“So do I. By the way, I’m having dinner with Tom Kennedy and his wife tonight. You’re welcome to join us if you like. No business. Just dinner. Tom’s a good person to know. We’re meeting at Dominic’s around seven-thirty. You can just show up if you don’t find anything else to do.”
Josh’s first inclination had been to turn down Carla’s invitation, but at seven o’clock he was at Dominic’s, looking for her and Tom. He saw Carla first. She was seated at the bar and she had changed clothes. He was surprised he even recognized her.
That slinky red dress was a lot different from what she usually wore to work and her hair was down, not pulled back in its normal bun.
He walked over to her. “I see I’m not as early as I thought.”
She turned on her stool and he saw that the dress didn’t even come mid-thigh. When Carla went casual, she went casual. “No, handsome, you’re right on time,” she said.
He couldn’t form a response. Was Carla coming on to him? He looked around. Where were Tom and his wife? He didn’t know what to do. Damn, this was awkward. “Are you all right, Carla?” He knew that was a dumb question, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.
When she laughed, he knew he had said the wrong thing. “What’s so funny?”
“You,” she said. “Hi, I’m Darlene, Carla’s sister. Carla’s twin sister. I’m meeting her here tonight before her dinner.”
Josh knew he visibly relaxed and then he was more embarrassed. She had stopped laughing, but she was still smiling like the cat who had swallowed the canary.
“You knew I thought you were Carla, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “People mix us up all the time, even though we have totally different personalities, not to mention—” she looked down at her dress “—different tastes in clothes. Didn’t it throw you a little to see Carla dressed like this? Unless my sister has changed drastically in the last day, she’d never wear an outfit like this.”
Josh had to agree with her. But since she looked exactly like Carla, he had assumed that Carla had varying tastes in clothes. “You enjoy doing this, don’t you?”
She smiled that smile again. This time it was contagious. “Carla’s friends and co-workers are usually such stuffed shirts. It’s fun to see their reaction. You must be new since most Carolina Micro people know me and they’re used to me. How long have you been here?”
“Almost four months,” Josh answered.
She extended her hand. “Welcome to Raleigh. I hope you’re here to stay.”
He took her hand. “Thanks. I hope I’m here for a while myself.”
“Married?” she asked.
He was taken aback at the question, but he answered it by showing her the ring on his finger. “Almost two years.”
“Talk about bad timing.”
Josh knew she was flirting with him, but it was a harmless flirtation. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It was. You know, it figures.”
“What figures?”
“All the good ones are taken.”
He laughed outright at that. “How do you know I’m a good one?”
“Don’t tell me I’m wrong. A man who looks like you can’t be bad. Well, you could be, but it would be a good bad.”
He laughed again. She was charming. And sexual. Very sexual. “You’re outrageous.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Have a drink with me while we wait for Carla.”
Josh took the bar stool next to hers and ordered white wine. He didn’t have to say much because Darlene kept up a steady stream of conversation. She told him all the twin tricks she and Carla had played over the years. The stories gave him another picture of Carla. One that was much different from the Carla he knew from work. He filed that information away to think about at a later time. Now, he just wanted to listen to Darlene.
“Where’s your wife?” Darlene asked. No topic was taboo for her. “I can’t believe she let you out alone at night. I wouldn’t if I were her.”
Josh really didn’t want to talk about Gloria with Darlene. It made him feel guilty. He and Darlene were engaged in harmless flirting, but he knew Gloria wouldn’t approve. “She’s working.”
“She needs better hours. There are some women out here who consider a man without a date on a Friday night as available whether he’s married or not.”
“Are you one of those women?” He knew as soon as he asked that he shouldn’t have.
She turned to look at him. “I haven’t been in the past, but there’s something about you that makes me think I need to reconsider my position.”
After she said that, she turned around and sipped her drink. All his words about harmless flirtation went out the window. Her last statement had been said in all seriousness. He knew he should get up and leave right now. He was about to do that when she started in with another Carla-Darlene story. He couldn’t leave in the middle of her story, could he? That’s what he told himself while he sat there and listened to her soothing voice as she told her funny stories.
***
Gloria told herself over and over that this meeting was important. That this was part of her job. A part she liked, even.
“Mr. Thompson, we’re going to work it out. They can’t take the land. You have the deed.”
The gray-headed Mr. Thompson shook his head. “I’ve seen it happen before, Mrs. Martin. You know how those big companies are. They can do anything.”
Gloria smiled. She knew Mr. Thompson knew she was right, but he needed someone to hold his hand. He was getting pretty close to having his dream of owning his own store in the neighborhood where he grew up and he was getting antsy. Understandable.
“They can’t do anything and you know it. You’re just worried about the meeting tomorrow. Everything is going to be fine.”
“She’s right, Grady,” Mrs. Thompson chimed in. “You’re just getting jittery. Now calm down or Mrs. Martin is going to regret she agreed to give us the money.”
