Forbidden Passion Read online

  Kim nodded. She really couldn’t draw things out any longer. “I’ll go, then.”

  “See you later.” Sonja returned to the files on her desk.

  Hardly – not if you can avoid it, Kim thought. Sonja didn’t even offer to shake her hand in parting. She wouldn’t even grant Kim that one small touch.

  Kim sighed and left Sonja’s office.

  Over on Michelbergring her new team awaited her with curiosity. Kim didn’t know any of the team members, since the two office buildings were so geographically distant that the employees never encountered one another. She was greeted by her new department manager, an older, jovial-looking man, and introduced to all the others.

  The large company that Kim worked for manufactured electronics, and it was her team’s job to handle all the customer inquiries that came in by e-mail, letter, fax, or phone. Not an easy job – the customers weren’t very friendly, since their devices had usually caused them a great deal of aggravation before they reached the point of calling.

  Until now Kim had worked mostly in the background and rarely had contact with customers; now, she was on the front lines. She sensed that the members of her team were professionals. They spoke calmly with the customers when they were upset, and usually, the problems that existed with their products could be solved without a great deal of trouble or expense.

  The first day flew by, and Kim had no time to think about Sonja. Kim stayed at the office until almost midnight, trying to get a complete overview of her new responsibilities. All of a sudden, it was her role to give instructions to others, and she couldn’t do that if her employees understood far more about the work at hand than she did herself. Of course, she had a basic understanding of the whole process, but in direct contact with customers, practice sometimes looked rather different than the theory.

  She finally felt like she’d achieved some insight and leaned back with a sigh. The next morning she’d ask her team members to acquaint her with more of the details. It’s not so easy being the boss, Kim thought.

  Boss – keyword – Sonja . . . the chain of associations in her mind arose unbidden.

  Well, now it was over for good. But it’s best that way, she thought annoyed. Obviously Sonja felt like everything that happened between us meant nothing. I should be glad that I don’t have to see her anymore . . . that I don’t have to be constantly reminded of it all by her presence.

  But she wasn’t glad. That was the problem.

  ~*~*~*~

  For Kim the whole next week was a wild roller coaster ride through one sixteen-hour day after another. She hadn’t imagined it would be that taxing. But her team was good, and the collaboration was fun.

  Her telephone rang from morning ‘til evening; the call coming in must be at least the tenth one today. She picked up.

  “Ms. Wolff? This is Johanna Mayrhofer. I’m Mrs. Kantner’s new assistant.”

  Kim’s fingers tensed around the receiver. “Yes?” she asked as calmly as possible.

  “Mrs. Kantner isn’t in the building today, and she left me with an assignment, but I can’t find the necessary documents. Do you possibly have the time to help me?”

  “What is it that you need?” Kim felt herself relax. Sonja wasn’t in the building; that meant she wasn’t standing behind Ms. Mayrhofer right now, looking at her, listening to her, brushing against her arm . . . Kim shuddered as though just that were happening to her at that moment.

  Meanwhile, Ms. Mayrhofer explained what she was looking for.

  “I transferred that to offsite storage,” Kim said, once she understood the situation. “The paperwork, I mean. But you’ll find everything on my . . . your PC. Look it up under the year in question. I set up several subfolders within that folder. You’ll see where it is right away.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” a grateful Ms. Mayrhofer said. “Because Mrs. Kantner expects this assignment to be finished when she gets back.”

  “She always does.” Kim smiled a bit. “You can call me anytime you have questions, no problem.”

  Ms. Mayrhofer thanked her, and they hung up.

  Kim had almost forgotten the call an hour later, when Ms. Mayrhofer rang once again. “Something awful has happened,” she said. “Your PC . . . I mean, my PC . . . nothing’s working anymore. I can’t get at the documents.”

  “Sometimes it helps to shut the whole thing down and restart it,” Kim said.

  “Could you hold on while I try that?” The computer was in a slightly awkward spot under the desk; only muffled noises were audible for a moment, then her voice came back on the line. “Nothing. No dice.”

