Jade never brought any of the guys she dated home, and in a way, she was glad she couldn’t bring Charles home. Her parents were activists and continually fought for black rights. She doubted either parent could deal with their Afro-American princess of a daughter falling in love with some white guy—and a married one at that.
More months flew by and nearly a year had passed. Still no one in the law office knew of Jade’s affair with Charles, which suited her just fine. Aside from the fact there was no prestige in being discussed around the water cooler, she was well aware that wagging tongues spewing gossip could tank Charles’s chances of making partner. That she was a lowly secretary and he a married man made it worse. His desire to make partner was another reason he couldn’t divorce Caroline and tried to keep the friction between himself and his wife at a minimum. He also didn’t talk much about Caroline, which suited Jade just fine. Though one night after they’d made love, Jade casually asked Charles how his day went. Instead of answering, he gave her a crooked half-smile.
“What? Did I miss something, Charles?”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “No. It has nothing to do with you.”
“Then who?” Her killer curiosity had already taken a toehold.
He broke into a huge grin. “I mentioned we hired a new guy fresh from law school, didn’t I?”
“I believe so. Gary something.”
“Gary Nelson. Anyway, he acts like he’s God’s gift to women.”
She chuckled. “That slot’s already been filled.”
“Not exactly, my love. The operative word would be
woman
. Yes?”
Jade nodded, but she was beaming. “Sorry to interrupt. Go on.”
“Anyway, he corners me in the break room with an enormous shit-eating grin plastered across his face. ‘Do I have a place for you,’ he says. Before I could say another word, he tells me about a private sex club—invitation only—where all the swingers go.”
“Did he want you to go with him?”
“Yes, but that’s not the interesting part. He told me about his last visit when he’d partnered up with a woman and they did the master-slave thing. The woman he described as the dominatrix sounded awfully familiar to me, so I did a little checking.”
“No….”
“Yeah,” he said. “It turned out to be Caroline.”
“Giving new meaning to different strokes for different folks,” Jade concluded.
Charles chuckled. “That’s for sure.”
Jade’s last thought before she fell asleep was that whatever kept Caroline occupied was probably a good thing.
Charles used a throwaway phone to text Jade so Caroline wouldn’t know of her existence. Because of its convenience in being close to the office, they frequently met for dinner at Monte’s.
That Tuesday morning, he called her and asked her to meet him there for dinner later. Jade took a taxi over because it had started to drizzle. She went inside to see if Charles was already there. First she looked over toward the bar. She didn’t see him, so she walked further into the room and began to scan the tables.
Jade spied him sitting with his back to her at a table with a dark-haired woman. They were sitting awfully close—too close for her liking. The woman’s hand covered his and she was smiling as she whispered into his ear. This made no sense. Why on earth would Charles want her to see him with another woman…unless she was her replacement and he was too chicken-shit to act like a man and tell her himself. By having her see this, she’d go ballistic and do his work for him.
Well, Charles, it worked,
Jade thought, as she saw the woman again whisper something into his ear. That was about the same time she felt the first tear slip from her eye. Jade turned on her heel and raced out of there, nearly knocking a couple over as they entered through the doors.
She rushed out into the rain, which was now coming down in steady sheets. Blindly, she ran into the street to cross over to a taxi stand and was nearly hit by a car. Too bad. That would have been a perfect ending. At least she wouldn’t have to deal with the pain of rejection. A taxi had just pulled up and a man got out. Jade slid in and gave the cabbie her address.
“Some night to be out,” the cabbie said.
“What?” Jade asked, having realized he’d been speaking to her.
“You okay?”
“No, I’m not!” she snapped at him.
“Wanna tell me about it?”
“No. I’d appreciate it if you just paid attention to the road.”
She heard him say, “Bitch,” under his breath.
