CHAPTER 15
RICHARD
“Daddy, I hope you have a good day,” Carol told me as we prepared to leave for the day this morning. She was sitting on the couch, pulling on her Ugg boots.
“I’m sure I will. I’m having lunch with a very special lady today.” I snatched my overcoat off the rack by the front door and had to force myself not to show how giddy I was.
“Regina?” Marva asked as she entered the living room already bundled up and ready to go.
“I said a very special lady.” All three of us laughed. “You girls remember Felicia, one of the ladies I work with? We went to her Christmas Eve party last year.”
“That party was fun!” Marva gushed. “Felicia hugged us, but she didn’t give us any presents. She’s real cool, though. We see her a lot all over the place. When we visited Grandma and Grandpa Labor Day weekend, we bumped into Felicia at Olive Garden. We had to wait for a table and when she came in after us by herself, we all stood together by the wall. Grandma and Grandpa must really like her because they got all over her right away—and you know how picky they can be.”
“I didn’t know they knew her well enough to ‘get all over her,’ ” I said.
Carol gave me an exasperated look as she wrapped her muffler around her neck. “Daddy, you and your memory. They met Felicia at Mama’s funeral. She helped serve food when we came home from the church. And did you know that she came to the house a couple of days later to help Grandma and Aunt Minnie pack up Mom’s stuff that we didn’t want to keep? She even took it to Goodwill because they were too sad to do it.”
“I don’t remember,” I muttered. Margaret’s passing had been so traumatic for me, I no longer remembered some of the things that occurred during that period. I did recall Felicia being among the mourners at the church and later at my house, but everything else was a blur.
“Grandpa told Felicia that she and the friend she was waiting on could sit with us if they wanted to. But she said she’d rather not because she had some personal things she needed to discuss with her friend,” Carol went on. “Grandpa got excited when Felicia told him that her brother was a big important private investigator in Atlanta. And he and Grandma were real impressed when she told us how she’d talked her parents into taking the six-month trip around the world they’d planned, instead of canceling it to stay home and take care of Felicia’s mom’s mother. When the Olive Garden hostess came to escort us to our table, Grandma and Grandpa hugged Felicia and told her she’s welcome to come visit them anytime she wants. As we were walking away, I saw a man come in the door and kiss her on the cheek. I guess he was her boyfriend.”
“He looked like Steve Harvey did when he still had hair,” Marva added.
“That had to be Clyde, the son of one of our coworkers. He and Felicia have been seeing each other for a long time.” The next sentence slid out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying. “They’re just friends, though,” I said stiffly.
“She’s so nice,” Carol said.
“And pretty,” Marva tossed in.
“She sure is. She often asks about you both. Carol, you should have seen how big her eyes got when I told her you’re going to be a lawyer.” I paused and turned to Marva and said, “And that you’re going to be a judge.”
“What did she say?” Marva wanted to know.
“She said I was lucky to have such ambitious kids,” I answered, puffing out my chest. “And that she hopes to have kids like you two someday.”
“Then she is a ‘very special lady,’” Carol said, giving me a mysterious wink. I pretended like I didn’t see it.
Felicia was much more than a “very special lady.” I promised myself I wouldn’t act giddy, or say anything stupid or offensive at lunch today. I didn’t want to jeopardize our friendship. Just knowing that my picky in-laws had said so many nice things about her made my head swell. “Okay, queens. Let’s shake a leg.” I snapped my fingers and nodded toward the door. “I don’t want to miss my bus.”
To my surprise, Felicia never boarded the bus this morning. When I walked into my office, and before I removed my coat, I called her number and got her voice mail. I left a message and without giving it much thought, I gave her lead clerk a call. I was pleased to hear that Felicia had some business to take care of and that she would be in today.
Pam popped into my office at exactly eleven a.m. “Richard, I need to talk to you.” There was a deadpan expression on her face and her voice sounded very serious. There was no telling what she had up her sleeve. She closed the door before I could respond. I had moved the chair that usually sat in front of my desk to the side of the room. I’d placed a huge stack of files on it, hoping it would discourage visitors from sitting down and staying too long. Pam casually set the files on top of my file cabinet, dragged the chair to the front of my desk, and dropped down. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Will this take long? I’m very busy,” I said firmly.
