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Ari threw it back in my face and I laughed at myself. Of course he was good looking, but he was my boss. I didn’t know anything about his love life and it was none of my business. He ordered some food for take out and left, freeing me to breathe normally once again.
I looked over at my friend and saw her watching me carefully. I cleared my throat, stabbing a hunk of chicken and fitting it into my mouth. She couldn’t know what Nate and I had been through. That he rescued me from poverty and set me up in an apartment, that he was responsible for the clothes I wore and the money in my bank account. It was all legitimate of course. I wasn’t some kind of kept woman. But without Nate, Mariah never would have come into my life. And without Mariah, I would still be sleeping on the streets.
“What ever happened to Marcus?” Ari asked innocently.
I choked on the meat. Just hearing his name set me off.
“That good?” my friend observed as I reached for my water.
Washing the bite down, I composed myself. “We broke up.”
“Can I ask why?”
“He was cheating on me,” I responded. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“Fair.” Ari put a hand up to indicate her capitulation.
We finished our meal talking about other classmates. Ari filled me in on a few of the other girls we ran with. I was delighted to learn how they were doing, and that some of them were already happily married.
“We should do this again sometime,” I said as we gathered our things to leave.
“Definitely,” Ari agreed. “Don’t be such a stranger.”
“I won’t,” I promised.
We hugged before getting into our respective cars. I drove back to my apartment, feeling better than I had in a long time. Life was looking up. The dinner hadn’t really cost me that much, so I had plenty more in the budget for other things. I decided to put a thousand dollars away for a living upgrade, but that still left more than a thousand dollars to play with. If I did the same, I would easily be able to afford something on my own in a few months.
I had half a tub of ice cream left over from my party the night before. It was just waiting for me in the freezer. Grabbing a spoon, I sat down to watch an old romantic comedy. The woman was young and beautiful and the man was rich and successful. It almost seemed familiar, as if the story was about me and not some Hollywood starlet. I pushed that thought aside, laughing at my own assumptions.
I spent the rest of the weekend by myself, catching up on all the wonderful things that I hadn’t been able to do for so long. I took a bath. The tub wasn’t very big, but it was big enough. I found a recipe that I wanted to try, and cooked chicken with vegetables in my own kitchen. I put on some music and danced around my living room. I downloaded a book from the library and sat on the couch for a few hours, losing myself to the characters.
When Monday came around, I was ready to go back to work. Brockman Clothing felt like the anchor in my life. Going to work every day was almost like coming home. I had plenty on my plate, but all of it was doable. I was good at my job, and proud of it.
I dressed in the blue pantsuit. It might have been free, but it was cutting edge. I felt like a new woman. I couldn’t remember the last time I wore something that I hadn’t found at a thrift store. Even in college, I didn’t let myself splurge on clothing. A few pairs of jeans and a few T-shirts were enough to get me through four years of undergraduate studies. When I was dating Marcus, he was the one who picked my outfits.
Wearing Mariah’s fashions, I felt like I was owning my own body. She had a sixth sense for my style and figure, and all the choices were flattering. I fit into the office decorum much more efficiently in expensive threads. Riding up in the elevator, I got a bunch of compliments, starting my day off on the right foot.
Nate wasn’t in the office when I arrived, which was strange. There was no free breakfast, but that was okay. I wasn’t hungry anymore. I packed my own lunch to save a few bucks, but it was full of fun things like fruit and raisins and I was looking forward to digging in later.
I settled into my chair and turned on my computer. There were a bunch of emails to answer. It was obvious that many of the senior staff members were working over the weekend. The time and date stamps let me know that some of them were up at three in the morning, shooting off mass communications that could have waited until the morning. No matter. I responded to everything that required my attention and then began to work on Nate’s calendar for the week.
He came in around ten and I stood up to greet him. I wasn’t sure whether to offer my hand for a shake or to just smile and nod. Either way, it didn’t seem respectful to just ignore him and continue with what I was doing.
“Good morning,” I said.
“Good morning,” he replied.
“Would you like to go over your schedule?”
“Yes.” He opened his door, walking inside without another word.
I grabbed my pen and paper and followed him. “How was your weekend?”
“Fine. Yours?”
“Good,” I replied. I didn’t want to seem overly excited, but he knew all about my situation. “I spent money like it was going out of style.”
“I find that hard to believe.” He set his briefcase down beside the desk and opened the curtains.
