“Hmmm…it’s been a while.”
“That’s what I thought. Well, Mama has been really having a hard time at work lately with Ms. Pam.”
Dee shook her head. She always did think it was a bad idea for Pam and Amanda to be working together. And of course, Pam kept her business issues to herself, especially if it was dealing with Amanda.
“What happened?”
“I’m not really sure, but I know she is not working there anymore.”
“What? She quit or Pam fired her?”
“Like I said, I’m not sure. But, the two of them really have some issues, and I can tell that it’s really been bothering Mama. Can you talk to them, Auntie Dee?”
“I can try, but you know Pam and your mother’s history. It will take a hurricane and a monsoon to get them to see eye to eye.”
“I know, but…”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“I know, you can’t make any promises,” Tracey chimed in.
“Is that what has been so important for you to tell me?”
“No! There’s more. It’s about mama and my dad.” Tracey’s voice sounded apprehensive and excited at the same time. Dee paused long enough not to sound totally caught off guard. Last she heard, Tracey father’s had no contact with Amanda. Melvin was the only man that had been in Amanda’s life for some time now.
“So what about them?”
“Well, I don’t quite know how to say this, but we’ve been communicating for a while now—and long story short, he wants me to tell mama.”
“You mean Amanda doesn’t know?” Dee went from a seated position on the bed to a full stance on the floor.
“Uh huh.”
Dee paced the floor, imagining Amanda’s reaction once she got wind of what her daughter was doing behind her back. “Oh, Tracey!”
“Auntie Dee, Mama would have a baby cow if she knew I was seeing my dad!”
No! Twin baby cows, Dee thought. And I definitely don’t want to be a witness to that birth.
Pam’s M.O. was always the same. Whenever she had a crisis at work, she came home and made it a crisis as well. Dee glanced over at the sofa and saw Pam’s robe and slippers lying on the floor next to a half-empty cup of stale coffee.
“She must have pulled an all-nighter,” Dee said seeing files tossed about on the floor. There were handwritten notes scattered around the kitchen table lying next to a mountain of pens and pencils. She sorted through Pam’s paperwork and placed it in neat little stacks on the table, making sure to keep them in order. Next, she dutifully picked up the rest of Pam’s belongings and returned everything to Pam’s office where she felt like she had just stepped onto the set of a remake of The Twilight Zone.
Pam kept her office as immaculate as a shrine. Beautiful African art and expensive oriental rugs flanked the hardwood floors. In the middle of the room sat a custom designed mahogany desk, given to her by one of her thankful clients who’d purchased it while on one of his many jaunts to Egypt. Two plum ultra-suede chairs sat in front of it, adding to the room’s elegance. A breathtaking view of Buckhead, the premiere section of town for Atlanta’s elite and wannabe elite, topped it off.
The bookshelves were filled with enough legal books to put Harvard’s Law School bookstore out of business. Dee and Pam had shared some of the books in college. Back then, she, Pam, and Amanda swore that when they became lawyers they would open up a firm together. Pam had kept her end of the bargain. Amanda came in a close second as a paralegal. For Dee, that dream seemed light years away. If Pam wanted to, she could run a small law practice right from the comforts of her own home. Why Pam opted for the kitchen table instead remained a complete mystery to Dee.
Their kitchen was entirely too pretty for Pam to leave it as a mess hall. The decor was a unique blend of colors of salmon pink and apple green. The white ceramic tile floors were accented with ivy etched on alternating squares. Their sorority color theme was the work of an interior designer who was also an AKA.
After Dee finished sweeping the kitchen, she vacuumed the crumbs from the living room floor, and then wiped the perspiration from her brow. When she heard the doorbell, she yelled, “Just a minute!”
“Don’t leave me standing out here all day,” the voice shouted back through the door.
Dee smiled at the sound of the familiar voice and jogged up the steps of the sunken living room and threw open the door. “Sedrick, hi!”
“Hi, stranger!” Sedrick gave her a bear hug. Dee stood on her toes to reach his 6‘3” frame. She inhaled the refreshing aroma of his cologne as he released her from his grasp.
