"Maguire and Associates," Jes answered in her business voice, "this is Jessica Lewis. How may I help you?"
With Jes recognizing the voice on the other end of the phone as
Gwen's, she amputated herself from her business voice to her "girl, it
ain't nuthin' but a job" voice.
"I have no plans for tonight," Jes told Gwen. "I know it's been three
weeks since my ordeal with Marvin, but I guess it just hasn't been
enough time yet. I don't know, I'll tell you later tonight, but I'm sure I'll
just stay at home. Say me. OK, bye."
Jes hung up the phone and viewed her life and how it has changed
since her dealings with Marvin. She had stopped dating completely and
had gotten more involved with herself and Tanya Long, one of the
accountants at the firm. Tanya was tall, brown skinned with shoulder
length black hair that was normally in a ponytail. She was petite and
dressed professionally daily. She didn't wear much jewelry and never
talked about men, but she was drawn to Jes.
While Jes sat, the thought
that crossed her mind was she hadn't seen Marvin since the ordeal.
Sporadically, Jes received messages from him at home and she knew he
was still employed at the firm, but she hadn't seen him. Then as if her
thoughts were prophetic, Marvin appeared, walking into the building
with one of his co-workers and a big smile on his face. He looked at Jes
and nodded at her to say hello. Jes' body demoralized from the thought
of the act of violence.
"Thinking to herself, he has no clue of what I've
been going through since he raped me."
Jes picked up the phone to call Gwen and tell her what had just transpired,
but as she was dialing Tanya walked up.
"Hey Jes, how's it going?
"I'm fine," Jes responded, as she hung up the phone with authority.
"What's wrong baby girl?" Tanya asked.
Not wanting Tanya to know what had happened with her and Marvin,
she told her nothing was wrong.
"Good," Tanya said, "because I wanted to know if you would go with
me and support me at a gathering tonight."
"To a gathering?"
"Yes, to a gathering," Tanya replied.
"What kind of gathering?"
Tanya sat on the edge of Jes' desk for a minute before responding to
Jes.
"Let's go to lunch," Tanya said with concern, "and I'll tell you all about
it."
"Where do you want to eat at," Jes asked.
"How about Friday's, it's close?"
"Sounds great," Jes said.
"Hello ladies," the waitress spoke, "are you ready to order or may I get
you started with a drink?"