Riding the Corporate Ladder (Indigo) (26 page)

She let out a sigh and accepted the call grudgingly.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Deena!”

“What are you so chipper about? You get some at the picnic?”

“No, I didn’t get some. We had a great time, though. You and Ron should go on a picnic one day.”

“Ron got kicked to the curb,” Deena said callously. “I’m not seeing him again.”

“Why? That was quick. What happened? He messed up at your mom’s house?”

“I wish,” Deena said. “It would have been a lot easier to give him the boot then. Ron actually did pretty good over there. Everyone loved him.”

“For real?”

“Yeah. He was like, he takes everything so seriously. He asked me a bunch of questions before when got there, and he remembered everything about everybody. It was funny. It made everyone think I talk about them all the time. He started telling jokes, and they couldn’t get enough.”

“So what went wrong?”

“When we got back, I found out the real reason Ron has problems with women.”

“It’s not ’cause he’s a nerd?”

“Un-uh.”

“Bad breath?”

“Nope.”

“Uncoordinated?”

“Yes, but that’s not it. The boy got a little dick.”

Yesenia couldn’t hold her snickers. “Oh. How…how little?”

“Like four inches. Way shorter than a dollar.”

“Was it—”

“It wasn’t even fat.”

“Well, did he know how to work it at least?”

“How the hell would I know?” Deena asked. “I put him out as soon as I saw it.”

“No.”

“Quit playing. You know I wasn’t going to mess around with something like that.”

“But you just put him out? Right in the middle of sex?”

“We didn’t get to any middle,” Deena said. “We were kissing, and I felt his dick, and then I put him out. It’s his fault for bringing that little thing over here. He needs to join a monastery or something. Or at least find a strap-on.”

“A monastery,” Yesenia said with a giggle.

“God may have use for that fool, but I don’t,” Deena quipped.

“That’s why you should have waited,” Yesenia said.

“How you figure?”

“It would have been okay if you were in love with him.”

“The hell you say?”

“It’s true,” Yesenia said. “If you loved him, you would work with him, no matter what the problem was.”

Deena laughed. “Damn. I didn’t know love messed up your head like that! You’re saying I would have been totally cool with it?”

“You would have had a good time, too.”

“Damn.” Deena shook her head. “I’m glad I wasn’t in love then. That shit makes you stupid.”

Yesenia laughed.

“So how’d the picnic go?” Deena asked.

“Oh, my God, Deena. We made out for, like, an hour.”

“An hour?”

“It was magical.”

“Did you feel him up?”

“Uh…”

“You got some, didn’t you? Tell me, girl.”

“No, but we’re definitely getting closer. He’s got strong hands, Deena. I love it when he touches me.”

“Mmm. Did he touch you between your legs?”

“No. But he touched my butt; squeezed it a little. He touched my breasts, too.”

“Cool! Did you go back to his place?”

“No. This all happened at the picnic.”

Deena was supremely jealous. “Why can’t I find a man like that?”

“You might have had one,” Yesenia said. “You sent him away because his dick was too little.”

“Would you stay with Darren if he got a little dick?”

“Well, first of all, he doesn’t,” Yesenia said matter-of-factly. “I saw it through his pants. But, yeah. I would, Deena. When you think about it, you only make love with your boyfriend, what, twice, maybe three times a week? Outside of sex, you’re going to spend a lot more time with him, and that’s the stuff that counts the most.

“Right now, sex takes up about eighty percent of your relationships, Deena. But when you find a good man, and you love everything about him, it’ll drop down to thirty, or maybe even twenty percent.”

Deena didn’t think that would ever be the case. “But that still leaves three times a week when you have to deal with that little dick.”

“That’s okay,” Yesenia said. “He’d be easier to deep-throat.”

Deena almost dropped the phone. “What?”

Yesenia laughed. “I’m a good girl, Deena. But I never said I was a saint.”

* * *

On Monday morning, Miss Newman woke up bright and early, ready to start a new week and leave the drama from the last one behind her. She went to the closet and pulled out a black pants suit and a winter blue blouse. She dressed quickly, hoping to get to the office thirty minutes ahead of schedule.

She left her blouse open midway down her chest and put on a beautiful strand necklace with black pearls of varying sizes. She did a model twirl in front of her full-length mirror when she was dressed, and Boogie did one, too. He barked up at her, and Deena knelt to scratch his forehead.

“Yeah, I know I look good,” she said. “You don’t have to tell me.”

He barked again.

“Awww. Mommy loves you, too.”

* * *

On the way to work Deena listened to the radio rather than her CDs, and that simple gesture led her down an unexpected path of confusion and inner turmoil. One of her favorite morning DJ’s told what had to be the corniest joke in the world, and Deena immediately thought of Ron.

She thought about how much he had changed for her since their first date. She thought about how he worked his ass off to impress her family. She thought about the rooster with the strong libido, and she could hear Ron’s voice in the back of her mind.

Serves you right, you horny bastard!

That made her laugh, even though she didn’t feel too happy.

Deena couldn’t get Yesenia’s words out of her head, either. She didn’t think it was God’s will that she humble herself and enjoy that four-inch pecker, but Deena hadn’t been to church in three years; she had no idea what God might want for her.

The main thing she kept thinking about was how nice Ron was, and how different he was from people like Keshaun. She liked how considerate he was, how he always made her laugh, and how focused he was on her happiness. She still didn’t think Ron could fully satisfy her sexually, but she wondered if she should have at least let him try. He had that pigmy penis all his life; surely he learned how to please women in other ways.

