Falling For Us

Chapter 4

Tuesday morning at work, I still soared from my retail-therapy high the night before. Not only did Vanessa make shopping fun, she had a real knack for knowing what styles I liked, and what flattered me. She pushed my limits a few times, but I agreed to 'try' something I wouldn't normally choose.  And each and every time, she was right.

At first, I feared she might only select things she liked and wore. Don't get me wrong, I loved how Vanessa dressed, but no way I'd ever be able to pull off all that class. Her style suited her. But on me, her clothes would seem fake and uncomfortable.

In the end, she found the perfect little white dress for me. White scared me, and I informed her of that. All she replied was, "Try it, honey. Let the light in." Holy cow, was she right! The material fit me like a glove. It was a mid-length cocktail style with a flirty flare on the hem. The waist was high; tight under the 'girls' for extra support. At the straight neckline, my cleavage fought for attention. But the pièce de résistance was the open back. It said chic yet naughty all at the same time. I was over-freakin' joyed at not needing a bra underneath.

After buying the dress, I thought we were done, but boy was I wrong. Vanessa escorted me to a few jeans stores where I bought jeans (obviously) and some cute tops. After that, we searched around for some new work outfits. My current clothes were perfectly fine, but I was in the mood and Vanessa was a great personal shopper, not to mention part pack-mule. She happily carried all the things I amassed so I had my hands free to explore.

Roza knocked on my apartment door as soon as we collapsed the couch. After hours of rummaging and traipsing, we just dropped everything on the floor. "Come in, Roza, I can't move!" In she waddled, zeroing in on the bags like prey. "Ahh, I see you were successful. Good job. Tomorrow I will do your special hair and makeup." She turned and shuffled out.


Dammit. Vanessa slapped her hand over her mouth and giggled. Shit.

This morning I was tired, but also super excited to wear some of my new work clothes. I chose a sleek black dress that Vanessa said could go from "Boardroom to bedroom", whatever that means. She'd chosen a creamy, light yellow blazer to match. The buttons on the jacket closed right under my chest, but the hem flared wide, so you still saw plenty of the skirt.

I beat Wanda to work and stood at the copier by Murray's door when she walked in and blew a high, exaggerated whistle at me. "Look at you, gorgeous. Love the new duds. Where'd ya get 'em?" She inquired as I removed the paper from the machine and sat down.

"Vanessa was in charge of retail therapy last night. Well actually, Roza forced her to after dissing my entire wardrobe," I said, arms crossed over my chest, adding a pouty face for effect.

She surveyed me, assessing the situation, "There's a story there and I need to hear it, but I've got an early meeting with Davenport, so it'll have to wait. Now can you please, please, please help me find the Davenport files? I didn't bring them home with me last night..."

I nodded and sauntered to the filing cabinet and looked under 'D'. "Voila."

"What would I do without you?" She gave me a hug and ran off.

The rest of the morning zoomed by, in fact, I had barely finished up the day's contracts for Dean when Wanda arrived back. Being a sales rep meant that she often had to travel. Her contacts occasionally met with Dean, but mostly just in the initial "honeymoon" phase; like before Wanda signed them. Touring buildings and the warehouse gave prospective customers a better understanding about how Brentford Organics ran. Face-to-face interaction instilled confidence in them, which was a sure-fire way to sell our products. On the other hand, she also brought in farmers wishing to supply us with their organic produce, dairy and meats. Dean liked keeping a pulse on his producers, whom he had a high level of respect for and always wanted to keep happy. Consequently, he too, often left the office, visiting farms or dealing with anything from transport issues to fussy restaurant owners. Every day was different; that was what I enjoyed most about working here. It was never boring.

Two brown bags with grease spots bleeding through them, thudded on my desk. Immediately, I knew what they contained. "Bacon burgers!" I pumped my hands in the air; I'd easily recognized those grease stains.

"Good guess. Hope you didn't bring lunch today, I'm starved out of my mind and these beauties called to me from the road," she said, bending down to catch another whiff.

It was a well-known fact you could detect Bacon Burger far away from the establishment itself. Dad said the owners must blow out the bacon aroma with some kind of fan-combustion system. I didn't know, and I didn't care. One thing I was certain of: if you lived in Bakersfield, you'd give anything for one their famous burgers.

"No, I took too much time preening this morning to pack anything," I ran my hands through my curly hair. "I was so excited about my new clothes, food seemed irrelevant," I mused and dug into the greasy bag, careful to keep it and the contents as far away from my outfit as humanly possible. A surprised squeal came out when I pulled out the first of my spoils. "Onion rings!" I exclaimed as yanked one out and bit into the crispy brown ring of delight. "OOh my gosh, so good!" But it sounded more like, "Ohffmagobsobgoob!"

