Her First (9 page)

Madison left work early after the Sarah bombshell. She talked to Charlotte via cell phone as she drove home. “I know I might be overreacting, but if that cow rolls her eyes one more time, I’m going to stick my foot straight up her behind.”

Charlotte laughed. “Calm down. Like I said in my email, you don’t report to her, so you probably will only see her in passing.”

“With all I have going on, this is the last thing I need.”

“I know girl,” Charlotte sighed with sympathy.

“And Owen is so nosy.  There’s no telling what kind of rumor he’ll start.”

“Give him some credit.”

“I do. I know he loves to get stuff started and play the innocent role.” Madison’s phone beeped. “Char, hold on.”

She clicked over. “Hello.”

“Madison, it’s me. Sorry it took me so long to return your call,” Ethan said.

She had an attitude when she responded. “Hold on.” She clicked back over to the other line. “Girl, this is
Ethan, who’s been MIA, missing in action, for the last few hours.”

“Calm down, girl. What did our mommas tell us? Never let them see you sweat.”

“Whatever. Bye.”  She clicked over. “Hello.” She heard nothing but silence. “Ethan!”

“I’m here. I was adjusting my earpiece,” he said.

She raised her voice. “I’ve been trying to reach you all evening. Something happened and I need to tell you about it.”

“Calm down. I’m on I-35 right now. I can jump on LBJ Expressway and be over your way in about thirty minutes.”

“Please do, because we need to talk.”

“Will you give me a hint?”

“You’ll see when you get here.” She turned into her driveway. “I’m at home, so I’ll see you in a few.”

“Bye.”

She rushed through the door because she had to use the restroom. Afterwards, she decided to take a quick shower to relax her nerves. She put on a pair of white shorts and a white Las Vegas t-shirt. She threw on her slippers and waited in the living room for Ethan to arrive.

I know he has no control over his ex,
she thought,
but he may be able to shed some light on this situation for me. I’m not prepared to leave my job right now.

***

Ethan waited outside for almost five minutes before making his way up the walkway.

I need to tell her about
Sarah and the baby,
he thought to himself
, but she seemed like she has a lot going on. Okay…I’ll tell her after she tells me her problem.

He was surprised to get a long tantalizing kiss from
Madison when she opened the door.

“I can get used to this,”
Ethan joked.

She grabbed his hand and led him to the couch. “I know you can. Have a seat.”

“You’re working those shorts,” Ethan said, followed by a whistle.

“Get your mind out the gutter, because we need to talk.”

“I heard the urgency in your voice when I called.”

Ethan
’s cell phone rang, but he didn’t answer it.

“You’re not going to answer it?”
Madison asked.

“No. Whoever it is can wait. I’m more concerned about you right now.”

“I need a hug.” She leaned in as they hugged each other.

“What’s wrong, baby?”
Ethan asked as he brushed her hair back.

“They hired a new manager and she’s your ex.”

Neither spoke for a moment. Ethan broke the silence. “Which ex?”

Madison
removed herself from his embrace and looked him in the eyes. “Sarah. Who else?”

“Is she your manager?” There were other questions he wanted to fire out, but he refrained from doing so.

“Not directly, but we’ll be in some of the same meetings and she’ll be my manager’s backup.”

A sign of relief washed across his face. “What are you worried about?”

“I forgot to tell you, she rolled her eyes at me during the meeting.”

“She what?”

“Yes and it wasn’t my imagination, because one of my coworkers noticed it too,” she pouted.

“I don’t know what to tell you.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I went on Monster dot com and updated my resume. I guess I’ll be looking for another job.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little drastic?”

“Answer this. If she got a job at your company, would you want to work with her?”

“Hell no!”
Ethan  was quick to say.

“Then why should I?”

Ethan knew this was the perfect time to tell her about Christopher. That way everything would be out in the open and she would know exactly what she was dealing with.

Looking at
Madison and her vulnerable state made Ethan want to do everything he could to protect her. He decided to wait until after the paternity test and prayed that Sarah would be on her best behavior in the meantime.

“I can’t change the situation, but I’m here. If she does anything to disrespect you, let me know and we’ll deal with it together.”

He wrapped his arms around her and they fell asleep on the couch.

The sound of Madison’s telephone ringing the next morning woke Ethan. Madison still slept. He carefully moved her before getting up to answer the phone.

“Hello,”
Ethan whispered.

“Hi. Sorry, to wake you. This is Adrienne. Is my sister awake?” she said.

“Hold on. She’s asleep, but I’ll try to wake her for you,” he sluggishly said. He shook Madison several times before she woke up. “Telephone.”  He held the phone out to her.

She wiped the sleep out of her eyes. “Who is it?”

“Adrienne.”

She stretched before taking the phone from him. “Girl, why are you calling here so early?”

“Because I had this bad dream last night and I needed to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine.”

“I see your husband is in town this week.”

“Yes and I’m enjoying every minute of it.”

“That explains why you’re still sleeping at seven in the morning.”

“Seven. I’m really running late. I’ll call you from my car.”

Ethan waited for her to finish her conversation and hang up the phone. “I guess we were both worn out,” he said.  Ethan bent down to kiss her.

She held her hand over her mouth. “I’m warning you. I have dragon breath.”

“Come here, girl,” Ethan said.  “I could care less. Give me some sugar.”

