Right beside you, p.9
Right Beside You, page 9
“You stop that!” I scolded. I shook my finger in her face. “I wish you would stop harping on this subject.”
She laughed and then abruptly stopped. The serious look that suddenly appeared on her face made me nervous. “I still think you should take my advice and invite him to your place for dinner.”
“I don’t think so.” I glanced over Pam’s shoulder, held up my hand, and said in a low voice, “My clerks have big ears and I don’t want them to hear what I have to say.”
Pam leaped out of her seat and closed my office door so hard and fast, every picture on my wall rattled. “What is it?” she whispered. I remained silent. “You know I have high blood pressure, so don’t keep me in suspense.” She dropped back into her seat with a thud and a wild-eyed look on her face.
“I’ve been thinking that it’s time for me to make a major change in my life.”
Pam looked at me sideways with her eyes narrowed. “What major change?”
“Changing jobs.”
She did a double take. “What? Why would you want to leave such a dream job? Do you know how many folks would love to be in your shoes? You’re the first black woman to be in this position since I’ve been with the company, which is going on thirty-five years. You’re an inspiration to the young black employees just getting started here. And you know everybody loves you to death! You’ve been voted employee of the month so many times I’ve lost count.”
“I’m grateful for all that. But I’ve gone as far as I can go here.”
Pam let out a loud breath and gave me a suspicious look. “Does this have anything to do with Richard?”
I had never lied to Pam and I was not going to start now. I nodded.
“But he might be transferring to Indianapolis!”
“What if he doesn’t? It’s getting harder and harder for me to be around him and not let him know how I feel. I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this.” I blinked at Pam. “I never knew I could love a man as much as I love Richard. The only way I’m going to get over him is to take myself out of the picture. I spent some time on Google last night. There are a lot of job opportunities for a woman with my background and experience.”
“Going to work for another company won’t solve your problem. Even if you don’t take the same commuter bus to a new job, Mandell is such a small city, you’d still run into Richard from time to time.”
“The companies I checked out are all in Atlanta.”
Pam gulped and covered her mouth with her hand for a few moments. “Do you mean to tell me that you’d give up this job and move to another state just to avoid Richard?”
“It’s not just because of him. My parents told me that they might move to Atlanta when they return. Grandma Lucy is going to go with them, so there wouldn’t be much to keep me here.”
“You have a lot of cousins in this area.”
“Yes, but they’re so busy raising their children and interacting with people they have more things in common with than me, I don’t spend much time with them.”
“Humph. I never expected to hear you talk about leaving Ohio.”
“You’re going to retire next year, so work won’t be the same without you if I stay. And Clyde told me that you and Carlton have discussed selling your house and moving in with your daughter and her family in Houston.”
“Yes, my husband has been hinting about moving to Houston. But even if we decide to do that, it wouldn’t happen for a while after Carlton and I retire. And he’s got another year and a half to go. Before we could even put the house on the market, we’d have to get a lot of work done on it. That wouldn’t happen overnight, so we could live here for another three or four years.”
“Pam, I understand what you’re saying. The bottom line is, almost everybody I know has or is making plans for their future. I’m just standing still.”
Pam stood up and started moving toward the door. “I’m glad you shared what’s on your mind with me. But we need to discuss this again when I have more time. There is so much work on my desk, I need to get back to my office.” She opened the door and winked. “Enjoy your lunch with Richard. When we talk later, I want a full report.”
CHAPTER 17
RICHARD
At eleven a.m., my best friend strolled into my office. Steven was as thin as a rail and as blind as a bat without the thick glasses that covered his deep-set black eyes. He wore a black knitted cap on his shaved head, a wool coat over a three-piece black suit, and black leather gloves. “Hey! How’s my favorite bag of bones! I wasn’t expecting you,” I hollered, rising from my seat. He moved closer and I leaned forward so we could bump fists. “How’s life treating you?”
“Each day is better than the last!” he exclaimed. Steven was the kind of person who always looked on the bright side of things. In all the years I’d known him, I’d never heard him complain. His positive attitude was so contagious, having a friend like him was a blessing. “You’ve been on my mind a lot lately, so I thought I’d pay you a visit.” He paused and gave me a thoughtful look. “One of my meetings got canceled, so I thought I’d pop over here and see if you wanted to join me for lunch. I’m sorry I couldn’t hook up with you the other day. You sounded like you really needed to talk.”
I waved my hand. “Man, it was nothing. I’d love to accompany you today, but I have something else on my schedule. I wish you had called so you wouldn’t have made a trip over here for nothing. Sit down.”
“No, that’s okay. I’ll just pick up something and go back to my office. Maybe I’ll come over to your pad in the next few days. I’d love to see the girls.”
“Either that or we’ll drop in on you and Cynthia and your five rug rats.” I heaved out a heavy sigh and shook my head. “Man, I love this time of year, but there is so much going on, I don’t know how I’m able to keep up.”
“You need a break, my man. Hey, if you’re not doing anything this Saturday night, one of Cynthia’s sorority sisters—”
I held up my hand to cut him off. “Ouch!” I yelled with a grimace. “That hurts. I already have too much on my plate in that area.”
