Single Ladies

by Tamika Jeffries

  "Yes, fine. Thanks.", a woman from the other family smiled.

  "Great. If you need any further assistance, please let guest services know and we will happily assist you."

  "Thanks", the group said in unison.

  "My pleasure", she smiled, walking toward her office, scanning the floors to make sure they'd been mopped and waxed. They were. She walked into her small, well organized office and sighed as she sat down on the soft, leather chair. She typed three letters of her password into the payroll system, when the phone rang.

  " Good morning and thank you for choosing Luxury Suites Hotel, my name is Veronica Carter. How may I assist you?"

  It was the new guy, calling to inform her that he may be about ten minutes late, due to scheduling his appointments too close.

  "Mr. Parker, I will expect you to be on time from this point on. I hired you because I had faith that you could render Luxury Suites faithful service and dedication. I can't have my guest service representatives being late. I understand this will be your first day, but we need to have a good start to excel in this company. I wont hold it against you this time, because I truly believe this was an honest mistake you made. Ok. Ok. Fine. I will see you about ten after three. Ok. Thanks for calling Mr. Parker."

  She hung up the phone. "I hate to be a bitch, but they walk all over you if you don’t", she whispered to Mona, who had came back in the office.

  "Yeah, I know what you mean. That must have been that new guy, Justin or whatever his name is?"

  "Jonathan Parker." Roni signed into the payroll system finally.

  "Oh, okay. What happened? Is he not coming?"

  "Oh, no. He will be here, but he said he pre-scheduled another appointment too close to his start time here and that he would be about ten minutes late. I am the most empathetic person in the world, but I can't start out being lenient on anybody else. Marci and Leslie Deal burned that lesson through my skull," she chuckled. "Hey. That breakfast area looks good. You may just need a little tidying here and there as more guests come down. Oh, and could you run an arrivals report for me and bring it back here when you're done with the breakfast area?"

  "Oh, sure. There are more guests coming down for breakfast now, so I'll print that now and get right on it. Just so you know, we are at ninety four percent, so we almost sold out last night."

  Roni could count on Mona. She was her right hand woman and did her job no matter what. That’s why she promoted her from a housekeeper to guest service representative to front desk manager in a little over a year. She showed extreme potential and desire for the position. As far as Roni was concerned, she was the second backbone to the company.

  "Oh, and Mona, please let me know how many housekeepers we have for the day. Thank you." she said closing the door to her office, so that she could concentrate on getting her employees paid on time, through the nifty Luxorio payroll system.

  After getting payroll done, Roni was ready to eat lunch. Her mouth watered as she thumbed through the pizza menus in her office, then the memory of her newly diagnosed condition, kicked in. She decided to eat Subway instead. Before leaving for lunch, she logged in to a singles website called Surelove.com. to check her instant messages. She paid thirty dollars for a sixty day membership with Surelove, and she was not about to waste it.

  She had three messages waiting when she logged in. Two from a guy named MrLover32 and one from JP365, who had no photo, but had intrigued her for the last couple of months.

  "Hey SweetladyRC1, I just wanted to let you know I love your ad." Second message read, "Hey love, it's me again. I forgot to tell you that I love BBWs and I can tell you are a sexy one from what I can see, even though your picture is so far back!"

  She laughed at his message and shook her head. She didn't reply to it. The message from JP365 read " You really have a dynamic way with words and I enjoyed your newly posted poem, The Joy of Love. I especially liked the last line the most. “Only a true love is a joy that can be cherished forever."

  She responded, "I am delighted that you liked my poem. Thank you. So, I see we have a lot in common. We’ve been emailing for a couple of months now, and the words you send me are really beautiful. I look forward to your next message." She signed out and went to lunch.

  "Okay, I will make your wake up call for six fifteen, as you requested and, just to let you know, we have new complimentary breakfast times. We will begin breakfast at six in the morning, instead of seven and we have extended it until eleven thirty." Roni smiled at the couple who frequented the hotel.

