CHAPTER SEVEN
Jocelyn’s hair and nails still looked good from the day before. Her stocks were performing well. She hadn’t heard any bad news from Reese in a couple of days and the weather outside was perfect. She was feeling pretty good about her life. She entered the Holliday Building humming with a big smile on her face.
“You didn't have time to change out of the clothes you wore on your date last night before you came into work today?” Ramon asked when he saw the sparkly blouse she was wearing.
Jocelyn’s good mood disappeared instantly and she stopped humming. She thought that she had made a good choice for her work clothes. She looked down at the sequined grey blouse she wore. It was damaged with tears in the back and runs in the sleeves. The sequins were barely hanging on in some places in the front.
That morning she had paired the blouse with a pair of black pants and pair of white tennis shoes. A couple months ago the expensive designer blouse had gotten damaged when she had been trying to cheer up Reese by taking her out for the night.
Tiffany walked up to Jocelyn and Ramon and asked excitedly, “Is that the famous blouse I’ve heard so much about?”
“There’s a story behind the blouse Jocelyn is wearing?” Ramon asked curiously.”
“There sure is!”
With relish Tiffany proceeded to tell him about the incident. “Reese told me she left her sons with her next door neighbor so she and Jocelyn could see one of their favorite recording artists perform live.
“When they returned to the neighbor’s house, Reese’s sons were sitting on the floor playing with the neighbor’s cat. As they entered the kitchen the overhead lights hit the sequins, the cat instantly turned into the Tasmanian devil like on that cartoon and attacked Jocelyn.”
“Let me show you.” Jocelyn and Ramon both watched Tiffany as she whirled her large body around and around until she started to get dizzy. Ramon was afraid Tiffany would hit something. She finally stopped and went on to say, “Reese swore the thing spun toward Jocelyn and jumped up and began to claw the blouse.”
Ramon was now really engrossed in the story. “A cat did all that damage?” pointing to the rips and tears in the blouse.
“Reese told me the cat attacked the sleeves first with his claws. Then Jocelyn screamed so loud, the neighbor, who was in the kitchen rushed toward her and the cat with a broom. Jocelyn got scared so she backed up because she wasn’t sure if the woman was trying to swat her or the cat.”
Ramon’ eyes widened as he heard more of the tale. “Go on Tiffany. I’m enjoying this story.”
Tiffany added for Ramon’s amusement. “Reese said she began screaming to Jocelyn, take off the blouse! Then Jocelyn ran into the kitchen and removed her blouse and let it drop to the floor. Finally the cat scratched the blouse a couple more times once it was on the floor to make sure it was dead.”
Jocelyn added, “Reese had the nerve to say to me, ‘You should have seen your face when the cat jumped on you. I swear I have never seen anything so funny. You certainly know how to end an evening girl.” Jocelyn huffed, “I had to wear the neighbor’s housedress home.”
By the time the women finished the story of the attack cat, all three people were laughing.
Ramon felt much better when he walked to his office. Only those kinds of things could happen to Jocelyn. He was pleased Jocelyn hadn’t been out the night before with another man. He also regretted that he had been unkind about her outfit when she’d walked in.
He certainly hadn’t expected to become jealous when he’d thought she was out on a date with some other man. He admonished himself. He and Jocelyn weren’t in a relationship with each other; she could date whomever she wanted and she wasn’t wearing anything drastically different from her other outfits she wore to work. All of her work clothes were zany and outlandish.
Furthermore, he considered her style-challenged. He had never known a woman who dressed as badly as she did for work. She didn’t care if her clothes fit, had holes in them or were parts of recycled costumes. The woman wore anything to work.
He wondered what she would wear next and frankly he couldn’t wait to see what she matched together next.
Jocelyn and Tiffany had a busy morning cleaning. Jocelyn met Tiffany in the lunch room. Tiffany was sitting at the table with Miranda, who was eating a salad and looking glumly at a piece of fruit that would complete her lunch. When Jocelyn sat down, Miranda was complaining that she was tired of being on a diet. She craved cookies, sticky buns and chocolate. Tiffany told her, “You’re doing so well on your diet, get your mind off food. Let’s talk about something else.”
Miranda pushed a salad around on her plate and moaned, "I’m tired of eating salads. I have been eating salads for months and the pounds just refuse to come off."
Jocelyn asked, “Why are you trying to lose weight?"
"My doctor keeps harping on me to lose it, and I have my eye on someone I'm interested in. This person hasn’t really been attracted to me, but I'm hoping that will change after I skim down a bit."
"Is it anybody that we know?"
Miranda grinned and said, "Maybe."
Tiffany and Jocelyn looked at each other and wondered who the mystery guy was.
Miranda asked Jocelyn how her date with the boss had gone.
"How did you hear about that?"
Miranda said coyly, “A little birdie."
Jocelyn shot a sideways glance at Tiffany and said, "I bet the birdie is sitting right here at this table."
Tiffany looked guilty. She apologized saying," I didn't know that it was a secret."
Miranda said, "Girl you must be special, he hasn't asked anybody else who works here for a date. When he first took over the company plenty of the women here tried to catch his eye and when that didn't work a couple of the gay guys gave it a try. He shot them down fast and declared that he didn't swing that way."
Jocelyn told Miranda their date had gone fine until a little thief had stolen her pocketbook. She told her how she had run the boy down.
"What did you have in it?"
"Cab fare."
"Why didn't you let him have it? You could’ve been hurt. Some young thugs carry weapons. You never know what they might do."
"I wasn't thinking. I just wanted my Kate Spade purse back. The knuckle-head wanted the money and I wanted my purse back. Plus he made me mad. I’ve worked hard to get what I have and he needed to know that if he wanted something then he needed to find a legal means to get it, one that wouldn’t require getting smacked on the head.”
Miranda exclaimed, “You didn’t!”
“I did. He needed to learn a lesson the hard way.”
Tiffany said, "Yeah, I know someone else who needs to learn a lesson; me! I fell in love with a jerk and look where I am now.”
Jocelyn quickly changed the subject. She didn’t want Tiffany to get started on her ex. If they started talking about their exes, they would all end up having a pity party right there in the lunch room.
After lunch the women went back to their jobs. Tiffany had to clean the bathrooms, and Jocelyn still had a few more offices to clean before her shift was over. She was glad Lilly was making herself scarce today. She didn’t need the stress. She wanted to go home and just fall down on her couch to watch television for a little while.
She was still planning her evening when she opened the utility closet door and saw Lilly and Roger in a sexual strangle-hold. Lilly’s dress was up around her hips and Roger’s’ hand was between her legs. Roger’s lips were on Lilly’s throat and she was breathing hard.
Jocelyn was so shocked she dropped her mop. She must have audibly gasped because the couple suddenly broke apart. Lilly said nervously, “Roger was just helping me locate the paper towels on the top shelf. The women’s bathroom is out of paper towels.”
Roger’s face colored and just said, “Yeah.”
Lilly and Roger exited the closet, looking first to see if anyone except Jocelyn was in the hallway. Jocelyn thought,
well I’ll be damned, the woman keeps paper towels between her legs.
Before Jocelyn could leave the building for the day, Lilly cornered her and threatened, “You’d better keep your mouth shut about Roger and me.”
Jocelyn just glared at her and walked away. Lilly’s comeuppance was coming, she promised herself.