Authors: Rebecca K. Watts
“The day I came in you room and you had the computer up. You said you were in a chat room, but I recalled seeing the name of the site on some advertisements. I’ve been watching you since then.”
“Wow.” She blushed.
“I know I should have explained the Georgia situation better. I was caught off guard.”
“Let’s not talk about this now.” Olivia sighed.
“Fine. Do know understand this, though. What she and I had is, and has been, over for years.”
“Richard. Stop it.” She turned off her computer and made her way back to her bed.
“Stop what? I’m trying to let you know I care for you, woman.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re a highly intelligent woman. Don’t pretend you don’t know when someone is crazy about you.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say ‘I care for you too, Richard, and I’d love to talk to you tomorrow after we’ve both had some sleep.’”
Olivia smiled and agreed. He didn’t owe her any more explanations. After Travis she was thankful he at least tried but she was far from stupid.
Chapter Twenty-three
A two days later, Olivia’s head was killing her. She decided to change up her look a little bit and had gotten micro braids the day before. With her going to the gym four times a week, the new style worked out better. Before, she’d sweat and her hair would look a hot mess when she was finished. Now, no worries, no more frizz. She opened up her bottle of pain relief and popped two pills in the elevator on the way up to her floor, willing the pain to go away.
A few raised eyebrows when Olivia stepped off the elevator and strolled into the office. She was used to the looks. It was the same when she cut her hair. For the past year, they’d grown accustomed to short, and now she was back to long and flowing.
Anita gave her thumbs up and whistled. “Sexy Mama.”
Laughing, Olivia continued past her cubicle toward her office. Brandon, the customer service manager, was in her direct path. She turned left at the next opening instead of continuing straight to avoid him. He was on the top of the list of people who worked her last nerve. Brandon was the most racist person she’d ever met. Brandon made it a point to talk down about the black community every chance he got. He was the first person to not hire someone because of the color of their skin. The only time he even opened his mouth to her was to say something degrading about someone.
She slid into her office chair, quickly turning on my computer, pretending to be busy.
“Olivia, new look I see.” He stood at her door with a smug look on his face.
She ignored him and kept pecking away on her keyboard.
“It looks ethnic. Kind of like Whoopi Goldberg.”
“Whoopi Goldberg? Are you insane?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “These braids are so small you can barely tell they are braids. Whoopi Goldberg has dreadlocks. Ethnic? As if
you
would know anything about our culture. The walls of the pyramids are covered with women donning braids. Please remove yourself from my office unless you have something pertaining to work.”
“See, that’s exactly why I
’ll never date a black woman. You’re so angry.” He turned his back to her.
Olivia wanted to shout,
kiss my angry black ass
. Instead, she stood and smiled. “How’s Tonisha working out? It has been a year and I see she hasn’t missed a day.” Tonisha was a woman he declined because of her nationality. Olivia hired her based on qualifications. “As a matter of fact, she’s your top adjuster now. I can’t wait to see her performance reviews and the raise you suggest she receive.”
If looks could kill, Olivia would have burnt up faster than a vampire in sunlight. Brandon stormed away, almost running into Anita, who was on her way to her office.
“What’s his problem?” she asked.
“The usual—angry black woman hurt his feelings.”
“Not again.” Anita folded her arms, leaning against the doorframe. “What’s his problem with you?”
“Today or in general? If it’s today, then it’s my ethic micro braids. In general, my skin tone, but that’s his problem not mine.” Olivia rolled her eyes and sat in her seat.
“I must say you look fabulous today, girl. What’s gotten into you?”
“I had a date this weekend.”
“Oh my god! With who? How come you didn’t tell me? Tell me everything.” She took a seat on the edge of Olivia’s desk.
“Calm down. I didn’t say it turned out well.” No need to mention that the party turned into a freak fest.
Anita’s smile fell. “What happened?”
“Let’s just say he’s into something I want no parts of. I do have a question though.” She lowered her voice. “How do you feel about black women with white men?”
“I like black men so what’s the issue?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “It seems like a white woman and black man is more acceptable.”
“Who cares what anyone things. You like who you like. Hold on, was this date white?” Her eyes lit up with interest.
“No.”
“Then why ask?”
Olivia’s office phone rang. “No reason. I’ll catch up with you later.” She waved her off and then answered it. “Human Resources, Olivia speaking.”
“Well, you
are
still alive. I didn’t hear back from you,” Richard said.
“One moment, please.” Olivia walked around her desk and closed her office door before continuing. “I didn’t know what to say to you.”
“How can you not know what to say? I’ve expressed my feelings for you.”
“The only thing you’ve expressed… All we’ve expressed is how great we are in bed.” Georgia’s words came to mind. “Outside of sex, can you really see yourself with someone like me?”
“You’re confusing me.” His voice lowered. “Who wouldn’t want to be with a beautiful, intelligent, and sophisticated woman?”
“You left out black.”
“Black, green, purple…I don’t care.”
She walked around her office stopping at her plaque on the wall she received when she became the Human Resources Manager. “You’d have no problem having this black woman on your arm when you’re rubbing elbows with the rest of the big wigs?”
Richard let out a breath. “I’d be happy too.”
“What about Georgia?”
“I thought you didn’t want to talk about it?”
She dropped her head. “I saw you hugged up in the elevator after you left my room.”
