Back at the law office, Lina knew she was dangerously close to being late for what her boss had described as a very important office meeting. Taking in her reflection in the ladies’ room mirror, she sighed at her disheveled state. The impromptu post-lunch make out session with Rashad had not only left her breathless, she now resembled a teenager sneaking in after a late-night tryst. Shaking her head, she set out to fix what Rashad had messed up.
While she worked on getting herself together, her mind replayed those torrid moments under the candy store awning. She recalled the softness of his lips, the sensual stroking of his tongue inside her mouth, the arousing way he’d cupped her hip with his big hand. His skillful, possessive kisses had almost made her forget that they were kissing on the streets of downtown Charlotte in broad daylight. She chuckled to herself.
He sure knows how to get his point across.
After she’d corrected her smudged lip gloss, runny mascara and mussed hair, she popped a mint into her mouth. Then she slung the strap of her handbag over her shoulder and walked out into the corridor.
She entered the boardroom a few moments later. She greeted her colleagues, most of whom were already present, and took her usual seat on the right side of the rectangular table, toward the center. Lerner was one of the smaller firms in the area, with a total of twenty-one people on staff, and Lina had been at the firm long enough to have established a professional relationship with most of them. She didn’t know the five members of the secretarial staff all that well, but that was due to high turnover in their department.
At present, only two seats remained empty now, the one across from her belonging to Tara Mitchell, and the one at the head of the table where Mrs. Lerner sat. Lina had just enough time to settle into her seat, open her briefcase and take out a legal pad and pen before the two missing associates entered the room and took their respective seats.
Mrs. Lerner called the meeting to order, then passed the reigns over to her administrative assistant to go over the case files from the previous week. Lina listened intently, making a note of each case number, the attorney who’d handled it, and the outcome, even though she knew a dossier of this information would be distributed at the end of the month. Keeping good notes was simply her way of keeping her mind sharp during each meeting which, at times, were incredibly boring. She continued taking notes through most of the meeting, filling five of the sheets on her lavender-tinted legal pad. The sound of Mrs. Lerner clearing her throat made her set the pen aside and look up.
“Now let’s move on to some exciting news. I want to congratulate the two junior partners who are being promoted to senior partners, effective in two weeks.”
Lina looked around the room.
She didn’t have to wait long before Mrs. Lerner spoke again.
“Some say I rarely smile, but I’m very proud of the efforts of these two women, who are assets to our firm. Please join me in applauding Lina Smith-Todd and Tara Mitchell.”
Lina stood and looked across the table to the beaming Tara, who also stood. As their coworkers feted them with clapping and cheers, Lina felt the pride swelling in her chest. This was the moment she’d been waiting for. The moment when the all-nighters she’d pulled in undergrad and in law school, the long hours poring over law texts and depositions, and the social life she’d all but abandoned finally paid off.
Yes, this was a game changer. Making senior partner in a respected law firm as a black woman under forty was no small feat, and she planned to celebrate this accomplishment to the fullest. Part of that celebration would be to purchase Thelonious Monk’s baby grand, and revel in the look of utter joy the piano would surely put on her mother’s face.
The applause tapered off as Mrs. Lerner gestured for everyone’s attention. “That’s it for today, people. Let’s get back to work. We’ll celebrate with a little cake at lunch time.”
As the group began to disperse, Lina took a moment to walk over to Tara and shake her hand. “Congratulations, Tara.”
Tara, a forty-something mother of two grown sons, smiled in response. “Thanks, Lina. Congratulations to you, as well.”
They chatted for a few moments while Tara gathered her things, and then the two of them strolled toward the door.
Mrs. Lerner stopped Lina.
With a wave, Tara disappeared from the room.
The lead attorney addressed her. “Lina, I want to talk to you a moment. I’m having my assistant place the order today for updated signage and stationery for the firm. What’s the situation with your name?”
