Just Another Damn Love Story (21 page)

“Start loafing?  I haven’t been loafing!  I had sick leave, so I took it?  Why is that a problem?”

“It’s a problem because I need people who are going to be here!”  Laquisha shouted.  “It’s a problem, because you haven’t brought in any new clients in three weeks!  It’s a problem, because you stopped producing once you got promoted.  And so now, my only option is to put someone in this position who can do the job!”

Kimberly rose from her desk.  “Laquisha, no!”

“I need someone who can bring in clients, and manage this department and the other advertising executives and reps.”

“Laquisha I’m here!”  Kim pleaded.  “I was going through some things, but I’m back on the ball now.  Just give me a couple of days to pull in some revenue.”

“You bring in some revenue in the next couple of days, and you can keep your job as an ad exec.  You don’t, and you’re out of here.  But you’re no longer a department manager.”

Kimberly fell back into her seat.  “Laquisha, I can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

“I can’t walk out of this office and face them,”  Kim said.  “I can’t pack up my things and move back into the room with everyone else, and have to look at the smirks, and listen to the whispers and the snickers.  I can’t go out there as a failure.”

“Do what you have to do.”

“Do what I have to do?”  Kim said forcefully.  “Is that all you have to say to me, after I’ve given you years of service, and brought in millions of dollars in ad revenue for this magazine?  Do what I have to do?  Is that what all of my years of dedication and hard work boil down to?  Is that how this is going to end?”

“If that’s how you choose to end it.”  Laquisha said coldly.

Kimberly rose from her desk.  “You bitch!  You pudgy, big lip, bell pepper nosed bitch!  I can’t believe you!”

“Get out!”  Laquisha shouted, pointing toward the door.

“You’re god damned right I’m getting out!”  Kimberly told her.  She began gathering her personal belongings.

“Get out now!”  Laquisha shouted.  “Your shit will be mailed to you.  You get the fuck out of this building right now!”

“I’ll leave once I’ve gathered my belongings!”  Kimberly shouted.

“You’ll leave now, before I call security!”  Laquisha said, lifting the telephone. 

Kimberly snatched the receiver out of Laquisha’s hand, and slammed the telephone back down onto its base.  “Don’t make me put you to the test, Laquisha!”

“What?”  Laquisha recoiled.

“I said, don’t make me pull your card, and see how much you’re really from the streets, as you like to claim you are.”

“I’m a professional!”  Laquisha shouted.  “You can just get out of this office, and out of this building.”

Kimberly continued to gather her belongings.  “I’ll leave, once I’ve finished collecting my things.”

Laquisha folded her arms and shifted her weight to one side.

Kimberly pulled a drawer completely out of her desk, and began to pile her belongings inside of it.

“That drawer belongs to the company!”  Laquisha told her.

“I’ll bring it back to the company, as soon as I’ve place my belongings in my car!”  Kim told her.

“What’s going on?”  Pamela asked, rushing into the office.  “I can hear you two shouting all the way down the hall!”

“I quit!”  Kimberly told her.

“No, you’re fired!”  Laquisha shouted.

“No,
bitch
, I
quit!
”  Kimberly said, lifting the drawer with her belongings, and heading for the door.”

Pamela clapped her hands.  “Good for you, girl!”

“Bitch, you can go with her!”  Laquisha shouted.

“You know what, Laquisha?”  Pamela said.  “I think I will.  I quit too, you fat bitch!”

“You can take this job, and stick it up the deepest darkest part of your stinky ass!”  Kim shouted.

Kimberly and Pamela stepped out of the former’s office, and was greeted with applause.  They strutted down the hall to the whistles, clapping, and cheers of their former co-workers.

“What are you going to do?”  Pamela asked Kimberly, once they reached the elevator.

Kimberly shrugged.  “I don’t know.  And you know what, it feels good not knowing, and even better not giving a shit.”

Pamela hi-fived her.

“How about you?”  Kim asked.  “Are you going to be okay?”

Pamela nodded.  “Girl, I got a job at
Essence
on Monday.  I was supposed to put in my two weeks notice here today, but…”

Kimberly hugged her.  “That’s good!  Congratulations!”

“Thank you!”  Pamela told her.  “Are you sure you’re going to be alright?”

