CHAPTER FOURTEEN
After leaving the paint company, Jocelyn hurried over to Reese’s house. Once inside, she was stunned to see Reese had redecorated her living room with all new furniture. Her flowery comfortable stuffed sofa and chairs and heavy wooden kid proof tables, were replaced with new sleek modern furniture.
A red couch with chrome arm-rests and coordinating accent chairs surrounded a rug, decorated with red and tan geometric shapes. The glass topped coffee table placed in front of the couch, coordinated perfectly with the rest of the furniture.
Jocelyn was about to ask Reese about all of the new furniture when Reese’s cell phone rang. Reese held up her hand and said, “Let me get this. It’s probably Tiffany again.”
Jocelyn sat down on the new couch and waited as Reese talked to Tiffany. Reese said, “Yeah, Jocelyn is here. I know it was a good thing nobody got hurt. I’m sure Mr. Holliday has insurance. No, I wouldn’t ask you to clean up the smoke damage. Are you sure? - Um, Tiffany let me get off the phone so I can talk to Jocelyn. I’ll call you later. Okay, bye.”
Reese sat down in one of the new, uncomfortable looking; red accent chairs and said, “That was Tiffany’s second call to tell me about the fire. She said no one was hurt but there was some smoke damage done to the file room. Now she says she’s scared and thinking about quitting. She says it’s getting too dangerous to work there. She claims she nearly had a heart attack when she saw the smoke billowing out of the file room.”
Jocelyn replied, “I can’t really blame her. I’m still a little shaken up myself. There have been two really scary incidents at the company since I started there two months ago.”
Reese complained, “I really don’t want to have to look for another cleaning person. Tiffany is friendly and follows directions. She’s a terrible gossip, but she does get the work done.”
Jocelyn said, “Maybe you should give her a raise. That might convince her to stay on.”
“I can’t afford it at this time. I can barely cover all of my bills.”
“Well if you can’t give her a raise, why don’t you offer her a couple of weeks off to get her nerves back together? When will you be released to go back to work?”
“Probably Monday. My leg is so much better. If Tiffany accepts the time off, can you stay on for a couple more weeks?”
Jocelyn took a moment to think about it and said, “Sure I can cover for her.” After she said it she berated herself for volunteering again.
When she got up to leave Reese’s home she asked her, “Why did you replace your living room furniture? Did Jackass do something else?”
Reese pursed her lips and frowned as though she had tasted something sour. She finally replied,” He called me earlier this week and told me that he’ll be out of town for a few days. He’s taking his girlfriend to Jamaica for a vacation, can you believe it?” Nearly exasperated, Reese added, “He hasn’t paid me a cent toward child support, but he can take that whore to Jamaica.”
Jocelyn looked helplessly at her sister. “Focus Reese, forget Jackass, you can’t keep buying stuff. You’ll go broke. Can you afford all of this new furniture?”
“Don’t worry; I didn’t buy it. I needed to do something to cheer myself up. This is all rental furniture. It’s from one of those rental places. I’m trying to get their cleaning contract. They had a special this month and the owner asked me to try the furniture to see if I liked it. I really don’t. It’s not really my style. It doesn’t fit in the room. But I’ll live with it for a month. Then it goes back. Reese added, “I’m so mad I could hurt that bas...”
Before she could finish her sentence, her son entered the room to watch the cartoon channel on the television Jocelyn had purchased from the pawn shop.
When he sat on the sofa, he asked his mom innocently, “Are you angry at bass? We learned about fish in school and they usually don’t make people mad. I like to watch the fishermen catch bass on our new television,” he said, bouncing up and down on the new rental couch.
Jocelyn loved her nephew’s innocence. He had no idea what his dad was putting her sister through. Reese had protected her children from the knowledge that Clarence was refusing to take care of them financially.
When the sisters didn’t say anything else, he looked up at them and frowned. He guessed it was just another moment when his aunt and his mom were just being silly adults again. He turned his attention back to the cartoons.
Jocelyn whispered, “We’ll talk about it later,” and added in a normal tone she said, “I have to go. Ramon is coming over later. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Later when Jocelyn heard her doorbell ring, she rushed to the door. To her surprise, instead of seeing Ramon, when she opened it, there stood Lilly. Jocelyn was shocked to see the administrative assistant at her door.