She didn’t hesitate. “I’m coming in late tomorrow morning because I’m going to the courthouse first thing to drop my ex-husband’s name.” Sure, Warren had helped finance her first year of law school, but that didn’t negate his numerous infidelities. She was stepping into a new season of her life, and she refused to do so while still carrying the burden of his last name.
“Very good. I don’t want to hold up the printing process, so I’ll tell my assistant to have everything printed up with ‘Lerner, Mitchell and Smith.’ Just be sure to bring me a copy of your name-change paperwork when you come in tomorrow.”
“No problem.” Lina shook hands with her boss and exited the boardroom.
As she walked down the corridor toward her office, her phone chimed, signaling an incoming text message. She grabbed the knob on her office door and twisted, pushing it open. Inside, she moved over to the desk, set her purse down on top, and fished the phone out of it. She unlocked the touch screen. A smile touched her lips when she saw the message was from Rashad.
I’m having a HARD time concentrating this afternoon.
Her smile widened as she typed her reply.
You’re the one who decided to make your point with kisses.
She set the phone down on the edge of the desk, but before she could walk away it chimed again with his reply.
You know you liked it, baby.
Shaking her head, she sent him back a winky face emoji and tucked her phone away. If they kept this up, neither of them would get any work done. She hoped he’d go back to whatever he’d been doing, to keep her whole afternoon from being mired in distraction.
He didn’t text her again, but the memory of his soft lips and the feeling of his hands on her body still lingered in her mind for the rest of the afternoon.
* * *
As the end of the workday drew near on Wednesday, Rashad found himself wringing his hands. It wasn’t something he did often, but his nerves were frazzled, and for good reason. In less than fifteen minutes, there would be an end-of-day departmental meeting for the register of deeds office. And he knew that during that meeting, he’d have to do the very thing he’d been dreading since this most recent round of budget cuts had been announced: tell someone they were out of a job.
Draining the cup of cold water he’d gotten from the cooler, he sighed. He’d been raised with a very strong work ethic, as well as a sense of responsibility to give to others. Still, there were not many people in the world who demonstrated the high level of commitment, self-sacrifice, and professionalism that his family demanded from him. Rick Havens was one of those rare people, and the prospect of having to tell the older man he’d be losing his job in two weeks made Rashad feel like shit.
He stood from his seat behind the desk, straightened his tie and left his office. As he strode down the corridor toward the conference room, he truly wished Gary were there to do this decidedly dirty work. His boss had left earlier to accompany his mother-in-law to a follow-up appointment. Being the most senior employee present that afternoon meant he’d drawn the short straw.
Inside the conference room, most of the staff was already seated around the long rectangular table. As Rashad took his seat at the head, he took in the faces of his colleagues. They were all good people, and most were hard workers. Sure, Claudia was the office gossip who always had her ears open to everyone’s conversations, and Maynard—who hadn’t yet arrived—was habitually five or ten minutes late to everything. But those things were pretty minor. As a supervisor, Rashad wasn’t one to demand perfection from his staff. All he wanted was for them to do their jobs to the best of their abilities and nine and a half times out of ten, they delivered.
By the time five o’clock rolled around everyone was present. Rashad then stood and cleared his throat. “I’m going to be brief, since I know we’d all like to get home. Gary has informed me that the county is ready to begin the first round of staff cuts. It’s not just us, this same speech is being given in several other departments in the courthouse today.”
A collective groan rose from the people sitting around the table.
Rashad nodded. “I know, I’m not happy about this, either. But as I’m told we have no choice. For right now, our office only has to cut two positions, and fortunately we’re able to give two weeks’ notice and one month’s severance pay.”
For the rest of the meeting, Rashad outlined some of the changes that would take place around the office. Budget-cutting measures were being put in place, such as transitioning to a mostly paperless office, and cutting back on overtime.
Rashad leaned his back against the whitewashed wall and took a few questions from his employees. Most wanted to know if and when more cuts would be made. Unfortunately, that wasn’t something he had a ready answer for. Information was being funneled to him through Gary, who was getting it from the suits at county in snatches.