  "Thank you Roni. I was just talking to my sister in law last week about coming out here to visit, and she and my brother like to stay in hotels, even though we have sufficient room for them at our place. I recommended your hotel without a doubt. Oh! and we have friends and colleagues coming from all over the country to a local church convention in a few months, and you guys should be getting calls already about it. I told them all to book here. It's a wonderful place and you give the best service," Mrs. Nicholson smiled sincerely.

  "I really appreciate that. It makes me feel really good when I hear that from any of my guests.", Roni handed Mr. Nicholson their room keys.

  She pulled out two coloring books and a couple boxes of crayons for the Nicholson’s twin daughters. "Thank you Roni", the girls smiled in unison.

  "You're welcome Abby and Allie. Have a good evening Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson.

  Just as the family walked away from the desk, a guy, who Roni assumed was the new guy, came walking briskly through the doors. He was a tall, slim, biracial gentleman with coal black wavy hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. He wore a beard that was thin and neatly trimmed around his face. His eyes were very dark and piercing, underneath thick, wild eyebrows. He wore khaki pants, a white Polo shirt, and chocolate brown Timberland shoes. Even with the facial hair, he appeared to be no older than twenty one. His application confirmed his age to be thirty two. He was very attractive and young looking. He had a notepad and pen in his left hand. He looked at his watch, then at Roni and smiled apologetically.

  "I'm Jonathan Parker."

  "Hello Jonathan, come on back and we'll get your paperwork started if Sonia hasn't done that with you."

  He extended his right hand. "Pleased to meet you, Veronica right?" His eyes were mesmerized by Roni's soft, smooth chocolate skin, doe eyes, and pouty lips. Her black, naturally curly hair was just as beautiful.

  "Yes, but please call me Roni or Ms. Carter. Everyone calls me Roni, so I prefer that, though." she smiled, sneaking a peak at his left hand, which had no ring or indication that one had been there.

  "Will do", he smiled as she escorted him into her small office.

  "Have you done any of your paperwork?"

  "Uh- no, she got a folder with the tax forms and everything, but she ran out of time during my initial interview."

  "Okay. I have everything you need to fill out here in this folder. Just fill in the highlighted areas. I also need to copy your drivers license or state i.d and your social security card, please."

  He retrieved the cards from his wallet, then began to fill out his forms.

  Later in the evening, he had already caught on to the front desk basics.

  "So, I saw from your resume that you worked for a hotel prior to this one. The Maxwell Palace, right?"

  "Yeah, it's how I worked my way through school."

  "Oh ok. Great. I'm glad that you are catching on so swiftly. Our system is very similar to theirs. You guys used the Proline system at Maxwell right?"

  He nodded. "Yeah, Proline is very similar to this one. I think the reservations menu is a little different, but other than that, I should be fine. I know I'm going to need help with adjustments if that differs from Proline."

  "That will be the next part of your training. I usually don't like to cram a lot into your head the first day, but since you have everything else down pat, we'll get into it."

  The phone rang. "You wanna try answering it. Remember the phone greeting is posted ri
ght here", she pointed to the memo card, taped to the desk.

  "Thank you for calling Luxury suites hotel, my name is Jonathan Parker, how may I assist you? Sure. It will be a pleasure. What brings you to the area? Mhm.. sounds like fun! Sure. Coming in on what date?"

  Roni watched him take a reservation call perfectly. He recited the information given to him by the caller and gave the confirmation number before hanging up. She was sure when they got audited, that he would pass, with his excellent phone etiquette.

  "It's slow tonight, Jonathan, but we will be busy later in the week when our Hausmen medical group comes in. They can be a very demanding group of people, too."

  "I love that. Makes the time fly", he smiled, showing a set of perfectly straight and white teeth.

  " I agree." she smiled back. "While we are slow, why dont I give you a tour of the hotel", she bent down to get a master key from the drawer.

  "Sounds cool".

  They placed the "Front desk will return soon", sign on the desk, and headed down the burgundy carpeted hallway to look at rooms.

  Jonathan admired Roni's body as she pointed at rooms and talked about the hotel's amenities. Her words were barely audible as he got lost in her beauty.