Lilly, seeing Jocelyn’s surprise smirked, “Aren’t you going to invite me in or do you leave all of your guests in the hall when they visit you?”
Still speechless, Jocelyn stepped aside to allow Lilly into her apartment. When Lilly entered the condo, she scanned the nicely decorated room before taking a seat on Jocelyn’s couch. Jocelyn couldn’t fathom as to why Lilly was visiting her at her apartment.
Lilly said, “I’m surprised. Jocelyn, you live in a nice neighborhood and you have a very nice condo. I didn’t expect you to have such a nice place. Are you house-sitting for someone?”
Jocelyn didn’t bother to respond to Lilly’s questions. Instead she asked, “Why are you here? If you had a question, you could have called me.”
“I just wanted to make sure that you were all right. You were very upset when you were outside. I saw you looking around when you realized that Ramon and Roger were still in the building after everyone else had evacuated.”
Jocelyn couldn’t believe that Lilly was sitting on her couch expressing concern for her. Something was wrong. Lilly definitely didn’t care about her feelings.
Lilly asked her if she had seen anything suspicious before the fire started. Aha! Now Jocelyn realized the reason for the unexpected visit; she was being pumped for information. She was not Tiffany, who knew everything about everybody.
She wondered why everyone thought that she was a source of company knowledge. She was the temporary cleaning lady for god-sake, not the owner.
She told Lilly, “I didn’t see anything suspicious. When Tiffany and I heard the alarm, we just got out of the building as quickly as we could. Did you ask Tiffany if she saw anything?”
Lilly replied, “I tried calling her but I couldn’t get an answer. When I stopped by her house, her neighbor said she had seen her drive off with her kids and carrying a couple of suitcases.”
Jocelyn thought to herself, Lilly was certainly going through a lot of trouble to ask if she and Tiffany had seen anything suspicious. She wondered if Lilly’s visit had anything to do with Tiffany seeing her near the dumpster.
Jocelyn decided to be cautious and just tell Lilly her sister had given Tiffany some time off.
“Oh well then,” said Lilly, frowning because she wasn’t getting the information she wanted. She asked Jocelyn with a curious look on her face, “Why did your sister give Tiffany time off? Who is going to clean?”
Jocelyn told Lilly, “Reese is coming back to work on Monday. She asked me to stay on a couple of extra weeks while Tiffany takes a break. Reese wanted to reward her for staying on and working with me while she was out recuperating.”
Lilly replied, “Oh!” miffed because she’d still have to put up with Jocelyn’s presence.
Jocelyn stood up and walked toward the door to indicate that the conversation was over; Lilly got the message and walked toward the door. She bid Jocelyn goodbye, and looked around the living-room one last time suspiciously as if she was looking for something Jocelyn might have stolen from the company. Jocelyn was glad to see her leave.
Jocelyn started to prepare dinner for Ramon. She decided that she would mention Lilly’s unexpected visit to Ramon as soon as they finished d
inner. There was reason no to ruin her appetites talking about Lilly before she had to.
Ramon arrived about 8 p.m. He wearily sank onto Jocelyn’s couch, removed his shoes and began to massage his feet. She asked him if he was hungry. She said, “I fixed dinner. Do you want a beer?” He said, “No thanks. How about we just sit here and relax for a little while.”
Jocelyn suggested putting on a movie. Ramon nodded his head in agreement. “What kind of movie would you like? Mystery, comedy, drama or your favorite. . . a western?”
Ramon replied with a tired smile, “How about a love story.” Then he reached out his hand to Jocelyn and pulled her down onto the couch beside him. Jocelyn smiled as he leaned in to kiss her softly. She put her hands around his neck and returned his kiss. They sat on the couch several minutes kissing.
Ramon started to caress Jocelyn. Then his hands moved to her breasts. She was getting more and more aroused. Ramon was already breathing heavily and Jocelyn was sure that if she didn’t stop him soon, they would wind up in her bed pleasing each other until they were both nearly out of their minds. Then feeling too sleepy, she wouldn’t get around to discussing Lilly’s surprise visit.
