Picking up the wine, she gulped it down to try and erase where her thoughts were leading her. She was a good Christian woman, an independent one at that. What she was contemplating was nothing short of prostitution. The Lord always provided, those were her grams' favorite words.
But right now, she was wondering if the Lord had forgotten about her. David needed some new clothes; he was growing out of the ones he had. Her son never complained of course and was not one to ask for things. He was satisfied with whatever she gave him, which made her want to give him the world.
She tapped the edge of the pencil on the desk, her expression dark. Rodney Lancashire liked her. She liked him back. He had money.
She needed money. There was nothing wrong in accepting gifts from him. And if those gifts happened to be expensive jewelry, then nothing was wrong if she sold them to buy whatever she needed for her son. It was not like she had any intention of selling herself.
It was nothing like that. She was desperate. He did not have to know that she was. Shaking away the awful thoughts, she settled back to work miracles with the figures.
*****
It was called Monday morning blues for a reason. The weather had taken a turn, and rain had started in the early hours of the morning. On top of that, she had slept through her alarm after having a bad night of tossing and turning.
David had shaken her awake, with the exclamation that if they did not hurry, he was going to miss his bus. She had made a mad rush to prepare his lunch which she usually prepared the night before.
Dashing some cereal into a bowl, she called it breakfast and checked to see if he had his rain slicker in his book bag. And then it was time to kiss him goodbye and see him out the door. She had a habit of making sure he boarded the bus and gave that last wave, no matter how much she was running late.
While getting ready, she had discovered she had a run in her stockings and had to dig up for another pair. Her hair was another nightmare. She had not bothered twisting it last night and had to resort to using the flat iron which had taken away more time.
Even though it was a short distance to the office, the traffic had been a nightmare of enormous proportions. On top of that, Jessica had left a pile of things to file on her desk. The woman had tried countless times to get her to come in on weekends, but Melanie had put her foot down.
She had her other job which paid her car note and insurance. Besides, Jessica was expecting her to come in and work for free. So, to spite her, the woman would leave piles of things on her desk on Monday mornings.
For some reason, she felt weepy. Plopping down, she stared at the folders and thought about heaving the entire thing to the floor and just walking. But she couldn't.
As much as she hated her job, it was a steady income, and she had David to think about. While the rain continued to drum against her stingy window, Melanie waded in. Invoices from different departments as well as some personal shopping Jessica wanted her to do.
"Pick up dry cleaning. Make sure you grab the Cobb salad from Rico's and call my husband to let him know he needs to get his tux aired." This was just enough. With eyes blazing, she swept the pad aside and tackled the work.
This was one morning she wasn't going to do the woman's damn bidding. She could bloody well get her own dry cleaning and call her stupid and fat husband. She had nothing against Vince, he was actually a nice guy and a saint to put up with someone like Jessica, but she was not feeling charitable.
Her heart felt heavy and there was a vicious headache nagging at her skull. He hadn't called. Maybe he had found out about her and decided not to. That's fine too. She jabbed the computer key violently and scowled at the screen.
"I sure am happy I'm not the object of such wrath."
She looked up and pinned the accountant with a baleful glare. Jerry Matthews was another thorn in her side. He had been trying to get her in bed ever since he came on board a year ago.
It did not matter that he was married with two kids or that he was Jessica's brother-in-law. Men were pigs.
"Why don't I buy you a cup of latte?" he asked, leering at her.
"Don't you have figures to crunch?" she asked sweetly, swiping at the keys. "Oh, I keep forgetting. Nepotism at work. You only pretend to work."
"Bitch," he muttered beneath his breath.
Cupping a hand around her left ear, she leaned in a little. "What was that? Why don't you say it louder so that I can make a note and contact HR?"
Straightening from his slouch, he aimed a killing glance at her, lips thin. "I was just trying to be nice to you, but women like you are ball busters. No wonder you don't have a man."
She wanted to blurt out that she had one who was willing and eager to be with her and it so happened that he was as rich as Croesus. Instead, she waved an indifferent hand at him, insulting him even more.
"Go away and leave me to do my work. Unlike you, I don't get paid to hang around and be a nuisance."
His eyes blazed and he actually took two steps inside her tiny space.
"You dare speak to me that way?"
"What? Are you going to fire me?"
