A Trashy Affair

by Shurr, Lynn

  “No. My mother could lose it, and Brittney would sell it. Granny knows that. I had it reset. These little yellow stones in the half circle around the diamond are topazes. They represent the rays of the setting sun. The emerald slivers running along band, that’s supposed to be sugarcane.” Seized with a moment of doubt, Merlin asked, “Do you think it’s too gaudy? Mr. LeClerc said he’d take it back if you didn’t like it, but he seemed fairly sure you would.”

  “I love it right down to its recycled center stone. It’s unique, like you.” Jane grasped his bearded chin to lower his head for a kiss.

  “Manly yet sensitive like your father,” Kathleen sighed. “Where is my own dear man?”

  “In the kitchen setting out the leftovers for dinner,” Heath answered. “I think we should eat before it gets anymore sickly sweet in here.”

  “Your day will come, Heathcliff. I guarantee you me,” Merlin said.

  They ate. They listened to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on PBS and watched It’s a Wonderful Life playing endlessly on another channel. When Jane and Merlin decided to go up to bed at exactly the same time, no one commented. They chose to spend the night in Merlin’s designated room at the far end of the hall away from parents and brother and kept the lovemaking quiet. In the morning, he told Jane to stay in bed and tucked the feather comforter tight around her. He wanted to make an early start without waking anyone. She listened to his big-ass truck roar toward the sunrise until she could hear it no more before going back to sleep.

  Merlin Tauzin went back to Louisiana sure of one thing. Jane would be coming home to him.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Merlin waited for her at the airport gate. Jane saw him standing at the foot of the escalator as she left the security area. He looked up, clean-shaven, fresh haircut, and wearing a blue dress shirt open at the collar with new khakis possessing a razor-sharp crease. The middle-aged woman with whom she’d shared the cramped seats on the small jet from Dallas said, “Wish he was waiting for me.”

  “I’m afraid he’s all mine.”

  Impatient with the queue forming at the escalator, she took the stairs straight into his arms. After a gratifying kiss long enough to draw embarrassed stares from other passengers, they walked hand in hand to the baggage carousel to wait for the beep and roll of the luggage. Jane studied his long face. The electric blue eyes held something she’d never seen there before—happiness backed up with an instant broad smile that said the same.

  “You look wonderful, Merlin.”

  “You, too.”

  He lied. She had poorly concealed circles under her eyes, chapped lips slathered with gloss, and a pale face amped up with a little blusher. No matter how hard she tried, her curling iron failed to turn all the ends of her straight hair under in a becoming way. She wore a touch of gold jewelry donated by her grandmother, her engagement ring, and a slinky black travel knit ensemble guaranteed not to wrinkle. Unfortunately, the coffee she’d spilled with her nervous hands on the plane left stains on the apple green turtleneck shell she wore under it. With the jacket worn buttoned, only she would know the difference, but still.

  Having spent the night in Dallas in order to arrive early enough for the unemployment hearing today, she’d let her nerves keep her up going over and over what she would say. Her mother rehearsed her for days as if preparing her for a Supreme Court testimony, always emphasizing that her daughter needed to do this for her fellow employees. Kathleen had some experience with the process having once been fired for her unorthodox views, but she’d proved beyond a doubt that her personal beliefs did not intrude into her classroom. Not only had she won against the school board, she’d collected compensation and a settlement as well. A less rigid community college soon gave her a contract. Jane prayed, not for her sake so much as for Merlin’s, that her outcome would be as successful. What if recycling was not restored? What if the parish did not rehire her? She refused to be a drain on his resources.

  They drove back to Chapelle in the big-ass truck, though he could have used her hybrid. She declined to mention that. Other things mattered more.

  “Thanks for taking today off to meet me. Did you get to see Doyle again before he left?”

  “Yep. I feel good about his chances of coming home now. While we were on our way to Montana, he met up with a girl who’d been writing to him, one of these deals to support our troops they set up at Holy Mom’s. They went to high school together, and I think he had a little crush on her, but being a fat kid with mostly just nice going for him, he didn’t stand a chance. Now, he’s a trim man in a uniform who wants to start his own trucking business once he gets out of the service. She has secretarial training and could run an office. Courtney Plaisance, you know her?”