Jocelyn reluctantly stopped Ramon’ wandering hands before she got too carried away by his kisses and caresses. She grabbed both of his hands under her blouse and held them still. She thickly said, “We need to talk.”
Ramon looked at Jocelyn with such blatant disappointment; she almost relented. Jocelyn also felt disappointed to halt the intense feelings he was creating in her body, but this discussion was important. She couldn't put it off any longer. She began by asking him if he was sure the fire in the files room had been an accident.
Even though he too suspected someone was sabotaging his company, Ramon didn’t want Jocelyn to be worried. He replied, “Don’t worry. It had to be an accident. Something probably sparked the fire. Maybe there was an electrical shortage somewhere in the wall near some of the papers.”
Jocelyn asked, “So, you don’t believe someone set the fire on purpose? Maybe you should hire someone to do some investigating.”
“Let’s talk about it later. I want to do some investigating under your clothes. Could we get back to where we were? I need to touch you baby. Come here.”
Jocelyn gave up. She nestled once again in his arms and reached up to kiss him.
Ramon fell asleep shortly after they made love. While Ramon slept, Jocelyn remained awake wondering what to do about her concerns about Lilly and Roger.
When Ramon woke up the next morning, he gazed at Jocelyn while she slept. He loved her and decided it was time to ask her to be his wife. He was happy when he was with her. She made him laugh and kept him entertained with her zany clothes and her intelligence. He also admired her deep loyalty and devotion to her family.
He got out of bed and walked to the shower. Jocelyn woke up just in time to watch Ramon’s handsome nude sleek body walk to the shower. He made her hot just looking at him. Last night’s memory of their lovemaking brought a smile to her face.
When Ramon returned from the shower, Jocelyn was out of the bed and dressed in her robe. She asked “Would you like some breakfast?”
Ramon replied, “Could I just get a cup of coffee?”
Jocelyn padded into the kitchen to make some fresh coffee and some toast in her robe and bedroom slippers. While Ramon got dressed, Jocelyn made the coffee. When he came out of the kitchen, he sat down at the kitchen table. He reached for her hand. He brought it to his lips and kissed each of her fingers. When he released her hand, Jocelyn sighed. The man could turn her on with just a look or a touch.
She said to Ramon as she handed him a cup of coffee, “I’m worried about all of the strange things happening at the company. I think you should hire a private investigator to check out all the weird things happening.”
Ramon shook his head and replied, “I’ve talked to the police and while they’ve agreed to patrol a little more frequently, they don’t think anything illegal is happening. There hasn’t been any real or lasting damage done. ”They promised to keep a close eye on the building.”
Jocelyn said, “The police will keep watch over the outside of the building, but what about the inside?”
“Let me worry about it. Babe, I have to go. We’ll talk later.”
Jocelyn sighed in resignation as Ramon walked over to kiss her goodbye.
After kissing her, just before he walked out the door, he said, “We need to go shopping together soon.”
Jocelyn couldn’t figure out why they needed to go shopping. She didn’t really need anything, and Ramon had never suggested they go shopping together before. She guessed he was probably going to buy something for his apartment and wanted her decorating advice, although he kept making comments about her work clothes.
His request slipped to the back of her mind as she prepared for her day. She walked into her closet and chose a pair of white leggings. Next she looked for a shirt; she found a white one. Because the day started off blustery and cool, she added a large brown vest to keep warm. She also put on a pair of flat ballet shoes. By the time she got in her car, she was warm and toasty.
When she entered the Holliday building, no one was at the reception desk. Her luck was holding out- no Lilly. She walked to the utility closet to get the broom and feather duster. Before she turned around she heard her sister say, “Hey sis, are you just getting here?”
When Jocelyn turned around Reese stared at her. “What’s wrong?” asked Jocelyn.
Reese asked her, “When you get dressed in the morning, do you ever look in the mirror first?”
Jocelyn said, “Not on workdays. On most work days I just throw on whatever I can find.”
Reese replied, “You do know that you look just like Princess Leia from the original Star Wars movie. All you need is a laser gun.”