After the meeting was adjourned, he asked two of his employees to stay behind.
Rick Havens stood from his seat, making eye contact with him. “Let me guess. You’re about to tell me I’m officially retired.”
Even as he wished things could be different, Rashad offered a solemn nod. “I’m sorry, Rick. But I still have two weeks to figure something out for you, and I plan to keep my promise.”
Rick responded with a solemn nod. “Let me know what you come up with, Mac.”
Rashad’s eyes fell on Nathan, the office’s young courier. “Sorry, Nate. We’re going to have to cut your position as well.”
The cocky young brother responded with a chuckle. “It’s all good, boss man. I’m about to get my degree in December, so I’ll be all right.”
“I respect your positive outlook, Nate.”
Within the next half hour, Rashad locked the door to the empty conference room and returned to his office. As was often the case, he was the last person remaining in the office. It was just after 6 p.m., and he didn’t want to linger any longer. Once he’d gathered his belongings, he left, locking the main office door behind him.
In the parking deck, he retrieved his truck and got on the road toward home. The meeting had left a sense of sadness hanging over him like a dark cloud. He could still see the look of disappointment on Rick Havens’s face. What was the world coming to when even an excellent employee like Rick had no job security?
To break up the burden of gloom sitting on his shoulder, he used the Bluetooth in his truck to call Lina. He didn’t know if she was still at work this late, but he felt a strange, yet compelling need to hear her voice.
“Hello?”
The moment her sultry voice filled the cabin of his truck, he felt some of the tightness in his upper body melt away. “Hi, baby. I hope you’re not busy.”
“I’m home. I’m just about to throw on a stir-fry for dinner. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to hear your voice.”
There was a moment of silence on the line, except for the sounds of her banging around in her kitchen. “Really?”
“Yes. It was a rough day at the office. I had to fire one of our oldest and best employees due to these asinine budget cuts.”
“Oh, no. I’m sorry, Rashad.”
The sympathy in her tone went a long way toward soothing his frustrations. “I appreciate that.”
“Hmm.” The sound she made came over the speakers, making him think she was contemplating something.
“What is it?”
“Isn’t there anything you can do for the man? Maybe there’s still a way you can save his job and keep your office on budget.”
He spun the steering wheel as he made the right turn into his neighborhood. Her words got him thinking, and there was only one solution he could come up with. Remembering his promise to Rick, he made up his mind. “You’re right, Lina. I think there is something I can do.”
She responded with an upbeat tone. “Great. Let me know how it turns out.”
What he planned to do for Rick had a very high probability of saving the older man’s job; still, he had no idea how people would react to his actions. Regardless of that unknown, he would do it anyway. As a man of his word and as a grateful employer, he owed it to Rick.
“Why don’t you come by the Blue Lounge for the Gents show Friday night? It’s been a while since you’ve heard us play.”
“I do love live jazz. Sure, I’ll swing by.”
“Great. Then I’ll see you there, baby. Thanks for listening.”
She chuckled. “You’re welcome.”
He disconnected the call, and his satellite radio began to play again. Oddly enough, Monk’s original version of “’Round Midnight” vibrated through his car speakers on the all-jazz station the radio was set to.
Hearing Monk’s signature composition brought back thoughts of the priceless baby grand locked up in Cleveland and Wendell. There were now only a few days left until the rescheduled auction would take place. Honestly, Lina’s glossy lips and dangerous curves had occupied his thoughts so much lately that he hadn’t spent that much time plotting to get his hands on the piano. The song served as a reminder of all the things he’d need to set into motion to make sure he’d win the bidding.
He wanted that piano, but she seemed to want it just as badly, and he had a feeling that no matter who won the bidding, there would likely be some degree of drama between them. That was why he’d invited her to the Gents show—he’d spend that evening wooing her in hopes of cutting down on hard feelings once he took home the prized piano.
He hummed along to the song as he pulled into his garage. After he cut the engine and made sure the garage door was closed, he entered the house through the side door.
The next several days were bound to be interesting.