Jade’s tears kept falling despite her attempts to stop crying. She hardly wanted to cry over a heel. What was it with men? Did they have to hurt you in order to feel like a real man? What was going on here? Charles wasn’t like that. Was she overreacting? Though she wanted to believe the worst, she found herself defending Charles. No. She knew what she saw. Even though she’d never ask Charles to leave Caroline for her, she didn’t want to be a mere number in a harem. Dwelling on this wouldn’t get her anywhere. She had more important things to deal with.
Like…what to do now. Jade took out her phone and left a message for Josephine Springer, the head of Human Resources. Told her that her mother was ill and she needed to go home. That way she’d be on temporary leave and have time to find another place to start over. With direct deposit in a major bank chain, she’d have no trouble receiving her pay. It wouldn’t look like she’d run away. The only one who might suspect that she had was Charles, and he’d never say a thing. This could work.
Jade thought about giving her parents a heads-up, but decided against it. Nothing gained by it.
“We’re here,” the cabbie said, interrupting her thoughts.
Jade paid him and rushed into the building. She’d gained some control over her tears, but she knew it was temporary. There’d be plenty time to cry, but now she had to get the hell out of Dodge.
She went directly to the hall closet and took down her luggage. Rolling the two largest suitcases into the bedroom, Jade attacked her closet. She grabbed a handful of things and began to pack. When the closet was empty, she started on her dresser drawers. The bathroom came next. She swept all her makeup and toiletries into a carryon. Then she glanced around to see if she’d left anything of importance behind. At this point, she doubted she’d be back.
Walking through the rest of the apartment, Jade took whatever she thought was necessary and crammed it into a piece of luggage. When she was through, she assembled one bag on top of the other so she’d be able to pull it behind her. She went back into the bedroom one last time and visualized making love with Charles on the bed. She nearly fell apart, right then and there.
“No!” she said aloud, pulling herself together. She’d put this behind her and place Charles on the history shelf alongside John.
Why were all men self-centered swine? She might as well try to answer the riddle of life.
Jade closed the door to her apartment, hoping to close that chapter of her life as, well.
Before leaving the apartment, she called a taxi. She was heading for the Port Authority bus terminal. She intended to be on the first Greyhound leaving New York.
There were two buses departing within the hour. One was going to Georgia and one was going to Connecticut. Jade mentally flipped a coin and decided on the latter. While she waited to board, she went into the little snack bar and bought a ham-and-Swiss sandwich with coffee. Even though she had no appetite, she might get hungry later on.
Once on the bus, she watched the people around her. Were any of them feeling as crappy as she felt? Had any of them been cut loose by their lover, too? Realizing what she was doing, she applied the brakes to her mental rant. Feeling sorry for herself was not a prerequisite for moving on in her life. She should be planning for her future and what she intended to do when she got to Connecticut.
The bus pulled out of the depot only half full. There were people representing many different backgrounds, a few men dressed in business attire, a young couple who had eyes only for each other and some elderly people. Jade doubted anyone was intending to transplant themselves to Connecticut the way she was, though. Oh well, what did it matter? The good part was that she had the entire seat to herself and could stretch out. At least she was comfortable.
Jade knew what she was doing was cowardly, but running away seemed the easiest and wisest choice. She wasn’t exactly certain why she’d felt so jealous. With eyes wide open, she’d gone into the relationship with Charles already knowing he was married. She was also aware that he would stay with Caroline for the sake of his son. Charles couldn’t have been any more upfront about that. And she’d assured him she had no qualms about the situation, as well.
She knew she shouldn’t be angry at Charles for cutting her loose. Their relationship had no strings attached. It was the way he did it that was hurtful. He should have told her to her face. If he’d loved her as much as he’d said he had, he would have been more sensitive. And then she realized, if he had truly loved her, he wouldn’t have wanted to be free of her.
Duh! She was really stupid. If he was unfaithful to his wife, what made her think he’d be faithful to his mistress?
Jade was filled with so many conflicting emotions, it made her head spin. No matter what she said or thought, she knew she’d always love Charles. And that was the sad part. Not only was she leaving him behind, she was also leaving her heart.