Wanda held her burger over my desk and leaned in for the kill. As often happened, onions mixed with the heavenly secret sauce escaped the buns and dropped on the dark, wood stained desk.

"Ooops, sorry." Which sounded more like, "Ooopssawwraa," with her mouth full. She wiped up the escapees and continued on her quest.

"So, you were telling me about your shopping trip, fancy lady," her eyebrows waggled up and down, attempting to be seductive but failing big time.

I tried to hide my smirk; the secret sauce was clinging to both sides of her mouth and I motioned with my finger on my mouth, "Here and here."

"Oh crap, thanks." While she dug for another napkin, I shared the finer details of my excursion with her.

"So, basically, in a nutshell," she sat back and observed, "Roza thinks it's time for you to get a little somethin' somethin'. Let me amend that, a 'big handed'somethin' somethin'." More eyebrow lifting ensued with rather obscene hand gestures. I couldn't hide my giggle this time.

"Don't be so crude!" I chucked an onion ring at her. "She thinks I need to get back in the game. So does Vanessa."

Wanda placed her burger on my desk. More onions slid out, but I pretended not to notice. She sat back again and sighed loudly, tapping her hands on the arms of the cushy black leather chair. "She's right you know." Her eyes found mine and wouldn't let them go. "They... are right. It's long past time you got your booty back out there." She nodded her head like she was imparting some extremely important info.

I grabbed my pink water bottle and took a swig. "Yuck," I scowled at the lukewarm water before slamming it on my desk. "I need a soda to wash this down with. How about you?" I rolled my chair out. Dean kept an assortment of beverages on hand in an apartment sized fridge in the back for staff and clients because he's awesome. I walked back out and handed her a cola.

"Ahhh, carbonation is the only thing that cuts through the grease," I said after popping the top and taking my first fizzy mouthful.

Wanda raised an eyebrow, "You're avoiding my response, and I know why. It's because of what that bone-head did to you. I get that, I do." She chewed on her bottom lip, "Been there, got the t-shirt." She stared off into space, frowning like she remembered something unpleasant. Eyes shut, she took another deep breath and crossed her arms.

Wanda's makeup was all kinds of fabulous. She had gorgeous fake eyelashes (not the kind that resembled spiders taking up residence) that accentuated her green, kohl-lined eyes. But the way she shaded her eyeshadow was pure perfection. Girlfriend went the whole 9 yards. The works. And it looked amazing, every single day.

Eyes still closed, she continued, "What I'm trying to say is that we all make shitty choices sometimes. We don't necessarily marry," she snapped her eyes open, "Our shitty choices, but you've learned, Harper. The hard way for sure, but you learned." Her head tilted to the side, questioning me with her statement.

"Yeah, learned how to continually pick cheating assholes. Kenneth wasn't the first you know. Before him was Randy. Granted I was young, well we were teenagers, but it still killed." My stomach twisted in loyal remembrance.

Appetite destroyed, I set my half-eaten burger down. That was a crying shame. Nothing should come between a girl and a delicious burger; especially a man.

I spoke directly to my neglected lunch, like it somehow understood, "Let's face it, men suck."

"Here's what we're gonna do. Tonight, I have a supper meeting at Vine. Why don't I meet you and Vanessa at The Venue right after? We'll all... hang out. No pressure. Just a few hot babes, having a good time, enjoying the night life."

"Night life? Who's enjoying night life?" I startled and turned around to see Audrey, Murray's wife, with the twins in tow. "I can't even remember what the heck night life is anymore. I'm in bed by 9pm. Well, I wish I could be in bed by 7pm, but these monsters won't go to sleep."

"Hi Auntie Harper!" The boys said in unison as they raced and fought each other for who hugged me first. They settled in a jumbled, yet effective version of tangled arms, legs and heads.

"Hi guys," I said, laughing at their sweet, sincere faces. "I missed you both so much!"

"Yeah, we know. That's why we colored pictures for you!" Nick stepped back and held out a picture of something that resembled a page from of a Rorschach test.

"That is beautiful, my picki Nicki! I love it, thanks baby," I said as he shoved his paper into my hand.

"No, me first, Auntie Harper!" Levi bulldozed past Nick and slapped his creation on my chest, trying to out-do his brother as usual.

The twins were a handful. Correction. They were like 20 handfuls thrown at your face all at once. The love I had for them was huge, but man were they challenging. How Audrey was still standing remained a mystery. That woman spent every hour of every day with those monkeys.



