Read Where Would I Be Without You Online
Authors: CJ Hawk
Her voice jumped an
octave cheerier, if that was possible, as I had yet to respond to her standing here in my office. "Oh my! What lovely flowers. Who's Mason?" She had to question because not reading the card of whom the flowers were from was not an option for my mother. Oh good jest, this was going to be one heck of a lunch.
"Mom?" I finally found my voice. "What a lovely surprise. I wasn't expecting you." I
did not answer if I could go to lunch because I was racking my brain for something, anything, to come up with as an excuse.
"Darling. You haven't called me back since everything that happened on Sunday." She whispered the words as soon as she got to the word 'since', as if everything that happened on Sunday should be a huge secret. Which it was. Except for those that were there and Mason getting the short
edited version.
"About that, mom." I cleared my throat as it felt as if it was restricted and my eyes felt crossed.
With the way my mom was patiently waiting for me to say something next, they probably were. "The thing is..." Just as I was about to babble out more than three dozen words of nonsense, Bethany rounded the corner in a navy blue power suit.
"Good.
You're here. I was hoping I would catch you two. Mom called me last night to tell me she was going to surprise you for lunch. I wanted to beat her here, but I had a meeting." She looked powerful in her suit and professional brown hair cut with her two-inch sensible heels. Are those? They can't be; they'd set her back at least $600 for the pair. Those are some seriously cute professional heels. The navy leather looks like butter. I wonder if she got them wholesale and if she'll let me wear them sometime.
My mother's voice interrupted my thoughts that had diverted to Bethany's adorable professional heels away from everything else. "Darling. Why would you want to beat me here? I told you I wanted to have a private lunch with just your sister." Ok, so now I am just Bethany's sister, not my mother's daughter. And why private? Unless that is, she was going to ruin my birthday by berating me about college and dating a married man. That, I was sure was her plan. I owed Bethany HUGE, since I knew she had a busy schedule with her new position and the last thing she needed to deal with was my mama drama, even if it is her mom too.
Before I could say anything, my inner office phone intercom beeped with my boss's voice. "Amber? Can you come in here real quick?" I picked up the phone so that his voice was not echoing out over the office.
"Sup?" My boss was
four years younger than me, with a business management degree, and wore baggie jeans, large graphic tee shirts, baseball hats sideways with stickers still on them, and large gold chains. He was part of the reason that I joked around playing like a gangster sometimes. Over my shoulder, I could hear my mother chiming in about the improper way I answered the phone. If she only knew, but explaining it would only take too much energy.
I hung up
the phone with a smile on my face and a shrug to my shoulders in the direction of my mom and sister. "He needs to see me in his office before I can run out to lunch with you two. Be right back."
Bethany was already on her phone punching in something or other while my mom was talking to he
r about why she did not hear her correctly about wanting a private lunch versus asking my sister to join her. Bethany held her ground but never looked her in the eyes. As I walked towards my boss's office just thirty feet down the cubical hallway, I heard Bethany reply. "Are you sure mom? Because I distinctly remember you asking me to come, otherwise why would I? I am super busy at work."
Then I stopped
in my tracks on the way to my boss's office and hide two cubicles down just to hear my mom's reply. "Oh dear, I know you are. I must have been so frazzled that I forgot to mention. It's quite alright. I am glad you are here." I stood up from my hiding spot and walked briskly towards my boss's office, angry that my mom always let Bethany off the hook, angrier that she wanted to ruin my birthday by talking to me about junk. Because that is what it felt like, a bunch of stuff that just did not need to be talked about. I am thirty now for gosh sakes, and if I am going to make mistakes, I do not want my mother's input on it.
I opened my boss's door and there stood a man all of five foot one, oriental persuasion, baggie logo'd
jeans, and matching tee shirt, only two gold chains today; he must have been in a rush to get to work and no hat. No Crawly work shirt, which was typically a no-no, but he was the boss, so he got away with his current dress code that he considered dressed up for the job. Add to the fact that he had some kind of mohawk haircut going on that was all held back like a ponytail to the back of his head. "Amber!" He was excited to see me. I walked in, closed his glass door to his glass office that overlooked the production floor.
"What's
sup?" I plopped down in an old green leather chair and relaxed my body.
"Happy Birthday!" He stood over his desk,
but not by much height, as they had never found him a smaller desk for his tiny pint-size body. He looked over to me from something he was looking at on his desk. "Was that your mom and sister I saw out there?"
"God. Yes. She wants to take me to lunch. Berate me that I haven't quit my job and gone to college." My boss,
Mr. wannabe gangster but goes by the name of Wally Woo, knew all about my life, even about Steve. I had sent him an early inner office memo that I was passing off my new beau Mason, as Steve. He sent me back a short comment. 'You work fast'. Wally Woo was cool that way. He got it. All of it. The over bearing parent, the better than me sister, the boyfriend issues and if I wasn't mistaken he was about to help me out.
"Well.
Here. Happy Birthday. Show this to your mom." He handed me a packet, and I looked at it.
My reply was excited but sounded more stunned. "Online management course paid for by Crawly. Rocking." I finally looked up at him and practically jumped out of my seat to hug him but refrained. Office
etiquette had some boundaries, besides I would feel like I was hugging a fifth grader. "Dude. How'd you get this approved?"
"Let's just say that your last review was
outstanding, and if I can get you trained and replacing me, I can move up to International Sales Management. That gig pays a hell of a lot more, and the chicks will dig me in a three-piece suit."
I laughed while holding the packet in my hand. "Woo, they
dig you any ways. There is no one quite like you Woo." We both started to laugh. "See you at Pete's tonight?"