Jocelyn didn’t see anything wrong with her outfit. The clothes were functional. Her white men’s shirt was so big it reached past her hips. She’d paired it with a second hand pair of white leggings. Because she had rushed to work, she’d brushed her hair out and twisted it in to two sections with a bun on each side of her head. She had pulled a rubber band over each twist and tucked the ends under with bobby pins. Her hair resembled Princess Leia’s signature hair puffs.
Jocelyn snorted and said, “Okay, so I resemble Princess Leia.” She added, “I’m the heroine of dirt removal. I clean up dirt, empty trash cans, and vacuum floors faster than a Jedi warrior. Plus, I keep a pleasant smile on my face for eight hours. That makes me a heroine in my book. I’m not worried about how I look. I’m dressed appropriately to clean up other people’s dirt.”
Looking closer, Reese saw something moving on Jocelyn’s head. She asked, “Did you comb your hair this morning? Hold still, you have something on your head.”
Jocelyn said, “Stop trying to prank me Reese. Let’s get to work.”
Reese replied slowly, “I’m not kidding. Stand still.”
Starting to believe Reese, Jocelyn started hopping in around in a circle then bent over and started swatting and brushing her hair crying, “Is it gone? Is it gone? Is it gone Reese?” She was so frantic, she loosened her puffs.
Reese grabbed Jocelyn’s arm to stop her frantic jumping around and said, “It was a stink bug. Some heroine you are, you’re a scaredy cat. It’s gone. It flew away. I can’t believe you would chase down a purse snatcher, dress up as a fighter princess and will stand up to any man, but a little bug terrifies you.”
“Bugs still creep me out, especially the big flying ones. You swat at the buggers and they take off. Then the next thing you know when your back is turned they try to dive bomb you.”
Reese said with a smile, “Well Princess Leia, let’s get started cleaning. If I see any menacing dive bombing flying insects, I’ll rescue you.”
Jocelyn began cleaning her side of the building after she discussed with Reese how to divide up their work for the day. She hoped things would go faster now th
at she didn’t have to make sure Tiffany wasn’t off somewhere goofing off or gossiping.
She was constantly stopped and asked by employees if she knew she was dressed like Princess Leia from Star Wars.
By the end of the day Jocelyn was so tired of the numerous Star Wars references she planned to throw her outfit in the garbage.
While she was putting her cleaning materials back in the utility closet, loud voices caught her attention. A man and a woman were arguing in the room next to the closet. She couldn’t make out all of the words they were saying, but it sounded as if they were arguing over money.
Jocelyn didn’t want to be caught eavesdropping, so she promptly put everything in the closet and was trying to close the door quietly when Roger burst from the room next to the utility closet. He slammed the door behind him. He was so irate; he didn’t even see Jocelyn standing nearby. She was stunned. She had never seen Roger so angry.
She wasn’t surprised to see the door open again, and Lilly exit the room. As she suspected, Lilly had been the person arguing with Roger. However; Jocelyn’s luck didn’t hold. She wasn’t lucky enough to go unobserved by Lilly.
When Lilly walked out of the office, she glared straight at Jocelyn. “What are you doing sneaking around? You’re always sneaking around with cleaning things in your hands. Well did you enjoy hearing my disagreement with Roger?”
Jocelyn was getting tired of Lilly’s derisive comments. She said, “Oh, is that what you were doing Lilly, arguing? I thought he was searching your panties for paper towels again.”
This time Lilly was the one speechless. Finally she just said called Jocelyn a bitch and turned and stalked to her desk.
Jocelyn muttered under her breath, “Call me bitch one more time lady and I’m gonna to slap you silly.”
As Jocelyn watched Lilly walk back to her desk she saw a tall well dressed middle-aged man enter the building. The man stopped at Lilly’s desk; they greeted each other as if they knew each other. Jocelyn got the feeling she had seen him before but she couldn’t remember where. Then it came to her, he was Juliette’s husband. She wondered what he was doing here at Ramon’s paint company.
Lilly picked up the phone and announced to Ramon he had a visitor. He nodded his head at Lilly’s before entering Ramon’s office.
Jocelyn wondered what Juliette’s husband wanted. With Tiffany on vacation, her source for gossip had dried up she would have to wait until Ramon told her she groused. Tiffany would have been gossiping the details to her even before Ramon finished his meeting. She was that good.