“I don’t need much time.”
“What’s going on? Does this have anything to do with technical support or a reprographics issue?” I cleared my throat and narrowed my eyes. “Or is this personnel-related?” Disturbing thoughts suddenly entered my mind. Had I unknowingly done something against company policy? Was I about to lose my job? I immediately dismissed those thoughts. Pam was a secretary. If I had done something inappropriate or was about to get laid off or fired, she wouldn’t be the one to tell me.
“This has nothing to do with a personnel issue,” she confirmed. “My computer is working fine and all of my copy issues are up-to-date. But there’s a lot of work on my desk, so I’ll get right to the point so we can both get back to work.” She cleared her throat and gazed at me for a few seconds before continuing. “I heard the company is considering you for a position in Indianapolis. A promotion.”
“It’s tempting. But relocating to another state would be a big step; not just for me, but for my girls. We’d have to make a lot of adjustments.”
“Do you know anybody in Indianapolis?”
“Not a soul. Pam, I’m curious and confused. Where is this conversation going?”
“I didn’t want to be too blunt. But the more I think about this, the more I want to—” She stopped talking and glanced toward the door. When she turned back around, she looked so hopeless I didn’t know what to think.
“Can you wrap this up in the next couple of minutes?” I asked as I checked my watch.
“Felicia is in love with you,” she blurted out. If Pam had told me she was going to wrestle a grizzly bear, I couldn’t have been more stunned.
I narrowed my eyes and leaned forward. “What did you say?”
“Felicia is in love with you,” she repeated. She folded her arms and gave me a guarded look.
I had to force myself not to laugh. “She dates your son and other men. She has no romantic interest in me.”
“Oh yes she does! My son, though I love him to death, is just a filler.”
“Excuse me?”
“Clyde and the other men she’s been dating for the past few years are just filling in because she can’t be with the man she really loves. And that’s you.”
“Now, Pam. I know you’re a caring person. But this is over the top—even for you. What makes you think Felicia is in love with me?”
“She told me.”
I sat up straighter and stared at Pam in slack-jawed amazement. “Excuse me?” I said again.
“I was just as surprised as you. The bottom line is, she’s been in love with you for a long time. She was having such a hard time keeping it to herself, she finally broke down and told me.”
“And she told you to tell me?”
“Nope. She didn’t tell me not to tell you, though.”
I scratched the side of my head. “I don’t know what to say. I never expected to hear something like this.”
“I didn’t either.” Pam stood up and gave me a smug look. “Well, now you know.”
“Thanks for sharing with me. But I’d rather hear it from Felicia.”
“Don’t hold your breath. I don’t think she’ll ever tell you herself.”
“Well, if she told you, why wouldn’t she tell me?”
Pam shrugged and started backing toward the door. “Beats me. Anyway, I said what I came to say. Now I need to get back to my office because there is so much work on my desk.”
I had a hard time focusing on my work after Pam left. Ten minutes later, Carol called. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Hello, queen.”
“I’m on my way to my math class so I have to talk fast. Ki Ki Randolph is having a slumber party next Friday. Can we go?”
“We’ll talk about that when I get home.”
“Daddy, why do we need to talk about it? She lives right next door.”
“I need to talk to her mother first. I’m glad you called. I forgot to take the laundry out of the dryer last night. When you get home, take care of it.”
“When are you going to talk to Ki Ki’s mother? She wants to know how many girls she’ll need to buy snacks for.”
“I’ll call her or go over and see her when I get home.”
“She’ll like that,” Carol snickered.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Daddy, you know that lady has been crushing on you ever since they moved next door. She’s a widow so you and she have something in common. And don’t you think she’s pretty?”
“She’s a very pretty woman—”
Carol cut me off. “Ooo! Ooo! I can’t wait to tell her you said that—”
And then I cut her off. “You behave yourself. I have something in common with a lot of pretty women. End of discussion.” I sniffed and added, “You be sure and take those lamb chops out of the freezer like I told you this morning so they can defrost in time for dinner. And don’t forget that laundry.”
Carol taunted me with a sharp laugh. “Okay, Daddy. I love you.”
“Love you back, Your Majesty.”
There was only one pretty woman on my mind these days.