Lost and Found (A Novel) (5 page)

After a very long day, Wynne finally decided to end their work. Caelie was tired and not in a good mood. She was still sore that she was called back. It wasn’t the fact she had to work during the weekend. She understood that to be successful, sometimes you had to sacrifice your free time. She was upset that she had to break the routine of driving down to Annetta’s place early Saturday morning. Annetta would have been disappointed. It was already late in the evening and soon it would be too dark to be driving alone on the almost deserted road to the countryside. Not to mention that her battered car could die on her at the most inopportune time.

Her stomach rumbled as Caelie made her way out the entrance door of the building. Pulling her scarf tighter to protect her neck, she braced through the chilling air. A handful of people were hurrying towards their vehicles, most probably heading home to enjoy whatever was left of their weekend. Caelie squinted her eyes as she caught sight of a familiar figure standing at the bottom of the stairs by the road. He was shivering slightly as he rubbed his gloved hands together, occasionally blowing air on them to keep himself warm. His face brightened when he saw Caelie and waved frantically at her. A smile formed on Caelie’s face as she hurried to him.

“Uncle Burn, what are you doing here?” Caelie’s muffled voice sounded through Wilburn’s jacket as he enveloped her into a bear hug.

“Waiting for you of course.” Caelie broke free from the hug and searched Wilburn’s face worriedly.

“Oh gosh, did something happen to Ann? Is she alright? I should have gone there, I knew it.”

“Hey, hey relax Caelie. Ann is perfectly fine. I was just running some errands nearby here and I thought I would catch up with you. Ann told me you are working today. I didn’t know what time you would be off so I just stood here. I wouldn’t miss you then when you walked out of the building.”

“How long have you been standing out here? You could have just called me. What if I was not out till night?” Caelie frowned, clearly unhappy that Wilburn had been chilling himself to the bones out here waiting for her.

“I didn’t want to disturb you. Anyway you are out now right? Come, how about we go get dinner? I’m starving.” Caelie laughed as Wilburn rubbed his stomach while giving her a pitiful look.

“Fine, let’s go. I’m hungry too. But next time, give me a call okay. You could have waited for me at the reception area.” Caelie linked her arms through Wilburn and turned to guide him away when she bumped into none other than Wynne, who seemed to have an amused expression on his face. Caelie wondered if he had been standing there all this while listening on their conversation.

“Am I disturbing something here? You two look so cozy together.” Wynne smirked as Caelie narrowed her eyes at him.

“It’s after office hours Mr. Grant. I don’t believe I’m still required to answer to you. Now, if you will please excuse us, we have someplace to go.” Caelie pulled Wilburn along as she walked around Wynne who was chuckling now. Wilburn raised his eyebrow but Caelie only shot him a look that said not now.

Caelie had brought Wilburn to a little diner just round the corner of her office building. She loved the homely atmosphere in the diner and the food was not too bad. More importantly, it was not as crowded as other fast food restaurants.

“So, do you want to talk about it now?” Wilburn asked in between taking huge bites off his burger.

“Talk about what?” Caelie asked, sounding as innocent as possible, while pushing a forkful of scrambled eggs in her mouth and chewing them slowly.

“Oh you know what I’m talking about. Who’s that man we ran into earlier? He seemed like a fine dashing young man. Did you have a lover’s tiff?” Wilburn asked teasingly.

“What?” Caelie looked at Wilburn horrified, choking a little on her eggs. “Didn’t you hear what he said? That was so offensive. In what way does that make him a fine man? I wouldn’t even make him a friend, much less a lover!” Caelie huffed indignantly, throwing her fork down as if just the thought was too revolting for her. Wilburn gave a hearty laugh at her reaction.

“On the contrary, I took that as a compliment actually. It means I’m still good looking enough to have a young girlfriend.”

“He was being sarcastic you know.”

“I know, but you can choose to either interpret it the way you like or the way he would have wanted it. I prefer the former.” Wilburn smiled. Caelie smiled and pick her fork back up.

“Appetite’s back?”

“Shouldn’t waste food.” Caelie shrugged nonchalantly as she resumed eating.

“Seriously Caelie, you need to stop being so hostile towards men.” Wilburn shook his head in a reproaching manner. His voice while still kind, had taken on a serious tone.

“Whatever for if they are just going to end up being jerks.”

“Okay, no man for now. But what about girl friends? Don’t tell me just having Ann is good enough. What if you need advice on clothes to wear or latest hairstyle trend? It would be a disaster if you go to her. Don’t tell her I said this, but, she’s so out of fashion.” Wilburn winked conspiratorially. Caelie tsked in mocked disapproval.

“She’s not too bad Uncle Burn. Besides I don’t care for all those fashions and trends. I have my own style and I’m proud of it.” Caelie flicked her hair over her shoulder and held her head up high.

“Oh, I’m sure you do. But it won’t hurt to keep one or two more friends close. At least you’ll have someone to fall back on in times of need.”

“Not you too. Did Ann put you up to this?” Caelie rolled her eyes as she groaned.

“Ann means well Caelie. She just wants the best for you. You may not like our constant nagging but it’s for your own good. We all care for you Caelie.”

“You guys are even singing the same tune. You know, I think you should have just married Ann. It would be good for you both.”