Kimberly peered around the hall for a few seconds, and then nodded.  “I’m going to be all right.  In fact, I’m going to be better than I have been in a long time.  Girl, it’s time for me to do me.”

“Right on then, sister!”  Pamela said, opening her arms wide.

Kimberly leaned in, and the two of them embraced.

Chapter Twenty Seven

Sterling seated himself on the park bench as he continued to watch Third play.  He had his laptop with him, but he didn’t feel like opening it up just yet.  His son had his full attention for the moment.

That Third was growing and growing fast was obvious to all.  Growth was a part of life, but he never thought about that growth as it pertained to his child, or to his life in relation to his child’s.  He was getting older, and wiser he had hoped.  It was that thought that made him wonder what kind of father he was, and what kind of lessons would he be able to instill in his son.

Sterling watched Third’s interaction with the other children.  He was proud of what he saw thus far.  His son had taken turns, broke up an argument between two other children, and had all of the children on the jungle gym playing together.  In those few minutes of watching his son he learned that Third was a leader, not a follower.  That he was honest, and just, and fair.  That he could organize, and that he had a bountiful imagination and a kind heart.  Like all fathers, he had hoped and dreamed that his son had taken only the best elements from him.  Because like all fathers, his son also carried his hopes and dreams that he would be a better man than he.  Third could do more, go further, dream bigger.  If he studied hard and got his lesson, he could go to Harvard, and then Harvard Law, and he could be the first Williams to be President of the United States.  The world was open to him in ways that had been closed to Sterling.  He would do all in his power to make sure that the doors opened wide for his son.  He would build an empire, and make sure that his son had the money to make power moves on a global level.

“He’s getting bigger and bigger with each passing day.”

She had startled him.  Sterling quickly turned in the direction from which the voice had came.  It was his ex-wife.

“May I?”  Carmela asked, waving her hand toward the empty seat next to him on the bench.

“Please,”  Sterling said, nodding toward the seat.

Carmela seated herself.  “He’s grown an entire shoe size over the summer.”

Sterling smiled and nodded.  “I know.  I had to buy the new Jordan XX’s remember?”

“Oh, that’s right,”  Carmela smiled.  “I forgot about that.  He’s into clothes and how he looks now.”

“Must have discovered girls.”

“He’s like his father,”  Carmela said smiling.  “That boy discovered the opposite sex a long time ago.  He’s a ham, and a showoff.  He can’t pass a mirror without checking his waves, or a see a little girl without trying to dance.”

Sterling laughed heartily.

“Chile, let me tell you!”  Carmela continued.  “Have you heard his sexy voice?”

“His sexy voice?”

“Yes!  He’ll get on the telephone with these little girls, and start talking all slow, and slick.”

“Third?  Talking to girls on the telephone?”

Carmela nodded.  “You’re getting old, Sterling.  Face it.”

“I’m not getting old,”  Sterling said shaking his head.  “I’m getting better.”

“We’re
both
getting old,”  Carmela told him. 

“Older, but not old.”

Carmela hesitated for a few seconds, and then nodded.  “Okay, I’ll agree with you on that one.  Older, but not old.”

Sterling peered around the park.  “Where did the time go, Carmela?”

“It just went.”

“Yeah, but it seems like only yesterday we were both freshmen at Harvard, walking around the yard looking like a pair of deer in some headlights.”

“No, sweetie, you looked like a deer caught in some headlights,”  she corrected him.  “That’s why I decided to talk to you.  I was totally together, so I decided to have some sympathy for the nerdy looking guy.”

“Nerdy looking?  Woman, I’ve never looked nerdy in my life!”

“Oh, Sterling, come on!  You had a pocket protector!”

“What’s nerdy about that?  I didn’t want my pens to leak into my shirt pocket!  Besides, it was a gift from my Nanna.”

Carmela shook her head laughing.  “What am I going to do with you?”

Sterling shrugged.

“Speaking of Nanna, how is she doing?”

“She’s doing well.  She asks about you all the time.”

“Give her my love.”

“You know, Carmela, you can always go and see them anytime you like.  They love you, and they still consider you family.  In fact, they are your family too, and always will be.”