  “Yes, a very nice young woman, pretty, too. She’s May Robin’s grandniece. She came to the retirement party.”

  Merlin answered, “Right,” as if he held something back, but he continued. “She was working for Bernard Freeman when I went to visit with him, but I set her straight on what kind of snake he is. She quit. Looks like she might be part of our family in the future. Having someone to come home to makes a man overseas a lot more cautious and a lot less stupid. I doubt if they would have called me The Magician for my exploits if you’d been waiting for me.”

  “Then, we probably would not have met at all since you would have been a different man. I love you as you are.” She did mean that, but knew her answer came out distracted by the looming hearing.

  “Your dad said you’d change me for the better.”

  “No, you will change yourself. You already have.”

  “Thanks for canceling that job interview.”

  “Heath was pissed, but my mom said I had to follow my heart.”

  “I like your mom. Heath, well, he wants to look out for you like I should have for Brittney. I understand that. Don’t slug me now, but you need not go through with this hearing. Like I said before if your old job doesn’t come back, start your own consulting service out of your home office. I’m putting the house in both our names.”

  “Merlin, you are still keeping me. I need to do this.”

  Getting to know her better, he did not argue the point. “You want to stop for something to eat or go straight home?”

  “Let’s pick up May and see if she’d like to go to lunch. The least we can do is feed my only witness. The others were too afraid to testify on my behalf. Retirement does have its privileges.”

  May received them with every curl of her red hair in place, her cheeks rouged, and her scrawny body draped in what seemed to be a lifetime’s accumulation of good jewelry, from her small diamond hoop earrings to her numerous gold bangles and necklaces to a large gemstone brooch pinned to the jacket of her dark green suit. They went to eat at a sandwich shop near the unemployment office, which had a fancier name, the Office of Workforce Development. No one called it that. A person went there when out of a job to file for a check, but rarely to find new work.

  Jane picked at a salad with a dozen medium-sized shrimp in it. Merlin had a steak and cheese. May delicately ate the four triangles of a club sandwich and told them what she intended to say. Jane nodded and thanked her. Stomach clenching, she walked with them to the hearing. Merlin waited outside the glass-walled room. Nadia Nixon already sat inside, grim in her prison warden gray, and escorted by Didi LaRoche, who resembled a newly arrested prostitute in her tight, low-cut attire. He watched Jane and May take places on the opposite side of the table and gave them a thumbs up that drew a shaky smile from his fiancée. An officious, gray-haired woman, thin as a sword, entered with a file and a clipboard and claimed the head of the table. A second HR employee followed her into the room, but sat discreetly on a chair in the corner—a witness, person to call for help if things got out of hand, perhaps. The hearing began.

  “I am Sharon Leger. I will be your mediator today. The proceedings will be recorded for accuracy.” Ms. Leger noted the date, time, and those in attendance. “You may speak first Ms. Nixo
n. Ms. Marshall, please do not interrupt.”

  “Jane Marshall was a problem employee, insubordinate, late for work, unable to complete a crucial proposal in a timely manner. And she ordered shoes online during working hours.”

  Jane gasped and started to refute, but Ms. Leger held up a hand. “You will have your turn. Were these infractions documented? Was the employee given time to correct her behavior?”

  “Mostly, she was insubordinate to me. The other employees liked her, and our parish president showed a fondness for Jane. He did not allow me to write her up, but I brought Miss LaRoche as a witness to those behaviors.”

  “Oh, yeah. I saw her ordering things online all the time. Jane was real snotty to Miss Nixon and came in late lots of times.” Didi dug in her little gold bag for a pack of gum and shoved a stick into her mouth. “Sorry, my mouth is dry.”

  “Is that all you have to say, Miss LaRoche?”

