AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Top all of that off with a considerable slowdown in her business as everyone wanted to be the perfect family man or woman during the holidays. “Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-bullshit,” she sang.
Still, this year she was taking advantage of the break and was booked to spend the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Dubai. She shifted the sleeve of her silver fox fur coat, diamond bracelets, and watch to stroke her newest tattoo. “No regrets,” she read the words inscribed on her inner wrist beneath a black-and-white butterfly in flight.
Her trip to Vegas and the skydive had created a desire for more in her.
And upon her return from Dubai, she was scheduled to take her GED.
Possibly the biggest leap of all.
She removed the fox coat and slid her hands into the pockets of the pencil skirt of her tailored black suit as she walked over to weave her way among the dress-covered mannequins. Each was posed in a different position, and they were more than a foot taller than her in height because of the black boxes upon which they were placed. It felt almost like being lost in a beautiful bedazzled forest.
Click.
She turned at the sound of the lock.
Patrice, her showroom manager, entered. “I thought I turned off the lights,” she said to herself.
Desdemona remained quiet, cloaked by the dresses.
Patrice was a middle-aged woman with short hair with silver flecks and a tall figure that was thick and shapely. A full-figured goddess with a good sense of style. Desdemona liked the crimson off-the-shoulder sweater she wore with a wide leather belt and wide-legged wool crepe pants.
When she bent to plug in the Christmas tree, Desdemona stepped forward. “Good job on the display models,” she said.
Patrice jumped back, startled, and clutched at her chest with her eyes wide.
“Are you going to join Elizabeth?” she asked, referencing reruns of the 1970s sitcomSanford and Sonwhere Fred would fake a heart attack and say, “Elizabeth, I’m coming to join you, honey!”
Patrice chuckled. “You scared me, Ms. Smith,” she said, placing her hands on her hips.
“A holdover from Halloween,” she said dryly. “Boo!”
Patrice released a nervous laugh that was more of a high-pitched shrill that increased in pitch as her mouth became wider, for a pretty horrific looking facial expression.
“Ooooo-kay,” Desdemona said, rubbing her hands together as she walked past her employee, giving her a chance to regain her composure. “So, I actually came to—”
Cha-ching. Cha-ching. Cha-ching.
She eyed her black alligator Hermès bag. “Excuse me a sec, Patrice,” she said, walking over to where she had set it in one of the club chairs in the center of the showroom.
“Number one,” she mouthed, surprised by his call.
Desdemona gave Patrice a quick eye as she moved to the door and stepped into the hall.
Cha-ching. Cha-ching. Cha—
“Hello, Champ,” she said, holding the iPhone with one hand and pressing the other to her back as she paced a bit.
He chuckled. “Maybe this season,” he said.
“So, what’s up?” she asked, stopping her pacing to lean back against the wall and cross one arm over her chest.
“I need my family to stop pressing me to get married.”
She arched a brow. “To anyone?” she asked. “Or do they have bait?”
“High school sweetheart patiently waiting for my return,” he said.
“For love or money?”
