Chapter 4 – Money For Nothing (Dire Straits)
Katniss and Gale joined Cato and Clove for brunch midmorning the next day.
She had complained to Gale when he invited her. "Look I agreed to attend an occasional work function, not random get-togethers with your work friends."
"He's not my friend," Gale said. "He's my boss."
"Well I don't want this to become a social thing Gale. Cause we're not really married, remember?"
She wished she had set him up with Madge sooner. She had to call that girl.
The restaurant sat in the foothills above Burbank. From its floor to ceiling windows, diners could overlook the city below. Oddly enough Katniss and Gale had eaten at this restaurant years ago with both their families when Gale had graduated from college.
Cato and Clove were waiting for them in the entrance when they arrived.
"Did you have any problems finding the place?" Cato asked as he shook Gale's hand.
"No, we've been here before," Gale said. "But not for a while. Anyway we grew up in the Valley."
"You did?" Clove's expression rapidly changed from surprised to smug.
Katniss and Gale exchanged looks. Even though neither one of them lived there anymore they were tired of people who ridiculed the suburban atmosphere of the San Fernando Valley and made fun of the people who lived there.
Katniss was ready to provide a quick retort, but a waitress had appeared to direct them to their table. They were seated in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.
The restaurant was famous for its lavish brunch buffets. Once the waitress took their drink orders, both couples left the table to get in the buffet line. When everyone had filled their plates, and returned to the table, Cato looked at Gale's and Katniss' plates and smirked. Both were filled to near overflowing. "Are you two starving?"
"Excuse me?" Katniss asked. What kind of fool would skimp at an all-you-can-eat buffet? Certainly not people who had once been poor and gone to bed hungry.
Gale gave her a warning look. "We have so much to do today we won't be eating until really late tonight."
"Oh, what are your plans?" Clove asked. "Cato and I like to spend our Sundays picking out things for the house we just bought."
Katniss put her fork down. "You bought a house? How wonderful." She glanced at Gale. How could Cato and Clove afford to buy a house?
"Yes, it's a fixer, but we love it," Clove said.
"You're still renting?" Cato asked.
Gale nodded.
"Well that will make it easier when you have to move up to Portland. At least you won't have the bother of finding a tenant."
"Move?" Katniss exchanged glances with Gale. He looked surprised. She glared at Cato. "What are you talking about?"
Gale leaned forward. He squeezed Katniss' forearm, as if he had to hold onto something to ground himself. "You said I'd be making occasional trips to Portland to oversee the merger. You didn't say anything about moving there."
"Snow thought it would be better this way," Cato said. "Easier to keep those National Trust folks in line."
A stunned Katniss turned to Gale. "I can't move up to Portland. I have a job. I take care of my sister."
"We can talk about it later, honey," Gale said, his emphasis heavy on the word `honey.' He turned to Cato. "This is such a surprise.. I mean ..we just got married. Katniss has a great job. She can't just give it up."
"You could always get a job in Portland," Clove suggested. "Or you could start your family."
Katniss put her fork down. "I need to go." She pushed her chair back from the table, grabbed her purse, and left walking quickly in the direction of the exit.
"Excuse me," Gale said as he stood up and bounded after Katniss.
He caught up with her outside the door. He grabbed her waist from behind and turned her around to face him.
"Stop it Gale," she said as she pushed at his chest. "I don't want to play this game any more. This whole thing has spiraled out of control."
"Don't you see Catnip, this can be the way out. We'll break up because you don't want to move to Portland. Can you make yourself cry before we go back in? That would look really good. Walking out like that was genius."
"You should be the one crying Gale," she countered. "Because you're going to need to find a new job after this one blows up in your face."
She finally agreed to go back in with Gale, as long as he made some excuse so they could leave immediately. She didn't want to spend any more time in the presence of that stupid Clove who had flippantly suggested she leave her job and start a family. Even if she really were married to Gale, she'd never do something like that.
The couple walked in the restaurant. Gale put his arm around her waist and steered her back to the table.
"Sorry about that," Gale said. "This news is really upsetting to Katniss. We need to talk about it together privately."
He opened his wallet and dropped some cash on the table to cover their share of the bill.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he nodded in Cato's direction before guiding Katniss out of the restaurant.
The couple drove in silence for a while.
"How can they afford to buy a house Gale? Seriously, if we pooled our salaries we couldn't do it."
"I was thinking the same thing. Maybe they got an inheritance. Maybe some relative gave them the down payment for a wedding gift."
