Monday Afternoon
Sandra wanted to tag along with me to my parents’ house since I skipped coming over on Sunday and called out of work today. I still couldn’t get the weekend out of my mind and hadn’t taken any of Jerome’s phone calls. I knocked on the door, and my mom answered and hugged me close, feeling my forehead.
“How are you feeling, baby?” Mom asked.
I forgot I lied about being sick.
“Fine, it was an upset stomach,” I said.
“Sandra, how are you doing? Come on, girls,” Mom stated, moving to the side and letting us in.
I smelled barbeque and figured my dad was putting something on the grill.
“What did you cook?” I questioned, taking my jacket off and hanging it on the coatrack.
“Your dad cooked ribs, mac and cheese, spaghetti, and cornbread. All of your favorites,” Mom shouted, running into the kitchen to hold the back door open for him as he walked inside with a tray of food.
“Hey, Scout,” Dad said, dropping the food on the counter. I kissed his cheek, and he wrapped one arm around my waist, checking my forehead. I rolled my eyes because my parents always thought of me as a baby.
“You don’t have a fever,” Dad stated.
“It was an upset stomach, baby,” Mom repeated the lie that I told her.
“How are you two doing?” I asked and changed the subject.
Mom opened the fridge and grabbed the lemonade out, and I grabbed the glasses from the cupboard.
“Good and Kimberly’s extra good,” Sandra said, throwing my business out to the world.
“Sandra,” I groaned, pinching her arm when she walked past.
“What is she talking about?” Mom inquired.
“Nothing, how is everything with your appointments?”
“I know what you’re trying to do, Scout,” Mom replied, staring at me.
“Daddy, how is work?”
“Work is good, but we want to know what’s going on with you.”
“Busy with work, that’s all, and my phone rang, and I ignored it.”
“You have a weird glow about you. Did you meet someone?” Mom asked excitedly.
“Yep, she did,” Sandra commented, taking a sip of her lemonade.
“Yes! Thank God,” Mom responded, and I felt so embarrassed.
“Woman, sit down,” Dad told my mom as she started dancing around the kitchen.
All of us burst into laughter.
“When did my love life become the kitchen conversation?” I questioned.
“We’re just happy for you, baby. Your dad and I won’t be here forever and we want you to be happy,” Mom said, lifting the bowl of spaghetti and the spoon, passing it around the table.
“My love life is the same as it’s always been,” I said.
I thought about Jerome and how I ran out of his bar this past weekend and wouldn’t return his calls. I couldn’t face him now after we slept together and knew he probably was under some spell and never really felt that way about me for real.
“Sandra, tell us about this man,” Mom said.
Sandra looked toward me, and I gave her the death stare.
“Sorry, Mrs. Peterson. Kimberly would kill me if I told,” Sandra said.
“Fine, just remember I’m a woman before I’m your mother. I know what it’s like to be in love and confused about your feelings,” Mom replied.
I sighed and nodded my head, taking a bite of the cornbread and continued talking with my parents, running down what I had planned for the week besides work. I wanted to look into taking a trip out of town to get away. Meredith was still on my mind, and I wanted to try and track her down and find out more about those red shoes.
It was Wednesday, and I’d done my best to avoid Jerome for the last two days. After lunch at my parents’ house, I’d started researching Meredith’s shop and came up empty. Still hadn’t gone back to the bar, but Sandra said Jerome was asking about me when she went the other night. I’d made a mental note to never do something like that again. Having a one-night stand was something I’d never seen myself doing, even though it turned out to be the best fantasy I’d ever experienced. It still was supposed to be about us never reconnecting again and letting what happened stay there as a memory. Walking out of my cubicle, I headed to the kitchen to grab a coffee cup after putting my purse away.
“Morning, Kimberly.” I heard behind me, and Mark held up his cup.
“Hey,” I replied dryly.
“I’ve been meaning to call you.”
“About?”
“Us,” Mark responded, pouring a cup of coffee.
“There’s no us, Mark,” I responded, laughing at him.
“I made a mistake, babe, and you have to forgive me,” Mark said as he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling my back to his front.
Nothing in my mind would ever go back to this man and how he treated me last time. I would be a fool. He removed his arms and stepped to the side so no one would think we were doing anything funny.
“Mark, keep the same energy you’ve had for the past year.”
“Kimberly, all we’ve done is ignore each other.”
“Good and if you cared about me at all you’ll apologize and tell everyone you lied about me,” I spat, with a harsh glare.
He held his hands up in surrender.
“I apologize for discussing our sex life.”
Right as I finished talking, Carol walked inside.
“Kimberly, I need you back at your desk. The phone is ringing off the hook,” Carol scolded.
“Sorry, Mark asked me a question, and I got sidetracked.”
I eased from around him and walked out toward my desk to finish working until lunch. I blew out the breath of frustration and logged into my computer and placed the headset on to start taking the first calls of the day.
Four hours later, I was preparing to head out for lunch, and I closed down my computer and locked my cabinet up. I didn’t bring lunch, and I’d called Sandra about meeting me, and she had a meeting on her floor in the mailroom. She walked by Carol’s office and noticed the door slightly ajar, and Mark was inside with his head between her thighs. I wanted to throw up and call HR because he was just confessing to wanting to be with me again, and here he was having sex with our boss in her office during the day. I stepped on the elevator and hit the lobby pulling my phone out to answer the text message.