Stilettos & Scoundrels (4 page)

According t
o caller I.D., it was Tonya, my
co-worker, or ra
ther my
former co-worker.
Tonya
was
in a meeting today when I had my
meeting with David Ritter. Howeve
r, since she was calling me
, and
I
had
only been
home
for a little while
, it seemed safe to assume
that
Tonya had heard through the gossip chain what happened. She was probably mad
I
hadn’t called her already.

“Hello.”

“Presley, did you really tell David Ritter to fuck himself and then dump coffee on him?” Tonya practically yelled into the phone. She then lowered her voice to a whisper. Probably so others in the office wouldn’t know she was talking to
me
. Funny how some people felt that being canned was contagious. “I can’t believe it. It’s about time he got what he deserved,” she continu
ed, not even waiting for me
to answer. “Everyone here was so glad he finally got what was coming to him.”

I
started laughing. “Unfortunately, the rumor mill got it right this time. I figured he had a better chance with my suggestion th
a
n getting me to do it. I thought I was just helping him out. However, I’m not sure that he got hurt in this. He still has a job.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me
!
He came on to you again. Why does he have such a hard time remembering he’s married? And you’re not interested,” Tonya said. “I thought you made it clear to that idiot the last time he came on to you. Did he not learn anything from the last sexual harassment case brought against him?”

“Well,” I
said wryly, “obviously no one had ever explained to him that ‘no’ means ‘no
.
’ Today he clearly thought that ‘no’ meant ‘yes
.
’ He was arrogant enough to think I wanted to keep my job bad enough to sleep with him for it.”

“You mean you didn’t?” Tonya deadpanned.

“Ha-ha. Thought my skills spoke for the
mselves.” Unfortunately, for me, the skills my
ex-boss was interested in extended past those of the HR nature.
“So
,
do you suppose that I’m no longer a candidate for t
hat Junior VP position?” I
asked sarcastically, plopping down on
my
tan queen
-
size
d
Pottery Barn couch and putting my
feet up
on the matching ottoman
. This was
my
favorite position for talking on the phone. This couch had been an expensive purchase
,
but
I
had never regretted it
because
it was the most comfortable couch
I
had
ever sat on.

“You think?” said Tonya. “According to my sources, you aren’t even welcome in the building. Somehow Ritter has been able to spin the situation so you look like the bad guy and he looks like the good guy.” While not surprising after today’s events,
I
was still hurt that all those years of hard work were down the tubes just like that.
I now felt I
had nothing to show for it. Not to mention that in bus
iness, it was a small world. I
would be lucky if the local drycleaners in Iowa ha
dn’t heard the story by now. I
didn’t want to be blackballed,
even if I
didn’t decide to go back into the business world.

“What? Is he really
scared of me that much?” I asked. Although I
had every right to
file a lawsuit against him, I
really didn’t relish what a lawsuit would entail
, even though I
knew i
t was the right thing to do. I
needed to really
think about the next steps. I
didn’t want him to do this to anyone else.

“Honestly, I think the Board of Directors is more afraid you will come back and cause a ruckus
,
t
hen slap them with a sexual harassment lawsuit. I know Gary had an emergency meeting wi
th them,” Tonya replied. I
could hear her smoking in the background. “We both know this wasn’t the first time this had happened
,
but
no one ever wants to press charges. I bet you could get them to pay you some really good hush money.”

“I probably will press charges, but not for the money but rather the principl
e of it
. Hey, are you smoking? Inside?”

“What are they going to do? Fire me? They can’t afford two in one day,” Tonya said saucily. “Besides, I’m hiding in an empty office; the one next to David’s. Maybe it will look like he is smoking.”

“You’re supposed to quit. You said this morning that was going to be your last one
!
”
I chastised her. I
was always giving Tonya a hard time about smoking
,
and she was always giving
me a hard time about my
two-a-day Starbucks habit. Ok, so sometimes it was three or four. You had to make it through the day somehow
, and at least I
wasn’t drinking alcohol
at that rate
. Although, caffeine was probably just as bad.

“That was this morning and I’ll quit tomorrow. So
,
what are you planning to do now? I have to say
that
I somewhat envy you not having to work.”

“It would be great if I got paid for sitting home
.
”

“It’s not forever. Enjoy it. Maybe you should take a trip.”

“Actually, remember my editor friend, Trevor? You know, the one I introduced you to at Muldoon’s
last
week ?”

“You mean the hot blonde in the skin
-
tight Diesel jeans?”

“Yeah, that one,” I
said dryly. Tonya had thought Trevor was hot
,
whic
h he was. Unfortunately, for me
, he only had eyes for Doug, the other person
they
were with, and even
Tonya’s
long dark braids and chocolate eyes weren’t going to change his mind. It was a shame though because both Doug and Trevor were
good looking and great guys to boot
.

“Are you sure it wasn’t me he kept looking at?” Tonya joked.