  “Ah, no. She was a lousy receptionist. Jane only wanted to work on her fancy grants, not deal with people and phone calls at the front desk, which is an important job, too.” Didi puffed out her chest. Jane swore the woman had gone up a bra size since she’d been gone. Her breasts nearly spilled out of a red surplice-wrapped dress that tied beneath them with a gold cord. “I’m the receptionist now. I know how the work should be done, and Jane didn’t do it right.”

  May hissed through her shining white dentures. “As if trash like you could ever properly represent the parish.”

  “Silence! My file shows that Ms. Marshall held the position of parish environmental project manager. Why did she staff the front desk?”

  Nadia jumped in, perhaps regretting she’d brought a witness. “We are shorthanded due to staff cutbacks. Everyone is expected to help where needed. Since the recycling contract was not renewed, Jane had less to do than anyone, but she did not accept her new duties gracefully.”

  “What about time cards showing her tardiness? Do you have those?”

  “No, but the main issue here is her using her lunch hour to complete a proposal because she neared a crucial deadline and hadn’t done all the work. Employees are required to take a lunch break for their health and wellbeing. It is against the law to do otherwise, but I caught her running copies. I fired her immediately for this infraction. As far as I know, she neglected to finish a proposal that would have gained funds to clean up a polluted site in the parish. Jane Marshall was a bad employee. I’m done.” Nadia planted her large fists on the table with a hard rap.

  Ms. Leger nodded to Jane. “Your turn.”

  “I’d like to let May Robin speak first. She served as receptionist at the council offices before I was forced into her role.”

  May eagerly spoke up. “I served at the front desk for forty years before Miss Nixon accused me of perpetrating a crude joke on her and ordered me to take my retirement or be fired. Always a lady, I would never have done such a thing. I carried myself with utmost propriety and dressed in a seemly manner.”

  May rolled her light eyes at Didi. “I believe I was set up to be discharged either because of my age or because Miss Nixon really wanted to be rid of Jane and conspired against her.”

  “No conspiracy theories, please. Have you anything relevant to Miss Marshall’s case to reveal.”

  May adjusted her jacket and sat up very straight in complete contrast to Didi whose long, crossed leg and slim, arched foot dangled a four-inch stiletto heel with a gold rose above the open toe of her shoe. “I accepted my retirement since I didn’t want to make trouble for Woof, I mean President Langlois. Jane was immediately pressed into my position. At first, I thought she wanted the job, but it pays less than hers, so I changed my mind about that. The desk is very busy and would not allow anyone to work on a serious project while staffing it. Miss Nixon knew that. I think she was out to get Jane because everyone liked her and hated Nadia.”

  “Speculation. Anything else?”

  “I only want to say that Jane Marshall worked hard and was rarely tardy. If she came in late, she stayed late. She took work home to complete without being compensated for that time because there were not enough hours in the day for all she had to do—and that was before Miss Nixon put her on the desk. That’s all.”

  Ms. Leger jotted a few notes and looked at Jane above her half-framed glasses. “Thank for your testimony. Ms. Marshall, let’s hear from you.”

  “Yes, thanks, May.” Jane took a deep breath and tried to remember her rehearsed speech, but the accusation about the shoes, unexpected and untrue, rankled in her mind. “First of all, I own fewer than a dozen pairs of shoes, and I do not order them online—though I have seen others in the office do this.” She stared at Didi’s outlandish heels available nowhere in Ste. Jeanne d’Arc Parish.

  “Give me their names, and I’ll see they are fired,” Nadia growled.

  “As if I would ever do that under these circumstances!”

  Ms. Leger stifled a faint smile. “Let us put the shoe issue aside as Ms. Nixon has no concrete proof of that allegation. Go on.”

  “As May said, I always made up my time if I arrived late and frequently took projects home to complete without charging the parish for those hours. Once I was commanded to take over the front desk duties, I continued to work even more at home and did finish and mail the project in question. While government slows to a crawl over Christmas, we should be hearing from the EPA soon, successfully, I hope.”

  Jane took a deep breath before continuing. “It is true I was working on my lunch hour to complete the project. By being assigned another full-time job as well as my own, I saw no other way to get it done. I think in the private sector, this would have been seen as admirable, but I was fired within minutes of Miss Nixon finding me in the copy center and marched from the building. I didn’t attempt to injure the parish in any way or claim extra compensation for my additional work. That is all I have to say.”

