9781618853158SpecialKindofWomanBergman (14 page)

And busy it was as it
seemed like the entire morning was nonstop. Toward lunchtime, Regina looked at
the clock and then at the phone, waiting to hear from Collin but his call never
came. Luckily five seconds later the phone rang and Patrick picked it up. “It’s
for you Gina.”

“Hello?”

“Hi baby. Listen, I’m
not going to be able to have lunch with you, I’ve got a meeting that will last
for a couple of hours. Do you mind going out with your friends today instead of
me? I promise to make it up to you”

“Sure, I’ll meet you
after work, can’t wait to see you then.”

She called Maxine’s
phone praying the entire time that she would pick up.

“Hello?”

“Hey girl, what are you
doing for lunch?”

“Why hello there Ms.
Diva, want to go with me to the park for lunch?”

“That would be great. I
have so much to tell you about my weekend. So I’ll meet you at the front
because we’ll have to walk there,” Regina told her.

“Great, I want to hear
about everything, see you downstairs.”

When they got to the
park, they went straight to Mrs. Ramona’s cart to get some of her good food.
“My goodness girl let me look at you now,” Mrs. Ramona said giving her a hug
and then opening her arms. “You have changed since the last time I’ve seen you
Gina girl and you are looking good. Has that Irish man of yours put something
on you?”

Regina laughed at her
comment. “I think he has and I love every moment of it too.”

The women laughed as
Mrs. Ramona served them up some food before going over to some tables. “Now, I
want to know everything that happened to you this weekend because Mrs. Ramona
is right, you look so different now you’re practically glowing. I think Collin
has been good for you.” Maxine smiled at her friend.

“I don’t know where to
begin because this whole weekend has been nothing but magic for me. He told me
that this weekend would be all about me and he was so right about that. We went
to his place off in the suburbs, which was so nice Max, and we had champagne
and cheese by the fire until we soon got all hot and bothered near the couch.”
Regina squealed. Max looked shocked until she began to squeal right along with
her.

“So how was he?” Maxine
asked, biting her lip.

“He was so gentle but
so fucking hot it was unreal, he was like an animal. Afterward, we had to get
ready to go to the party. It was nice seeing everybody and all of Collin’s
friends were so nice but we didn’t stay very long though, we were both ready
for round two. When I woke up the next morning, he brought me breakfast in bed
and said he had a surprise for me, he didn’t tell me that we were going to
visit his family. I was completely shocked. I met all of his brothers, he has
nine of them and they all look just like him.”

Maxine chuckled. “You
know you can hook a sister up, right. Are any of them married?”

Regina laughed at her
friend’s comment, taking a sip of ice tea. But before she could say another
word, she saw a familiar face coming toward them. Carol, along with another
woman, was heading to their table.

“Why hello there
Regina, how are you today?” she said while the woman who was with her looked on
with a smirk.

“Doing pretty good and
you?”

“Oh, I’m doing just
fine. Do you mind if my friend Kendra and I sit with you guys? It’s always nice
to sit with coworkers, you know,” Carol said as the two of them sat on the
opposite side of the table.

“Decided to have lunch
at the park today Carol?” Maxine asked.

Regina didn’t like this
and was starting to have a strange feeling in her stomach. Obviously, Max
thought the same thing if the look on her face was anything to go by.

“I heard about the
party on Saturday, I was wondering how it went?”

“Oh it was really nice,
too bad you weren’t able to make it,” Regina said, picking through her food before
giving her a reassuring smile.

“Yeah too bad for her,
but not too bad for you though,” Kendra chimed in.

“What the hell is that
supposed to mean?” Maxine demanded as Carol’s lips grew into a grin as big as a
Cheshire cat.

“Let me ask you a
question Regina, why do you think Collin got with you in the first place?”

She didn’t like how
this was going. She needed to leave and leave right now. “Let’s go Max.”

“Wait, I’m not done
talking with you, why you won’t answer my question?”

“Because he wanted to
get to know me or maybe because he likes me.” Carol and Kendra started
laughing. She didn’t understand why they were laughing at her about what she
said.

“Honestly, get a
fucking clue. The only reason why Collin got with you was because of a bet, he
doesn’t like you at all and he’s been using you.”

The words hit her like
a big slap in the face and she fired back. “You fucking lying bitch, you’re
just jealous because he took interest in me and stopped seeing you.”

“Why would I be jealous
of a thing like you? You got played by one of the biggest players in the
office. He only cared to win a bet and you were part of the ploy, he needed the
homeliest chick in the office and you were the one he picked. They do that
every year and the winner gets a week’s vacation. Sorry to burst your big fat
bubble girl, if you don’t believe me, ask him yourself!”

“Fine, I will!”

Getting up, Regina
started walking away from the group but heard Maxine ask, “Why would you do
that to her?”

“Because I can and she
needs to be put in her place.” The three women began walking faster to catch up
with Regina as she was making her way out of the park.

Regina’s eyes stung
with tears as she made her way down the busy street. She couldn’t believe what
that bitch said, she had to be lying. Yet, her heart ached with each step she
took. Once she reached the building, she went inside and tried not to let the
dismayed expressions of the people getting off the elevators affect her. She
pressed the button repeatedly to the Collin’s floor.

The doors were about to
close when she saw Maxine and the others hot on her trail. She didn’t bother to
wait, she didn’t want to wait, she wanted answers and she wanted them right
away.

* * * *

“I messed up my lunch
date to hear all that crap,” snapped Collin, walking out of the conference
room. The so-called meeting was basically a short presentation that lasted all of
ten minutes, ten minutes he could have been spending with Regina. Now he would
more than likely end up spending it in his office with a sandwich instead.

