CHAPTER TEN
Jocelyn debated whether she should go to clean or just blow off work. She hadn’t heard from Ramon in two days. At the end of the first day, she debated whether she should call him or if she should just act casual and pretend the evening that they had shared after their trip to the fair hadn’t meant anything to her.
She decided that she would go to work and pretend the latter. If Ramon couldn’t be bothered enough to call her, then she would just pretend the time they had spent together didn’t matter to her either. She was going to keep telling herself that he hadn’t been the best lover she’d ever had. She was going to pretend she could barely remember his name when she saw him.
Jocelyn walked into the front lobby. As she entered the company lobby, she was singing one of her favorite oldies by Nancy Sinatra. “These boots were made for walking and that’s just what they’ll do. One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.”
Ramon was standing in his office doorway listening to her. When she saw Ramon, she stopped singing. Ramon glanced at her and his eyebrows lifted in disbelief. Today’s sweat shirt had a big Superwoman emblem on the front of it. Blue stretch pants clung to her legs and red tennis shoes adorned her feet. He shook his head wryly and wondered if he should just break down and buy uniforms for the cleaning people.
Seeing her in another ridiculous outfit made him want to grab her, but he refused to give in to the impulse. Jocelyn didn’t have a clue how ridiculous she looked. So instead he cleared his throat and said, “Jocelyn could you come into my office please,” and turned and walked back toward his desk.
She said under her breath, “Now he wants to be alone with me.”
Ramon turned to her and said, “What?”
Jocelyn remembered she was still supposed to be helping her sister and said, “Nothing.”
When Jocelyn walked into Ramon’s office, he closed the door, grabbed her in his arms and kissed her passionately. After a second, he realized that she was not responding in the desired manner. He asked, “What’s wrong?”
“You have the nerve to kiss me? I haven’t heard from you in two whole days. You leave my bed and send me a thank you note. I thought we had shared something special?”
Ramon trying to lighten the mood quipped, “Don’t forget the roses.”
When she continued to frown, he sobered. “I’ve been working here around the clock since I left your place.” He paused although he could barely contain his excitement. “We made a breakthrough. The formula is finally ready for market. We made some changes and now Brilliance truly does mimic a sheet of glass when it is applied over our paint products. Do you know what this means Jocelyn? The company will make millions.”
Ramon proceeded to do a little jig while still holding her. She couldn’t help herself and she started to laugh because she had never seen him so happy.
She smiled at him and he looked down into her eyes and asked, “Am I forgiven? Please?”
She replied, “Yes, this is great, but next time give me a heads up, please. I had no idea that the company was this close to a breakthrough. I thought you were still retooling the formula.”
“I had to keep it a secret. Companies are always trying to find out what new developments are coming onto the market. All the entire lab employees are under strict non-closure contracts not to divulge the ingredients in our paints and glazes. If the process we developed got out, we could go bankrupt.”
Ramon held Jocelyn tighter, He said, “As soon as we start production on the new line, I’m going to make you my new personal assistant. I’ve already mentioned it to Lilly.”
Jocelyn laughed at the thought of working beside Lilly, the queen of bitches. She thought he was only kidding with her because he was so excited. She stopped laughing when she realized that he was serious.
He expressed what he had been considering, “I know you’re only filling in for Reese now, but I want to help you. You don’t deserve to be cleaning up other people’s messes. You’re too smart for that. I couldn’t make the offer before, because all of the company’s extra money has been tied up in research and development. But now I can make things easier for you because you’ll be working full- time beside me. I’ll hire someone else to help clean.”
Jocelyn’s thoughts went straight to seeing Lilly’s scowling face every day. “Evilene” already hated her and there was no telling what she would do if Jocelyn stepped into a position she thought was rightfully hers.
Jocelyn opened her mouth to say, “Thanks, but no-”
Before she could complete her sentence, Ramon kissed her with such fervor, her toes curled. When he finished, her mind was someplace else entirely. He released her and said, “Well think about it. I have to get back to work. I’ll talk to you later. We’ll have to celebrate. Okay?”
“Sure.” She’d tell him later she didn’t need his job, as tempting as it would be to spend every day with him.
Jocelyn, still under the spell of Ramon’s kiss, turned and floated out of his office.
When she was back in the hallway, she heard, “Hello Superwoman.”
Jocelyn looked at Tiffany questioningly. Then she looked down at her clothes and groaned. She said, “No wonder Ramon was looking at me that way. I was checking stock quotes this morning and I was running late so I just grabbed the first thing I saw hanging in my closet. I forgot that I wore this outfit last month to the library when I took Reese’s boys there for ‘Dress Up as Your Favorite Character Day.’ Dang, maybe nobody will notice.”
Tiffany laughed and said, “The only way they won’t is if a boulder falls from the sky and lands on the building; so you might as well grin and bear the comments coming your way! Let’s get started. We should be finished in no time.”
“Why?”
Tiffany snorted and said, “Because you can clean super fast, Superwoman.”
Jocelyn said, “Ha, ha, ha, smart ass,” and followed her to begin her cleaning duties.
As soon as Jocelyn started down the hallway, she heard familiar laughter. She could tell that it was Lilly. Lilly was holding her hand over her stomach. She was almost bent over with glee. When she straightened up, she pointed at Jocelyn and said, “You are the worst dressed cleaning lady in the world. Clowns dress better than you.”
Jocelyn muttered, “Hold me back, Tiffany, before I deck her.”
Tiffany quickly grabbed Jocelyn’s arm and led her away from Lilly. “Come on Jocelyn. She isn’t worth the effort.” Jocelyn didn’t want another confrontation with Lilly or anyone else so she decided to turn her shirt inside out and began her work day.
When she entered the lab, there was a palpable atmosphere of jubilation in the air. Juan was the first to address her. He said, “Where have you been my lovely? I was just asking about you. Did the boss tell you about our big breakthrough? I bet we’re all getting huge raises!”
“Yes he did. He told me as soon as I came in today about the breakthrough. I don’t know anything about raises though-.”
She stopped suddenly and asked, “Hey! Am I being pumped for information?”
Juan looked at Jocelyn and grinned like a lecherous Jimmy Durante, pretending to move a cigar up and down in his mouth with his fingers. He leered, “You’re so beautiful. You ought to be in pictures.” Then he added seriously, “Of course I was trying to pump you for information, silly girl.”
Miranda admonished, “Leave Jocelyn alone Juan. When the boss is ready, he’ll give us a raise. However, I could certainly use one myself. My car could use a few repairs; I’ve been putting off, before it dies completely.”
Jocelyn asked, “Gosh, does everybody in the company know I’m seeing Ramon outside of the office?”
In unison, everyone replied, “Yes.”
Jocelyn said, “Well damn,” causing the people in the lab to laugh.
Jocelyn sped through her work-day. She cleaned like a mad woman. And by the end of the day, she was feeling a lot better about her budding relationship with Ramon. As she was leavin
g, she decided to stop by his office to say good night.
When she approached his door, she got the worst surprise of her life. There, in Ramon’s arms, was Juliette. Her arms were around his neck and they were kissing. Jocelyn must have made a noise because they pulled apart, and both turned to see her stricken face at the same time. Ramon called out to her but Jocelyn fled from his office and out the front door. She heard him call her name a second time as he followed her, but she refused to stop.
Because she was so upset, when she reached her car, she fumbled with the door latch. She finally opened the door and sped off, berating herself all the way home. She should have known better than to let herself fall for another deceiving man.
She assumed those couple of days when she hadn’t heard from Ramon, he had been with Juliette. Everything he’d told her about being over Juliette had been a lie. She vowed she would never speak to him again.