  Jane had forgotten parts of her speech. Too late now. Ms. Leger turned off the recorder, finished her notes, and stood, dismissing them all.

  “You will get written confirmation of the outcome. If a decision is made in Ms. Marshall’s favor, she will receive all of her compensation to date and be eligible for six more months at which time it may be renewed if she cannot find a comparable job.” The woman and her shadow companion left the four adversaries alone.

  Didi unwound from her chair slowly, taking a minute to get her balance on her high heels. She placed a hand on a small baby bump now clearly visible beneath her red dress. “I guess I need to give up nice shoes soon. Don’t want to fall and injure my precious bundle.”

  Sashaying out the door and giving Merlin a lingering look, Didi added a little extra bounce in her booty simply because an attractive man sat there to admire it. Nadia blocked Jane’s way with her square, unattractive body.

  “I don’t see why this matters to you, Marshall. Look at you with your gold jewelry and that fancy ring on your finger. Seems like you, May, and Didi are all somebody’s mistress and don’t need to work for a living like me.”

  “This is my engagement ring, Nadia, and I know you wish me well.” Jane quirked her lips at her long time nemesis. “But, I would have fought you regardless for—truth, justice, and the American way.” Not what she wanted to say, it came out sounding ridiculous.

  Nadia wagged her stubby, blonde ponytail back and forth. “As if those things ever existed, except in the minds of puny idealists like you. Save the earth, my ass. Around here it’s drill, baby, drill.”

  “Excuse me, but you are in my fiancée’s way.” Merlin rose behind Nadia like a dark thunderhead about to loose a bolt of lightning into a stagnant, gray pond.

  She got out of Jane’s road but fired off a final shot. “Yeah, I heard you were running with crazy Merlin Tauzin. Good luck with that.”

  Jane answered, “You know what, Nadia? I wish you love, any kind you prefer.”

  Red in the face and unable to find a retort, the parish chief administrative officer followed her pregnan
t snitch from the building. May tapped her spindly fingers together in silent applause.

  “I think you won, cher heart. I’m going to tell you two a secret no one else knows. Woof isn’t running for office again. His wife has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t so much as remember his name. We’re going off together once he finishes this term. Elvira, a hard woman, never would give him a divorce. She said she’d ruin him politically and get him excommunicated from the church. Divorce, not such a big deal now, but way back then, yes. Our love can’t hurt her now. Their children will take care of her, and when Elvira passes maybe I’ll finally get a wedding band instead of lots of good jewelry to keep me happy.”

  “You and Woof, I still can’t believe it,” Jane said, gossip confirmed by the person involved.

  May smiled at Merlin. “Your granny knew everything all along and probably most of the parish except for newcomers like Jane. You are a good man for keeping a secret, Blackie, a good man all around. Bernie had his snake eyes on Courtney and was already starting to make moves on her. She came and talked to me for a long time. I told her she should go for the man with the big heart, not a huge, swinging dick—unless the guy has both.”

  May cackled and elbowed Merlin in the side. “I think our families will soon be joined, and I could not be happier. Bernard Freeman will run for Woof’s office now, but I don’t expect him to win, especially if word gets around about his pregnant mistress—and I think it might. Receptionists see and know a lot.”

  “Didi? I knew she owed her job to one of the councilmen, but Bernie Freeman with his perfect wife and kids? She seems too tacky for him.”

  May patted Jane’s cheek with her age-spotted hand. “You are so sweet, always thinking the best of everyone and everything. Sometimes that pays off.” She pinched Merlin’s big chin. “Mostly it doesn’t. Bernie started fooling around on his wife as soon as the flowers withered on old Leroy Mouton’s grave. I suspect he took his pleasures out of town up until then. Woof and I used to run into him at some of our hideaways. But, when a man breaks loose after years of being on a leash, sometimes he goes right to the first shiny thing he sees and puts his mark on it. That Didi, she has no class. Come on. It’s after three, I’m buying the drinks.”