  It was ten minutes before the end of their shift, and the night auditor, Raymond Zuiker, was walking through the door. His partner drove off, after their usual smooch in the car, and he stood at the door and waved, as the brown pick up truck rattled and groaned it's way to the exit.

  His effeminate walk and soft voice was one that Roni had become accustomed to over the year that he'd been working there.

  "Hel-looo", he sang.

  "Hi, Ray! This is our new second shift representative, Jonathan Parker, and Jonathan, this is our main night auditor, Ray."

  They shook hands. "Yeah, I don’t have a life anymore, outside of my husband and my two dogs, so you whenever you work second shift, you may as well count on seeing me, unless it's vacation time, or I'm down with the bird flu or something", he guffawed in a feminine, high pitched sound " It was a joke. Bird flu!" His joke was corny, but his laugh was hilarious. Roni and Jonathan giggled, like two kids.

  "Yes, Ray works six days a week, most of the time, but every other week, we force him to take a weekend off, and at that time, Dianne will be working."

  Jonathan looked at his watch. "So, do I clock out in the system, or do you have a time clock to punch out?"

  "I have to wait on corporate to send your identification number for the system. Until then, I will log you in and out on this sheet and have you initial it. And if there's nothing else, you have a good night, and you will be working with Mario tomorrow night and the rest of the week. It was a pleasure, Jonathan. See you soon."

  "Same here, Roni", he smiled, shaking her soft hand, and holding it a second too long.

  Sitting at home, on her fluffy, khaki chaise, after a long, hot shower, Roni re-read the literature about her PCOS. "So, maybe I'll never have children", she thought.

  Her phone rang four times, before she realized it.

  "Hello?"

  "Hey chica. What's going on?" Angie chirped.

  "Hey, Ang. Nothin, just sittin here trying to unwind, I guess," she sipped her hot Chai tea.

  "Oh, you know, the usual. Just got back from dinner with Brandon. He went home to grab a few things, but he's coming back to spend the night. Heaven knows I could use a few licks and sticks here and there!" she giggled like a teenager.

  Roni didn't laugh.

  "What's wrong Roni?"

  "Nothin", Roni lied in a monotone voice.

  "I have been your friend for twenty two years and you can't sit there and lie to me like that. Girl, what's wrong?"

  Roni sighed. "It's not really bad. Ok, it's not good either, but it's not anything life threatening or anything really that bad", she started.

  "M-hm", Angie edged her to go on.

  "Well, I went for my examination results today and Dr. Fieldman says I have PCOS."

  Angela breathed a sigh of relief. "So, lay off the pasta, soda, carbs, and eat a lean, fat free diet with more fruits and veggies, and get your big butt out the house more than just to work, go on blind dates, and hang with me and the girls!"

  If Angie hadn't been who she was, Roni would have cursed her out. "So, you know about weight and PCOS?"

  "Girl, Aunt Lora battled it for years and that's all she used to talk about was how women with PCOS had to eat right, take these supplements and metformin and spironlac-something and that their symptoms could be mild as a few extra pounds to severe, with infertility and facial hair and all that crap. I would say you were pretty mild, compared to her. You remember Aunt Lora, I know. She had that facial hair so bad, and she is light skinned, which made it more noticeable. She never did have any kids, but she also went years wondering what was wrong with her and why it was so hard for her to lose weight and why her facial hair just kept getting worse. Her and Uncle Mike ended up adopting, because she couldn't conceive."

  "Yeah, I remember her," Roni said, envisioning the goatee that encircled Lora's mouth. "I guess - I mean, my cycle is pretty irregular, and I have always battled my weight, you know that. But, I never tried to get pregnant, so I don't know if I can or not. I just know that I had a few slip ups with Maurice, when I used to date him, and I never got pregnant. And Maurice has three children. As for the facial hair, I don’t have any of that, but, uh, then again, I do have Daphne to wax my upper lip every blue moon", she laughed.,

  "And that's not out the ordinary. Shit, girl, you are fine.. It's fine hair, so don't freak out about it. Anyway, don’t let your doctor stick some diagnosis on you. You can speak health into your body, or hex it with health problems, claiming illness. Karla would tell you that.", Angie slapped her shapely thigh, as she laughed hysterically.

