The Gracious Guest

Carly got up from the computer when she saw Adam and Candy getting closer. At first, she was not sure that she was going to look away. She liked to look, but then decided that it would have been easier to look if she was more in control. How did he get into the game? Into her computer? What kind of glitch was that?!

Pushing her glasses up into her hair, Carly was startled when she saw Devon’s face on her phone. Devon was their boss. He was the one who had encouraged her to develop her game after the collaboration she had done with Adam. She picked up the phone urgently, but then realized she could not tell him what was going on because she did not know how to even explain it! Adam is in my game on my computer? How on earth would she explain that?

“Devon,” she said calmly — feigned calmness — then realized she was going to be able to pull it off.

“Carly, how are you? How is everything going? We are so excited to see what has developed with the game. Do you need anything?”

Devon had been especially helpful to her. It seemed like he wanted more from her, that he was flirting even and the difficult thing was that he was very attractive. Carly did not mind it at all, but knew that as their boss, it was not something that she wanted to pursue. Though Devon made it as hard as possible for her to refuse him, with Adam she was able to use him as her shield.

Adam was currently not with her.

“Hi Devon, I’m fine. Everything is coming along, thank you for asking.”

“Great, so we will see you later?”

“Later?”

“You and Adam are coming over for dinner, right? Sky catered an amazing spread, and picked even more amazing bottles for tonight.”

“Of course,” Carly said. What else could she say? She had forgotten that Devon and Sky had invited them for dinner, and there was an entire meal catered? She would figure out what excuse to make for Adam, would go to dinner by herself and be the most gracious guest.

*** ***

“Welcome!” Devon and Sky synchronized greeted her when they opened the door. Carly smiled charmingly hoping it would take away from the fact that she was alone, as their housekeeper Camille took her trench coat.

“Thank you,” Carly smiled, and Camille nodded warmly.

“Where is Adam?” Devon asked, and the way he looked at her while Sky was there was jarring. He had never told her explicitly that he wanted anything more from her than to be a good employee. But the way he looked at her and the way that he interacted with her made her flush nonstop. She hoped that Sky did not notice.

“This,” Sky said, walking toward her. “is a 1967 Barolo.”

Carly tried to quickly close her gaping mouth as Sky came close to pour the venerable vintage. Her scent was so sweet. Devon’s wife was perfect. When she looked at them as a pair she felt that she and Adam failed in comparison as a power couple.

“Where is Adam?” Devon asked again, and Carly realized as she took a sip of the vintage wine and savored it that she had not answered him.

“He could not come.”

“Where is he?” Sky asked.

Carly looked between the two of them, and as she did, a screen came down from the ceiling. It was then that she gasped and dropped her glass of wine. There she saw Adam making love with Candy. The very thing that she had not wanted to see she was watching now in this very fancy apartment.

“Carly, you didn’t forget that you had dinner with us tonight. We needed to see you,” Devon said.

Camille walked close to her and looked her in the eyes before she wiped up the wine and broken glass at her feet.

“I’m sorry,” Carly mouthed, and she meant that to Camille and to Devon she was so flustered.

“We needed you to be here tonight, Carly. Would you like another glass of wine?” Sky smiled as she poured another glass and handed it to her.

Carly nodded like the gracious guest she had intended to be because she was sure she needed something to make sense of what was going on around her.

This is one story in a series. You can read the first one here and the last one here.

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