Will report to Deputy Mayor Anthony Ford.
“Umm, I’ll handle this,” I muttered.
“So we do do that kind of stuff?” she asked.
I feigned a smile. “No, but I want to bring this to Charlene’s attention because it’s something that we may consider later.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I’m going to get back to work.” The light tap of her heels filled the room as she all but sprinted from my office.
I continued looking over the notice.
Will report to Deputy Mayor Anthony Ford.
I had no desire in securing the city contract, but this would be a perfect in to try to get to know more. I didn’t know how much more I could get from Alex, so this was definitely a viable option. I would get to know my mother from all angles.
I browsed through the specifics and noticed that the job closed in two days. That meant I needed to get to work.
······
It was kind of sad that I didn’t really want this contract because the plan I had put together in these past three hours was amazing, if I must say so myself. I relied on a news report that I’d seen last night and was able to come up with a proposal that I was sure would get me in the door.
I leaned back in my office chair and massaged my eyes. I probably needed to go home and get some rest, but then I glanced to the right and saw the mounds of paperwork that I’d been neglecting. No, I wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
My cell phone rang just as I reached for the folder in the stack.
“See, the devil doesn’t want me to do any work,” I mumbled. I frowned in confusion at the international number. But just as I was about to press IGNORE, I figured it might be Tammy, my college roommate. We had only spoken via Facebook since I moved into her place.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hello from down under!” Tammy exclaimed.
“Hey, girl,” I replied, happy to hear from her. “How’s Australia?”
“It’s good. I’m playing a she-warrior so you know I’m loving it.”
I laughed, mainly because that role was right up her tomboy alley.
“So, are things good with my place?”
“Yes, it’s awesome, you have no idea what a lifesaver you’ve been.”
“Girl, you’re helping me, keeping the criminals away.”
We chatted a bit more, catching up on everything, before she said, “Did my cousin give you an envelope?”
“Oh yeah,” I said. I had forgotten all about the envelope her cousin had given me when I went to pick up the keys.
“Cool, can you open it, and fax the forms in there to me today?” she asked.
“Of course,” I said, grabbing a pen so I could jot down her fax number. “I’ll send this over to you right away. Just shoot me a message on Facebook that you got it.”
“Thank you so much. I have to get back on set. So you take care, and enjoy my place. If you get freaky with someone, don’t do it in my bed.”
“Bye, girl.” I laughed.
I went over to the bag that I had stuffed her envelope in. When I pulled it out, I noticed the stack of letters I had written to my mother.
I’d brought them with me—well, I don’t know why I brought them. I think I was hoping we could sit down and read them together.
I fingered the ones that had been opened, then the many more that had yet to be.
I decided to open one of them.
Dear Mom,
I just came back from my first date. Daddy didn’t want to let me go, but I’m sixteen. It was nice. I went to the movies with Zach Baxter. I really like him, Mom. But he tried to kiss me, then I freaked. Then, he told me if I loved him, I would let him have sex with me. I’m so confused. How can I love him if this is just our first date? I mean, I know him from around school, and I like him from there. But how do I know when I’m in love? Will I really lose him if I don’t have sex with him? He said if I don’t do it, another girl will. Probably Melanie Willis, with her skanky self. I have so many questions. I wish you were here to answer them.
Love, Brooke.
I put the stack of letters away. I couldn’t do it. There were so many times when I needed my mother, and to find out that she’d been alive the whole time was heartbreaking all over again.
No, we would read those together so she could explain herself. I grabbed the information I needed, faxed the forms to Tammy, and then went back to work.
CHAPTER 19
* * *
I sat in the lobby of Atlanta City Hall, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. I’d mapped out my presentation strategy and was hoping to finagle a meeting with Anthony Ford. What I was torn about was whether I would tell him about his wife’s little secret, or just pick him for information that might prove useful. I’d been nervous all morning, though. What if he knew about me? What if he’d been the one to force her to abandon me?
I almost chickened out several times.
Almost.
The idea of this new life that my mother had created overrode any desire I had to leave.
“Hi. I’m sorry, what did you say your name was again?” the receptionist asked, hanging up her phone call.
“Meredith. Meredith Logan,” I said with a smile. It was going to be hard to keep track of all these names I was using but I didn’t want to use Mona, in case Alex and his father ever got to talking.
She pored over her appointment book. I’d called before I came to make sure he was in the office. Now I just needed to convince her to let me see him.
“I am so sorry. I don’t see you on his schedule.”
I kept my smile. “Well, I don’t actually have an appointment. But I’m friends with his wife, Sarah, and she arranged for a quick meeting so I could give him my proposal for the PR campaign.” I never had been great at lying and I was hoping she didn’t see right through me.
She frowned. “He didn’t say anything to me about it.”
I chuckled. “Sarah said he was probably going to forget. But you can let him know I’ll just drop it off and be on my way.”
“You can give it to me and I’ll make sure he gets it.”
I pulled the manila folder close to my chest. “Oh, no can do. This proposal is top secret.” I smiled, trying to ease her apprehension.
