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Annie reappeared, dressed in jeans and a dark blue sweater.
“All set,” she said.
“Awesome, let’s do this,” Elliot said as the three headed for the door.
At the doorway, Annie turned back to me and blew me a kiss.
“Have fun,” I said.
Scout and I watched from the porch as they drove away. Scout whined, tail limp. “She’ll be back. At least for the next few weeks.”
When I was a kid, I’d counted the days until Christmas with anticipation. Now I wanted time to slow so that I could savor our time together. Would it be the only one we ever had? I hoped not, but it would not be up to me. I already knew. I wanted Annie to marry me. I’d been right as a boy. She was the one for me. If only I could convince her to come to the same conclusion.
What was it about her that felt so right? I’m sure I wasn’t the first man in the world to have trouble explaining why he loved someone. Other than the obvious. She was smart, sensitive, kind, and fun. Despite all the burdens this life had flung upon her, she’d kept her sense of humor and vulnerability.
And the nights? They were hot enough to melt the icicles that had formed on the sides of my house.
“Come on, girl,” I said to Scout. “Let’s go cozy up until shegets home. Maybe she’ll choose a Christmas gift for your stocking.”
Scout and I headed into the living room, where I turned on the fire and grabbed the latest classic novel I was working my way through.The Scarlet Letterwas as depressing as I remembered it from school. I was starting to regret my vow to read all of the best books ever written. I’d have loved a good spy novel about then.
Unable to focus, I set the book aside and turned on the television. Other than keeping up with the ridiculous things gossipmongers were writing about us online, I had no idea what was happening in the world. My whole universe had become Annie Armstrong.
The television was already tuned to a news channel. I could hardly believe my eyes or ears when I saw the headline story. The CEO of Seamark and his executive staff were being indicted for fraud and insider trading.
I listened, shocked, as the story unfolded. The FBI had been working on a case for months and had invaded the offices in San Francisco just that morning. They had enough evidence, according to the news story, to charge them with financial statement fraud, earnings management misrepresentation, insider trading, misleading public statements and accounting irregularities.
Good Lord.
I sat on the edge of the couch, remote still in hand, utterly astonished.
Basically, they’d been untruthful about how much money they were really earning, using creative accounting techniques to hide the truth.
They showed footage of the CEO coming out of the building in handcuffs.
Robert Kelly and I had spent many hours together discussing the purchase of my small start-up. He’d promised me he’d findpositions for any of the employees who wanted to work at Seamark, and he’d kept his word. At least twenty of my former employees had happily landed in one group or another. I kept in touch with a half dozen of them, and they were all content, although several had mentioned that it wasn’t as exciting as the work we’d all done together.
My phone buzzed on the coffee table where I’d left it. The number wasn’t one I recognized, but it was from the area code where I used to live so I picked it up. “Hello, Atticus Moon speaking.”
“Atticus, it’s Matt Wells here. Do you have a minute?”
Matt Wells. It took me a moment to place the name. He was the president of the board of Seamark. Why was he calling me? I really hoped the scandal wouldn’t harm any of my former employees. Felix, my CFO, had taken one of the positions, as head of the financials for one of Seamark's product lines. Felix had been almost excruciatingly accurate about our money back when we made the deal with Seamark. He wanted nothing unreported or manipulated. Of course I agreed. He’d been instrumental in building my product and company, yet I’d been surprised he’d taken the position with Seamark. He had enough money to retire and live very well the rest of his life.
“Sure, I have time,” I said. “I’m just watching the news. I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”
“Yes, well, it’s a blow, I can assure you. The stockholders are going bananas, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
“I can, yes.”
“Listen, this hasn’t come out in the news yet, but your man’s the one who blew the whistle. Felix figured out what they were doing and went to the Feds.”
I uttered an expletive under my breath. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. When it comes out publicly, there will be some questions, I’m sure, from the blasted press. For now, his name’s not been released. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep it quiet.”
“That goes without saying.”
“I take it Felix hasn’t talked to you?”
