible responses. A lobotomy. A clue. “Lizbeth?” I said, the word alien on my tongue.
    “Yeah?”
    “You’re my assistant, right?”
    A peal of girlish laughter. “Of course.”
    I sat back in my chair.
    “Bil y?” I heard through the phone.
    “Yes. Uh…Lizbeth, what day is it?”
    “May 5th.”
    That sounded right to me. “And it’s Tuesday, right?”
    “Yeah. Is something wrong?”
    What could be wrong? I’d had fabulous sex with my husband that morning, and I’d been promoted overnight. The only problem was I didn’t seem to know anything about that promotion.
    Then I got an idea. I knew who could help me.
    “No, everything is fine,” I said. “Have you seen Evan today?”

    Evan looked up from his desk, his green eyes sparkling, his dimples crinkling. “Hey there! I’m glad to see you.”
    He came around the desk and hugged me tight.
    “Whoa,” I said, pushing him back a little. Evan and I might hug when we saw each other out at night (me being the one holding him a tad too closely) but we never embraced at work. It wasn’t that kind of office.
    “God, it’s weird, but I missed you,” he said.
    “You missed me since yesterday?” Wasn’t it yesterday that I’d gone to the team meeting, that I’d been humiliated by Roslyn, that he’d mentioned the Hel o Dave show?
    “Yeah.” His hand, stil on my arm, felt almost like a caress.
    “I’ve got to ask you something.” I slipped away and closed the door.
    “Sure.” He gestured to one of the chairs that faced his desk and went back to his own.
    “What’s going on around here?” I said, taking a seat.
    “You look sexy today,” he said.
    “Do I?” I took a quick look at my brown pants, my ivory blouse. I’d worn the outfit to work no less than fifty times.
    “You do.” His eyes dragged down my body, then back up again. “God, what is it about you today?”
    “I don’t know.” Maybe it’s the fact that I just got steamed an hour ago? “Look, Ev, focus for me, okay? What in the hel is happening around here?”

    “What do you mean?”
    “Why do I have a VP office?”
    He laughed. “Because you’re a VP, baby. Get used to it.”
    “Why did it happen so quick?”
    “What do you mean? You deserved it for a long time.”
    “I know,” I said, irritated. “But why did they just move me in there overnight?”
    “What are you talking about? You’ve been VP for a while.”
    “A while? How long?”
    He ran a hand through his blond hair—the kind of gesture that normal y made me sigh with desire. “I can’t remember.” He scratched his head. “Huh. That’s strange. Wel , anyway, it doesn’t matter. Are you tense?”
    “What?”
    “You seem like you’re tense. Let me give you a neck rub.” In a flash, he was around his desk and behind me, his hands massaging my neck.
    My eyes drifted shut for a moment, then