"You owe me a song." I nodded and smiled as I walked out. We did the perfect rendition of Ice-Ice-Baby last month that had the crowd cheering.
As a boss, he was super cool, but as a friend, he rocked it. Perhaps he was one of the many reasons I didn't think leaving this place ever made sense. I was truly happy here. It's not a rocket scientist job, but it's a great job with great pay and benefits so why would I want to go anywhere else. Oh yeah, the fact that it would get my mother off my tail about getting an education.
As I walked down the hall with
the packet about college in hand, paid for by Crawly, I knew that my mom would find something wrong. I could only hope it was enough of a distraction to keep her from going on about Steve and asking about Mason. I know I needed to tell her, but I just did not want to deal with her on any of this. As I rounded the corner to my cubicle, half lost in the cover letter to my packet telling me that my two-year online management course was being paid for by work, I didn't notice the third person in my cubicle office until I practically shouted out his name in excitement. "Mason!"
My mother was
the first to chime in, while Bethany actually looked as if she was quite taken with his looks. He was dressed in nice black dress slacks and a nice blue business shirt and tie. And here I was in my sexy bar jeans, work sneakers for running the halls and production line, but had a nice pair of black heeled boots for the bar after work. I had on my navy blue Crawly polo shirt, which would be replaced with a really sexy top for after work. My current hair status of up in a clip would get replaced with a few curls and hairspray. I felt like I was dressed in my typical dull at work in a production company, while everyone else looked spiffed up for a funeral. I would think wedding but sometimes my mom made me feel like doom and gloom.
"So this young gentleman here, Mason Montahue of Montahue
Properties, just informed me that you two have started dating." Her voice held excitement over the Montahue Properties part, but I knew she was judging.
"Yeah. About that mom. Strange thing happened on the way home from the
dinner-party Sunday." Before I could state a clean rendition of what happened, Mason chimed in.
"I already told your mom that we
had been friends for quite some time, and that I was just waiting until you were available to ask you out. That we had two very lovely dates and have decided to commit to dating each other." He put his arm in mine and then proudly stated. "Where to ladies? My treat. I'm sure the birthday girl is starved."
"Well I was thinking..." My mother stepped right up with where she wanted to eat, not bothering to ask me, uh hello the birthday girl, where
I wanted to eat. As we walked out of the building, there was Marion pulling up to the guest parking spot in her Audi A6. I knew this just blew my mom's plan all to hell, and I had an inkling that Bethany had wanted backup for my mom. Marion had always had a way of getting my mom to show her softer side, which Mason also seemed to have that effect at this moment.
While
everyone got in their cars to drive just four blocks away to a decent restaurant, Mason and I drove together in his BMW. It was black and fully loaded, and the dark tinted windows gave me sultry ideas. Which I needed those to go away right now, but with the smile on his face, it was really hard.
"Quite the
surprise running into your family. This makes date three in three days, and I am already meeting your family."
"I know. Sorry. I didn't know
they or you were coming today."
"I wanted to surprise you. Don't be sorry. I was prepared if you had other plans. Did you like the flowers?"
"I love them. I have never had a man send me flowers at work. You did a bang-up job of sending a huge bouquet. By the way, the ladies at work were jealous of the flowers, and I caught quite a few pairs of eyes checking you out as we left." A huge smile spread across his face.
I think he liked the
attention; but he had his own question to ask, as he didn't miss the large packet I tossed on my desk. "What was that packet you tossed on your desk when you came back to your desk? It had a huge smile on your face staring at it before you looked up and saw me. Thanks for the over joyous shout of my name by the way." I knew he was teasing me, because I had shouted his name as if I was singing a hymn in the church choir.
"Oh that! I was so excited to see
you. I forgot that I wanted to show my mom. The Crawly Plant is paying for an online management course for me to take so that I can eventually run the production line. I am so excited. I know this will help in keeping my mom quite for a bit about college. It's not a four-year degree like she wanted but even so. This is more my style, and the fact that the plant is paying for it, rocks."
"I'd say. That's great news Amber." He reached over and stroked my leg, then held my
hand. This gave me ideas on what I would like to happen in this dark tinted window car, just as we pulled into the parking lot to the restaurant. When his hand left mine, I felt as if I missed his touch already. However, with him there by my side, along with Marion and Bethany, I felt as if my mother could do nothing to upset me.
After lunch, Mason kissed me sweetly on the
lips, and then said his proper good-byes to my mom, sister and Marion before heading to his car. Marion insisted on driving me back to work and practically dragged me away from my mom as she was gearing up for the inquisition about Mason. Bethany was in her car and gone down the street before Mason left his parking spot. Marion and I drove away as my mom had a hurt look on her face as she was getting in her car. I felt bad, even though I was mad at what her original intensions were, and she had no right; I felt bad that she looked sad. I still had a heart even though we had no bond.
"Wow. You owe Bethany. Could you imagine if she hadn't texted me the four-one-one
, and Mason showed up, and just you, your mom, and Mason went to lunch? Yikes. She is really not a bad sister. It could help if she wasn't so perfect, yet I think she only does it so she doesn't have to deal with the wrath of your mother. You, the rebel you are, just encourage it."
"I do not." I laughed, but we both knew it was true.
"So what's this about the Crawly Plant paying for an online degree for you? You mentioned it when your mom tried to talk about you filling out college aps then Bethany interrupted asking Mason way more questions than a sister should. She's jealous you know. Hell, every single female out there that wants a man like him is jealous. He is sexy Latino hot, and he knows how to handle the women. Your mom was like putty in his hands. And he picked up the check for all of us. How sweet?"