“You’re mistaken love. What you saw was me confirming Georgia and I’d never be together. I’m talking to the woman I want.”
His words lifted her spirits but she was uneasy.
“I don’t know. I’ve been hurt bad. Giving myself to someone who used me once they made it to the top has wounded me.”
“Love, I’m already high up on the food chain and if I went higher I’d have no problem with you by my side.”
Travis had left her feeling like an injured animal in recovery. “I need more time to think.”
“Understandable. And, just for the record, I do miss you.”
“Noted. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a ton of work to do.” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. “It’s the end of the month. I’m just the HR Manager and not an associate, remember.”
“My apologies. Please call me when you get a chance.”
She hung up the phone.
Why in the heck was he doing this?
Richard was the one who’d said he wasn’t ready for any type of relationship. Olivia didn’t expect for it to end the way it did, but it was a fling and destined to end. Now, he was complicating matters.
She opened her office door and got back to work. Olivia needed to get the statistics together before their 1:00 meeting. She loathed the end of the month meetings. The higher-ups’ major complaint would be overly paid hourly employees. Then, he would go right into talking about having a business retreat. Of course, the retreat would be held in an exotic five star resort. Everyone going would fly business class with all expensed paid by the company.
The harder she tried to focus on work, the more thoughts of Richard popped into her mind. Was he serious? Did they really have a chance? How would long distance work? What would people in her office say if they ever found out?
“Earth to Olivia.” Anita stood in front of her desk waving her arms.
Olivia blinked, pulling herself out of thought.
“You have lunch plans?”
“Not at all. Let me know when you’re ready.”
“I’m ready.” Anita smiled.
“Crap, it’s lunch time already? Give me a second. Let me input this last item.” Olivia finished the report and clicked send.
“Is it the date, or this mystery white guy? You never take this long to do the reports.”
“This is exactly why I don’t tell you anything.” Olivia grabbed her purse, and they headed out.
“Geez, I’ll stay quiet. Mum’s the word.” She moved her fingers across her mouth in a zipping motion.
The humidity started depriving them of air the moment they came out the revolving doors. It was so hot Olivia felt as if the devil himself was sticking a pitchfork in her back, checking to see if she was done. This had been one crazy summer for weather. June had record highs, July felt like spring, and now August was tipping the heat index once again. They walked a few blocks over to Champs Bar and Grill and found relief in the air conditioning.
“I have a VIP invitation to the n
ew club opening up, Desire. You want to come with me?” Olivia asked after they were served their drinks and meals.
“You talking about the club that the ex-porn star is opening?”
“She’s not a porn star.” She laughed. “She was a dancer.”
“I would ask how you know but I know how you like your secrets.”
“Do you want to go or not, smarty pants?” She took a long swallow of her iced tea.
“Heck yeah, I wanna go. The lady has style. Did you see the outfit she had on when they showed her on the news?”
Olivia nodded. “Yeah, she looked good.”
“How did you get an invitation?” Anita’s eyes narrowed.
“Must you be an inquiring mind about everything?” Olivia pointed a fork full of pasta at Anita before eating it.
“Yes, but I’ll leave it alone. I have to figure out what I’m going to wear.”
“You have time. The party’s two weeks away.”
She finished up her food, hoping that asking Anita to come with her was the right thing to do. Olivia wasn’t ready to let Anita in on her working for Mercedes. On the way back to the office, Anita changed the subject.
“When are you going to finally start your own company and get away from People’s Insurance?”
The question caught her off guard. Olivia had to remind herself that she’d let the idea slip a few years back, right before she landed the management position. “What makes you think it’s still an option?”
“Come on, Liv, you’re way more than what you’re allowed to do for this company. Give me something to be proud of.”
They made their way into the building and to Olivia’s office.
“Sorry to disappoint you. I’m a slave to this desk. Now, can I please get back to work? I have some things I plan on doing this evening and would like to leave on time.” Olivia shooed her off. If word got out she’d even dreamed of her own business, it would cause problems for her. She’d learned long ago how the higher-ups didn’t like independent thinking. They’d surely find a reason to let her go.
Anita shook her head but dropped the conversation and went back to her desk. Olivia logged into her computer and returned to work. She was in a zone and not about to be sidetracked. Though the end of month report was finished she still had plenty to do. She ignored the forwarded office email jokes and concentrated.
There was a tap at her open door.
“Olivia, I am going to need you to stay late. I have a conference call and need your input.”
My input? More like me feeding you the answers
.
“Sure thing, Mr. Hanley.”
Well, there goes my evening with the boys.
So much for her plan to take them to see a new kiddie movie. She’d have to make it up them on the weekend.
“It starts at six. Meet me in my office ten minutes prior.”
She nodded as he turned and walked away.
It had been the same routine for years. When he was her floor manager, he had her doing all of his work while he left early to play golf. The next day, she’d have to sit in the meetings to feed him the information because he neglected to even read her notes. Olivia wasn’t the least bit surprised when he got the assistant regional director position, but she was shocked when he thanked everyone else on the team but her.
At the appropriate time, she slow dragged herself to Mr. Hanley’s office.
“I wasn’t expecting you until exactly six,” Olivia heard Mr. Hanley saying as she walked in the door. He fumbled through a stack of files on his desk.
“Well, time is money. It is only ten minute early,” the person replied.