She was hesitant, but said, “Hold on, please.” She picked up the receiver. “Mr. Ford,” she whispered, “I have a Miss Meredith Logan here to see you. Umm, she says she’s a friend of your wife here to drop off a proposal . . .”
I wondered why she was whispering since I was standing right in front of her and could hear her with ease.
“. . . I know but she’s pretty insistent . . . Okay. I’ll let her know.” She hung the phone up and looked at me. “Mr. Ford will see you now.”
I reached over her desk and squeezed her hand. “Thank you so much.”
She smiled. I hated that I had to resort to lies, but I was in war mode now. So, whatever it took, I was willing to do.
“Hi.” Anthony Ford stood and extended his hand. He greeted me like he was supposed to know me but didn’t want me to know he’d forgotten.
I reached for his hand. Shook it. I could see why my mother would be more physically attracted to him than to my father. He was even better looking than I’d initially imagined.
“Thank you so much for agreeing to see me, Mr. Ford. As deputy mayor, I know you’re extremely busy, so I truly appreciate it.”
“My pleasure,” he said. “Now please have a seat.”
He motioned to the chair in front of his desk, then waited for me to sit.
“So, my wife sent you?”
I rolled my lips in and sighed. “Okay, I have to confess, I am not your wife’s friend. I am so sorry, but they were trying to make me turn my proposal in to your underling, and I knew that I needed to deliver this to you in person, myself.”
I expected him to get angry, but he paused, then a slow smile spread across his mouth. “I like that. Innovative.”
Whew. I
relaxed. “Well, can I just say I really admire the work that you have been doing? And I know that ultimately, it’s the mayor’s decision on who they hire for this project, but we all know that it’s usually the man beside the man who is the real boss.”
My flattery was having its intended effect. He chuckled. “You got that right.”
“I’ve put together a comprehensive PR plan on why our agency would be the best to let not just Atlanta—but the world—know about this revolutionary undertaking.” I slid the packet across the desk to him.
He leaned up, opened the packet, which I had spent the last two days preparing, then began reading.
I could tell he was pleased because he nodded as he read. “Very impressive,” he mumbled.
I seized the moment. “One of your constituents was on the news last night in a very poignant interview about how the city is taking her home of fifty-six years through eminent domain,” I continued. “If you’ll look on page four, I’ve developed a win-win strategy that could make people like the woman in that interview, Mrs. Bertha Mayes, the face of Atlanta Cares, a new project that allows the city to advance while taking care of the people who make up the very fabric of our community.”
He sat back in his chair. I had no doubt impressed him, because his grin was wide. “Wow,” he said. “You are good.”
“And if the city hires my agency, I can be great.” I’d hoped that after I made my pitch we could talk so that I could get more insight into him.
“Well, as you know, I have to take the presentation to the city council, but you have definitely sold me.”
“Thank you so much.” My mind raced for a transition to his personal life before he concluded the meeting. I saw the perfect in with the picture sitting on the corner of his desk.
“Oh my goodness. She is adorable,” I said, pointing to the photo. “May I?”
He nodded, pride blanketing his face.
“That’s my baby, Sunny,” he said as I picked the picture up to study it. “She’s six and the light of our lives.”
“Your only child?” I asked. Maybe my mother had told him about me. Maybe he knew she had another child that, for whatever reason, she’d had to walk away from.
“I have an older son.” He pointed to another photo in the corner of his office. It was Alex at his college graduation.
I set the picture back down on his desk. “When I eventually settle down, I think I want three kids,” I said.
He laughed. “Two was more than enough for me. I was always worried that my wife would want another child. Alex is her stepson. But once we had Sunny, she seemed content. And our family was complete.”
His words had nearly knocked me off balance. I wanted to stay, pry more, have him say something that would help me make sense. But as the lump in my throat built, I took that as my cue for an early exit. “Well, thank you again, Mr. Ford. And I hope to hear from you soon.”
I stood and felt his eyes roaming over my body, making me momentarily uncomfortable. He caught himself and said, “Oh, you definitely will.”
I made my way back to my car. Outside of that last-minute ogling, Anthony Ford seemed like a really nice guy. Was that why my mother was content with never coming back? She’d found a nice man, a replacement family, and was living the perfect life?
Once I made it back to my car, I leaned against the headrest and tried to settle my pounding heart. I was getting bits and pieces of information from Alex and Anthony. I needed the whole story and it was evident the only place I’d get that from was my mother.
CHAPTER 20
* * *
When Charlene said working in the Atlanta office was going to be a lot more work, she wasn’t kidding. This had turned into way more work than I wanted to do. But I knew if I wanted to stay here in Atlanta, I would have to make it work. And I couldn’t do things like I’d been doing this morning—spending hours on the High Point Elementary School website, reading accolades about their “esteemed” principal.
I looked up from my desk to see Veronica, standing in my doorway.
“Hey, Veronica,” I said, motioning for her to come in.
