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Meet me in the bathroom. —Augusta.
“Excuse me. Where is the restroom?” I asked Mr. Greensboro before he could show us to the conference area.
“It’s at the end of the hall. I can have Mary show—”
“I can manage, thank you,” I said quickly. I didn’t need a chaperone.
“We’ll be in the conference room,” my mother said to me.
Nodding, I walked down the hardwood floors, and I couldn’t help but notice how stressed a lot of the employees were, hunched over their desks typing, reading, calling, or doing all of the above. They looked miserable, and I respected that. I didn’t know what it must have been like to work at a job that you hated...then again, maybe they loved it. But I could never do it. I was too exhausted to try to mediate fights between my mother and everyone else to ever consider doing that for anyone else.
Entering the bathroom, I walked into one of the stalls before texting back.
I’m in here. Hurry.
Leaning back against the walls, I wished I was anywhere but here...actually, not anywhere. I wished I were at my studio. There was this melody stuck in my head, and I just wanted to play.
“I heard they almost got into a fight in the lobby,” a female voice said, entering the bathroom.
Oh, this was going to be great. Let’s hear what the gossip nymphs are saying today.
“I heard that during the divorce, there was a fight,” another one said.
False, there was no fight. My mom threw papers, but there wasn’t an actual fight.
“What?” the first woman gasped. “What’s the story behind these two?”
Here we go.
“You don’t know?”
“No!”
Why do you sound so shocked? I’m sure you’re dying to gossip and tell her everything. I made a face at the door. Part of me wanted to go out there.
“Oh, right. You’re from the east coast. But you still know about Marvin Wyntor.”
Who doesn’t know of my father?
“Of course, the black Internet entrepreneur who created Etheus, the only real rival to Google?”
Etheus is better... I’m biased, but still.
“Exactly. Marvin Wyntor was a giant of the Silicon Valley. And Etheus always made sure to have the most diverse teams. They said he wanted the best minds from around the world. People loved him, especially black people. But then he married Yvonne Ford. He got a lot of flak for marrying a white woman, especially during those times. I think it eventually got to him. He cheated on her with Wilhelmina Smith.”
Again false. They didn’t cheat. My dad and Yvonne were already separated by then.
“She was a beauty queen, right?”
“One of the first women of African-American descent to receive both the Miss America and Miss USA titles.”
She was the first, actually. They are two separate pageants.
“Wow, she is still gorgeous. She’s a model too, right?”
I’m sure she will be thrilled to know you think she’s pretty after gossiping about her.
“Right, but not pretty enough apparently. Marvin left her to go back to Yvonne.”