  “There is a backup.” Kim thought it over. “But if the computer is defective, the IT department won’t be able to reload it that fast. I’ll run the printed documents over to you; they’re in storage in this building, and I was planning to come over and eat in the cafeteria anyway.”

  “That’s awfully nice of you,” Ms. Mayrhofer said. “Maybe we could have lunch together. I’d like to ask you a few procedural questions – about how Mrs. Kantner likes things done. She’s so rarely in the office, and she only tells me the most essential things.”

  I could describe to you in great detail how Mrs. Kantner likes things, Kim thought, and she had to smile for a moment. Then she got serious again – that had been inappropriate and unnecessary, she thought. Old news. “I’ll come to your office. I’ll be there in half an hour.”

  It gave Kim a peculiar feeling to enter the building and trace the path to her previous workplace. Everything was still very familiar; she’d walked this way every day for years, but now she no longer belonged here.

  Her heart began to pound when, all the way at the end of the hall, she saw the open door to her former office – and behind that, Sonja’s.

  Oh, stop that nonsense! She called herself to order. Behave yourself!

  Sonja wasn’t there, after all; Ms. Mayrhofer had said so.

  She went in and saw only two feet behind the open drawer of a large filing cabinet. The cabinet was over six feet tall and completely concealed the rest of the person. “Ms. Mayrhofer?”

  The feet moved. A woman appeared. The smile on her face froze. “Ms. Wolff?” she asked startled.

  Kim froze likewise. “You?” she finally managed surprised.

  “Yeah.” Jo grinned.

  “You’re my replacement?” Kim still couldn’t grasp it.

  “Seems that way. That’s quite a coincidence.”

  “Indeed.” Kim was only slowly recovering.

  Jo came over to Kim. “Don’t worry. As they say: Our common past will have no influence on our present cooperation.” She grinned even more.

  “You’re nuts,” Kim said. “What past?”

  “Hey, if it’d been up to me . . .”

  “Here are the documents.” Kim handed Jo a large envelope. “You’ll find your way around them easily.”

  “I’m sure.” Jo nodded and accepted the envelope. “Before your PC quit working I could tell that you set everything up quite logically. Folders, subfolders and descriptive filenames – it really wasn’t hard to figure out at all. I’ve certainly seen a lot worse.”

  “I hate having to search for things. That’s why I make such an effort to keep everything in order.”

  “Me, too. There’s just no reason to waste time on pointless searching.”

  “Exactly. I didn’t know we had so much in common.”

  “Maybe that’s why things didn’t work out.”

  “I’d be very grateful if you would forget about the whole thing.” Kim grimaced with embarrassment.

  “I’d rather not. You were very sweet.” Jo simply couldn’t hold back another grin. “Even though I wish it could’ve ended differently.”

  “Then we’d better not have lunch together. Because I do not wish to hear another single word about the subject.”

  Jo pantomimed zipping her mouth shut. “Locked and barred. Not one single word. Completely forgotten. I don’t even remember what we were
talking about.”

  “That’s good.” Kim smiled. “Because I’m hungry.”

  “Me, too.” Jo set the envelope on the desk. “Let’s go.”

  At lunch they discussed a number of questions related to the new job that Jo had in store for Kim. When they got to the coffee, Jo was back to more personal topics.

  “So you really slept in a double bed with Mrs. Kantner?” she asked rather mischievously. “Or is that topic also taboo?”

  “Actually, it is.” More than anything else, Kim thought. In fact, I’d prefer a conversation about the Darkroom.

  “She looks terrific,” Jo continued unperturbed. “She’s not my type, though. But that you . . . and she . . . somehow, I can’t imagine it. That she would be open to something like that.”

  She isn’t. Not really, Kim thought. “You’ll be sorry if you breathe the slightest word about this to her,” she warned. “And anyway, it was nothing.” At least, that’s what one of the participants seemed to think.

  “I will be very careful not to breathe a word to her. I like this job. I was glad to find something so soon after moving here.”

