Diary of A. . . (22 page)

Good lawd, that woman really had it in for
me. I smiled, knowing I was really on her shit list. I bet a nice
email to Earl to watch his back would be wonderful right about
now.

“Let me worry about Sheryl, okay, Erin? You
worry about making sure no one knows anything until the last
possible minute.”

“They are all selfish idiots and wouldn’t
even dare think that someone was on the inside fucking it up for
all of them. Stupid bitches.” She huffed. “Now all I gotta do is
handle Lowe, get him back in my life and then all will be
well.”

“So do you think our plan is working on him,
too?”

“Yes, I just found a doctor who doesn’t mind
getting paid to say that I’m pregnant and who will give me the
fertility treatments that I need. I couldn’t reach Lowe Friday or
yesterday to tell him the news, but I’ll call him and let him know
that I’m pregnant. He won’t doubt that the baby is his.”

“But you cheated on him.”

“Yeah, but he’ll wait until the baby’s born
just to see if it’s his. Until then he’ll move me back in. Once I’m
there he won’t be able to resist my charms and I can really get
pregnant by him. By the time the child is born, my husband will be
back in love with me again.”

It was a plan only a bitch would devise.
Even I would do some shit like that to make a man stay with me. I
had to admire Erin for her determination, but I felt bad for that
asshole husband of hers who was obviously too nice to fall for her
shit.

I didn’t make a sound as Mackeroy and Erin
walked away laughing at their so called “genius” plan.

Going back into the bathroom, I didn’t know
how to feel. I was a little happy because now I didn’t have to hurt
Mackeroy’s heart. In a way, this made it very simple for me to kick
him to the curb because he had been using me all along.

But I knew I had to get out of there, so I
found my jacket. When I reached for my bag, I made the mistake of
picking it up wrong. The papers inside landed on the bathroom
counter, giving me the opportunity to see that I still hadn’t
combed my hair yet.

Reaching over to pick up the papers, I
happened to look at them in the mirror. I couldn’t believe what I
saw.

Sroban…Spelled backwards was Nabors!

Not only did I know who was trying to
backstab Earl, I now knew who Theo’s wife was.

Entry Thirty-Seven

Before I left, I was able to sneak into
Peter’s office and look through his files to get information on
Mackeroy’s company. This was after I downloaded all the information
I needed on a flash drive.

When I was out of the office, I broke into a
run towards the main street and caught a cab home. If Mackeroy was
looking for my car to move, I was not about to let him know I had
been anywhere near the office today. Plus, driving while so damn
happy that I had Erin by the balls was dangerous to my health.

Once I got home, I allowed myself to think
about everything. I also noticed that Mackeroy had called my phone
over twenty times since I’d been gone and had left three messages.
All of them pleading more and more for me to call him or he would
get the police. I didn’t return the calls because I really didn’t
want him to know I was home yet.

But I did call Theo. I wasn’t sure if I
wanted him to know that I knew Erin was his wife and that she was a
slut and a deceitful little bitch. When he picked up the phone, I
instantly decided not to tell him because of his tone of voice. He
sounded so pathetic.

“What’s wrong?” I asked in concern.

“Sheryl, I was just about to call you. I
just finished speaking to my lawyer.” Theo paused a moment. “I
wanted to let you know that this weekend was fabulous, but…we can’t
see each other anymore.”

“Why? Is this about your wife?” I
questioned.

“Look, Sheryl, you do mean a lot to me. And
everything I said this weekend was the truth, but I decided to stop
the divorce decree and stay with her. I can’t see you and her at
the same time.” He sounded like a man in true pain.

“She’s lying to you, Theo. Whatever she
said, she’s lying to you – I know –”

He cut me off. “Sheryl, I know you want to
be with me. Dammit, I want to be with you, but I just can’t.”

“Before you do anything crazy, Theo, why
don’t we meet? Please!” I insisted, knowing I’d never convince him
over the phone where I’d just sound like a desperate woman who
didn’t want to lose her man. I was and I wasn’t going to hide from
that truth. But right now, no matter what I said, Theo wouldn’t
listen and only think I was lying.