“I can’t say this enough. I’m so glad you’re here.” She thrust a folder in my direction. “Especially now.”
“What’s going on?” I asked, taking the folder.
“Our client, Hype, just got caught up in a scandal, selling plagiarized SAT and ACT tests.”
“What? Isn’t Hype a gangsta rapper?”
“Yep.”
“Wow,” I said, perusing the papers. He rapped about killing cops and was hustling SAT tests? “Really?”
“You know, with the big cheating scandal Atlanta had with their school district a few years ago, the prosecutors are out for blood. Miss Charlene said to have you take the lead on this. Or you could take on the other one.” She handed me another folder.
I groaned. This was the last thing I had time to be doing, dealing with high-profile cases.
“What’s the other one?” I asked.
“The R-and-B singer Nina J. We’ve been representing her for about six months. She’s getting bad press because she threw boiling water on her cheating husband.”
I let out a heavy sigh. The expression on Veronica’s face said she was hoping I would say that I would take on both cases.
“Okay, I’ll take Nina J. You can handle Hype,” I told her.
She looked horrified at the thought but I simply said, “Welcome to the big leagues.”
“Guess I’d better get to work,” she said, taking the first folder back from me.
“Me, too,” I mumbled as she walked out of the office. I logged off the website, where I’d been reading about my mother winning principal of the year. I picked up the phone to dial Nina J.’s assistant.
“Hello, this is Brooke Hayes,” I said when the woman picked up. “I’m the new publicist with First Impressions that will be handling Nina’s situation.”
“Thank God,” the assistant cried. “This is her assistant, Amiya. Maybe you can get through to her because she is going off the deep end. She’s on the radio as we speak.”
“The radio?” I took a deep breath. “What station?”
“V-103.” The assistant sounded completely exasperated.
I covered the mouthpiece and yelled for Veronica, who came running in.
“I need a radio!”
She looked confused, then said, “Who has a radio?”
“How do you listen to music?” I snapped. “V-103?”
“On my phone. I have the V-103 app.”
“Can you turn it on?”
“One second.” She ran back to her desk, grabbed her phone, and darted back into my office. She tapped the screen just in time to hear the deejay saying, “Hot water, though, Nina J.?”
Nina J. was not moved. “That’s what’s wrong with America! We’re some pansies. We let people run all over us and we don’t do anything about it.”
“Are you listening?” the assistant cried through the phone. “She is out of control!”
I buried my head in my hands.
“What a man is not about to do is cause me pain without feeling some himself,” Nina J. snapped to the deejay. “Nobody screws me over, because if it’s one verse in the Bible I take to heart, it’s an eye for an eye.”
I groaned at her trying to twist the Bible to fit her narrative.
“I’m not sorry, and I’ll do it again,” Nina J. said, her voice filled with defiance.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I mumbled.
The look on Veronica’s face made me calm down. I was supposed to be setting an example for this aspiring publicist. I inhaled, and turned my attention back to the phone.
“Is she in the studio with him?”
“No, she’s on the phone. This is a disaster. She won’t listen to anyone,” the assistant continued.
I took a deep breath. “Okay, when she gets off, please make sure she calls me and I’ll handle it from there.”
“Th
ank you,” the assistant said, relief filling her voice. “Is this your number on my caller ID?”
“No, this is the office. I will text you my cell.”
“He’s lucky it’s boiling water and not my twenty-two,” Nina J. said just as I hung up the phone.
“Turn it off,” I told Veronica, who did so, and slowly backed out of the room like she was grateful I was the one dealing with that drama.
I immediately began pulling together all the information I could find on Nina J. The task turned into a welcome distraction because it wasn’t until my phone rang that I noticed it was well after 4 p.m.
I saw that it was April, FaceTiming me, so I hit ACCEPT.
“Hey, cuz, how’s it going?”
“Crazy,” I replied.
She sat up. “Did you finally see Aunt Sarah?”
“No, it’s not that. Just a rough day at work.” I leaned back and massaged my temples.
“So, wait, you’re really working?”
“I know, right? And I just got thrust right in the middle of a public relations catastrophe,” I said. “Anyway, how are things going there?”
“I’m bored silly. Ready to get these babies out.”
“Well, you still have a minute.”
“I should come down there and hang out with you for a while.”
“As if Sam would ever let that happen.”
Nostalgia passed over me as I thought about Trent. I hoped to have a husband care about me like Sam did April.
April brushed a curl out of her face and leaned into the camera. “So, don’t play. You know I need a daily report until you figure out what you’re going to do.”
I stood and walked around my desk to close my office door.
“She saw me,” I said, sliding back into my chair.
April’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Get the freak out of here! And you’re just now telling me? When? Where? What happened?” She pummeled me with questions.
I inhaled, exhaled, then told her all about seeing Sarah in Starbucks. “It’s one thing when I thought she may have had amnesia, and may have literally forgotten about me,” I continued, “but this woman hasn’t given me a second thought. She looked me dead in the face and there was not a hint of recognition.”
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