  “Then everything’s fine.”

  “I’ll see her through somewhat different eyes from now on, though,” Jo said. “I won’t be able to help it. Considering that because of her, you –”

  Kim arched her eyebrows.

  “. . . got a promotion,” Jo went on quickly. “And so I have your job now. That should be something to celebrate. What do you think?”

  “I have no objection to that,” Kim said.

  “Then I’ll call Jennifer.”

  “You’ll call Jennifer?” The second surprise of the day. Kim looked astonished.

  “Well, yeah, Jennifer and I . . . we’ve been seeing a lot of each other,” Jo said a bit bashfully.

  “Jennifer and you?” Kim hadn’t expected that.

  “Yeah . . . I know . . . we’re the one-night-stand ladies . . . but –”

  “I’m glad.” Kim smiled. “Honestly, I’m glad to hear it.”

  “You are?” Jo asked uncertainly.

  “Yes.” Kim nodded in confirmation. “I like both of you, and if the two of you like each other, so much the better.”

  “And we both like you.” Jo grinned. “We’ll turn into the Infernal Trio.”

  “I should hope not!” Kim laughed. “I don’t actually feel all that devilish. A completely normal friendship is enough for me.”

  “Normal might be difficult, but friendship is okay.” Jo chuckled.

  “Good.” Kim smiled. “Then go ahead and call Jennifer. Let me know what you two decide.” She looked at her watch. “I have to get back. My lunch hour is over. And if you have any more questions about work, you know you just have to call.”

  “I may do that a little more often now. Now that I know who my predecessor Ms. Wolff is.”

  Kim laughed, and they left the cafeteria together.

  ~*~*~*~

  “Ms. Mayrhofer? Would you bring me the analysis?”

  Sonja swooshed past Jo on the way to her desk.

  Jo jumped up. She reached for the report she’d put together. “Here,” she said, laying the pages on the table in front of Sonja. “It almost didn’t happen, but Ms. Wolff helped me.” She just couldn’t stop herself from saying so.

  “Ms. . . . Wolff?” Sonja froze. “She was here?”

  “Yes.” Jo pressed her lips together to keep from grinning. Her boss seemed rather shaken by the mention of Kim’s name. “I called her. Unfortunately, my PC, which of course used to be Ms. Wolff’s PC, decided to crash today. The IT department made another one available for me to use right away, but it only has the standard applications on it; the files were on the frozen computer. Luckily, Ms. Wolff had also printed out the documents, and she brought them over to me.”

  Sonja took a while before she said, “I see.” She glanced briefly at the pages Jo had placed in front of her. “These look good,” she said. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, my pleasure.” Jo returned to her own desk quickly so that Sonja wouldn’t see the expression on her face.

  Something definitely happened, she thought. No matter how much Kim claims it was nothing.

  Sonja sat at her desk and laid her head in her hands. She was exhausted. Lately her days had consisted primarily of fieldwork. She was rarely in her office. The company’s upper management was planning a reorganization, and she was supposed to lay the groundwork for it. It was a back-breaking task.

  Which might be a very good thing, she thought. Not having time to think about things.

  She went to a filing cabinet and took out a folder. As she returned to her desk, the telephone rang. She picked it up. When she heard who the caller was, her face hardened. “Why are you calling?” she asked. “I asked you –”

  “I know what you asked, dear wife,” her husband’s voice said, “but I need you.”

  “I can’t right now.” Sonja’s voice was cool. “I have a lot of work to do.”

  “Have you forgotten what we agreed on?”

  Sonja’s shoulders fell. “No,” she said quietly. “I can never forget that.”

  “It’s all good, then,” her husband said.

  “Uwe . . . please . . . I have to work.”

  “Then you’ll come home late again, and I won’t even see you. That seems to be your standard operating procedure lately. I’m sure you’ll be able to spare a few minutes for your husband.”

  “What are you trying to say?”

  “You know perfectly well,” he said. “And it’s all okay, too – as long as you stick to our agreement.”