Steven rolled his eyes and smothered a laugh. “I’m just trying to help, dude.” We laughed and bumped fists again. “Well, I guess I’ll be on my way so you can get ready for your meeting.”
“Um, I don’t have a meeting. I’m having lunch with a coworker. You remember Felicia Hawkins.”
Steven shook his head. “I’m not sure.” Then his eyes got big. “Whoa! Didn’t Cynthia and I meet her at Margaret’s funeral? She’s one of the ladies you’ve mentioned who rides to and from work with you on the same bus, right?”
I nodded.
Steven whistled and stared at me in awe. “My man! I know some fine-looking women, but Felicia is a cross between Naomi Campbell and Angela Bassett. It doesn’t get any better than that. And you get to work with her too. Oomph, oomph, oomph. I hope she’s interested in more than your electronic skills. You better be good to her!”
I held up my hands. “Calm down. I’m taking her to lunch, not marrying her.”
“Well, I know you’ll enjoy having lunch with her. Give me a call when you get a chance,” he said as he strolled back out the door.
I looked out the window for a few moments. As close as Steven and I were, I didn’t want to tell him how I felt about Felicia. But I didn’t know how much longer I could contain myself. Having lunch alone with her today was a major step in the right direction.
At exactly eleven forty-five, Sam steamrolled into my office like somebody was chasing him. “Mamma mia! Thank God you’re still here,” he boomed. “I need your help. All the other technicians have already left for lunch.”
“What’s the problem?” I asked calmly.
“My computer just died. I may have lost some very important information—the numbers for next year’s budget. We have to finalize everything before December thirty-first.”
“Can this wait until after lunch? Felicia and I were going to discuss the plans for our Christmas party.”
Sam shook his head so hard his long dirty blond and gray hair flopped up and down against the back of his neck. “I’m afraid if I put it off, we may not be able to retrieve the information in time. I never got around to saving it onto a flash drive or my hard drive.”
“What about your original notes?”
“I misplaced them or accidentally threw them out!” Sam wailed. From the frantic look on his face, I thought he was going to burst into tears. And I was not in the mood to watch a grown man cry.
“I see. Give me a sec. Let me see if I can postpone my lunch date.” I called Felicia’s office and got her voice mail. I left a message to let her know something had come up and we’d have to reschedule. And then I followed Sam to his cluttered office.
His computer was dead all right. But only because the power cord had come loose from the wall. When I pointed that out to him, he gave me an embarrassed look and shook his head. “I guess I should have checked that first, huh?”
“You should have,” I said, trying to keep my voice gentle. Sam was a highly intelligent guy. He’d graduated with honors from Harvard, but sometimes he was so inept, I felt sorry for him. And he was such a nice guy, no matter how much he irritated me, I always managed to keep my cool. Before I could be on my way, he started telling me about his plans for the weekend. After that, he spent a few minutes bragging about his wife and children. That compelled me to throw in a few praises about my girls. Besides, so much time had passed, I didn’t expect Felicia to still be in the lobby. I figured she had gone to lunch on her own and that’s what I decided to do. Before I left the building, I swung by her office in case she had returned. She was nowhere in sight, so I headed for the lobby.
Once I reached the ground floor, I buttoned my coat all the way up to my neck and strode out the exit along with a mob of other people. As soon as I got outside, I spotted Regina walking in my direction. Stumbling along on the icy sidewalk with her was a cute young blonde in a red wool coat and a matching wool hat.
“Richard! You’re a sight for sore eyes on such a dreary day! Where are you off to?” Regina squealed. I had suspected a long time ago that some of our random encounters were not so random. She knew most of the places I frequently patronized. Somehow she managed to show up at a few at the same time as if she’d been monitoring my movements with a tracking device. Even though I turned down invitations from her left and right, that didn’t discourage her. Regina still managed to manipulate me into joining her for one thing or another. She’d even turned up at one of my girls’ soccer games and wiggled her way into having dinner at Red Lobster with us afterward.
“Oh, I’m just going to grab a little something to nibble on,” I replied, looking around.
“We’re on our way to Wing Lu’s for dim sum. Rich, this is Susan Snell, my new intern.”
“Nice to meet you, Susan,” I said, shaking her gloved hand.
“I’m like so glad I finally got to meet you,” Susan replied in a Minnie Mouse voice. “Why don’t you come with us?”
“Thanks a lot, but I don’t want to intrude,” I protested with my hand up in the air. “I’m just going to grab something and go eat in my office.” I didn’t realize until it was too late that my excuse was too weak to ward off Regina.
“Nonsense.” She put her arm around my shoulder and ushered me down the street. “That’s what you said the last time I invited you to join me for dim sum.”
Wing Lu’s was on the next block, so it was a short walk. Once we got seated and started plucking things off the dim sum tray, the time seemed to crawl by as slowly as a dying snail.
CHAPTER 18
RICHARD
For each dim sum item I chose, Regina and Susan chose two or three apiece. I had never seen women as slim and dainty as these two eat so much and so fast. I ordered tea, they ordered wine and mineral water.