The one saving grace was that they weren't identical. Thank the Lord for that. At least you always knew who you were dealing with. Short dark hair adorned both of their sweet heads, but Nicki was a few inches taller than Levi. This was a constant worry of Audrey's; that Levi lagged behind. This also drove Murray nuts. He was of the opinion that all was well, and he was proud to introduce Nicki as his basketball player. This in turn drove Audrey nuts because she would say, "They can both be whatever the heck they want to be, and it's not Levi's fault you passed on your short-ass genes!"

And so it went.

"Ok, you two, run into daddy's office and see if he has any candy. Leave no stone left unturned." She coached the boys, then herded them into Murray's office.

"Yay!" Was all we heard. They knew as well as we did that Murray was a sugar-a-holic, so undoubtedly there would be hordes of sweets in there.

For a second, I considered offering them my fries, but we all knew sugar trumped potatoes.

The bag crinkled as Audrey stole a fry. "Bacon Burger's fries are the best. Hmm, heaven on earth I tell you." She savored the french fry like it deserved to be. "Now what's this about someone enjoying nightlife?" Audrey eyed us suspiciously as only a mother can. "Are y'all going out on the town without me?" Her eyes narrowed to slits. "I do nothing all day," she put her hand on her heart. "Except watch bad cartoons and step on Legos." Once again, her strong, golden-brown arm reached in front of me to take another helpless fry. While she chewed the heaven on earth, I pulled the remaining fries out and passed them to her. "Bless you, my girl!" She ripped the greasy package out of my hand; thankfully leaving it (my hand) attached to my arm. You couldn't blame the woman; the fries were that good.

Wanda spoke up, "We're going out tonight." Next, she whispered with her hand cupped over the side of her mouth, "First time since the big D for Harper."

Nodding, Audrey talked through the food in her mouth, "Ahh, gotcha. Girlfriend needs to get an itch scratched." She tapped her index finger on her lips. "I'll wear my hot red number. Murray will have a fit!" Laughter erupted from her mouth while she likely imagined her husband having said fit. Audrey's hilarity was contagious, and soon we were all giggling when Murray walked through the front doors.

"I'm afraid I don't want the answer, but I'll ask anyway. What's so funny?" He frowned, and waited for the bomb to drop.

As she wiped under her eyes, Audrey simmered and said, "It's girls' night out."

Terror and confusion washed over Murray's face. "But who's going to watch the boys?" My guess? He instantly regretted saying it. If it failed to be obvious before who the boys' main evening caretaker was, it certainly was now. Realization dawned on him too late that he'd screwed the pooch. His previous expression of terror changed to an 'oh shit' look.

Poor Murray.

Audrey's hands moved to her hips so fast that the rest of the fries spilled out on the floor. "Murray Edwin Jones, you did not just say that! Those little rats are yours just as much as mine!" Her nostrils flared, "You can watch them for a few hours by yourself. Honestly, I have them all day long, every day!" she said, exasperated.

"They're in school for half the day now, Audrey," he said, in a know-it-all tone. And that confirmed it to me; Murray was born without a filter. Or a brain.

"Are you insane?" she shrieked. "Half the day? Half the day? I don't think so! By the time I get them ready, which takes ninety God-awful-minutes," she pointed to her watch. "Walk them to school and come home, it's time to go pick them up again!"

Yes, time flew when you were having fun.

Murray's jaw opened and closed; a tiny bead of sweat visible, high on his forehead. There was no way to dig himself out of this one.

"That's it!" Audrey pitched both fists up in unison and I was extremely glad there were no more fries left in the bag. "I was only going to go out for a couple of hours. But now?" Her eyes widened, "No way." She shook her head and her straightened hair moved reluctantly from side to side. "Who knows what time I'll come back now?"

A phone was hurled in my direction and luckily I caught it. "Program in your number. I'll text you and we can arrange girls' night details." With nimble fingers, I did as ordered. Wanda looked at me, wide-eyed, with a 'don't say anything' look.

"Boys!" she yelled, and my eardrums burst. "Say 'bye' to daddy. The mall is waiting and Mommy needs a new pair of shoes." Satisfied, chocolate smeared smiles emerged from Murray's office.

"Awww, do we have to? I hate the mall," Levi stated and stomped his foot. Nick nodded his agreement in a rare show of solidarity.

"Can we stay here with daddy? Please, please, please?" Nick asked, the expression of hope so sincere in both of their eyes.

"Say goodbye to your father, we need to go." Audrey walked over to Murray but the twins beat her, hugging their dad just long enough to wipe their sticky mouths and fingers all over him.

"Murray, the VISA," she requested, holding one hand out, while the other sat defiantly on her hip. He inhaled loudly and grabbed the wallet out of his pocket, but didn't say a word. Perhaps he was finally learning?