I
ignored her question, as she wasn’t really expecting an answer. “Remember when he mentioned someone on his staff had a baby
and
decided not to return to work and he had a job opening?”

“Vaguely,” Tonya said. “I had quite a few drinks that night, so the details are somewhat fuzzy, but go on.”

“He offered me a job writing a monthly column for his magazine,
Our World
. It’s not a lot of money, but I have some savings
,
and if I watch my spending, I can make it. Well
, for
a couple of months anyway.”

“What’s going to happen when you spend too much on shoes and run out of money?”

T
onya was well aware of my
shopping habit, mainly because it was one of the many things they had in common. They had often
spent a long lunch hour shopping on the Magnificent Mile. Shopping was of ultimate importance
to both of them
.

“I’ll figure it out then.” I
refused to worry too much about the finer details right now. “Getting canned might be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
I
said with a bravado
I
didn’t completely feel. “Couldn’t be worse than working for David.”

“That sounds like a great opportunity. If it’s really what you want.”

“It is. I am nervous but really excited. The job requires me
to
interview people
,
which should be fun. The first person I am supposed to interview is Senator Daniels
,
and the interview is supposed to take place in Alkon
. H
ow’s that for coincidence?”

I had grown up in
Alkon, Illinois
, a small town
located way outside Chicago.
I
didn’t like to go back very often. After all, who could be expected to live in a town with no Starbucks? Or where the best place to buy shoes was Wal-Mart and people actually thought that was fashionable
?
To each his own and all that, but if you are buying shoes at Wal-Mart
,
you should at least be aware it might not be the most fashion forward
move you could make
.

“Your parents are always bugging you to spend time with them. They would love you being home for a few days. Besides, if you’re out of town then Rick can’t
bother you.” Rick was my
loser ex-bo
yfriend who had been driving me
crazy lately. What was it about men that made them want you even more when you didn’t want them? It would be nice to get away from him. That would be an upside to getting out of the city
, and I would like to hang out at my
parents
’ where I
wouldn’t have to do anything.

“I know. It’s just that a little bit of love goes a long way. You know my mother drives me insane. We can’t ever get along for more than five minutes at a time
.
I
t’s exhausting.”
But I could see the appeal; I wouldn’t have to cook my
own meals or dial for
takeout. And that would save me
on the grocery
bill. Just how committed was I to my
new writing career? St
aring up at the ceiling, I
thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad,
at least for a short time. I
could handle anything for a few days
, couldn’t I
?

“So
,
have you told Rick you are leaving
?” Tonya asked, interrupting my
thoughts.

“Why would I? We broke up, remember? I want to have as little to do with him as possible. Besides this just all came about five minutes ago.”

“You may think you are broken up, but I am not sure he’s clear on that. He thinks he’s irresistible,” Tonya said with a sound of disgust in her voice. She never liked Rick. She liked him even less when he cheated on
me,
but
she wasn’t surprised. She had wanted to do some unspeakable things to his manhood in retaliation.
I
persuaded her it would be a bad idea,
because
jail time would be bad for her skin
,
she would miss all the good sales at Macy’s
, and because I
was sure the Cook County jail didn’t
have
a spa.
As a further incentive, I reminded her that she
liked men and there weren’t too many of them in a women’s prison and
you could only do the work yo
urself for so long. At that, she
finally saw reason.

“Well
,
that’s not my problem
;
h
e needs to get over it.” I
had dated Rick
for three years and thought we had a future. I
had all but planned the wedding. Ha! What a joke tha
t was. A few months ago, I
caught him with the assistant from his office in the back seat of his Mercedes, of all places. She was definitely assisting him, just in inappropriate, non-business ways. Of course, now he claim
ed to be a changed man, that I
was the only one for him, blah, blah, blah. He
wouldn’t leave me alone, as if I
was the bad guy for not forgiving his little
“
mistake,
”
as he kept calling it.
I rolled my
eyes at the thought
.
Some mistake. Too bad for him. The asshole had his chance
. He was only pursuing me
now because he liked to be the one
in
control. The fact that
I
dumped
him
bothered him more than the act of
me actually dumping him, I was sure. I
didn’t for a minute think he reall
y had an epiphany that I was the one for him. Why I
hadn’t seen from the beginning what
a self-centered jerk he was, I didn’t understand. I was getting my
self all worked up
for nothing
. He wasn’t worth it.
I
got up from the couch and walked into the kitc
hen. Thinking about Rick made me
want ice cream. Actually,
it made me
want to drink
or pull out his nails one by one. However, since nail pulling was illegal
,
and it wasn’t yet late enough for alcohol, ice
cream was the perfect choice. I
p
ressed the phone to my
ear and opened the freezer
, trying to see if I
had anyt
hing left from the last time I
was crazed over that asshole and needed an ice cream fix.
I knew I
had an unopened bottle of wine in the refrigerator so there was a backup plan.