  "Hell yeah!" Roni agreed. " And don’t you tell Karla shit about my PCOS! I don’t need her giving me a regimen of workouts and diet plans, and dropping off any of those nasty ass veggie egg rolls!"

  They were both laughing to the point of tears, when Roni's line beeped. Roni looked at the phone. She was sure it was a guy who she'd given her number to on Surelove the previous week, because the number was unknown and nobody else would be calling her that late. "Hey, Ang. Lemme call you tomorrow. Love might be calling."

  "Oh, boy." Angie rolled her eyes. "Talk to ya later, girlfriend."

  She clicked over and whispered a sexy "Hello" into the receiver.

  "Yeah, can I speakta uhh. Val-Valerie?"

  She almost forgot she'd given an alias. "Um. This is Valerie. Who am I speaking with?"

  "This here is Billy. But you can call me Buck. Yeah, I'm the one who sent you that message a couple weeks ago."

  His voice and loudness was a turn off, and she really wasn't feeling like conversation. She removed the receiver from her ear and frowned in disgust.

  "Um, yeah okay. I remember you Buck, but I was just about to get in bed. I have a migraine and I took medicine, so if it's okay, I'll call you sometime tomorrow or later in the week, when I feel better."

  "Oh, I was gone say, I'll cum ova dere and make you feel betta girl! Ha ha! Make you forget you got that damn migraine!"

  Roni cleared her throat. "I don’t think so. I'm just going to call it a nite. Talk to you later." She hung up. "Damn freaks! That's what I get for giving my number out on that bullshit!"

  She logged on to Surelove.com to block "Buck" from sending any future messages, and had a message from JP365.

  Hey Sweet Lady..Black queen. I just wanted to let you know that I am so intrigued that I would love to meet you. Only if you are comfortable, though. If you wish, please meet me at 454 West 49th. Downtown. The club is known by everybody as The Wall Hole, but it has a sign on the building that says Dewey's. I would be honored to have you come. I am an open mic poet there. Meet me, Saturday night, 7 pm. I am the first act."

  - Johnny

  Chapter 5

  Daphne

  "I'm just not ready for people
to know about us, Jas." she lied in her lover's arms, after they madelove all night.

  "It's okay for now, baby. But I want to be proud of who I'm with. I got the best girl in the world, and I can't even show her off to anyone, because of fear of losing her." Jasera Sanchez, looked into her lover's eyes. "I love you, Daphne", she whispered.

  Daphne felt a warm sensation, more powerful that the one she experienced during the explosive climax they shared. " I love you too, Jas."

  Jas raised Daphne's chin to look into her eyes. "Do you really, baby?"

  "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?" Ever since Daphne laid eyes on her, Jas, had been a phenomenal influence in her life. She showed Daphne how to do unique and popular hairstyles and gave her tips on how to expand her clientele. She spent quality time with her, gave her the kind of orgasms that sent chills through her soul, and she loved her dearly. "I-I'm just not ready to be out about my sexuality."

  "Well, when are you going to be honest with yourself?" Jas asked firmly.

  "I am honest, Jas! I know how I feel about you and how I've always felt about other females. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just not ready to let it be known to my friends, clients, and people in the city who know me. My family knows and has known since I was a teenager, but they didn't tell anyone. They always thought it was bad enough that my brother Darnell, I mean, Denise is gay and so flamboyant about it. I'm like the kind that's not obvious to most, so I -"

  Jas interrupted with her deep, sultry voice, " So you figure it's okay to go around leading people on and having them fall in love with you and then tell them that you aren't ready to love them openly. You wanna love me when nobody's watching, is that it?"

  Daphne pushed the mauve and silver comforter off her slender frame and angrily sprung from the king sized bed. "You know what? You are so insensitive! Just because you've always had a basketball in your hands, wore boy clothes, kept a short haircut, and everybody just knew who you were going to turn out to be, just means one thing. It has been easier for you! People have always known about you, so you had it easy. If I told people, they would have to get used to it and it would take a while and then I don’t know how they are going to-"