After rushing to get ready for work and seeing
Ethan off, Madison couldn’t find her car keys. It took her fifteen minutes to realize that she had left them in the restroom when she had rushed in the evening before.

While driving to work, she switched the radio station between Skip Murphy and the Morning Team and The Steve Harvey show.  She was laughing at one of Steve’s jokes when her cell phone rang.

“I forgot to call Adrienne,” she said out loud when she saw her sister’s number on the display. She clicked the speaker button. “Hey, sis.”

“Don’t be heying me. Every since you got married you don’t call anymore,” Adrienne said.

She blew her horn at the motorist in a blue sedan that cut her off. “Remind me to hire a chauffeur when I get rich.”

“You better slow down. Don’t be getting mad at them because you overslept.”

“Did you want something?” she asked, trying not to sound irritated.

“I’m just worried about you.”

“Girl, I’m fine. I had some shocking news at work yesterday. Ethan and I talked and everything is going to be fine now.”

Adrienne cleared her throat. “Speaking of
Ethan, when will you be selling your place?”

“Who said I was?”

“It doesn’t make sense for you to have two places.”

“Look. I have too much stuff to deal with at work than to worry about my busybody sister.” She clicked the end button on her cell phone.

Her phone rang again. She saw it was Adrienne, turned up the radio and continued her drive to work.

***

Ethan picked up the phone several times to dial Sarah’s number, but before he could dial the last digit, he hung up.
I have to deal with her some time, so I might as well get it over with.

This time, he let the phone ring.
Sarah answered in her annoying voice. “Hello.”

“
Sarah, this is Ethan.”

“I knew you would come around. When do you want to meet your son?” she asked in a victorious tone.

“I’ll meet Christopher after it’s been determined I’m his father.”

“Don’t fight the obvious.”

“Obviously, you’ve lost your mind if you think I would accept your words as fact.” He scrolled through the yellow pages online.

“I can bring him by this wee
kend.”

He found his doctor’s number and wrote it on his notepad. “Look,
Sarah. I need to call and make an appointment for the paternity test.”

“I already know who his parents are,” she said sharply.

“I don’t.”

“Do what you have to do?”

“I’ll call you back with the date and time.”

“
Ethan?”

“What?”

“Does your girlfriend know about your son?”

“Frankly, that’s none of your business and I’ll appreciate you staying out of it.”

“Don’t worry.” Sarah hung up.

Ethan
held the receiver. “I hope she doesn’t do something stupid,” he said to himself.

He called the doctor’s office and made an appointment and then he dialed
Sarah’s number again. 

“Hello,” he answered.

“I called you back to give you the appointment info,” Ethan told her.

“
Madison, can I borrow your pen. For the life of me, I can never keep up with one,” Sarah said.

Ethan
’s mouth dropped. “What kind of game are you playing?”

“Dear, I am at work. Now give me the info so we both can get back to work.”

He wiped the sweat from his forehead as he gave her the information. “I need you both to be there on time.”

“We’ll be there and your son can’t wait to see you.”

After hanging up, Ethan didn’t know if he should call Madison and tell her everything.

This is one of
Sarah’s games. She’s playing with my mind and I will not let her win,
he told himself in thought. 
I’ll stand my ground and wait until after the test results before telling Madison.

***

Madison pretended to be reading over some notes while Sarah was on the phone. She overheard her mention something about a son.

I feel sorry for her child,
she thought. 
I couldn’t even imagine having a mother like her. Listen to me. I need to stop. I should give her a fair chance. I need to approach this situation differently. We’re both grown and professional women, so there’s no reason why we can’t be cordial on the job.

“Sorry about that. My baby’s daddy is tripping,”
Sarah said to Madison.

“I hear you.”

Sarah picked up a picture frame and handed it to Madison. “This is my heart. Isn’t he the cutest little thing?”

Madison
smiled and had to agree. “He’s adorable. What’s his name?”

“Christopher.”

She handed the picture back to Sarah. “I have to admit, I never pictured you as a mother.”

Sarah
laughed. “Neither could I. But my little bundle of joy has changed my life.”

They spent the next thirty minutes going over some technical specifications for an upcoming project.
Madison noticed how Sarah seemed to be on point on various things.

When the meeting ended,
Sarah stood up and closed her office door. “There’s something else I need to talk to you about.”

Madison
uncrossed her legs. “Work related I hope.”

Sarah
sat on the corner of her desk. “I think you know who it’s about.”

“To keep the peace, I think conversing about
Ethan is off limits.”

Sarah
picked up an object on her desk and swirled it around. “You’re not the least bit curious as to why we broke up?”

“What does that have to do with our work relationship?”

“Nothing. I know if it was me, I would want to know details.”

Madison
had to restrain herself. “But you’re not me.”

“Look
Madison, I’m not trying to start anything.”

Before
Madison could respond, someone knocked and opened the door.

“I hate to interrupt, but,
Sarah, I have an important call I need you to be on,” Eddie stated without acknowledging Madison.

“Give me one minute, Eddie, and I’ll be right there,”
Sarah told him.

Madison
interrupted. “No need. We’re through here.”

Sarah
addressed her.  “We’ll continue this conversation next week at lunch.”

As she walked pass Eddie, she said under her breath, “Not if I can help it.”