“When did you get back in town?”
“Just a couple of hours ago.”
His hazel eyes scanned the apartment and he shook his head disapprovingly. “Don’t tell me. The maid is off today, and Pam hired you to clean up her mess again,” he teased.
“Sedrick, now, you promised.”
“I know. I said I wouldn’t tease you about your compulsive disorder for cleaning, but Dee, come on, Pam’s a grown-ass woman, you shouldn’t have to…”
She placed her hand over his mouth before he could finish his sentence, grabbed him by the hand, and walked him to the living room.
“Nice suit,” Dee said as she tugged on his tie. He was wearing what looked like a custom-made suit. It was charcoal gray complemented by a crisp white French cuff shirt and gray silk tie.
“Thanks. I do look pretty good, don’t I?” Sedrick laughed as he smoothed out his tie.
“So what’s the occasion?”
“Meeting with my bank.”
“I see, so you had to dress to impress, huh? Well you give the appearance that you’re worthy of credit anyway,” Dee laughed.
“So you got jokes, I see. Don’t hate baby, you just jealous!” Sedrick’s smile broadened as he thought about how much they used to tease each other in college about how the other one dressed.
“Hardly! Do you remember the time when you were walking around the campus thinking you were all that, and that girl came up to you—what was her name?” Dee asked.
“Desiree? Man, she was so fine!”
“Yes, her.” Dee rolled her eyes at him. She was a little disgusted with herself that she used that same name to dupe Chris. “Yeah, Desiree tapped you on the shoulders and told you that your pants were nice, but you paid a little too much for them and snatched the price tag off your waist and handed it to you!” Holding her stomach, Dee doubled over with laughter.
“Yeah, that was pretty embarrassing.”
Dee slapped him teasingly on his knee. “Mr. GQ, at least that’s what you thought you were anyway.”
“Was, and still am! And what about you, Miss Ebony Fashion Fair? You thought you were turning a couple of heads a few times as you walked over to math class at Morehouse. Seemed to me like every time you had a class at The House you had on a new outfit.”
“Well, a girl had to look good going to class,” she said, playfully smoothing her ponytail.
Sedrick laughed. “You didn’t look like you were just going to class. You looked like you were getting paid to get dressed just to go to class!”
“Yes, we were both feeling ourselves back then, weren’t we? Man, how time flies.”
Sedrick looked at her in admiration and contemplated his thoughts before he spoke. “But on a serious note, I must say, Miss Dee, there was never a prettier campus queen than you. You made an already handsome brotha look extra good on that day,” he said, pretending to smooth out his shirt.
“Yes, I did, didn’t I? And you didn’t make such a bad king, yourself, Mr. Meals on Wheels!” she said hitting him lightly on his chest.
“Aw, man, you just had to go there. Now, you’re gettin’ ready to dog out my frat.”
“Oh, no, I can’t dog out Mr. cool Kappa!”
“Okay, go on. I know you just can’t wait to dig in.”
“Oh, au contraire sir, but you were a trip in college. You would have those silly women eating right
out of your hand. They would look at those big puppy dog eyes of yours and melt like butter. Geez! I couldn’t believe how they let you charm the pants right off of them,” Dee said, smacking herself on the forehead in disbelief.
Sedrick looked a little embarrassed that she still remembered his wild ways from so many years ago. “Dee, now you know it wasn’t like that at all.”
“Puh-leeze, who are you trying to fool? Boy, I know you better than you know yourself.”
Sedrick could only laugh because he knew she was telling the truth. He was known as the most charming man on campus, with charisma that drew the ladies right in like moths to a flame. He took advantage of his boyish good looks that gave him an innocence that made women feel like he could never do any wrong.
Sedrick never spent money on groceries. His Kappa brothers nicknamed him “Mr. Meals on Wheels” because some woman was always driving food over to his apartment at least five days a week. Everyone except Dee. She was the only woman who ever looked at him only as a friend, and unbeknownst to her, she was the only woman that didn’t have a clue about his true feelings.