* * *

By the time she got to work, Deena decided to call Ron and offer a heartfelt apology. But before she made it up to her office, something unsuspected happened and she forgot all about computer nerd.

When she stepped onto one of the firm’s crowded elevators, Deena spotted a distinguished gentleman lounging near the back. She narrowed her eyes, thinking she couldn’t be seeing right, but the brown skin and curly hair was a dead giveaway. It was none other than David Markham, and he looked quite dapper in his charcoal gray Armani suit.

Deena turned her back to him and pressed the button for the ninth floor. She pretended not to notice the director at all even though tingly goose bumps sprouted on her forearms. When the elevator started to move, she felt like she left her stomach on the ground floor. She couldn’t believe her luck. She didn’t know why God was still showing her favor, but she did know—without a doubt—that this was a blessing from the most high.

There were ten elegant elevators at the prestigious firm. Deena knew she wouldn’t have caught the one Mr. Markham was on if she left the house ten seconds sooner—or later. She could have encountered one extra red light on the way to work. If she simply dropped her keys in the parking lot, the elevator doors would have closed before she got on, but that’s not how it was meant to be. She was there, and so was he, and if that wasn’t fate, then there was no such thing.

She would not let this gift slip from her grasp.

Mr. Markham was headed to the top, and Deena planned to stay on until only the two of them were left in the lift. The only problem was she already pressed the button for her own crappy floor. Mr. Markham was standing too far back to see that, but the loser standing next to Deena pointed it out as soon as the doors opened on the ninth.

“Isn’t this your floor?”

“No.”

“I thought I saw you—”

“This is not my floor,” Deena said again, with a touch of attitude.

The file clerk didn’t press the issue.

The elevator kept moving, but it stopped again at almost every floor. There were still eight people on when they passed the fifteenth, but that number dwindled to four by the time they got to the twentieth. The last two interlopers got off together on the twenty-second floor, and Deena looked back as soon as they were gone. She pretended to notice the director for the first time.

“Mr. Markham! Oh, oh, my goodness. I didn’t know you were back there!”

The successful attorney smiled pleasantly. “I’ve been back here for a long time, Miss Newman.”

“Really?”

“That’s the trouble with being so high up,” he said. “I have to stop two dozen times before I make it to my office. Even if I’m early, I end up late.” His shirt was ivory colored. His suit was dark with barely visible pinstripes. His eyes were piercing. Deena detected Marc Jacob’s cologne.

She giggled. “But it’s still a lot better at the top.”

Mr. Markham smiled also. “How so? It takes me the longest to get out of here at quitting time, and if the building catches fire, I have to run down more flights of stairs than anyone else.”

Deena liked his sense of humor. Unfortunately, they arrived at the twenty-fourth floor before she could say anything further. Mr. Markham took a step forward, and it was then that he considered the oddness of their interaction. He looked at the elevator’s call buttons and saw that none of them were lit. He narrowed his eyes at Deena.

“Are you coming to visit with someone on this floor?”

“Yes,” she said. Her smile slipped away, and she fixed serious, grown woman eyes on him. “I’m coming to see you.”

Mr. Markham’s smile faltered, too. Deena thought his befuddlement was cute.

“Well, to what do I owe…” He tried to step around her when Deena made no efforts to exit, but he didn’t make it in time. The doors closed, and the elevator began to slide down again; apparently called by someone on a lower floor.

Deena turned and pushed the emergency stop button so they wouldn’t be interrupted again. It was a bold move and she figured there were only two possible outcomes: either she would get fired, or everything would work out exactly as she planned.

And she didn’t believe God put them together just so she could get fired.

When she turned back to the mark, he was very confused, a bit apprehensive as well. His grip on his briefcase tightened and he raised it a little, as if he might use it as a shield to fend off this crazed woman. He looked silly. Deena might have laughed if her whole career wasn’t on the line.

“I wanted to speak with you privately,” she said. “I would have come to your office, but I don’t think your secretary likes me.”

“She doesn’t like anyone,” Mr. Markham kidded, but he still looked kinda spooked. He stepped towards the call buttons, but Deena blocked him with her body.

“Miss Newman, I—”

“My name is Deena,” she said. “That’s part of what I wanted to talk about.” She knew she only had a couple of minutes before security would get involved, so she didn’t dally. “The truth is I like you, David. I think you’re awesome. I would like to see you sometime, outside of the office. Is it all right if I call you David?”

The handsome director couldn’t have been more surprised if she stripped naked. His mouth fell open, but another voice interrupted before he could respond.

“Are you all right, Mr. Markham?” It was a male voice, and it came from the speakers at the front of the elevator. Deena knew they had good security at the firm, but these guys were seriously on the ball.

She waited a few seconds that felt like an eternity while the director considered his next move. He could have sent her packing with just one word, and Deena began to wonder if she played her cards right.

But he said, “I’m okay,” and she knew she was okay, too. Mr. Markham smiled, and that smile chilled the sweat on the small of Deena’s back.

“You’re…you’re really something else,” he told her.

Deena closed her eyes and let out a quiet sigh. “I thought you were going to have me arrested.” When in doubt, vulnerability is always a good look.

“Who said I’m not?”

Her heart froze, but she saw that he was smiling. “Actually, going to jail would be a lot less stressful than this,” she said.

Mr. Markham laughed. The hearty chortle warmed Deena like hot cocoa. “You know they’re still watching us,” he said, referencing the firm’s security team. “They’re listening, too.”