He took a moment before agreeing. “Tomorrow.
Where we first met.”

“Thank you,” I said in relief. I was
saddened when he hung up the phone after whispering a painful
goodnight.

After printing off the information I had, I
called Cassandra’s cell phone. I felt real sorry that I hadn’t had
time to sit and speak with her about her husband’s cheating, but
still wanted her to know what was going on.

A man answered Cassandra’s phone in a
standard but irritated greeting.

“Hi, can I speak with Cassandra?” I said,
using my business voice. “This is her manager.”

“Oh, so you’re the one who’s got my wife
thinking she’s better than everyone else, including her own
husband.”

I heard Cassandra in the background
demanding that he give her the phone. Maybe I called at a very
wrong time, because I could just feel this man’s hatred for me.

“Or,” he said evilly. “Is this the woman
who’s got my wife thinking I’m having an affair?”

“Look, sir,” I said firmly. “I just called
to speak to Cassandra about some business-”

“You are having an affair!” Cassandra cried,
still in the background.

“Cassie, you have lost your mind!” he
seethed at her. “What the hell have you done to my wife?”

That question was directed at me. I was lost
for words, because I was always trained not to butt in a couple’s
argument.

“Look, I don’t know what you’re talking-” I
couldn’t finish that one because Cassandra screamed in frustration,
almost blasting my eardrums out.

“How could you not be cheating? Just the
other day, you were whispering on the phone to your boy about how
you know you’re still in love with her.”

“Her who?” her husband asked.

“Your ex-girlfriend who you see behind my
back!” There was so much pain in Cassandra’s voice. It sounded
thick and low, but I could hear her loud and clear.

I was becoming angrier and angrier by the
second, knowing that this man had hurt a woman who had become a
very good friend to me.

Cassandra continued through deep sobs, “Just
because you never say her name to me, don’t think I don’t know who
you’re talking about.” She burst out crying. “I love you, Ricky,
but I’ve known I could never compare to her. I didn’t try though
‘cause I felt you loved me in a different way. But now I know you
love her more than me.”

The sorrow in Cassandra’s voice almost
ripped me to pieces. He had hurt her feelings and I wanted to kick
his ass and his other woman’s ass for making my assistant hurt like
this.

“Put her on the phone,” I demanded of her
husband.

“No! Because I’m not going to let you
convince my wife I don’t love her. I may have had some doubts
lately and shit happens between old friends.”

“So you did sleep with her?” I yelled,
getting angry at him.

Cassandra had asked the same question
simultaneously.

“I only propositioned her, but she refused!”
he said in defense.

At the same time, Cassandra and I both said,
“You asshole!”

There was a long moment of silence after
that.

“Hello?!” I said frantically, thinking the
husband had hung up on me. I was so enraged by his betrayal to his
wife that I couldn’t see straight.

“Hello?!” I said again. “You better had not
hung up on me!”

In the background I could hear Cassandra
crying. Then I heard her husband’s voice, which suddenly sounded
too familiar as he asked, “Sheryl? Is this you?”

Entry Thirty-Eight

It took a moment, but I cleared my head of
the anger I was feeling long enough to recognize that I was
speaking to Rick.

Rick!

My best friend from college was married to
Cassandra, my new assistant! Damn! I couldn’t believe what a small
world it was!

“That’s her?!” Cassandra asked devastated.
“Oh my gawd! All this time-”

I heard footsteps rescind.

“Cassie,” Rick cried.

From what I could hear, I knew he was moving
around. I was pretty much not in control of this situation at all
since all I could do was hold the phone and listen.

“You’re blowing things out of – Cassie!
Fuck!”

“What happened?” I demanded to know.

“She just ran out, took the car and left. I
have no fucking idea where she’s going.”

“Rick, did you cheat on her?” I asked.

There was a moment’s pause before he
pathetically admitted, “Yes. When you refused, I went somewhere
else.”

“Why?” I asked in desperation, really
wanting to call him a stupid idiot.

