Charles stood, drumming a pen on the desktop as he contemplated her words. Instead of his usual conservative business suit, he wore khaki slacks and a white oxford shirt. To her absolute amazement, she noticed a plastic pocket protector in the shirt pocket. She didn’t realize people actually used those things. Luc and Blanche would have had a good laugh over that nerdy accessory.
“It never occurred to me that you would have a loose tongue,” he added. “It never occurred to me that you’d do something to reflect badly on the company’s good reputation.”
“Now, wait a minute. It’s not my fault that snoopy reporter pieced together a story from eavesdropping and… whatever.”
“And you blew it over a man like Lucien LeDeux?” he sneered. “The Swamp Solicitor?”
Sylvie was really starting to dislike Charles’s attitude. “I am not involved personally with Lucien LeDeux, not that it’s any of your business.” She raised her chin haughtily.
“Oh, it’s my business, all right. We could be talking lawsuits here.”
Her face heated, but she held her ground. “No one but Luc ate the potion… no human, that is.” She motioned with her head toward the cages, where Samson and Delilah were indulging in their favorite pursuit, along with a half dozen of the other rodent couples.
“Can’t you stop them from doing that?” Charles inquired with a sniff of distaste.
“How would you suggest I do that?”
“Put them in separate cages.”
But that would be so cruel. “I’ll take care of it.”
She walked over and opened the window blind, letting in a stream of sunlight. Now that the rain had let up, the sky was bright and cloud-free. “The rats will settle down now. They don’t like the light,” she explained.
Further, she decided to protect at least one of her pet couples—Samson and Delilah—from Charles’s or the company’s neglect or inadvertent abuse. She saw an empty Happy Meal carton that must have been left by a cleaning person. She poked several holes in it with a ballpoint pen, then gently placed the squealing lovers into their new nest of crumpled wax paper, which still smelled of cheeseburger. The two rats immediately latched onto a half-eaten french fry. Rat heaven.
“What… are… you… doing?” Charles demanded. Sylvie really, really disliked the underlying condescension in his voice.
“I’m taking Samson and Delilah home with me… for a few days.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to.” Now that was a mature answer. Why didn’t I add a “nyah, nyah, nyah”? It must be my exposure to Luc that’s causing my personality to split.
Charles snorted with disgust, then asked, “Speaking of lawsuits, did you use generic jelly beans, or the name-brand ones?”
“Huh?”
“Surely you see the possibilities of a lawsuit there, too,” he pointed out snidely.
“No, I didn’t use name-brand jelly beans.” She inhaled and exhaled deeply with exasperation. “Look, there’s no real harm done here. Tell the reporters it was just a joke, that there is no love potion. I’m sure I can get Luc to go along with that.” Well, reasonably sure.
“It’s gone too far for that. Uh… actually… we… I mean, the board… are contemplating a rush trial on humans.”
“What? You made this decision without consulting me?” Sylvie was overwhelmed with fury. “And did you bump me from the trials, too? Are you by any chance taking over my project?”
Charles’s eyes looked everywhere but at her. Even more telling was his refusal to answer her questions. “In the meantime, we could schedule a press conference giving preliminary results on JBX,” he said. He shifted from foot to foot and rubbed a forefinger nervously over his upper lip.
The fine hairs stood out on her neck. “No! Absolutely not! I will not jeopardize the success of this venture because of a silly newspaper leak. Surely, we can do damage control.”
“Frank and I were talking about it, and of course we won’t know for sure till we examine your formula, but…”
“But?” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“Well, you see, the company earnings have been down this past quarter, and we were thinking that, if it really is a viable love potion, and it’s already been proven with lab rats, well, what’s the point of waiting till…” His words trailed off at her gasp of outrage, and his face flamed slowly into a beet-red color.