Ramon stood up to greet the man that his ex fiancée had married. “Hello Harry, how are you today?”
Harry replied, “I’m doing well. You?”
Ramon said, “I know that you didn’t stop by to inquire about my health. So, why are you here?”
“May I have a seat? I heard you were having some difficulties here at the plant.”
“Sure, sit wherever you like. What exactly did you hear?”
“I’ve heard that you’ve had some unexplained accidents here at the plant.”
“How did you hear about the accidents?”
“Word gets around. Employees talk to other people. Delivery people tell their buddies. Anyway, I may have a solution for you.”
Harry sat forward in his chair. “I’d like to buy your company.”
Ramon was shocked. His company was not for sale. He’d never mentioned selling it. Trying to figure out what was really going on; he asked Harry why he wanted to buy a paint company.
Harry said, “I just thought I’d stop pass by make an offer to help you out.”
Inquiring further, Ramon asked, “And why would I need help? Did Juliette say something to you?”
Harry said with a smirk, “My wife has never mentioned your name or your company in my presence.”
Ramon wondered if he should believe Harry, because Juliette had just been in his office only a few weeks earlier professing she’d made a mistake marrying Harry.
Ramon asked out of curiosity, “What’s your offer?”
Harry wrote a figure down on a piece of paper and pushed it over to Ramon. When Ramon looked at the figure, he was insulted. Ramon told Harry the figure he gave was only a third of what the company was actually worth.
Ramon thrust the paper back across his desk to Harry. “My company is worth three times what you’re offering.”
Harry stood up and said, “I was just trying to relieve you of a troubled company. You never know when a future accident might injure one of your employees. Who knows, you might even be the one to get hurt.”
Upset Ramon asked, “Is this some kind of veiled threat?”
Harry held up his hand. “No, no, no. I was just trying to help a fellow business man out.”
Calming down a little, Ramon said, “Harry I’m sorry you wasted your time today. The company is not for sale. I believe you know your way out.”
Harry nodded his head and showed himself out of Ramon’s office.
After Harry left, Ramon picked up the phone and yelled to Lilly, “Send out a memo- now. I want everyone in the conference room tomorrow at 9 a.m. No one is excused from attending the meeting.”
When Ramon arrived at Jocelyn’s apartment later that evening, he didn’t say much. He sat down, untied his tie, and threw it over the back of one of the chairs. That was odd for Ramon. He usually kissed her when he entered her home. Jocelyn could something had upset him; she decided she wouldn’t press him for the details of the meeting with Juliette’s husband.
Because she knew he had a rough day, she had made dinner before he arrived. She had prepared another a quick meal, cold cuts with fries and a crisp green salad. She watched him as he barely picked at his food. Finally he said, “Honey, I’m not really hungry tonight. I’m going to turn in early.”
Jocelyn said, “Okay, I’ll put the food away and clean up. Do you mind if I read awhile before coming to bed?”
Ramon only replied, “No. I’ll probably be asleep when you turn in.”
After Jocelyn had settled in her most comfortable chair, she opened the latest mystery book she had picked up from the library. She had read a few pages when the telephone rang. It was her sister again. She said, “Hi, I heard was Ramon called a mandatory meeting tomorrow at 9 a.m. Do you know what it’s about?”
Jocelyn whispered, “No, but it must be important. No one is excused from the meeting.”
Reese asked, “Why are you whispering?”
“Ramon is here and he went to bed early. I fixed one of his favorite dinners and he hardly touched it.”
She was almost in tears. All of her insecurities had started to resurface. “He hardly spoke to me when he got here. I’m worried Reese. Do you think Juliette’s husband was there to warn Ramon to stay away from his wife?”
“No, Ramon isn’t like your ex-husband.”
“How can you be so sure?”
He’s the best man I know. And when he isn’t working, he’s with you. We’ll I’ll talk tomorrow. There isn’t much you can do until he tells you what’s wrong.”
Jocelyn hung up the phone and decided to go to bed early. When she crawled into bed, Ramon reached for her. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply. He pulled off her nightgown and made love to her. His lovemaking was masterful and thorough. When they had finally finished and caught their breaths, he pulled her against him and held her until they drifted off to sleep.