He sounded very ashamed. “I don’t know,
Sheryl. I’m weak. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not me you need to say sorry to.” I
hung up the phone and called Rahem. I didn’t have my car and I
needed a ride.

Rahem was happy to pick me up and was there
in minutes. I packed up all the information I needed in my brief
and told Rahem to take me to my office.

“I’ve missed you,” he admitted as we
drove.

I smiled sheepishly. “I’ve been busy.”

“With whom?”

I blushed. “What makes you think that,
Rahem?”

“I can see it in your eyes, Sheryl.” He said
my name in that funny way that made it sound so nice.

“He’s someone that you don’t know.”

“He’s a lucky man.”

He took my hand and kissed my knuckles.

I had mad respect for Rahem because nothing
else needed to be said. I knew I had a friend in him forever.

When he dropped me off, he said he would be
in the area for a moment if I needed a ride back home.

I thanked him and went up to my office. Soon
as I got to the front doors, I saw Cassandra. She didn’t have a
master key, so she just stood there crying sorrowfully.

How had I known she would come here? I
figured she would go to the only place she felt good about herself;
despite the fact that she now knew I was her boss and also the
source of her emotional anguish with her husband.

“Cassandra,” I called, walking up to
her.

“Stay the hell away from me,” she
snapped.

“I never slept with him,” I told her,
ignoring her orders.

“Do you really think I believe you?” she
asked incredulously. “All my marriage I heard about how great you
were. The perfect girlfriend. Anything and everything a man could
ever want in bed. And how he regrets allowing you to leave. Sure he
never said these things to me, but I’d hear him speak to friends
about you or whispering your name in the night with a need I
couldn’t quench.”

I’ve done a lot of shameless things in the
name of sex and pleasure, but I knew I had no control over a man’s
desire for me over his wife.

“But in all that time, I never slept with
him. I wouldn’t sleep with a married man.” Again, not counting Theo
since he was almost divorced. Peter was a non-entity by this time
since I never actually slept with him.

“Ha!” Cassandra screamed. “You’re a home
wrecker! Peter’s wife confided in me. She told me that she knew you
and Peter were having an affair. He called out your name when he
was having sex with her.”

On my lawd! I couldn’t deny that Peter had
been intimate with me, but I had never been intimate with him! Yet
I didn’t know how to really explain it other than to be honest.

“Cassandra, I have never and would never
have sex with Peter. He was on my shit list and I made him… well, I
made him go down on me because I thought it was a way to get back
at him. But I think the man actually started to enjoy it.” I huffed
in frustration. “I swear to you that I would never do anything with
Rick because even though I had never met you, I still had mad
respect for you and Rick’s marriage. When Rick propositioned me, I
refused him because I knew it was flat out wrong and we weren’t
that type of friends anymore.”

Cassandra wiped the tears from her eyes and
looked at me hard, as if searching for the truth. Finally she said,
“You think I should leave him?”

A feeling of elation swept over me because I
knew then that Cassandra believed me. That really meant a lot to me
to be her friend. “I can’t decide that matter, but I know Rick
still loves you and he’s sorry for any hurt he may have caused
you.”

“I don’t know what to do,” she said
soberly.

“Think it over before making any rash
decisions. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

“Not about staying,” Cassandra clarified. “I
want to stay with him, but I want revenge for what he did.”

Hesitantly, I said, “I could give you a few
ideas.”

Cassandra smiled. “I’m listening.”

Using my key, I opened up the door and we
headed to my office. Erin and Mackeroy were gone so we had time to
ourselves.

Not only did I give Cassandra a few vengeful
ideas, but I also told her about the information I had on Erin. And
about how Mackeroy had been using me all this time. I even told her
about Theo.

“You know she’d love to fire you,” Cassandra
said.

“I’d love to see her try,” I shot back
determinedly.

“Her husband? Oh wow!” Cassandra looked
flabbergasted and also relieved that I wasn’t involved with her
husband. “Do you know how she’ll feel once you turn this all into
Earl? You’ll have her man and Earl will promote you to her
position, so you’ll take her job, too.”