By the time Jade got off the bus in New London, she had a game plan. The first thing she intended to do was buy a newspaper. She needed a job and a place to live. As she waited for her luggage, she noticed a diner directly across the street from the terminal. It was about an hour before dawn and that would most likely be the only place open.
On the front door was a handwritten Help Wanted sign. She’d never been a waitress, but hey, she could learn. Waitressing would look smashing on her resume. She laughed. Then she realized she’d been putting the cart before the horse. Perhaps the management wouldn’t want to hire an inexperienced person. But needing a place to go until the town woke up, what did she have to lose?
The cashier at the register, a woman of about fifty with hair piled high on her head, chomped on a wad of gum as she read a paperback. Jade approached her and asked if the manager was around.
“Sure, honey. Did you find a crawly in your food?”
Well, that certainly made her feel good. What did they serve here?
“No. I’m interested in the job,” Jade said, pointing to the sign.
“Yeah, he’s here. I’ll call him.”
Jade half expected her to scream out across the place, not that it would matter. There were only about six customers, half of whom looked asleep. Instead, the woman called him on a wall phone. Much to Jade’s surprise, it took only a few minutes for him to appear.
“Mimi says you’re interested in the waitress job.”
Jade nodded.
“Come sit down and we’ll discuss it.” He snapped his fingers to get the attention of a tired waitress who was emerging from the kitchen. She padded over and he told her to bring two coffees. Then as an afterthought he asked, “Hungry?”
“No. Just coffee will be fine, thanks.”
The waitress, who looked as if she’d been dragged through a clothes wringer, brought them the coffee.
Jade smiled and thanked her. The poor woman shuffled away.
“Any experience, Ms…?”
“Jade Green.” She’d thought about lying, but there was no way she could pull it off. So she decided to tell the truth. She had some money behind her and if she didn’t get this job, she’d try for another. She didn’t have to beg—yet. “No,” she honestly admitted.
“So why do you want this job?”
“I’m relocating here and need to support myself.”
“Where’re you from?” he asked.
“New York.”
“Well, then. Welcome to our fair city.”
“And the job?” she reminded him.
He scratched his ample chin, one of several. She tried not to focus on the hairy mole living on his right cheek. “Normally we only hire people with experience. But I got a good feeling about you.”
The way he said that gave Jade goose bumps, but the door worked both ways. “Does that mean I’m hired?”
“Yeah. I’m a gambling man.”
It took a few harrowing days, but Jade finally was able to go solo. Kalisha, one of the waitresses with the patience of two saints, bless her, had been saddled with the task of breaking her in. Jade gave that poor girl a mental, as well as a physical workout, but Kalisha never gave up on her. Jade swore the next time she ate in a restaurant, she’d leave a generous tip. She’d never realized how strenuous waiting on tables was.
Kalisha also helped Jade find an apartment in her complex. So for the immediate future, things were looking pretty good. The worst Jade had to worry about were guys making passes at her. Whatever they envisioned, the only service they’d get from her would be the quick delivery of their food.
Night was the worst time for Jade. It was then that she had plenty of time to think about Charles. She tried to convince herself he wouldn’t be thinking about her and that she should move on. She’d thrown away her cell phone the night she left Manhattan. There was no way anyone from the law firm could reach her, and she intended to call in a couple of weeks to terminate her employment. The only one Jade truly missed was Shawna. She’d never said goodbye and that bothered Jade. But she couldn’t risk spilling the beans about Charles. Hopefully, Shawna would learn from Human Resources about her mother’s “illness.”
On Friday nights, Kalisha would go out with friends to singles bars to unwind and scope out the guys. She was very chatty about her life and loves, and boy, did that girl love to party. Jade never talked about her personal life. That was a side she hardly wanted to dwell upon, let alone discuss.
Kalisha asked Jade to join her a couple of times, but Jade said no. Obviously Kalisha wondered why Jade had no desire to go out and came knocking on her apartment door one night with the intention of finding out why.