Diary of A. . . (24 page)

“I’m not that mad at Lauren,” he
confessed.

He wasn’t making eye contact. His eyes were
still surveying the room as if he was going to see something out of
sorts.

I watched him, waiting to look him in the
eye.

“She’s always been like that, but your
mother was right. Lauren was given just as much opportunity as you.
There really was no favoritism.”

He still did not look at me.

“Why?” I asked, as if he already knew what I
was referring to.

Earl finally looked at me. He smiled
proudly. “Why what? Why’d I hire you and do everything in my power
to make sure you stayed with my company? Easy! I wanted you to take
my place when you were ready.” He spoke as if this should be
obvious that he couldn’t think of anyone else to take his
place.

Still smiling, Earl walked up to me, raising
one brow in amusement. “You’re ready.” Reaching inside his coat, he
pulled out some faxed documents. “I had all my calls and faxes
forwarded to me at my hotel room. So when I received this
information, I just knew I had to come speak to you. I didn’t know
I was going to walk into a reunion.”

“You’ve been in Detroit all this time?”

Nodding, Earl said, “I snuck up here two
days ago because I knew something was wrong. I knew that someone in
the Detroit office was against me, but I couldn’t pinpoint whom. So
I wanted to be on top of things and be around in case things
started to get out of hand. Plus, I found out other information
about Erin and I was just waiting for her to fuck up so I could
smack her around with the information. You single-handedly figured
out what my own spies couldn’t.” He looked grateful as he shook the
papers that I had faxed to him. “I felt Erin was angry enough to go
behind my back and do something stupid. I just didn’t expect her to
do something like that. Serves me right for dipping my stick in the
office pool, huh?”

I didn’t answer. I think he was speaking
rhetorically anyway because he continued.

“Once I read over your report, I really
wanted to track her down and break her in half, but I decided not
to.”

“You’re just going to leave her where she
is?”

“No, I’m not. I’m going to let you fire
her.”

Cassandra was right! I would get Erin’s
job!

“Tomorrow, we’ll meet at the office at
seven-thirty; before Erin is due to get in. By that time, I should
have arranged for all her things to be packed up. If she refuses to
leave, I can easily make her life difficult in this business. Once
her clients know what kind of person she is and some other things,
I’m sure they’ll tell her to get to stepping.”

“You’ll blacklist her if she doesn’t
leave?”

“Hell yeah and I’m powerful enough to make
it happen,” Earl said determinedly. “With a lot of fucking
pleasure,” he added, looking down at the documents as if he were
reading the secret to the fountain of youth. “Sheryl, you make me
proud to call you my daughter and the new president of the
company.”

“President?”

“Yes! I’ll serve on the board of directors
for maybe another decade because I can do that behind bars with my
eyes closed.”

“Behind bars?!” I exclaimed, feeling my
stomach drop in disappointment.

Guiltily, he said, “Yes, honey. My
conscience is getting the better of me in my old age. And even
though I’ve paid off my debt twofold, I want to clean my record. My
lawyer said some of the people I’ve paid back would even testify so
my sentence won’t be too harsh. He predicted about three to five
years. I know you can hold it down until I get out.”

I was overwhelmed. I would be in charge of
the company?! This was even better than Erin’s job.

“I can’t wait to fire Erin,” I said
excitedly.

“I was hoping you’d whoop her ass first,” he
growled angrily.

I laughed and hugged him.

“Does this mean I’m forgiven for my own
deceit, Sheryl?”

“Yes, Daddy. I forgive you.” Life felt new
and wonderful at that moment as his arms encircled my waist. Life
was perfect.

Earl stayed for a couple more hours. We
spoke over tea and pound cake about the company and his life. He
was really interested in my own personal life since he knew very
little of it.

There really wasn’t much to share with him
and I avoided any mention of my promiscuous behavior. He was my dad
for goodness sake. A girl can’t tell all her business to her
parents!

When Earl insisted that he had to go, he
kissed me on my cheek and thanked me again for all I had done for
him and his company. He corrected himself and added, “Our
company.”