Grady Thompson took his wife’s hand in his. “We’re putting up all the money we have in the world. My wife’s security, the money we could leave for the kids and grandkids. Maybe we’re too old to open a restaurant. Maybe it won’t work and we’ll lose all our money.”
Mrs. Thompson shook her head. She was a petite woman, at least a hundred pounds lighter and six inches shorter than her bear of a husband, but Gloria knew Mrs. Thompson was her husband’s anchor.
“Enough of that, Grady. You’re exaggerating and you know it. Now we need to get out of here so Mrs. Martin can go home. Her husband will be upset with us as it is. It’s almost ten o’clock.”
Mr. Thompson grudgingly stood up. Gloria knew he could have talked the rest of the night, but Mrs. Thompson was right. She did need to get home. She’d hated to cancel her trip to Raleigh this weekend, but it couldn’t be helped. She had to meet with the Cascade investors tomorrow. In addition to being the one to pull the financials together, she had become a source of support and strength for the merchants. The support role was a new one for her, but she enjoyed it.
After she had led the Thompsons out of her office, her first thought was to call Josh. She picked up the phone to dial his number, but she changed her mind and put it back down. She knew Josh would still be angry that she hadn’t made the weekend and she couldn’t blame him. But she couldn’t help it either. She was in the middle of this project and she had to see it through. And tomorrow was another full day of meetings. She knew her schedule was playing havoc with their weekend plans, but there was nothing she could do about it until the projects were wrapped up.
She sighed a long sigh and promised herself that she would make this weekend up to Josh. She didn’t know when, but she would. With that thought in mind she packed her briefcase and left the office.
By the time Gloria arrived home, she had thought of a way to salvage some of this weekend with Josh. If she couldn’t be with him in the flesh, the telephone would have to
do and she was sure she could make it as interesting as any of those 900 numbers she saw advertised on late night television. It’d be something different too.
First, she took a long, hot bath and massaged her skin with the perfumed lotion that Josh liked so well. She pulled a light, blue negligee from her closet and put it on. She felt sexy just thinking about what she had planned. She knew Josh was going to love it. She turned back the covers on the bed and climbed in.
She was about to pick up the phone when she realized she had forgotten the wine. She got out of bed and went to the kitchen for the wine. She couldn’t have a seduction scene, even a telephone seduction scene, without wine, she reasoned.
Once she was settled back in bed, she picked up the phone and dialed Josh’s number. “Hiya, handsome,” she said when the phone was answered.
“This is Josh,” was the response she got. “Leave a message at the tone.”
She called every fifteen minutes until she fell asleep. The last time she looked at the clock it was one twenty-five in the morning.
***
When Josh woke up Saturday morning, he didn’t remember much of the dinner with Carla and Tom and his wife, but he did remember Darlene last night. He was thinking about her when the phone rang. It was Gloria.
“I tried to call you last night,” she said. “But you weren’t home. What did you do?”
“I had dinner with some people from the office.”
“I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to talk with you, but I’m glad you weren’t alone. I’m sorry again about the trip.”
“Let’s not keep bringing that up. What time is your meeting this morning?”
“I’m on my way out of the door now. I just wanted to hear your voice. I love you, Josh.”
“I love you, too, Gloria.” Josh hung up. He did love Gloria, but he had flirted big time with Darlene. And it had been fun. He wasn’t doing anything or thinking about doing anything, but he had enjoyed her company a lot.
That was part of his problem, Josh thought. He hadn’t made any friends in the time he had been in Raleigh. He was working a lot of hours so he didn’t usually miss it, but this weekend he didn’t want to be alone. He didn’t want to miss Gloria because missing her made him angry with her. So, he reasoned, the best thing he could do for his marriage was to keep from missing her. Armed with that rationale, he now had to find something to do today. Darlene had mentioned a Greek festival on the Chapel Hill campus. He could pull out his fraternity T-shirt and trek over there. What better way to meet people?
Josh went upstairs and dressed in his fraternity T-shirt and jeans. He got his map, and after finding and circling the campus, he headed for his car. As he drove to the campus, he told himself over and over that he was going only to meet people, make a few friends. His trip had nothing to do with Darlene’s comment that she’d be there all day. Besides, with the number of people that usually went to a Greek festival, the odds of him running into Darlene were slim to none. No, he wasn’t looking for Darlene. He wanted to meet some of his fraternity brothers.
He continued to tell himself this until he pulled into the University parking lot. As luck would have it, Darlene pulled up in the space next to him. He looked over at her and smiled.
Fourteen
“What are you doing here on Saturday?”
Gloria looked up from the contracts on her desk and saw Foster Dixon leaning against her office doorway. “This is my office, my building. What are you doing here? Slumming?”
Foster pushed away from the doorjamb and moved to the chair in front of her desk. “I had to go by the library. What’s your excuse?”
“Cascade. I met with the principals today.”
Foster leaned forward in his chair. “How’s that going?”
Gloria wondered at his tone. She knew there had been talk about the project. Some of the other vice presidents didn’t think it was worth the effort she was expending. “What have you heard?”
He leaned back. “Don’t go paranoid on me. I haven’t heard anything.” He paused. “Much.”