"Maybe. Or could Cato be stealing from the bank?"
Gale laughed. "If he is, he should have stolen a little more so he wouldn't be stuck with a fixer."
"You know breaking up with your new wife because she won't move is going to make you look ruthless," Katniss commented. "What kind of person puts his job before his wife?"
"Someone who wants to get ahead obviously. But I get your point. So what do you suggest I do Miss Public Relations?" he countered.
She frowned. "At the moment I have to admit your idea is the best solution. Because really what other option is there? I personally want to end this in the quickest way possible."
"Is being married to me that bad, Catnip?"
Katniss paused for a moment. There was something in Gale's voice that worried her. Like he actually enjoyed their pretend marriage. She stared at his profile as he watched the road ahead. He was a nice guy. He deserved a real relationship.
"I have a friend I want you to meet. Her name is Madge."
"I hate set-ups Catnip. I don't have time for all that."
"You had time for brunch with your fake wife. You can make time to meet my friend."
Katniss called Madge that evening. She was a musician who played the keyboard in a local band. Katniss had met her years ago while in college. Madge had played the piano for the college choir that Katniss had joined. They both were busy now. Who wasn't these days? But Katniss had always tried to keep in touch with her friend.
She thought Madge and Gale would be a good match because in many ways they were the exact opposite. Dark-haired Gale was so intense and determined, while Madge, with her long blonde hair and flowery skirts, was easy-going and a little quirky. But until now, the timing never seemed right. Gale had always been so focused on work and Madge always seemed to be starting a relationship or ending one. Fortunately when Katniss called, Madge was in the middle of a dry spell.
"He's a close family friend," she said. "He's very good looking and he has a kind heart."
"So why don't you want him?"
"We were practically raised together. He's like my brother." She didn't want to tell Madge about the fake marriage just yet. Madge would likely be as horrified as she was that in 1985 a person's job advancement could hinge on their marital status, but the whole phony marriage thing might put her off. She knew Peeta wasn't exactly thrilled with it.
"My band is playing Saturday night in a battle of the bands," Madge said. "It's at a roller rink in the Valley. When I'm not playing, I can skate. Maybe we could meet up there."
"That sounds fun," Katniss said. "I might bring along Prim and some others, too. It would be less pressure on both of you."
"Great, I'll see you then."
Gale Hawthorne was in strange state of mind when he arrived at work on Monday. He couldn't believe that Cato had dropped such an important bit of work news on him in the middle of what was supposed to be a social gathering for two couples. He couldn't blame Katniss for getting upset. He was upset too. He didn't want to leave Los Angeles to live in rainy Portland. He needed to figure out how to get out of the move.
It didn't help that the Acquisitions department secretary had called in sick that day. All incoming phone calls were funneled through her. She was the gatekeeper that prevented the staff from getting calls from every failing bank that was looking for a buyer.
After getting five calls in a row, Gale left his office to sit at the secretary's desk. He was playing with her phone to see if there was some way he could reroute his calls to voice mail when Cato walked by.
"What are you doing?" Cato asked.
"Trying to stop all these calls."
"Good luck with that," Cato said, as he left the office.
Gale played with the phone for a bit longer. He thought he might have fixed the problem. He was just standing up when he noticed the secretary's in-basket. Cato's expense report was lying on top. Gale remembered Katniss' comments about Cato's finances and he was curious. What exactly was Cato expensing? He picked up the stapled sheet. On the very top page was a bill for yesterday's brunch.
I paid for our portion of the meal, Gale thought. Why would he be expensing it?
He realized that since Cato had used that opportunity to pass along the information about the move, he probably considered it a business meeting.
But he pocketed my contribution to the bill. Damn thief. He probably used my money to buy more junk for his new house.
He flipped through the other expense sheets in the pile. According to the reports, Cato had been dining out every evening courtesy of L.A. Federal. He even noticed that Cato had written `Gale Hawthorne' in as one of the attendees of several of the nightly dinners. He'd never been at any of those dinners.
Katniss was right, Gale thought. Cato was stealing from the bank. Not enough to buy a house, but certainly enough to help furnish one. And Snow called him mature. Ha!
He had to wonder if Cato's theft was limited to the expense reports or was there even more going on. He grabbed all the documentation he could find involving the merger between L.A. Federal and National Trust and locked himself in his office for the afternoon. He wanted to review the financial details more carefully.
Katniss called him around 6:30 p.m to tell him about Saturday night with Madge.