I like that. I liked that a lot!

Entry Forty-Two

I shot up in bed at six in the morning
cursing. Shit! I promised to meet Theo at Cobo Center and Earl at
the office at the same time - seven-thirty.

Fuck!

I couldn’t do both. I couldn’t disappoint
Earl right after he’d just made me president. And if I didn’t meet
Theo, he’d do something crazy like cancel the divorce and stay
married to that bitch!!

I called Theo’s cell phone, but it
immediately pushed me to voice mail, which meant that his phone was
off.

Throwing on some clothes, I was dressed by
six-thirty and shot out the house. I reached Cobo Center in less
than ten minutes praying while on the Lodge Freeway that a Michigan
State Police Officer didn’t pull my fast ass over.

According to the guard at the gate, Theo
hadn’t arrived at work yet. But sometimes employees that didn’t
drive to work went inside through the front.

“Could you call a supervisor?” I asked
desperately.

The guard looked me over. I felt like he was
licking me with an invisible tongue. I wanted to take an acid bath
to get the disgusted feeling off of me.

“I could maybe do a little some’um fer
ya.”

‘Could you get a Tic-Tac?’ I asked him, but
only in my head.

It was too damn early for him to be acting a
damn fool. Cajoling, I smiled flirtatiously and said, “I’d really,
really appreciate it.”

The guard started sweating, despite the fact
that the morning was quite cool and even colder because we were
right by the river. Picking up a phone in his guard booth, he
called a number and asked if “Lowe” had come in yet.

When he hung up, he said, “No one ain’t seen
him yet, but he’s scheduled to work. Wanna come in here and keep me
company while you’re waitin’?”

‘Ewwwwww!’ I screamed in my head,
sickened.

But I just smiled and said, “No, I’ll sit
all alone in my car over there. But can you let me know if anything
new happens while I’m waiting for him?”

“Most definitely and if ya need a little
warming, my booth is comfortable.”

‘Not even if there was a cold day in hell!’
I said to myself, but I only winked at him as if I would consider
it. I knew he was watching my ass as I went back to my car and
warmed up.

Again when I dialed Theo’s phone, it went
straight to voicemail. I began to get a little peeved. ‘Shit!
Answer your phone, Theo!”

At seven, when I was getting edgy and had
called Theo twice more with no success, the guard in the booth
waved to me.

I ran over to him knowing I could kill
myself in my four-inch Max Studio heels, but I was a desperate
woman!

“His super just let me know Lowe ain’t
comin’.”

I was really frustrated by this man’s lack
of ability to speak proper English. “Not coming to work?”

“Says he got trouble with his old lady. No
doubt she trying to snatch his ass back and keeping her legs
wrapped around him so he can’t get out’o bed.” He snickered and
looked like he wanted me to do the same to him.

I cursed under my breath. “Thanks!”

That bitch was trying to work fast. I
decided to get over to Theo’s home as fast as possible, hoping
morning rush hour traffic didn’t slow me down.

The guard was trying to pass me his number,
but I was too consumed with getting to my car to even care. Once I
was on the road, I called Theo’s phone again.

Still straight to voice mail.

I arrived at his place in fifteen minutes,
but there was no answer at his door. I didn’t know what else to
do!

Standing on the porch, glaring hard and
wishing the door would open – even though there were no cars in the
driveway – I decided to call Theo’s cell phone one more time.

“Hello?” Erin’s voice said very irate.

I didn’t say anything. The background noise
indicated they were most likely in a car.

“I know someone’s there?” Erin persisted.
“Who’s this? The slut that thinks she can steal a married man?! You
better hope I don’t find out who this is, bitch.”

I hung up the phone and wondered had Theo
spent the night at Erin’s home? No, he couldn’t have. Or could
he?

He was with her!

Looking at the clock, I saw that it was
almost seven-thirty. Earl needed me at the office and if I didn’t
get there on time, I knew he’d be mad.

I had to make a choice between my heart and
my job. I was in a quandary on which to choose. I knew if I chose
wrong, it would change my path completely.