  “I am sticking to it. I have –”

  “You have a husband,” he interrupted her harshly. “That’s all you have – and ever will have.”

  Sonja shut her eyes briefly. “I know.”

  “So – do you have a few minutes?” His voice sounded self-assured.

  “Yes,” Sonja replied quietly.

  ~*~*~*~

  “Must I really?” Kim furrowed her brow.

  “You’re a manager, so I’m afraid it’s required,” Rolf Winkelmann, her new department head, said. “I’m not exactly thrilled about it either. I’ve been going to these things for years. There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s a total waste of time.”

  “You said it.” Kim sighed. “Shall we drive over together?”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “That’d be best. In half an hour.”

  Kim returned to her office. She was annoyed. Meetings had never been her favorite activity, and this one seemed particularly pointless to her; the whole afternoon would be lost. She reached for the chart she’d been working on and compared a couple of values. Customer satisfaction was in an entirely acceptable range, the numbers said, but there was still room for improvement. That, at least, she could bring up at the meeting. If she got the chance. Most meetings consisted of nothing but blah, blah, blah.

  A half hour later, Rolf knocked on her door. “Shall we?”

  At the conference center, on the way to the elevator, they met up with a number of managers Kim had only ever seen from a distance during all the years she’d worked there. Rolf greeted every one with a handshake, introducing Kim to each as his new team leader.

  That dog and pony show eventually came to an end, thank God. Since the elevator could only hold a limited number of people at once, Rolf let the most senior managers go first. “Best that way,” he said to Kim with a wink. “It’s all the same to me whether I get there first or last, but not to some of those guys.”

  Kim made a face.

  “You’ll get used to it,” he assured her in a fatherly manner. “Believe me. Supposedly, we live in a democracy in which all people are equal, but some are still more equal than others.” He laughed.

  The elevator doors opened again, and Kim and Rolf got on.

  “Sonja! Nice to see you!” Rolf called out enthusiastically. “You’ve been hard to pin down lately.”

  “I’ve been
on the road a lot.” Sonja smiled slightly. “The reorganization.”

  “I know,” Rolf said. “A pretty mess.”

  “Hello, Kim,” Sonja said, turning to Kim. Her voice sounded polite and reserved, and her smile vanished.

  Kim just stood there, practically in shock. Sonja’s face had appeared in front of her eyes when the elevator doors had opened, but Kim had taken it for a dream; this wasn’t the first time she’d seen Sonja without her actually being there. But this time it was no dream.

  She swallowed. “Good afternoon, Sonja,” she finally managed halfway civilized. She tried to suppress the trembling that seized her.

  “Now, I still don’t know why you ever let me have Kim.” Rolf laughed. “Didn’t it make your heart ache, as good as she is?”

  Sonja seemed to hesitate for a moment. “That’s exactly why she deserved the promotion.”

  Kim felt like she was standing on an auction block.

  “No doubt,” her new boss said. “I’m glad to have her.” He looked over at Kim with a broad grin. “Since you’ve been here, I only have half as much work to do.”

  The elevator stopped, and Kim, who felt like she was about to faint from Sonja’s scent and presence, stepped out quickly.

  This hadn’t occurred to her before. A meeting of the management would always entail a meeting with Sonja. And these meetings happened at least once a month. She took a deep breath. If she could find out the dates far enough in advance, maybe she could schedule a vacation or call in sick.

  Sonja was also extremely uncomfortable having to be in the same room with Kim. As soon as they left the elevator Sonja went all the way over to the opposite end of the room, as far away as possible, and greeted some fellow managers standing there.

  That suits me just fine, Kim thought. Please, go ahead, keep me at arm’s length. Granted, they now had an hours-long meeting before them, during which they couldn’t avoid one another.

  Rolf chose a different part of the room for his territory, and Kim joined him with a relieved sigh. At his side she felt protected to some degree. He brought her into the discussion, introduced her to the other members of the leadership ranks, and new colleagues asked about her new position.