Perfect Partners

right. He can handle your daddy for you.”
    Letty heard Diana’s sobs start as soon as Joel had closed the door. She said nothing as they walked to the elevators.
    “Letty?”
    “Yes?” She stabbed the call button and studied the signal lights on the panel.
    “I want you to know I’m glad Diana didn’t let me rescue her fifteen years ago.”
    Letty felt her mood lighten slightly. She nodded brusquely, saying nothing.
    Joel held the elevator doors for her when they slid open. “You know what I like about you?”
    “What?”
    “You wouldn’t have sat around hoping to be rescued all your life and then chucked your big chance because of cold feet. You’ve got more guts than that. I guess they build ‘em real sturdy back in Indiana, don’t they?”
    Letty blinked. “Did you say Indiana?”
    “Yeah.”
    “That’s what I thought you said.” Some of the coldness in the pit of Letty’s stomach started to thaw. “Yes. They build ‘em sturdy back there.”

    Two hours later Letty ducked into the ladies’ room on the third floor. She was on her way back from a meeting with Cal Manford in the marketing department, and she had been delighted to learn that her suggestions for the new ad campaign were being carried out swiftly.
    She was ensconced in a stall, thinking about the recent scene in the hotel room with Diana, when she heard the outer door of the rest room swing open. Two young women entered.
    One of them giggled. “Are you sure?”
    “Beth says she’s seen them coming into work together every morning for the past few days,” said the other woman. Letty could see that she was wearing red heels. “She says they walk down First Avenue from the same direction, which probably means they’re coming from her place. Beth says she heard someone mention that Ms. Thornquist has an apartment on First.”
    “I’ll bet it’s true, then. They are sleeping together. Who would have believed it? She doesn’t exactly look like his type, you know? I mean, she was a librarian, for heaven’s sake.”
    “Oh, I don’t know. Roger in Accounting said he thinks she’s kind of cute,” Red Shoes said. “And Arthur Bigley thinks she walks on water.”
    “Still, Blackstone has never messed around with any of his employees. And I can tell you there are a few women in this building who wouldn’t mind helping him pitch a tent somewhere.”
    “Ms. Thornquist is hardly an employee,” Red Shoes murmured.
    “You’re right. Just think, the CEO is sleeping with the president of the company. That’s got to be a first.”
    “Maybe that’s how Blackstone is planning to maintain control of Thornquist,” Red Shoes mused.
    Letty did not dare emerge from the stall until the two women had left. Then, still reeling with shock and embarrassment, she darted out, washed her hands with amazing speed, and opened the outer door. A quick glance both ways revealed that the hall was deserted.
    Fearful of getting on one of the elevators, where someone might notice her flaming face and inquire about it, she dashed into the stairwell and raced up the steps to the fourth floor.
    She was panting for breath by the time she stepped out into the hall. She nearly died when a clerk hovering near the elevators glanced her way and nodded respectfully.
    She knows, Letty thought. They all know.
    She waited until the elevator had arrived and taken away the all-seeing clerk. Then Letty hurried down the hall to Joel’s office. She saw with relief that his secretary was away from her desk.
    Joel’s door was closed. Letty knocked once and went straight in without waiting for a reply.
    Joel looked up with a frown as she closed the door and sagged back against it.
    “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you all right?” he asked.
    “No,” Letty gasped. “Something terrible has happened.”
    Joel finally began to look genuinely concerned. “What?”
    “Joel, they know. The whole staff knows. I just heard it in the rest room, for God’s sake.”
    “That’s probably the best place to get up-to-date information about this place,” Joel observed. “What exactly did you hear?”
    “They’ve all guessed about us.” Letty gave a high-pitched little shriek of dismay. “They know we’re having an affair. Secretaries are talking about it in the rest room, for crying out loud.”
    “Oh, that.” Joel relaxed and went back to studying a report that lay in front of him. “I told you that you wouldn’t be able to keep it secret for