I wasn't pleased to get the email from the Human Resources Department. They wanted a head and shoulders photo to use in the announcement of my recent appointment as head of accounting. I always made a point of keeping my business life separate from my personal life and it irked me that they were insisting on a photo for publication. I emailed my husband and vented a little. Then, mischievously, I attached a file of naughty photos he had taken of me last weekend and I asked him facetiously, "perhaps I could send them one of these. Or maybe you might want to crop one to just a head-and-shoulders shot! LOL
I hit send and laughed to myself knowing he would enjoy a laugh from it. We always kidded about outrageous things and we liked to try to one-up the other with irreverent humor. It was our little rebellion against the image of an accountant married to a school teacher.
I waited a few minutes and when I didn't get an immediate answer. I sent him another note. "What's the matter Bad Boy? Cat got your tongue?"
Another moment passed and my inbox pinged and Peter responded. "Huh? What are you up to Babe?"
"Cute!" I typed back. "Didn't you open the attachment?"
"What attachment?"
Sure that he was giving me the gears I nonetheless flipped to my sent file to make sure I had included the attachment. Panic struck swiftly as I franticly scanned the messages. At the top of the list was the most recent one to Peter. Right beneath it was the one with the attachment. Inadvertently, I had hit 'reply' and sent the whole file of sexually explicit photos to HR instead of my husband. "Damn!" I groaned aloud. " How could I have been so careless!"
It took me thirty minutes to scramble into my clothes and race through the traffic to the office. The elevator to the sixth stopped at every floor and by the time the doors slid open my heart was pounding in my chest. My heels clicked rapidly along the terrazzo corridor until I reached Jane Reynolds office. Her Administrative Assistant, Margaret, greeted me pleasantly and only raised a quizzical look when I said I'd wait for Jane in her office. She probably knew that Jane and I were not friends but didn't feel she could object.
I had no idea how much time I'd have till Jane returned so I immediately went to her computer and tried to open her email. I tried desperately to guess her password and after several tries the lock out message came up and ended my attempts. I sat on her couch wringing my hands and rehearsing what I would say when she came back. The pictures were in a file so I'd just make an excuse and ask her to delete the message without opening it. I'd explain that it contained some sensitive corporate material that was highly confidential. In the interest of corporate security I'd watch her delete it and she'd never know what was in the file.
Jane and I were on the same level, middle management department heads and I felt she'd have to extend me the courtesy on that basis. I sat for twenty minutes waiting for her return and each minute seemed endless. Every negative possibility occurred to me and heightened my anxiety until I could no longer sit. I paced the floor and looked out the window, returned to the couch, sat in her chair briefly and generally felt my confidence level sink.
Jane is a bitch and we have had a combatively competitive relationship since we were both juniors in the company. It might be vanity but I always felt that it was because I was more attractive and certainly more outgoing than her, that she was frankly a bit jealous. She'd probably say I'm a flirt and got my promotion by playing up to the men. Whatever! It was important that I get the file off her machine and deleted before she was even aware of what was attached.
At that moment the door opened and Margaret apologised and relayed that Jane was tied up and would not be returning until after lunch. She promised to call me as soon as her boss was back and then stood holding the door open expectantly waiting for me to exit. Much as I did not want to leave knowing the file was on her computer, I gathered my things and left.
Thoughts of calling Peter and telling him what I had done gnawed at me but I just didn't want to upset him unnecessarily. There was still a very good chance that I could recoup the situation without him ever needing to find out. In truth, I was worried enough for both of us.
There was no sense in staying there in Jane's office further arousing Margaret's curiosity so I went up to my own office to wait. I couldn't settle to do any meaningful work and my mind kept conjuring up horrible scenarios that could embarrass my husband and I. Our sex life had never been 'vanilla' but it had always been private. We delighted in being outrageous in the bedroom while maintaining a very conservative image in public. His job demanded it and so did mine.
By noon I was pacing again. I'd called Margaret three times to see if Jane was back. The last time I was sure I heard her voice in the background but Margaret lied and said she hadn't returned. Unable to sit and wait I took the stairs down one flight and turned the corner just in time to see Jane coming out of her office. She looked up as I called out and the expression on her face said it all. She knew. She'd read the email and opened the attachment. The faint smirk of superiority painted her lips with the unmistakeably triumphant message of one who relishes control. There would be no compassionate quarter given, no 'shit happens' understanding between females, coworkers, or contemporaries. Any negotiation would be on her terms. Her eyes bore right through me and I felt the enmity of a malevolent competitor who resented my success because it challenged her own.
"Oh Madison," she snickered, "I'm really too busy right now. Why don't you call me later ... if you're not tied up. Or, you can take a seat and I'll call you in when I have a moment."
I could see Margaret's jaw drop a little with surprise at her boss's patronizing rudeness to a fellow manager. She shuffled her papers in an unnecessary show of preoccupation and kept her eyes down as she pretended not to be aware of what was going on.
"This will only take a minute," I protested weakly and wished immediately that I hadn't.
"I shouldn't be too long," she insisted. "Why don't you sit here and keep Margaret company?" With that she turned away and disappeared into her office.
Thirty minutes later her door opened and she summoned me inside. I was stressed to the point of shaking by then and she was obviously enjoying my discomfort.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" she began abruptly.
"I ... I made a mistake and sent an email that was supposed to go to my husband."
"Ohh," she cooed, in the tone of voice you'd use with a small child. "Why not just send it again?"
"That's not the point," I snapped. "I sent it to your email accidentally and I'd like you to just erase it."
"Well, I'd have to look at it first," she smiled. "I'd have to know what I was erasing."
"No ... it's personal, private. Just erase it without opening."
"Why don't you tell me what it is that is making you so nervous, so demanding."
"I'm sorry Jane, I ... I just need you to delete it. It's personal ...it's embarrassing."
"Why don't you tell me about it then? It seems like you're all tied up over this."
My jaw snapped shut and I glared across the desk at her. The gloating smile beaming back at me left no doubt that the double entendre was intended. The reference to being tied up was no accident. Several of the photos in the file showed me with my hands lashed to the headboard in our bedroom. They were part of Peter's fantasy and intended for only the two of us to ever see. So certain was I that no one else would ever look at them that I had posed with increasing lewdness until Peter and I became so aroused that we fell upon each other in a sexual frenzy. Those photos turned out to be far more explicit than either of us intended. But between consenting adults in the privacy of our own bedroom, we believed we were safe. Now, because of a momentary lapse where I hit reply instead of typing in my husband's private email, we were facing embarrassment at the hands of a vindictive woman.
She rocked back in her chair, smiling insolently, knowing I was in an emotional turmoil. There was no question she was enjoying the moment, more so because I was not.
"Now what did you want to say?"