"So you're setting me up with a hot rocker chick?" Gale laughed.
Katniss sighed. "She's nice. You'll like here. Did you hear anymore about the move?"
"No, but I have something better. You were right about Cato. He is stealing from the bank. He's turning in false expense reports and I found some fishy numbers in the merger paperwork. If I'm correct, he could be more than fired. He could wind up in jail."
"Be careful Gale."
Katniss didn't have time to think much about Gale's problems though because the record store opening was in four days. Although part of a chain, the store was the first the company was opening in Los Angeles. The corporate office in New York had hired Abernathy, Inc., because of its expertise in getting publicity in the Los Angeles market. However, they weren't ready to give up all control of the publicity. So they sent one of the their own public relations' staff to assist.
Tuesday morning, Ms. Effie Trinket waltzed into Abernathy, Inc. She was dressed in a black blazer and matching skirt. The shoulder pads on her jacket made her shoulders appear to be as large as a football player. Her red hair was teased so high that it made Effie appear at least three inches taller.
"Where is Haymitch?" she yelled at the secretary. "I have a schedule to stick to. We don't have much time. The store opens in just 72 hours."
Katniss heard the commotion from her office and went out to introduce herself to Effie. "Hi, I'm Katniss. We spoke on the phone."
Effie looked her over carefully. "You're too young. Where is Haymitch? He was supposed to get me someone with experience. Not some child."
Katniss grew warm. "I've been with the firm for a year now," she tried to explain, but Effie interrupted her. "Is he out drinking this early?"
Just then, Haymitch's door swung open and he walked out to greet Effie. He put his arms around her and kissed his cheek. "My dear, Ms. Trinket, it's a pleasure to see you again. It's been a while, hasn't it? I missed you."
Katniss watched Effie turn bright red, almost as red as her hair color, and she wondered what Haymitch was referring to, but no explanation was given.
"Now Katniss is one of my top people. She has everything under control. Why don't you come into my office and we'll go over all the details with you."
The next couple of days were a blur as Katniss checked and double-checked her plans, made what seemed like hundreds of phone calls, and escorted Effie all over Los Angeles so she could check out the new store's competition. Early Friday morning she picked up Effie at the hotel and got to the record store at 7 a.m. They only had three hours until the official opening, but things were already underway as the manager and his staff completed the stocking of the store and the arranging of the displays.
Peeta had already arrived and with an assistant was setting out a long table of baked goods, all circular in shape and decorated with black and white icing. There was also coffee and bottled water set up at a separate station.
Katniss waved at Peeta, but she had no time to chat. She was checking off items on the clipboard she carried. Around 8:30 a.m. a group of musicians arrived. They set up their equipment on the roof of the building to entertain the crowds, similar to The Beatles last concert on the roof of their Apple headquarters building in 1969. A couple of photographers arrived and Katniss briefed them on the types of photos to take.
The president of the record company, Plutarch Heavensbee, arrived at 9:45 a.m. Effie went running toward him to reassure him that everything was under control. Katniss positioned the photographers to get a good shot of Plutarch, before stretching a fat ribbon across the opening of the store. There were about fifty people standing around at 10 a.m. sharp when the president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce introduced Plutarch. The chamber president gave a short speech welcoming the record chain to Los Angeles. Then Plutarch cut the ribbon. The customers streamed in.
Katniss breathed a sigh of relief. At least this part was over. Now she had to deal with the media to be sure that the store opening made the local television news, the radio news, and daily newspapers.
It was nearly 2 p.m. before things were winding down. Haymitch had already left with Plutarch to celebrate over a long lunch. Effie was instructing the store manager on how to do his job even better.
Katniss walked to the food table intending to get something to eat. She realized that other than a cup of coffee in the morning, she hadn't eaten anything all day. She grabbed a shortbread cookie frosted like a record disk and took a bite.
"This is so good," she told Peeta who stood behind the table.
"Wow, you've been busy," he said. "I can see you're really good at what you do."
She blushed. "Well, we won't know how successful it is until we see the coverage the media gives the story. But I think we did okay, today. You've gotten a lot of foot traffic here, I see."
"We went through 30 dozen cookies at least. Probably more of the tiny sausage rolls," he replied.
"That's great." Katniss put her hand to her forehead. She was starting to feel a bit light headed.
"Are you alright?" Peeta asked. "You look kind of pale."
"I think I need to sit down." She grabbed hold of the food table to steady herself.
Peeta ran out from around it and caught Katniss, as she started to fall into a faint.