Her First (22 page)

“Pam, I don’t know what came over me. I used one of those self-defense moves and the next thing I knew, she was on the floor,” Madison said as she sat across from Pam at Pam’s kitchen table.

“Sounds like she deserved it, and much more,” Pam commented.

“I could have handled it better.”

“Are you going in to work tomorrow?” Pam asked as she drank her soda.

“Tomorrow’s Friday so I was thinking about taking a long weekend.”

“You have to face the music one day, so I think you should go.”

Madison looked down at the table. “I can kiss my promotion good-bye.”

“For now anyway.”

“Thanks for the confidence.”

Adrienne walked into the kitchen. “Your husband told me you both were back here,” she said.

“I was telling Pam about what happened at work today,” Madison said.

Madison
repeated bits and pieces of the day’s events. Adrienne dropped her mouth and said, “Girl, you could lose your job over something like this.”

“I’m not worried. I can get another job, but I refuse to let someone come in my face like she did,”
Madison said.

“I’m shocked,” Adrienne commented.

“I don’t know why,” Madison said.

“Because the
Madison I know would have walked away,” Adrienne explained.

Madison
looked at both of her sisters before she responded, “Well, the new Madison is tired of living her life the way other people see fit. I’m tired of letting people get the best of me.”

“What you should have done was call us and we could have jumped her as she got in the car,” Adrienne said as she tried to lighten the conversation.

They all laughed.

“Thanks, but I got this,”
Madison said as she grabbed her collar with each hand. Just then her cell phone rang while she ignored it.

Pam asked, “Aren’t you going to answer that?”

“Nope. It’s probably Ethan or Owen and I don’t feel like talking to either one of them right now,” she answered.

The phone stopped ringing, but it started up again. Adrienne stood up and said, “Where’s your phone? This is ridiculous.” 
Madison pointed towards her purse. Adrienne unzipped it and picked it up. “Hello,” she said into the receiver.

Madison
blurted out, “Give me my phone.”

“No. You didn’t want to answer it, so now I’m going to find out who’s calling you.”

“This is Frederick,” she heard the voice on the other end of the line say.

“Does she know you?” Adrienne asked. She continued to say, “Oh, I remember you now. This is her sister. With everything going on, I had to make sure.”

Madison waved her hands and whispered, “No.”

“She’s right here,” Adrienne said before handing
Madison the phone.

Madison
sneered. “Frederick, how are you?” She faked enthusiasm.  “Uh huh,” Madison said as Pam and Adrienne looked on. “I’ll call you back when I have a little more privacy.” She looked at her sisters. “I promise.”  She pressed the end button on the phone and laid it on the table.

“So,” Pam said as Adrienne looked on.

“He called to invite me to their mom’s birthday dinner,” Madison stated.

“Really now?” Adrienne commented.

“Doesn’t she know you two are having issues?” Pam asked.

“Apparently
Ethan hasn’t said anything and I’m not going to either,” Madison said, folding her arms.

Adrienne leaned on the table and asked, “So are you going?”

“I don’t know,” Madison said before she chugged down the last of her soda. She looked from one sister to another, hoping to see an answer on their faces. When she didn’t see one, she closed her eyes and held her head back.

Pam reached out and placed her hand over
Madison’s left hand. “It’ll work out, Madison,” she offered words of comfort.  “It’ll work out just fine.”

***

Ethan was working out when the doorbell rang. “Hold on, I’m coming,” he yelled.

He didn’t bother to look through the peephole. He opened the door and Frederick was standing there holding a bag.  Frederick walked around him and scrunched up his nose.

“Ooh. Somebody needs to take a shower,” he said.

Ethan
hit him with his towel. “I was working out. Make yourself at home and I’ll be right down.”

Ethan
left Frederick downstairs while he took a quick shower. Frederick was sitting in his living room eating chicken when he came back downstairs.

“Man, get that greasy box off my table,”
Ethan ordered him.

With a mouth full, Frederick said, “You know you want some.” He pointed at the box. “I bought enough for you too.”

Ethan sat down in the chair. “Yea, I am kind of hungry.”

Frederick passed him a box. “Eat up.”

After eating and light conversation, Frederick informed Ethan, “Madison will be there.”

Relieved,
Ethan said, “Perfect. After hearing what the test results are, it’ll help me with my next approach.”

Wiping his mouth with a napkin, Frederick commented, “I still don’t know why you’re so hell bent on getting back with
Madison.”

“It’s called Love. Something you wouldn’t know anything about.”

“Now that’s a low blow. I’ve been in love before.”

“Name one time.”

“When I was in the fifth grade I fell in love with Ms. Applebee.”

“Silly, she was your teacher.”

“You have to admit, she was fine.” Frederick couldn’t control his laughter.

Frederick’s cell phone rang. While he talked on the phone,
Ethan finished eating. He then took his box and Frederick’s and threw them in the kitchen trash.

I’ll get
Madison a puppy,
Ethan thought to himself. 
She’s always wanted a dog. Maybe she’ll forgive me then.

Frederick had his X-box turned on when he re-entered the living room. “Let me beat you at a game of football,” he said to
Ethan.

“The day you beat me is the day I walk around in a skirt.”

“What color pumps do you want to wear with them?” Frederick laughed as he handed him the remote.

After beating Frederick at a game of football,
Ethan felt a little relief.

“Thanks man for coming over. It took my mind off some of this mess,”
Ethan said.

Frederick gave him a brotherly hug at the front door. “You know I got your back.”

“I hope your idea about inviting Madison to mama’s party works.”

“It will. Trust me. I should have been cupid in my other life,” Frederick joked as he headed out the door.