“Believe me, I’ve been telling her the same thing for years but she was just so adamant on staying alone. What can I say, like Ann, like Caelie.” Caelie burst out laughing, joined in by Wilburn a second later. Inwardly, he sighed. He loved Caelie like his own daughter and was as worried as Annetta about her lack of social life. He just did not know how else to break through the barrier that Caelie was so stubbornly cloaking around her. Well, he supposed he would have to discuss with Annetta on the next plan. Sipping his glass of water, he smiled as he eyed the man over the rims of his glass, trying to discreetly watch them from the corner booth at the back of the diner.

Over at the corner booth, Wynne ducked his head down when the old man looked his way. The smile seemed to have been directed at him. Damn, had he been caught spying on them? Wynne smacked a hand to his forehead. What on earth was he thinking, following them here? Caelie would have a field day mocking him if she knew.

He had to admit that it was curiosity that had spurred him to follow them. Since the first day Caelie had reported for work she had always been a loner. Even during lunch she preferred to eat her packed food by herself at her cubicle. He had overhead on a few occasions Chanell and Alex asking her to join them on a girls night out but she had turned them down each time. So he had been surprised to see an old man waiting for her outside the building. What had struck him even more was the way her face had lighted up as she ran into his arms. Who was this man? It could not be her father, that much he was certain since he had read her profile and there was no indication of family members.

Wynne’s head snapped up an instance when another bout of laughter erupted from Caelie’s table. She seemed to be enjoying herself, which was a stark contrast to the long face she had pulled throughout work. Oh well, no point cracking his brain over it. He had better things to do than bother about that girl. Leaving his bill with tips on the table, he silently made his way out of the diner, vaguely aware of the old man’s eyes on him.

The continuous clicking of pen was the only sound and movement that was keeping Caelie awake. As usual, Wynne was talking animatedly about his plans and Caelie had tuned out after thirty minutes of it. She had found advertising interesting at first but after a while, she realized that the concepts were all basically the same and no one really dared to voice out any opinions. She looked around at the other five members in the team, all of whom had concentrated looks on their faces. Some were even copiously taking notes as Wynne talked.

Caelie would not deny that Wynne was good at what he did and his plans were good. He also had a great team, who worked hard alongside him. But what the team lacked was fresh ideas. His team, while dynamic, was too afraid to propose different perspectives. Sure, they would give inputs and build upon Wynne’s ideas to make the plan more solid but they were not challenging, which led to a kind of groupthink disability in the team. They were too reliant on Wynne and it was almost as though they would be crippled without him. Caelie did not think that such a situation would be healthy for the company.

Caelie leaned her head on her hand and sigh. It took her a moment to realize that the room was suddenly very quiet. She looked up to see everyone facing her. Her throat felt dry, had everyone heard her sigh?

“Well, I believe our little Miss Intern here has something so say.” Wynne raised an eyebrow as he stared down at Caelie from where he stood with his arms crossed.

Caelie could feel her face heated up as her cheeks reddened. Her mouth moved but no words came out. She felt stupid acting like a goldfish.

“Lost for words aren’t we?” Wynne mocked, clearly enjoying himself at Caelie’s discomfort.

Caelie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, mentally urging her brain to work. She had to say something otherwise Wynne would never let her live it down. She exhaled as she slowly opened her eyes and looked straight at Wynne.

“I…um…I,” Caelie took another deep breath to steady her nerves, “I feel we need fresh ideas.” She gushed out before her nerves clamped up on her again. The room was filled with a deafening silence that seemed to stretch for a long time. Some of the members stared at her in shock while others seemed to have their interest perked up.

Wynne narrowed his eyes at her. “You think my ideas are stale?” There was a sharp edge to his voice.

Caelie swallowed her saliva nervously. There was no way she could back down now that she had started it. “No, honestly I think your ideas are good. But I just feel that we lack new perspectives. They all seemed to be heading in one direction. There’s no harm in trying out something different. Advertising is about taking risks and experimenting with new things in order to stay connected to the consumers.”

“So, are you an expert at advertising now?”

“No, I’m just-”

Wynne held up his hand to stop Caelie from continuing. “Fine.”

Caelie blinked, unsure of whether she had heard him right. As she looked around she noticed that the others were also mirroring her reaction. It was not like Wynne to not put up a tough fight. She had expected that and was even bracing herself for a long argument. She watched as Wynne’s expression turned from annoyed to anger and finally now amusement. He smirked at her and his eyes had glinted with, was that mischief? Caelie was sure she would not like what he had to say next.

“Very well, if that is what you think, Miss Pierce. I don’t lead my team by dictatorship. You have voiced out your opinion and I will take your advice. I want you to come up with a proposal for our next issue by noon tomorrow. The team will meet after lunch to hear your presentation. We are done for now.” Wynne gathered his things and sauntered out of the room, with the others trailing after him. Some turned and gave Caelie sympathy smiles just before exiting the door.

Caelie slumped into her chair and groaned, mentally scolding herself for her big mouth. She lacked the experience in this field and had no in-depth knowledge of the technicalities. There was no way she could put together a proposal by herself in such a short time. She looked up in surprise when she saw Marine Mayner, the only woman on Wynne’s team, came up and sat in front of her. Marine was in her early thirties and had a pleasant look. She had been friendly to Caelie since she was attached to the team but they had never got the chance to really talk. Marine smiled at her.

“That was very daring of you, Caelie. I must say, in the four years that I had worked with Wynne, I had never seen anyone challenged his ideas before.” Marine chuckled.

“I wasn’t challenging him. I was just voicing out an opinion.” Caelie said defensively.

“That’s as good as a challenge to him.”

“Yeah, and I’m paying for it now.” Caelie looked down miserably. Marine laughed again, sweeping her curly brown hair out of her eyes.