Rude Boss

“Maybe not to you, but I think he has other plans.”

“Honey, come on with this food. I’m hungry,” I hear dad say in the background.

“Lord have mercy…there he goes. I swear he acts like he gon’ starve. Let me go. We’ll continue this conversation later.”

“There isn’t much to continue.”

“I’m sure there is. Bye. Love you, dear.”

“Love you, too, Ma.”

I hang up the phone and immediately dial Ella. She answers, “Oh, I see how it is. Now you call me after you’ve been running all over the city with yo’ man.”

I sit in the middle of the living room floor and lay back, staring up at the ceiling fan that somebody turned on low. Probably my mother. She stays complaining about how hot she is. I say, “Gosh…you sound like my mother. Why is it that every time a woman is seen with a man, he has to be her man?”

“Look—that man looked comfortable up in your apartment, talking to your parents. And I just want to know, how did you go from hating this guy to having lunch with him? And, did you tell him you were moving this weekend?”

“No. I didn’t tell him a thing. He just showed up.”

“That’s weird. Why would he pop up out of the blue?”

I sigh. I need this fan turned up a little higher as I reminisce about lunch and his hand touching mine. I say, “Okay, El, I haven’t been one-hundred percent transparent about what’s been going on with me and Essex.”

“Oh, it’s Essex now. Well, alrighty, then…”

“I—he told me to call him that and…” I sound suspect as I try to talk my way out of the hole I’m digging for myself. I try again, “Okay, so Monday, I was on my lunch break and I went to a restaurant near the job to decompress. Essex showed up. He wanted to eat with me, so he did, and he just started talking, so naturally, I talked to him.”

“Yeah. Naturally. Continue.”

“By the time we were done, he realized he didn’t have his wallet, so I paid. He said he owed me, so I guess that’s why he came here to help out.”

“So, you did tell him you were moving?”

“No. He said he looked up my employee records and saw I had submitted a change of address, which I had on Wednesday.”

“Sounds a little stalkerish to me. You believe him?”

“Girl, I don’t know what to believe. But…” I sigh again. “Here’s the deal. He said he wants me to help him with his temper.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“No, I’m not. That’s what he said.”

“Quin—do you really think this guy wants you around so you can help him with his temper?”

Still staring up at the ceiling fan, I watch the blades spin around and around, similar to the way Essex has my head spinning. I ask, “What do you think he wants?”

“Isn’t it obvious? He wants you. Duh!”

“He doesn’t want me, Ella.”

“O-M-G. He does! I should’ve known that when he came to my apartment looking for you. Like, who does that? Now, it all makes sense. That’s the reason he wanted you to work at his company so badly. I’m amazed he would go to such great lengths.”

“I think you’re looking at it all wrong, Ella. If that was the case, why was he so mean to me during the interview?”

“Just to throw you off concerning his original plans for you, I suppose, and it worked. Look at you two now.”

I stop staring at the fan and sit up with my legs crossed. I say, “I hear what you’re saying. I do, but I’m going to take him at his word. He said he thinks the reason he got a new client is that he was in such a good mood after he had lunch with me. Therefore, he thinks if I help him with his temper, it’ll be good for business.”