The conference was a smashing success, so much so that Holly had to remain in the room and answer questions for more than an hour afterwards. It was almost noon when she finally managed to get away from the convention center.
She walked briskly across the lobby and hailed the first taxi waiting in line outside the hotel.
"To the Spaulding Enterprises headquarters please," she asked before settling in the back seat.
The driver nodded, turned on the radio and hit the gas. After gazing absent-mindedly at the palm trees lining both sides of the highway for a few minutes, Holly took out a pocket mirror from her purse and eyed herself critically. She would not admit it under torture, but she wanted to look her best for her meeting with Roger's wife. She grabbed a tube of mascara from her purse and reapplied a coat.
She had always known that Roger was not in love with Amanda. What attracted him to her was the money and power that she held in her hot little hand. Unfortunately for Holly, that attraction had also proved stronger, time and time again, than the feelings that he claimed to have for her. That's why he was married to Amanda now, and not to her.
"Why do I even bother?" she mumbled under her breath, almost asking the driver to drop her at the next corner. As if reading her mind, the taxi slowly halted to a stop. "Here we are," the driver said. Holly took a confused look outside the window and saw the Spaulding skyscraper towering over the street. It was too late to turn back now.
When she was ushered into the president's office, she found Amanda sitting behind a long desk made of glass and steel. Behind her was a wall to wall window, beyond which lay Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean.
"So, it IS really you!" Amanda said sarcastically. She got up and gestured for Holly to sit on a leather couch at the other end of the room. "When my secretary gave me the message this morning, I wasn't quite sure that she had heard right. I have to admit that I'm very curious to know what could have possibly brought you here."
She flashed a perfectly fake smile to Holly, which the latter returned.
"Surprising, isn't? Especially since you and I can hardly stand each other."
"My thoughts exactly," Amanda retorted without missing a beat. "Would you like some coffee?"
"Please. I take it black."
"Funny. Just like Roger." Amanda smiled again and poured two cups of coffee from a fuming pot. "I assume that your visit has something to do with dear old Rog'," she added.
Holly took a sip of the scalding liquid. It was perfect, just like everything else in that office, she thought.
"It does. I ran into Roger last night and now I need to speak to him again," she said.
Amanda raised an eyebrow. "You ran into Roger? Just like that?"
Holly clasped her hands on her lap and replied evenly: "I'm in town for a conference. I saw him on the beach, if you must know."
Amanda leaned back on the couch and gave her a long glance. "Oh yes, Roger has always been such a beach bum."
There was a silence which Holly finally broke after a few uncomfortable seconds. "He gave me some upsetting but incomplete information about someone in my life, and I need to know more," she started, choosing her words carefully. "I came here to ask you where I can find him. I know that he doesn't work here anymore."
Amanda stared at her again, this time with astonishment. "What makes you think that I would know that?"
"What do you mean?" Holly replied, clearly nonplussed.
Amanda frowned and started laughing as soon as the truth dawned on her. "You mean that you don't know? I was certain that he would have ran back to you by now." She laughed again, obviously enjoying the situation.
"Don't know what?" Holly demanded in an increasingly angry tone. "What are you talking about?"
"Roger and I are separated. In fact, we have been divorced for more than a year now," Amanda replied matter-of-factly. Her words froze Holly in her seat. Their implications were too complex to process all at once.
"That's impossible, Alex has told me just a few weeks ago that you two were still together." She felt foolish as soon as she uttered the words. Of course Alex would lie. It seemed so plain now.
"Alex was always one to bear a grudge, and my guess is that she never forgave you from taking Fletcher away from her."
"I did not take him away from her. He came to me."
"Well, potato, potahto. She will never miss a chance to stick to you from now on. I'm not nearly as spiteful as she is, even though I have much more cause to be. After all, my husband was in love with you."
She waited for Holly to say something but the latter only stared at her hands.
"Or at least I thought he was. I have to say that I'm extremely surprised that you and he are not happily married by now."
"What happened between you two?" Holly finally managed to ask.
Amanda sighed and looked out the window before replying. "I'm no fool, Holly. I know exactly why Roger was with me, and why I was with him. It was a partnership, and I thought that he wanted to rule this empire as much as I did. It turns out that I was mistaken. Last year, Roger came up to me and said that he wanted out. Out of Spaulding, of the marriage. Of everything."
She glanced at Holly and nodded as if to agree with Holly's surprised countenance. "Hard to believe, but it's true. He was never really happy here, doing this, and I think it was a shock to him as much as to anyone else. Turns out that it was not what he wanted after all."
"Where does he live now?"
Amanda shrugged. "You guess is as good as mine. I thought he had left town a long time ago."
She got up, signaling her guest that the meeting was over. "I'm sorry that I could not be instrumental in realizing your happy ending."
Holly stopped in the doorway. "Well, the story is not over yet, Amanda," she said with a wink. She could see from Amanda's expression that she had finally gotten to her.
"Wouldn't he have found his way back to you by now?"
"He thought I was still with Fletcher. It might have something to do with that."
She left before Amanda could reply.
Her smile faded as soon as she was out of the building. Roger certainly had the chance to tell her that he was a free man the night before, but he had chosen not to. Was it because his feelings for her had changed like Amanda had implied? Or was there another reason? More importantly, where was he now?
She glanced at her watch and hailed another cab. There were two persons who might help her find him, but for one of them, it would take a lot of convincing.