“What does that mean?”
“There’s been some talk. They say you’re going out on a limb for no reason. That you could have picked a safer project.”
“And you? What do you think?”
He waved a hand in her direction. “Come on, Gloria. This project is peanuts. If you close the deal, who’ll care? If you don’t close it, it’ll be a mark against you. I thought you were smarter than that.”
“I’m disappointed in you, Foster. When the black community comes together to do something for itself, there is always a bunch of nay-sayers. It surprises me that you’re one of them. I can’t believe you don’t see the merit in this project.”
Foster stood and leaned over her desk. “I’ll tell you what I see. I see a Florence Nightingale trying to save the world.”
Gloria leaned toward Foster until they were almost nose to nose. “I’ll tell you what I see. I see a black man who’s forgotten what it means to be black.”
Foster moved back, stung. Gloria had hit her mark. “Is that what you really think? You think that I don’t care?”
She didn’t really think that. She hadn’t really thought about it. “What am I supposed to think when you say you don’t see the importance of this project?”
Foster pinched his nose. “My problem is not with the project. It’s with your timing. Do you have any idea how hard it will be to get another project like Cascade if you fail with this one?”
She had thought about it, but not much. One of her investors had pulled out, but she knew she would find the money. She had to. “I won’t fail.”
“Whether you fail or not has nothing to do with you, Gloria. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. This matter is engulfed in politics. You know, there are other investors interested in that area. Investors with a lot more money. Some people around here are hoping that you don’t pull it off. Those other investors will mean more revenue for the bank. A lot more.”
She knew he was right. Some people were waiting for her to fail. “Are you one of those people?”
Foster lifted both arms in the air. “How can you even ask that?”
“Just checking. Things are getting hairy around here. I wish Portia were around. I could always count on her support.” This wasn’t the first time she had thought about her friend. The workplace wasn’t the same without her.
“I don’t want you to blow this out of proportion. Not everybody is against you. There are those who are pulling for you, those who are wondering why the bank hasn’t taken on more of these projects.”
She raised a brow in his direction. “Huh?”
“No ‘huh.’ There are those who are very impressed with what you’re doing. I admit, they’re the minority, but you do have some people pulling for you. Louise, for one.”
She was glad her boss was on her side, but her boss wasn’t a friend. Portia was a friend. She could express her insecurities to a friend. She couldn’t do that with her boss. “That’s good to know.”
They were silent for a moment, then Foster asked, “How is Portia?”
Gloria didn’t know how she was. They hadn’t spoken since Portia left on maternity leave. “She’s fine.”
“She sure surprised me, leaving like that. I thought she would have stayed around until the baby came.”
Gloria had been surprised herself when Portia had told her she was leaving early. She talked about wanting to decorate the nursery, get ready for the baby. Portia had even chosen an extended leave instead of the three months she had originally talked about. Gloria shook her head. It was as if she and Portia had changed lives. Portia had been the one concerned about leaving her job. Gloria had wanted to stay home with the baby. Things surely had changed over the last year.
Foster snapped his fingers in her face. “Earth to Gloria?”
She looked up at him. “Sorry, Foster, what were you saying?”
; He repeated what he had said, but Gloria tuned him out again as soon as he began talking. Her thoughts were still on Portia. She missed her friend and she regretted the distance she had put between them. A part of her blamed Elliot and his commentary. Seeing Portia made her feel guilty. Guilty because Portia’s priorities seemed to be in the right place, while hers were questionable.
***
Foster literally ran into Portia the following Monday morning. “Hey, you’d better watch where you’re going, little mother.”
“Oh, hi, Foster. I’m sorry. My mind was somewhere else. What brings you downtown today?”
“I should be asking you that. I’m meeting with Eleanor. What are you doing here?”
“I just thought I’d drop by and say hi since I was downtown.”
“Shopping?”
Portia grinned. “I have to have everything ready for my kid when she gets here, don’t I?”
Foster laughed. “You know, I never would have thought you’d take mothering so seriously, but you’re having a ball, aren’t you?”
Portia placed her hand on her protruding belly. “I never thought it either, Foster. But it seems I’ve just fallen into it. I thought being home would drive me crazy, but I’m really enjoying it.”
“Well, it shows. Maybe you ought to give some of that spirit to your girl Gloria.”
“What do you mean by that?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “She seems to be strung a mite too tight. Things not going well with her and Josh and this commuter marriage?”
Portia thought Foster was probably right, but she wasn’t going to gossip about her best friend. Even though she hadn’t seen much of that best friend lately. She knew her pregnancy made Gloria uncomfortable, but she wasn’t sure if jealousy or something else was the cause of that discomfort. “That’s just wishful thinking on your part. You’d love it if things weren’t going well with Josh and Gloria. You’d try to move right on in, wouldn’t you?”
Foster had the decency to be honest. “I’ve never hidden my feelings for Gloria. If Josh messes this up, I’ll be more than ready to step in. But right now I’m worried about her. She’s too wrapped up in these projects.”
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