Ethan checked his messages the next morning before leaving for work. He was in the process of deleting one of Sarah’s messages when he heard Madison’s name mentioned.  He replayed Sarah’s messages several times. He then went to his bedroom and found the piece of paper that had Charlotte’s number written on it and dialed it.

After interrogating Charlotte about
Madison and Sarah for two minutes, Ethan asked, “Did you know anything about this?”

“Yes. She called me last night. I was surprised she told me because it was so out of character for her.”

“It’s all my fault. If I would have told her everything all of this could have been avoided.”

“Don’t blame yourself.
Sarah’s the one to blame.”

“If you talk to
Madison, tell her I asked about her. Pleassse,” Ethan begged.

“I will. She
invited me to tag along to your mom’s birthday party.”

“I guess I should be glad she didn’t turn Frederick down.”

“She’ll come around.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Pray about it. God will work it out.”

“You’re right. I’ll let you go. Thanks for everything.”

“I want to see my girl happy and being with you made her happy,” Charlotte added.

“Thanks.”
Ethan hung up the phone. He called Joyce and left a message on her voice mail. “I’m too anxious about the tests to concentrate on anything. I’ll be working from home today. Call me at home or on the cell if anything comes up.”

He took off his jacket and laid on his back on the bed. He closed his eyes, but didn’t go to sleep. His thoughts were on
Madison and Christopher.
Christopher, if you’re mine, I want you to come live with me. I hope Madison will love us both.

He dozed off.

***

Madison
vowed to hold her head up high when she walked into the office. Some of her co-workers stared and didn’t say anything when they saw her.

Madison
wanted to say “boo” and see what their response would be. She chuckled at the idea.

When she got to her desk, a yellow sticky note was stuck to her computer monitor. She picked it up and read it.
I need you to come to my office as soon as you get in. I heard about the incident yesterday, but I need to hear your side of the story. 
It was from her manager.

“I might as well get this over with,”
Madison said out loud.

She placed her purse in her bottom drawer and locked it. She headed to her manager’s office. He was on the phone when she entered the doorway. She knocked on the door.

“Come in,” he said to her.

She sat down and waited for him to get off the phone. When he looked up, he had a disturbed look on his face. He got up and closed the door.

“Ms. Allen, I need you to explain what happened yesterday,” he said, cutting straight to the point.

Madison
explained yesterday’s events. As she told him what happened, she felt embarrassed about her actions. She could barely look him in the face. “I know my actions were not appropriate and I accept any reprimand you hand out.”

“I’m glad to hear you regret your actions. I have to say I was a little disturbed to hear about my best employee acting like that.” 
Madison looked down at the floor. Her manager added, “However, I understand Sarah has some personal issues with you, and from what you’ve told me, an altercation or something would have erupted sooner or later. I just hate that it happened here.”

“Me too.”

“In light of what you’ve told me, we’ll have to place you on temporary suspension. It will be without pay, but at least you’ll still have a job.”

“Thanks, sir. I understand.”

“You can work the rest of the day, but take next week off.”

Madison
stood up. “I might be out of place, but can you tell me what’s going to happen to Sarah?”

“Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to say right now.”

“Okay,” she said. She dragged her feet as she walked to the door and opened it. She looked back at her manager and he looked at her and shook his head. She continued to her desk feeling like she lost her best friend.

Owen
waved at her, paused, but seemed to have changed his mind about stopping. He continued to his destination as she walked back to her desk.

Not even
Owen can face me right now,
she thought.

***

Ethan woke up feeling a little more relaxed. He had to gather his senses. He looked at the clock and it read ten thirty. He jumped up, hurried and used the bathroom, and washed his hands and face. He rushed to get to the doctor’s office. He was surprised at how little traffic appeared to be on the roads because Friday traffic was normally backed up no matter what time of day. Even with the light traffic, he barely made it to the doctor’s office before his appointment. The receptionist checked him in and then the nurse came to the door and called out his name.

This is the moment I’ve been waiting for. Lord, whatever your will is, let it be. I’m willing to live up to my responsibilities,
Ethan thought as
he
followed the nurse into a vacant room. He sat in a chair and waited for the doctor.

“Hi, young man. How are you?” Dr. Phillips asked when he entered the room.

Ethan shook his hand. “I’ve been better.”

“I see the nurse tried contacting-” He looked in the file. “
Sarah, but she couldn’t make it today.”

“She doesn’t have to be here for you to give me the results does she?”
Ethan asked.

“I wanted to go over this with the both of you. After going over the results, it’s probably best you’re here alone.”

Ethan held his breath. “I’m ready.”

“You understand the test results are 99.9 percent accurate.”

“Yes.” Ethan looked directly into Dr. Phillips eyes.

“You are…” The Doctor’s pager went off.  He looked down at the pager and had a sudden sense of urgency. “Hold on,
Ethan. I’ll be right back.”

Ethan
was hoping he left the file so that he could see for himself, but to no avail. Ethan got up and paced the floor. Ten minutes later, Dr. Phillips walked back into the room.

“Sorry about that. A colleague needed my professional opinion.”

Trying to sound nonchalant Ethan said, “No problem.”

“As I was saying before we got interrupted,” he paused, “you are not Christopher’s father.”

Ethan let out a deep breath. A part of him felt relieved. “Did I hear you correctly?” he wanted to double check.

“Yes. You are not the father.”

Ethan stood up and shook his hand. “You don’t know how happy you’ve made me.”

“I wasn’t sure if this was good or bad news for you, so I wanted to see you in person.”

“I know it’s none of your business, but his mother and I are no longer together and this would have only complicated matters.”

“I understand. If you need anything else or have any other questions, feel free to call me.”

“Thanks, Dr. Phillips.” Ethan smiled as he walked out the door.