Closing my eyes, I prayed for a sign. After
thirty seconds of nothing happening and realizing how ridiculous I
looked standing on a porch to a house where no one was home, I
decided to get in my car and think a little more in there.

Theo knows he made an appointment with me.
We met at 7:30 am the first morning at Cobo Center. I’m positive
about that. Plus, he didn’t seem like a man who would break a
promise on purpose.

So Erin must have tricked him into missing
the appointment and was holding him hostage more or less. I knew
she had to report to work and with all the things she was doing,
she’d report on time.

Checking my watch, I had five minutes to get
to the office. I could make it in seven if I didn’t get pulled
over.

I prayed that I was not only making the
right decision, but that I wouldn’t get stopped for going
seventy-five miles an hour on a residential street as I burned
rubber taking off.

Entry Forty-Three

The office was quiet when I entered. I
figured whatever Earl had done, he’d done overnight because on the
lobby desk was a box with Erin’s personal items and papers.

Being as nosey as I wanted to be, I looked
through the papers and saw a divorce decree. It had been signed by
Theo, but not by Erin. I also saw the phony doctor’s papers that
said she was pregnant. It was a pretty good phony job. I would
almost believe it if I had not heard the conversation that she had
with Mackeroy.

I took the divorce papers on purpose, hoping
I could work on getting Erin to sign this shit. Or I really might
have to take Earl’s advice and kick her ass.

Earl was in my office when I arrived,
looking just as good as before in another tailored suit. He was
whistling, looking just a little too happy with himself.

“When referring to you, other than calling
you my father,” I began as I entered the office and went straight
to kiss his cheek. “Should I call you Earl or Uncle E?”

“I’ve grown fond of the name Earl and that
is what I’ve changed my name to,” he replied. “Although I think
your mother will always call me E and I don’t think I want to
change that about her.” He smiled thoughtfully.

“You went to see my mother after you left,
didn’t you?” I asked.

“You need to stay out of grown folks
business,” Earl growled with a teasing light in his eyes. “And I
needed something to hold me over for three years.”

I laughed and finally kissed his cheek in
good morning.

“You’re also late,” he said in a tender
fatherly tone.

It was so wonderful to feel like a daughter
when I spoke to him that I didn’t take his tone too seriously. “I
know, but there was a personal problem that I still couldn’t
handle.”

“I told the guard to page me when she drove
in. Are you ready for all this?” he asked.

“More than ready.” I was on seventh heaven
because everything I had worked for and done for this company was
about to pay off. On top of that, I could rub it all in Erin’s face
and watch her crumble.

Earl handed me a list. “These are all her
clients. I want you to get started with Peter on taking them
away.”

In the bottom of my gut, I didn’t know if I
could trust Peter. But since I couldn’t find anything to connect
him to Erin’s wicked plan and since Peter really didn’t look like a
person that Erin would confide in, I didn’t want to voice my
distrust until I was absolutely sure.

“Does Erin suspect anything?” I asked.

“Not a damn thing because she thinks she’s
too smart for her own good. I like that.” Earl smirked.

“But taking her clients is a bit
underhanded.”

“The majority of those clients were mine!”
he said possessively.

I could really understand his anger about
the situation. Back stabbing bitch.

“I have to admit that I’m a little angry at
you still, because we missed a lot of time together,” I said.

“I know.” There was some sadness in his
voice. “But it was hard, like I said last night, trying to convince
your mother that I wouldn’t hurt a hair on your head, Sheryl. I
couldn’t explain the bruises and I didn’t know what to tell her or
say to her to let her know I loved you and your sister more than
life itself. So all I could do was wait to be justified and do what
I could to make sure you all were taken care of.”

I wanted to beat Lauren’s ass right now for
denying me a good father figure in my life. I knew I would have
made a lot of better decisions when it came to my personal life had
Earl been there with me.

“I wish we had more time together now,” I
said remorsefully, thinking of his pending imprisonment. “Is there
any way possible you could turn yourself in like next week?”