CHAPTER 61
“You are about to call her, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re doing the right thing, you know.”
“I know,” Yolanda said, sighing. “It’s just that, I know if the situation was reversed, she wouldn’t do the same for me.”
“It’s not about her,” Natalie said. “You wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if you let Jackie get away with it. I know you don’t like Theresa, but she doesn’t deserve to lose her job. You neither, remember?”
“I know, I know. I’m calling her right now.”
“Good. Call me later and tell me everything.”
“Okay,” Yolanda said, hanging up.
She’d never had a real conversation with Theresa. She never thought she had to.
She looked at the number she had scribbled down from her Rolodex this morning. Theresa McArthur. 281-555-2817. She picked up the phone and dialed it.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is this Theresa?”
“Yes, who’s this?”
“It’s Yolanda.”
“Who?”
“Yolanda Peterson? We work together. Well, at least we used to, anyway.”
“Oh.”
Silence.
“What do you want?” Theresa asked.
“I just wanted to know how you’ve been holding up.”
“No, you didn’t. You didn’t call to ask how I’m doing. We don’t like each other and never will. So again I ask, why did you call me?”
Yolanda hesitated. Why am I trying to help this woman? I should hang up and let her butt stand in an unemployment line…
“Look, I think somebody was setting you up.”
“Duh. I’ve been saying that for weeks.”
“I know who it is.”
“I’m listening,” Theresa said.
“It’s Jackie,” Yolanda blurted.
“What? No way, sistuh, try again. I know it’s not her.”
“How?”
“Because she’s the only one who’s been calling genuinely concerned about my welfare. Besides, it wouldn’t make any sense. Jackie is Dee Dee’s daughter. All she has to do is just wait, and she’ll probably get the whole salon.”
“Maybe so, but I still know it’s her.”
“Okay, Sherlock, how do you know?”
“For one, you need to drop the attitude,” Yolanda said. “You’re the one who doesn’t have a job…”
“Sweetie, if you were fired, you’d have an attitude, too, okay? You come skating in here, becoming assistant manager, trying to steal my man—”
“Maxwell? Is that what this is all about? I’m tryin’ to help you get your job back, and you trippin’ about Maxwell? Baby, if you can get him, take him.”
“If I can get him? Please, I already got him. This body gets me any man I want, which is more than I can say for yours.”
“If that was true, why is he all up in my face all the time trying to go out with me?”
Silence.
After a long moment, Theresa said, “Either tell me what you know or hang up. Your choice.”
Yolanda chewed on her lip, irritated by Theresa’s tone. Do the right thing, she chanted in her head, letting Natalie’s words calm her down.
“Believe whatever you want to believe, Theresa. You can sit on your couch and be bitter and blame everybody else or you can do something about it and get your job back. Your choice,” Yolanda said, throwing Theresa’s words back at her.
“You have my attention. Go on. I’ll lose the attitude.”
“I know it’s Jackie because she told me over lunch a couple of weeks ago.”
“A couple of weeks ago? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I don’t like you.”
“So what changed? You still don’t like me; why all of a sudden this change of heart?”
“It wasn’t right. And just because I don’t like you, doesn’t mean that you deserve to be fired, especially if it wasn’t your fault.”
“So now what? All this is just hearsay. We can’t tell Dee Dee without proof.”
“I know, that’s why I called you. Maxwell mentioned that you got fired because of some letters and e-mails?”
“Yeah. She must have gone in my office and forged my signature.”
“Forged, huh?” Yolanda said, thinking. “Maybe I could get your signature and her signature and show that she forged it.”
“No, that won’t work. I had a stamp made with my signature on it. Anyone could have gotten a hold of it. This is Dee Dee’s daughter, remember? This isn’t just some random employee. We need rock-solid evidence, like an eyewitness or an alibi or something.”
“Right. First thing tomorrow I’ll ask around. Maybe somebody saw something. Meanwhile, give me a copy of those e-mails and letters. You do have ’em, right?”
“You bet your butt I do.”
“Fax them to me tomorrow. Maybe I can figure something out.”
“Sure.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know what I came up with.”
“Hey, Yolanda?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you,” Theresa said.
“You’re welcome.”