Carmela shook her head.  “Wouldn’t feel right.”

“With us not being together?”

Carmela nodded slowly.

Sterling leaned back on the bench.  “What the hell happened to us, Mel?  Were we so damned young, so full of fire, and righteousness, and so egotistical, and hard headed that we couldn’t have made it work no matter what?”

Carmela nodded.  “Everything became a test of wills between us.  A daily battle for supremacy.”

Sterling shook his head and peered off into the distance.  “The scars.”

“The reward,”  Carmela said softly, nodding toward Third.

Sterling nodded.  “The reward.”

“He’s so much like you, Sterling, that it’s not funny.”

“I can’t get over him trying to talk to girls on the telephone.”

“Yep.  Next thing you know, it’ll be dances and the movies, and then prom, and then off to college, and then a wedding, and one day we’ll wake up grandparents.”

“Grandparents,”  Sterling said, exhaling.  “I can’t even think that far ahead.”

“You need to, Sterling,”  Carmela said softly.  “You really should start thinking about what comes next in your life.”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard that you had a really nice friend,”  Carmela explained.  “And I also heard that you two broke up, and that you’ve been miserable ever since.”

“Do you know why we broke up?”

“One thing I’ve learned, is that no matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides to every story,”  Carmela told him.  “She had some issues with her previous man, about all his baby mommas and their drama.  And when she found out about Third, she panicked.”

“And you’re not upset that I didn’t tell her about our son?”  Sterling asked.

Carmela shrugged.  “Apparently you had your reasons.”

Sterling nodded.  “I was going to tell her.  I was just waiting for the right opportunity.”

“No one’s judging you, Sterling.  Least of all, me.  I know that you’re a good father, and I know that you’re not ashamed of Third, or of having a son.  I knew that you would have told her, because any woman you’re with, would have to love him as much as you love him, in order for you to truly love her.”

Sterling nodded once again.  “Thank you, Mel.  You really do understand me.”

“You mean,
still
understand you?”  she asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“That’s right.  No one understood me like you did.”

Carmela turned back toward the playground.  “So, what are you going to do about her?”

Sterling shrugged.  “There’s nothing that I can do about her.”

“You can fight for her.”

“Why does that feel so uncomfortable coming from you?”  Sterling asked. 

“I’m not saying that you should have or that you didn’t fight for what we had, Sterling.  Our situation was different.  We were young, and dumb, and both pissing fire.  Neither of us understood what communication meant, or what giving meant, or what it took to sustain a marriage.”

“And now that we’re older?”

“We have a beautiful son to raise together.”

“And that’s it?”

“A friendship, Sterling.  I want a friendship with you.”

“Is that why you’re being so nice to me, today?”

“Because you’re wounded?”  Carmela nodded and smiled.  “I don’t like to see you wounded, Sterling.  Especially if I wasn’t the one who shot the arrow.”

Sterling laughed heartily.  “I can always count on you to keep it real, can’t I?”

Carmela nodded.  “You bet your ass.  That’s kinda all I have left in this world.  My realness.”

“You have a lot more than that.”

She shook her head.  “Stop with the compliments.  I don’t want to end up in the sack with you.”

“Wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

“Yes, it would.  I don’t do rebounds, and I never look back.”  Carmela paused for several moments.  “My question is… do you love her?”

Sterling peered off into the distance for several moments before giving his answer.  “I do.  I really do.”

“Despite your attempt at some sympathy poonanny, I believe that you do.”  Carmela turned toward Sterling, adjusting herself on the hard wooden bench.  “Then go after her, and tell her that you love her.  If you’re hurting, I’ll bet you a dollar to a dime that she’s hurting too.”

“My question is… can it stay like this between us?”  Sterling asked.  “Not just while I’m hurting, and while you’re feeling sorry for me, but all of the time?  I like us like this.  I like you being here for me, and being my friend.  That is one of the things I miss most, Mel; your friendship.”

Carmela nodded.  “I’m your friend, Sterling.  I have no more anger in my heart toward you.  I don’t think that I ever really did.  I knew how ex wives behaved toward their spouses, and so I figured I was supposed to behave that way.  I’m tired of playing the bitter ex spouse.  You take really good care of our son, and I have nothing to complain about.”