Within These Pages...Episode IV©COPYRIGHT 2006 RMC
Within These Pages...Episode IV
Brad arrived at the cruise departure port at three o’clock in the afternoon. There were two lines queuing for entrance into the terminal building. The cab driver dropped him off and then tried to convince him to book him in advance for his return trip. He gave Brad his business card and told him to call as soon as he returned. He would pick him up promptly and give him a real tour of the city before his flight back to Miami. Brad accepted the card, but had no real intention of calling the cabbie again. He looked around and guessed there were about two hundred people in front of him already. He hoisted his garment bag onto his shoulder and pulled his wheeled bag behind him as he made his way towards the line.
The line was moving very slowly. It was hot and sticky near the water and the air was surprisingly still. Brad was dressed in a T-shirt and Khaki shorts. He wore a baseball cap and his dark shades gave him a casually mysterious look.
A noisy group of single women rushed up into the line across from him. He could always spot the single women a mile away. They usually were overdressed or barely dressed for the occasion. Today this group seemed to be in full makeup on a ninety degree day. The ship wasn’t scheduled to depart until ten o’clock that evening and he couldn’t fathom why they were rushing around like mad hatters. He soon realized they were way over burdened with luggage as they struggled to drag everything with them each time they moved. He smiled to himself at the silliness of some women and pulled the cap lower on his face. He leaned casually against the rail and waited for his line to move forward.
It seemed a short time later that he became the focus of attention for the women as they realized he was traveling alone. The loud whispering and not so discreet gesturing in his direction reminded him of high school. He turned his attention toward the terminal and caught sight of a tall, statuesque woman about fifty yards in front of him on the opposite line. She, too, was casually attired in a Khaki shorts, but complimented them with a crisp white cotton shirt that was knotted around her midriff and exposed a pleasing amount of smooth brown skin. A beige baseball cap covered her hair and she was leaning against the opposite rail reading a novel. She seemed oblivious to her surroundings. Her luggage consisted of a large rolling bag and a medium sized shoulder bag, which she had neatly anchored together for ease of travel. Brad immediately recognized something different about her. Her long athletic legs and voluptuous figure did not escape him either. He hadn’t realized he was staring until Portia lowered her sunglasses and glared directly at him with the coldest eyes he’d ever seen.
“Whoa, baby,” he chuckled aloud and turned his gaze in towards the water. “I’ve got to stay away from you.” An angry, bitter woman was the last thing he was looking to deal with on this cruise.
~~~~~~~
It only took Patrice twenty minutes to arrive at the park where Isaiah was waiting. When she entered the lot she saw his black Volvo 760 parked in the last parking spot. There were several empty spaces next to it and she pulled into the space beside his. He climbed out of his car and started to approach the passenger side of her SUV when she waved him off. Caution prevailed, she wasn’t sure why, but something told her she did not want him in her car. If something happened it was not going to be in her car. Although she told herself nothing was going to happen and to stop being silly. She got out of her car and stood next to him only momentarily before he opened the car door for her and then walked around and got into the driver’s side.
Patrice was a tall girl, but Isaiah towered over her at six foot five. He was ruggedly handsome with a dark chocolate complexion and chiseled features. High cheekbones and a strong jaw line complimented his straight nose and lips that were just thick enough to be pleasantly kissable.
While she and Portia were identical twins, you could easily tell them apart, because of their vastly different demeanors and lately their hairstyles. Patrice had chosen to keep her long hair pulled away from her face in a long ponytail. It was restrained and professional at the same time.
Isaiah placed his hands on the steering wheel and stared out through the windshield for several minutes without saying anything. Patrice watched him in silence. She’d never seen him so agitated. Whenever she’d seen him and chatted with him at work, he always seemed so happy and carefree. This was a different man. There was an air of barely contained restraint surrounding him. The atmosphere inside the car was electric with unspoken tension.
The clandestine nature of their meeting did not escape her. Her senses were heightened by the idea of being with another man, even though this meeting was purely innocent. She raised her hand slightly to reach out to him and slowly put it back in her lap. Touching him would not be a good thing at this moment. The scent of his cologne was intoxicating. Instead she asked, “Isaiah, is there something you wanted to talk about?”
He hesitated a moment longer and turned to face her. “I’m sorry for bringing you out here, Pat. I just didn’t have anybody else to talk to about this situation.”
“That’s alright. It’s not a problem. I’m a little worried about you, though. I’ve never seen you so upset. What happened?” she asked and placed her hand on his shoulder. She knew she shouldn’t have, but compassion overtook common sense and her desire to comfort him pushed all other thoughts aside.
“Do you think I’m a good person?” he asked his eyes searching her for some kind of confirmation.
“That’s a silly question, Isaiah. What are you talking about?” she laughed nervously, and she wondered where he was taking this conversation. There was a sense of urgency in his voice, she did not understand. What if he wasn’t a good person and she was sitting here in his car. What if he did something to hurt her and, she naively put herself in this position. How would she explain it to her husband?
“You and I have known each other for how long? A year, maybe?” he asked.
“Yes, about a year. Can you get to the point? Honestly, you’re starting to make me nervous and I do have to get home,” she replied as her agitation began to seep into her voice.
“Peggy threatened to tell Bob I was harassing her,” he blurted out. At the stunned look on Pat’s face, he continued, “Sexually.” Peggy was a file clerk in the office; a mousy little bookworm who spent entirely too much time with her nose in everyone else’s business.
“Oh my, what did you say to her?” Pat asked as she tried to imagine him interested in someone as plain and boring as Peggy.
“That’s just it. I rarely talk to her and when I do I try to be nice to her, because no one seems to like her. I really think this started brewing about a month ago when she asked me if I wanted to come over for dinner,” he replied.
