She was definitely a woman I looked up to and all of us respected her to the fullest.
Claudette followed Liz into her office that was to the left of my cubicle. “I wanted to ask if I could take an early lunch. I’m supposed to meet with a lady who’s going to help me pick out flowers for my wedding and I’m running out of time.”
“I don’t see that being a problem,” Liz said, dropping back to her seat. “Just make sure that you get those invoices out to our customers today.”
“I’ll get started on the rest of them this morning. I mailed out some yesterday, but will make sure the rest are prepared and mailed today. Veronica is doublechecking my data entry, and after she unloads her batch, I’ll be able to get those out too.”
“Sounds good,” Liz said. “Chase, will you start getting our invitations together for the Christmas party? I have many executives from the refrigeration company I want to invite, and I’ll need to put together some personal invites as well. Come sit in here this morning so we can get started.”
I sat in Liz’s perfumed office with her for at least two hours, putting together the itinerary for the Christmas party that was three weeks away. Liz asked if I would be bringing anyone with me, and I told her that I wasn’t planning to. I was a very private person, and unlike everyone else, I didn’t care to bring boyfriends to the workplace and flaunt them. We continued to go over specifics for the party, and when there was a light knock on Liz’s door, I turned to see who it was. It was Claudette, and I was surprised to see Korey standing next to her, holding her hand.
“I just wanted to let you know that I’m leaving,” she said to Liz. The expression on Korey’s face was frozen, and he finally blinked his eyes, looking in another direction.
Liz, of course, invited them into her office.
“How are you, Korey?” she asked. “Congratulations on the engagement. You have Claudette so excited.”
“Yeah.” He smiled. “We’re both pretty excited.”
I couldn’t tell, especially after all the crap he’d said to me. Claudette looked at me. “Honey, this is Chase Jenkins. She’s Liz’s secretary and I don’t think you met her before. She’s only been here for five months, but we love her to death.”
I smiled from the bullshit Claudette had said, and stood to extend my hand. “Hi, Korey. Nice meeting you.”
He gripped my hand. “You too,” he quickly said, then waved his hand in the air. “See you later, Liz. Good seeing you again, but we need to get going so we don’t be late.”
Liz said good-bye and they left. She was all smiles. “They make such a cute couple,” she said. “Remind me so much of my husband and me when we were engaged. I truly hope everything works out for them.”
I wanted to choke. I hoped there were no resemblances between her and Claudette, because there was madness stirring behind the scenes. I was so sure Korey would be calling me tonight, and as handsome as he looked, I had already changed my mind about scratching him from my to-do list. That brotha was fine.
Work was long, and awfully busy. Liz kept me on my feet today, and when I got home, I fell back on my bed, so glad to be home. Before I did anything, I went into the bathroom to turn on the shower. I then sat back on my bed, and took my heels off my aching feet. The message light on my phone was blinking, so I tapped the message button to listen. As expected, Drake was calling with his mess. I deleted his messages with a quickness and moved on to the next. There were a few bill collectors calling, particularly one from the student loans that I’d gotten and had never paid back. I had to contact them about deferring my loan, simply because I had no money to pay it. I was already living paycheck to paycheck, and the money I made was in no way enough. I somewhat lived beyond my means, but that consisted of me spending too much money on trying to look good. I had my ponytail done weekly, my nails and toes had to be done, and the money I spent at the M.A.C counter cost me a fortune. Clothes and shoes were high expenses for me, too. I couldn’t help that I liked to look good, and my appearance was very important to me. My car payment was almost thirty days late, so I made a mental note to pay it online once I got out of the shower.
My shower was relaxing and long. When I got out, I threw a quick Healthy Choice meal in the microwave, and cut a slice of angel food cake that I had gotten at the grocery store a few days ago. I intended to shut it down early tonight, only because of the lack of sleep I’d gotten the night before. I ate my dinner in no time, and afterward, I turned down the lights in my compact kitchen that was adjacent to my living room. I took a seat on my sectional and turned on the fortysix-inch plasma TV that sat on my black TV stand. It was almost 7:00 P.M., and as Wheel of Fortune came to an end, I turned the TV to one of my favorite reality shows. My eyes were slowly fading, but I snapped out of it when the phone rang. The caller ID revealed Korey’s cell phone number.
“Can I come see you?” he immediately asked.
“My day was fine, Korey. How was yours?”
“Great. Now, can I come over?”
“Glad that you had a great day. And, what made your day so great?”
“I got a chance to see this chick who’s been driving me nuts. She told me that she didn’t know who my fiancée was, but I found out today that she lied to me. Why’d you lie to me about not knowing Claudette?”
“I told you that it didn’t matter. Obviously, if you want to come see me, the fact that we know each other doesn’t matter to you either.”
“I want to come see you because I like your style. You seem like a cool person and I want to get to know you better. If you weren’t interested, Chase, then it made no sense for you to ask for my number. And if you say that Claudette doesn’t matter, then stop playing these games. What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is I’m trying to spare you the grief you may find in the near future. If you think this is going to be one of those slam-bam, thank-you-ma’am deals, you’re wrong. I don’t mind hooking up with you, but it has to be on my terms. I won’t be pressured by a man who is engaged to be married, and if you can play by my rules, I have no problem moving this forward.”
“I don’t mind playing by your rules, but I can’t play by them if you won’t even give me your address.”
Korey had no idea what he was getting himself into, but I gave him my address so he could come over. I figured it would be a pretty long night, especially since my sexual encounters with Drake had come to an abrupt end. I couldn’t believe how horny I was, and I had to get these urges and cravings I had for Korey out of my system. I gave him my address, and before he came, I leaned over to get a quick nap.
When the doorbell rang, I was in a deep sleep. I sat up, squeezing my eyes together while rubbing my hair back with my hand. I wanted to make sure my hair was in place, and as far as I knew, it was. I dropped my silk robe off my shoulders and laid it back on the couch. I stood naked as a jaybird, and very proud of my shapely figure that I worked so hard to get. I made my way to the door.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“Who do you think?” Korey’s smart ass answered.
I opened the door, and Korey stood on the other side with his mouth hanging open. Surprisingly, my neighbor across the hall, Lance, was coming up the steps and even he had to take a double…triple look. Korey hurried inside, closing the door behind him. He was still
