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“Your hands are trembling,” he said. “More problems at home?”
Adrienne sighed. “Something like that. How did you guess?”
“I’ve done enough time in bad relationships to know the signs.”
Adrienne steered the conversation away from herself. “Do you have a girlfriend now?”
“No. I went through a bad breakup a few months ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
Lloyd crossed one leg over the other. “So am I. Patricia is a lawyer. We would have made a great team.”
Adrienne wanted to know if they had been planning to live together or get married, but she decided not to pry. Instead, she asked him another question that was on her mind. “What should I call you?”
Lloyd chuckled, put a finger to his lips in a motion for silence, and got up. He walked tall
and erect, like Peter, her Hunter College love. Funny, she hadn’t thought of Peter in years. He had been a studious and attentive suitor who was unable to understand her decision to leave school and join Starship. They had argued until there was nothing left to say, then drifted apart.
Lloyd closed the door and sat back down before answering. “At times like this, you can call me LaMar if you want, but in public it’s Lloyd.”
Adrienne waved a hand. “Forget it. Too complicated. I’ll stick to Lloyd.”
He accepted that with a slight nod of his head.
“I’m really proud of you, Lloyd,” she said gently.
“Thanks. Sometimes I can’t believe that I actually made it.”
He was a handsome man. The horrible acne that had earned him the nickname “Pimple Jenkins” in high school was gone. The thick, black-rimmed glasses were gone, too. Adrienne figured he must be wearing contact lenses, because nothing could have fixed LaMar’s terrible vision.
“I owe a lot of my success to you and your family.”
“Why do you say that?” Adrienne asked in amazement.
He explained that she had been his only friend back in the old days, when he was lonely, penniless, and scared. “At your house, there was warmth and affection. You guys showed me what real family life was all about. Patricia and I were going to raise our kids in an atmosphere just like that.”
So Lloyd had intended to marry his ex-girlfriend.
They were quiet for a few moments, and then Lloyd broke the silence. “What did you expect married life to be like?”
Adrienne laughed. “That’s the easiest question you’ve ever asked me. I expected that Mel and I would have a loving, happy union, just like my parents have.”
“Patricia’s folks are still together. Maybe she would have known how to make it work,” Lloyd said.
“What is it you wanted to talk to me about?” Adrienne said, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
“I want to talk to you about a job, but first let me tell you something about your boss,” Lloyd chuckled. “I’ve had women come on to me before, but that Regina Belvedere gives new meaning to the word shameless. She made an appointment to see me one day, and while I wondered what it was about, I didn’t want to be rude and refuse her. So she comes in and sits down across from me with her skirt hiked up so high, I could see her panties. I didn’t say anything, but the possibility of a false sexual harassment charge did cross my mind. Well, Regina sat there talking about ways that she could be a valuable member of the PWE Multicultural team, and all the time, she’s licking her lips and playing with her hair. When I’d heard enough, I called in Sally Gomez. I told Regina that I wanted Sally to take notes so that I could consider her request for a transfer later on. She fell for it, but I had no intention of hiring a woman like that. The only reason I called Sally in was to have a witness in case Regina someday says that I came on to her or something. Anyway, about three weeks passed, and I ran into her on the street. She starts batting her eyelids and stuff like that. I told her that I had considered her proposal but that my team was already chosen and there was no more room for additional staffers. I was polite, but she got the message. Now I hear that she wants to start her own company and take the Puerto Rican girl who sits with you along with her.”
“What Puerto Rican girl?”
“Sherry.”
“Sherry Ingles isn’t Puerto Rican, and she wouldn’t like it one bit if she heard herself described that way. Her ex-husband was Hispanic, and that’s how she got the name. Sherry is actually Jewish.”
He laughed. “Sounds like she kind of looks down on Latinos. No wonder the marriage didn’t last.”
“That’s what I think, too.”