“I ordered some Chinese
food, want to share?” asked John.

“Sure, bring it to my
office and we’ll eat there and talk.” Collin patted his back and walked around
the corner toward his office. When he got inside, the phone rang but before he
could answer it, he heard a commotion outside his door. Then the commotion came
into his office by way of four disgruntled women, Regina, Carol, and two other
women.

“What’s going on here?”

“We need to talk right
now, I want to know something from you Collin and I would like the truth. Why
did you ask me out to lunch originally?” Regina asked as one of the women
closed the door behind them.

Collin looked at the
group and noticed Carol standing there with a smirk on her face, her arms
folded against her chest.

She
knows about the party. Damn it!

Collin looked at Regina,
having a hard time telling her the answer she wanted to hear. “I invited you to
lunch because of a bet. You see, every year each male executive picks out the
most shy or homely girl in our building and invites her to a pig party. Whoever
brings the worst one wins a vacation. But honestly Gina, once I got to know
you, I really fell for you, deep, and that’s the truth. I’ve never met anyone
like you in my life. I didn’t want you to find out about it this way.”

She slid her hand into
her pocket and grabbed the handkerchief she had gotten from Jordan the other
day. “How fucking dare you do that to me, I thought you may have been falling in
love with me. So who won the bet anyways?”

“It was a toss-up
between you, Linda, and Agnes. Agnes won the bet, you didn’t,” Collin solemnly said
as her tears continued to fall.

“Even though you
admitted caring for me, made love to me, and did all those wonderful things for
me, you still went through with the party because you wanted to win a stupid
fucking bet. Were you ever going to tell me about it?”

He felt his eyes start
to well up too as she got up in his face.

“No, I wasn’t going to
tell you. I had hoped it wouldn’t have come to this.” He eyed Carol as the
woman standing next to her giggled. “Did you have to be such a vindictive bitch
to mess with her like this?”

“You get what you
deserve for pushing me to the side for this fat thing Collin.”

The door opened as John
walked in with Chinese food in hand. “I didn’t know you were inviting more
people, I don’t have enough food for everybody.”

“Why don’t you ask
John, John weren’t you going out with that Linda girl for a while?” Carol asked
him while he put down the food.

“How in the hell did
you know about me and Linda? Yeah I was going out with her, but she’s not here
today. What the hell is going on here, man?”

“It seems we have a
vindictive bitch who wanted to get back at me by letting Regina know about the
party and why I went out with her in the first place."

Collin looked back at
Regina, who was in tears.

“Regina you have to
believe I didn’t want you to find out because I didn’t want you to be hurt,”
Collin assured her while he tried to hold her hand but she snatched it away
from him.

“Don’t you dare touch
me you bastard, you played me for a fool. If you cared for me like you say you
do, you wouldn’t have went through with going to that stupid party and same
goes for you John. How dare you play with women’s emotions like that! I want my
shit out of your car right now, so go and get it or I’ll bust open you’re
fucking windows to get to the trunk!” Regina demanded with a quiver in her
voice as she tried to control the tears.

“You wouldn’t do that
to me Regina, would you?”

“Just get my stuff out
of your car now!” Regina screamed to the point that he noticed Regina’s friend
jump before walking to her side.

“All right baby.”
Collin moved past her along with John.

When he rounded the
corner towards the elevator, Collin avoided the stares he got while he waited.
He knew everybody would be talking about what was going on in his office.
Instead of waiting, he walked toward the door leading to the stairs. As he flew
down the steps, he thought it was going to take him forever to get to the
parking garage but the exercise would do him good. Honestly, he never thought
that this would happen, especially now. It took him all but ten minutes to get
to his car. But instead of getting her bag out of the trunk, Collin ended up
kicking the tire. The pain that pulsed in his big toe was nothing compared to
how much pain he had caused Regina at that moment. His throat started to
tighten thinking about the look in her eyes when he told her the truth. He
swore he could have broken Carol’s neck for what she had done, the vindictive
bitch. Now he not only had to look upon Regina’s disappointed face but he may
just end up losing her forever.

* * * *

Anger and sadness
blazing through her, Regina turned Carol and Kendra’s way as the two women
watched her. Kendra slowly moved out of the way so Carol stood there alone. She
looked this woman eye to eye as the smirk she once had on her face was now
replaced with worry, obviously wondering what she got herself into at that
moment. “I hope you’re happy with what you’ve done. You and him belong together
honestly, both of you are liars and cheats, taking whatever the hell you want
by making others feel inferior. So you should be very happy because I am
through with him for good. Oh and fair warning, even though I might be very
cool and collected right now, don’t think I haven’t forgotten what you’ve done
to me. If I ever see you by yourself I will break every fucking bone in your
body and leave your sorry ass for dead. And that wasn’t a threat, it’s a
promise because I only give my word when I know I can and will keep.”

Carol looked at Kendra
and said, “Let’s go.”

As they left, Collin
walked in with Regina’s overnight bag. Once she saw her bag, she quickly
grabbed it and made her way out of the office along with Maxine to the
elevator.

“Please come back into
the office Gina, I want us to talk about this.”

But she never said a
word, never looked his way as the doors of the elevator opened up and the two
ladies went inside…until that last split second before the doors closed. She
looked at him and shook her head.

“Regina, I’m so sorry
that this happened to you. It seems that a lot of people knew about this party.
Lord knows if I had known about it beforehand, I would’ve warned you all about
it Regina you know that,” Maxine said, as Regina stood in silence. “What do you
want me to do for you?”