“All right, next topic,” he said as he walked across the living room, marveling at the colorful painting on the whitewashed wall. “Cool, I see you got a piece of Fennell’s work,” he said, trying to change the subject. “That’s a nice one.”
“Thanks, I got it on one of my layovers in San Fran. The colors are so vibrant that it draws you right to it, doesn’t it?”
Sedrick nodded. Dee could see that he was getting a little embarrassed about her teasing him. “Okay, I see I’ve beaten you down too hard going down Memory Lane. You’re starting to sweat a little. Want a bottled water?”
“Very funny. Yes, that would be great,” he said as he walked back toward the loveseat. He sat down and flipped through the Ebony Magazine on the coffee table. After Dee pulled out two bottles of water from the refrigerator, she found herself staring out of the bay window at the glistening swimming pool ten stories below. Two gorgeous men had just gotten out of the pool. They were sitting in the lawn chairs and letting their chocolate-drenched bodies dry off in the sunlight. No wonder Pam always did her work in the kitchen. This view was much better than the one in her office any day. She opened up her bottle to take a sip as her thoughts moved toward Chris.
“What, cha’ doin’ in there, woman? Digging a well for the water?”
Dee walked back in the living room and handed him his water. “Oh, don’t get your briefs in a wad.”
“Thanks. And I wear boxers, not briefs.” He laughed as he watched Dee give him a disgusting look. “You brought up the underwear thing, not me.” His hand reached for the glass, gingerly touching her fingers as she released it.
“You’re welcome,” Dee said, oblivious to Sedrick’s mild attempt of flirtation. She stretched her arms, causing her tank top to rise slightly above her midsection. Sedrick’s eyes were drawn immediately to her smooth stomach. It was a mystery to Sedrick as to how many crunches this woman did a day to keep such firm abs.
I know Dee takes kickboxing, too, but damn! I had no idea she had such definition. Unconsciously, he patted his own stomach to reaffirm his tautness. With such a hectic schedule, he had little time to go to a gym on a regular basis.
Dee sat back down on the sofa and crossed her legs Indian style. “So, how is the construction coming for your new building?”
“Great! We’ve run into a few snags, but nothing we couldn’t work out.”
“Sed, that’s wonderful. You have worked really hard.”
“Yeah, this last year has definitely been a killer for me and the other doctors, but I’m glad it’s almost over.”
“Well, you know Pam and I will be right there cheering you on when you cut the ribbon on that new building.”
“Yeah, my two girls right there in my corner. A guy couldn’t ask for much more,” he said, raising his hand to give Dee a high five.
“I know that’s right.” Dee’s top rose again as she jumped up to slap his hand. His eyes caught another flash of her stomach.
“Damn,” he whispered.
“Did you say something?”
“I said Sam. I need to call and check in on Samantha, one of my patients.” He moved in closer to her. “So, what’s happenin’ with you these days? How’s the flying going?”
Dee shook her head and got up to straighten the coffee table and sofa pillows. Her drawn face reflected a sudden mood change.
“Hey,” he said laughing, hoping Dee’s mood would return to normal.
“What’s so funny?”
He took a sip of his water and perused the Ebony article. “Have you had a chance to read this yet?”
“No, that’s my mail pile, but I haven’t looked at it yet.”
“Well, it’s pretty interesting. Women can do some wild stuff according to this article. It’s called, ‘The Five Mistakes Women Make With Men.’”
“Really, we can make that many, huh?” Dee stopped straightening the room and walked over toward him.
Sedrick’s phone went off before he could respond. He looked at the text message. “All right, gotta go. Duty calls.”
“You better get a move on then.”
He stood up and hugged her for as long as he could without making her feel uncomfortable.
“It was great seeing you, Dee.”
“You too. Here, let me walk you to the door.”
“All right. Tell Pam I’m sorry I keep missing her.”
“I will. Talk to you later.”
Dee had just begun sorting through her three-day mail when the doorbell rang again. Who could that be? She knew Sedrick didn’t forget anything.