“Wait a minute. She asked you out?”
“Yes, but I turned her down. Then the next day she brought me lunch. I thought that was really sweet and I had lunch with her. I thanked her and that was it, or so I thought. She started fixing herself up and coming by my desk everyday. Sometimes she would bring me a home cooked meal. She can cook, so I didn’t complain. I complimented her on her changed appearance and told her how pretty she was looking. I was only trying to be nice,” he explained.
“Well, somewhere along the line she must have gotten a different impression.”
“No, I think she got jealous and mad at me. This is how she’s getting back at me for not being interested in her. But I don’t want this kind of shit on my record,” he said.
"What happened to make her angry?"
“I was in the file room the other day and I was looking at these pictures.”
“What kind of pictures, Isaiah?” she interrupted abruptly. She couldn’t imagine he was stupid enough to get caught looking at porno or something equally offensive at work.
“Come on, Pat. You know me better than that. I was looking at pictures from some of the office events and she walked in on me. I wasn’t thinking clearly and I thought of her like a friend, so I showed her a picture. I told her I thought the woman in the picture was beautiful and mentioned how much I admired her,” he cleared his throat and continued, “Professionally, of course. Then I looked at a few more pictures and put them away. As I walked out the room, she called me. When I turned around I was surprised to see the anger on her face. She was beet red behind those glasses. Then she said something which blew me away.”
“Ok, I’ll bite. What did she say?” she asked. She was beginning to think he was making a mountain out of a molehill. No one would believe he had harassed Peggy. Yes, it would have to be investigated, but there was no proof. He hadn’t done anything wrong as far as she could tell. However, the other woman comments were bothering her. She hadn’t realized Isaiah was interested in someone else in their office. A pang of jealousy touched her heart and she wondered why he hadn’t mentioned it to her. Who was this other woman?
Isaiah looked at Pat with an almost embarrassed expression on his face. How was he going to tell her what he was sure Peggy was repeating to everyone who would listen to her? “She called me stupid, and said everyone knew who I was in love with. They all talked about it all the time. They watched me watching her everyday, and they listened in whenever I talked to her. She said she was pretty sure I was having an affair with this other woman until I started coming on to her, and she figured it must have been over,” He paused to take a deep breath and clarify his position, “ I swear I never came on to her. I was only trying to be friendly, although in her mind we were almost dating at work. She said she hoped I finally given up that stupid dream, but now she could see I hadn’t. I was still in love with the other woman. She said I would be sorry I ever messed over her and I was going to pay big time.”
“Okay, okay. There are several things happening here. Yes, she’s jealous, that’s obvious. We can deal with that part,” she thought out loud. She would do whatever she could to help him. She pushed aside her feelings regarding this other mystery woman and concentrated on Peggy. A sexual harassment complaint could be sticky, but right now she sensed Peggy was only threatening to gain more of his attention. “Hmm, has she done anything else, said anything else to you?”
“Yes, she leaves me little threatening notes on my desk in the oddest places. At first she would hide them for me to find accidentally. Now she’s getting bolder and sticking them on the face of the computer where anybody might read it.”
“Why don’t you go to Bob and complain first. You haven’t done anything wrong. If she was going to complain she would have done it by now. She wants your attention and the more she agitates you the more she feels connected to you. Get the jump on her, go to him yourself. Did you keep her notes?”
“Not at first. I just threw them away, because I thought she would get tired and stop. When they kept coming I saved them. I thought about going to Bob, but I had to talk to you first,” he said quietly. He pulled a handful of notes from his shirt pocket and handed them to her.
Pat’s hands started to shake as she took the small pile of notes from him and she wasn’t sure why. The vile little slips of paper were the expression of hurt and pain from a woman who felt wronged, whether it was imagined or real. She hesitated to become part of such a private situation. Maybe it was better for him to show them to their boss and keep it confidential. She tried to give them back to him, but he put them back in her lap. Slowly she opened them one by one. Peggy had taken the time to type these little notes so her handwriting would not be detected. The first one read: I saw you talking to her again today. I hate you and I hate her. The second one read: You’d better stay away from her, because I am going to tell everyone about your affair. The third one read: She touched you today and it made me sick. Pat could feel warmth creeping up into her face. Her spinal nerves tingled with an unspoken fear. The fourth one: You kissed her today and I saw you. Now I have to tell.
She closed her eyes and remembered the feel of his lips on hers. She remembered how his hand gently caressed her cheek as he placed a tender kiss on her lips. It was one moment in time, a simple kiss between friends. She’d been feeling a little down and disconnected and it showed on her face. Isaiah picked up on this as he walked her out to her car the other night. He reassured her things would get better and gave her a hug. She’d felt such a sense of comfort leaning on his shoulder with his long arms wrapped securely around her. When she stepped out of his embrace to get into her car, she stared up at him for a second and marveled at how this young man was so mature and comforting. It also did not escape her that he was extremely attractive. He gently placed his hand against her cheek, leaned in and kissed her ever so briefly on the lips, before turning away and heading towards his own car. He never said a word about the kiss the next day and neither had she. She’d almost forgotten about it until now. No, she really hadn’t. She’d wanted to forget, but she couldn’t. Isaiah was her friend, her very special friend. It had happened so fast and unexpectedly, she didn’t think anyone had seen them. It was a magic moment and a mistake both at the same time. As she opened the final note and read through the lines typed in bold angry red ink, tears spilled down her cheeks. I’m going to tell her husband, because he deserves to know what a slut Patrice is……
Stay tuned........
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***Within These Pages is an ongoing FICTIONAL storyline with FICTIONAL characters. Any resemblance to real people or places is purely coincidental.