We were having a lively conversation, discussing our plans for Christmas and a few other unrelated subjects. However, only fifteen minutes later, my level of boredom was almost as high as the ceiling. After three cups of green tea, I had to make a beeline for the men’s room. “Excuse me, ladies. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I said, rising quickly. I glanced at my watch as I trotted across the floor.
I returned to the dining area just in time to hear Susan say to Regina, “I’d like, walk through fire in my bare feet to have a man like Richard. He’s awesome. I’m glad you decided to claim him again.” Those words stopped me in my tracks. I ducked behind the wall facing our table and listened. “I’m like, surprised he still speaks to you. Especially after you dumped him while he was risking his life in the military.”
“Pffftt. He’s too sweet and nice to hold a grudge. In all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him get angry or even raise his voice.”
“Do you think he still loves you?”
“I’m sure he does.”
“Then why aren’t you two in a more serious relationship than just these casual encounters you keep telling me about?”
“Richard is just being cautious this time. He’ll come around eventually.”
They abruptly stopped talking when I approached the table. “Well, ladies, this was nice, but I need to get back to my office.”
Regina looked at her watch and gasped. “We have to get going too. Before I go, Richard, I wanted to let you know that every Tuesday they serve those spicy pot stickers here that you like so much.”
“Then I’ll have to come back here on a Tuesday,” I said casually. I lifted the check off the table. Wing Lu’s was not cheap, so the $155 total didn’t surprise me.
“How much do I owe?” Susan asked.
I held up my hand. “Don’t worry about it. This is on me.”
“Thanks, Richard,” Regina said as she picked her teeth with a toothpick. “You are too sweet.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Susan stare at Regina in awe.
When we started walking toward the exit, Regina latched on to my arm. Susan was in front of us, picking her teeth too. I tapped her on the shoulder. “Do you mind if I speak privately to Regina for a few minutes?”
“Sure! Regina, I’ll see you back at the office,” Susan chirped. “This was a great lunch,” she added, looking at me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Susan wink at Regina. I glanced away because I didn’t want to see how Regina responded to that.
As soon as Susan skittered out the door, I removed Regina’s hand from my arm. I took her hand in mine, steered her off to the side, and placed my hands on her shoulders. I looked her straight in the eyes. “Regina, we’ve been friends for over twenty years.”
There was a glazed look on her face. “Twenty good years,” she said, practically swooning.
“You were my first love,” I admitted. She started blinking so hard, I was surprised she didn’t blink her eyelashes off. Then she sniffled a few times and gently rubbed her nose. For a second, I thought she was going to shed a few tears. “I still care about you, but not the way you think.”
She wheezed and stared at me in slack-jawed amazement. And then her face looked as if it had suddenly turned to stone. “You . . . you heard Susan and me talking?”
“I heard enough. I hope I don’t sound too blunt, but I can’t let you go on thinking what you think.”
She gave me an incredulous look and removed my hands from her shoulders. “Are you telling me you no longer want to be friends with me?”
“We can always be friends, but that’s all.”
Her lips quivered and she rubbed her nose again. “Can I ask you something and will you be honest with me?”
“I’ve always been honest with you.”
“Is there another woman?”
“Yes, there is. I’m very serious about her.”
Regina gasped and stumbled a few feet away. “W-when did this happen?”
“I’ve been serious about her for years.”
“I see,” she said in a very small voice. She looked so glum, I felt sorry for her. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have wasted my time, or yours—”
I held my hand up and cut her off as fast as I could. “You never wasted my time and I’m sorry you feel as if you’ve wasted yours. I couldn’t go on letting you think that there was a chance for us to be something more than friends.”
She gazed at the floor for a few seconds. When she returned her attention to me, there was a broad smile on her face. “Whoever she is, she is a lucky woman.”
“And I’m a lucky man.”
She walked ever so slowly up to me and gave me a quick peck on the cheek and patted my shoulder. I exhaled and pulled her into my arms. We embraced until an incoming patron entered about ten seconds later and mumbled, “Get a room.” I released her and we laughed. And then she looked at peace, which made me feel better about bursting the bubble she’d lived in too long.
“Merry Christmas, Richard.”
“Merry Christmas to you too, Regina.”
Without saying another word, she whirled around and rushed out of the building like it was caving in. By the time I got outside less than a minute later, she had already made it halfway down the block.
* * *
Five minutes past two p.m. I glanced up from my desk and saw Pam standing in my doorway. She walked in and stood by the side of my desk with a blank expression on her face. “How was lunch, Richard?”
“It could have been better. I was supposed to go with Fel, but Sam got hysterical when his computer conked out and I was the only tech around. When I finished with him and made it to the lobby, she had already left, so I went off on my own. I bumped into Regina and one of her coworkers and they invited me to join them. Anyway, I had left Felicia a voice mail before I left the building. I hope she’s not too disappointed.”
“Pffftt!” Pam rolled her eyes and waved her hands. “It would take a lot to disappoint my girl. I just left her office and she’s doing fine.”
“I’ll give her a call in a few minutes and apologize for standing her up.”