“Delivery for Pamela Madison,” the doorman said when she opened the door. He handed her a bouquet of exotic tropical foliage that included a delightful blend of ginger, protea, and orchids.
“These are absolutely breathtaking. Hold on a sec, Eugene, I’ll run and get your tip,” she said, running back to the change drawer in the kitchen.
“Thanks, Ms. Bridge. Tell Ms. Madison she sure is one lucky lady. Someone really thinks a lot of her.”
They most certainly do, she thought as she closed the door and placed the vase on the end table in the living room. “Let’s see who it is.” Dee knew she was being nosy but opened the card anyway.
One of a kind flowers for a one of a kind lady.
I hope to see you again soon.
Sincerely,
The man you’re too busy to have breakfast with!
Dee slipped the note back in the envelope. Well, whoever he was, good luck. He may starve to death if he was waiting to take Pam out to eat. Dee wished Pam would consider seeking some professional help. Her doctor would be great for her, but nobody knew Dee was seeing a psychiatrist.
Dee sat back down on the sofa and flipped though Ebony until she came across the article that Sedrick had mentioned earlier. “The Five Mistakes Women Make With Men.” Number one: not being truthful. Dee slammed the magazine shut, walked over to the telephone, and immediately dialed her psychiatrist.
Nose Dive
When Pam pulled into the parking lot of Sterling, Mathis, and Silverman, thoughts of her meeting with Greg resurfaced. She felt the deluge of tears begin to fall. Shit! I’ve got to get a handle on myself. She took deep breaths and tried to refocus her thoughts. This case she was about to try was too important to let emotions rule over logic. She couldn’t help but notice the dark oil stains on the spot where Amanda used to park her car. The empty spot seemed so barren without the champagne-colored Camry.
It was already 9:00 a.m., two hours later than when Pam usually arrived. Amanda was typically at work at least one hour before Pam walked in and would have case files already organized and waiting for her. Today was the first time in three years Pam’s day would start off without Amanda. Damn Amanda and her ungrateful ass!
Pam walked toward her office. Pete Sterdivant, the hiring manager, was right on her heels. His charcoal trench coat swayed
behind him as he followed Pam in dogged pursuit.
“Hey, Pam. Getting a late start today, are we?”
Pam looked at her watch without breaking her stride. “Yes, you are getting in rather later than usual. What’s going on?”
“You tell me. I heard Amanda turned in her resignation on Friday.” He tried to maneuver his folders to keep the papers from falling out while he held onto his briefcase.
Pam continued to walk briskly as she entered the building. “My, word travels fast.”
“I got a call from the office at home late Friday night since I was off on Friday,” he said as he clumsily readjusted his horn-rimmed glasses back up on his nose.
Pam nonchalantly pressed the elevator button. “So?”
“So what happened?” Pete finally caught up to her and looked at her sternly.
“I think it says it all in the letter, which, by the way, should still be on your desk where I left it,” she said glaring back at him and cutting her eyes to stare at the numbers at the top of the elevator. The elevator doors opened and she stepped in, secretly hoping they would close on him.
Pete was as unrelenting as a pit bull. He pushed his way through the narrow closing of the elevator’s doors. Pam rolled her eyes and let out a disappointed sigh. “By the way, how soon will I have a replacement? I need someone, as in yesterday, to assist me with the Tyfish case.”
Pete didn’t seem to hear her question. “I just don’t get it. She was one of our best paralegals. I just didn’t think she would quit.”
“Yes, well we all didn’t think, but she did. And now she’s gone and I say good riddance,” Pam said firmly as the doors opened. She stepped brusquely off the elevator. “The replacement, Pete? When will I get one?”
“I’ll have someone sent to you by lunch.”
“I suppose I should be grateful,” she mumbled as she turned down the corridor, leaving Pete taken aback by her response. He walked to his office and saw Amanda’s resignation letter cloaked in an envelope on his desk. He opened it and was surprised at the letter’s terse words.
Dear Mr. Sterdivant,
Effective immediately, I am resigning from Sterling,
Destination D Page 11