“No work. Just food.” Celeste gives her best impersonation of a cave man, “Me hungry.”
“All right.”
As Celeste retrieves her wallet from her brief case, she pads across her office to go to lunch with Jayla
“So where should we go? Dave’s or Country house?” Celeste asks Jayla as they take the elevator to the first floor.
“I don’t know. You pick.” says Jayla.
“Hmm, I pick Dave’s. You got your walking shoes on? It’s such a marvelous day I feel like getting some fresh air.
Jayla simply points down at her feet with her oversized purse strung over her shoulder. Jayla giggles as she sees the look of surprise on Celeste’s face when Celeste notices that Jayla is wearing a brand new pair of Nike running shoes.
“So you bought a new pair of running shoes, hmm?”
“I thought about getting a pair of walking shoes, but I figured if I really wanted to keep up with you then running shoes would be the only way to go.”
Arriving at one of their favorite luncheon spots, they are greeted by the regular lunch host. Requesting a table for two, they are led toward the back of the restaurant and seated in a large booth.
Celeste is grateful for the friendship that she has found in Jayla. At first, Celeste was worried that it would be hard to be friends with someone who is your subordinate, worried that it would affect her employee’s ability to stay on top of her job and not begin to slack off just because she had become friends with the boss. But her fears were put to rest as Jayla, over the course of the past couple of years, has continued to do an exemplary job as a secretary whilst the two of them have become friends.
Jayla had the ability to tackle tough assignments, work long hours when it was requested of her while never once slacking or shirking any of her responsibilities. No doubt, this could only be contributed to the fact that Jayla was a Christian. She believed in good, hard, and honest work.
After ordering one of her usual meals, Philly steak and cheese sandwich with a side order of fries and a vanilla shake, Celeste excuses herself to go to the rest room. Returning to the table, Jayla and Celeste begin to shoot the breeze and talk about Jayla’s boyfriend Rodney. Jayla has been hoping for some time that Rodney will propose but is beginning to feel discontent with the lengthy time he is taking. “I know that he loves me,” says Jayla, “I just can’t figure out what’s taking him so long to pop the question?”
“Maybe he just needs a little more time, Jayla. He’ll get around to it, don’t fret.”
“Deep down, I know you’re right. It’s just reassuring to hear you say it. You have very good intuition when it comes to men. I remember when you told me to dump Charles because you got the impression that he was the cheating type, only to find out two days later that he was making a play for someone else.”
“I try to go with the first impression I have. Usually it’s right on the money. Although, I must confess that I have been wrong on more than one occasion,” admits Celeste.
Just at that moment, inspiration strikes Celeste, and she thinks of an ad campaign for the fragrance company that has recently approached Vines and Robert’s about doing a work up for a new fragrance they were putting on the market in early November.
“Jayla,” Celeste asks, “Did you bring your note pad?”
“Of course.”
“Great! Jot this down for me, will yah?”
Jayla reaches into her oversized handbag and retrieves a spiral note pad and pen while saying with a smile, “And you wonder why I carry such a bag with me when I’m with you.”
Celeste begins to randomly dictate her ideas about a campaign that will involve a series of commercials entailing a woman’s intuition about men. It will entail several men flirting with her, trying to ask her out and such, but she will turn them all down. After her rejection, the commercial will need to cleverly show why she turned them down and why they were unworthy of her attentions. The series will culminate with her finding her ideal man and match, knowing instantly that he is the one for her. They will wed at the end of the campaign.
Just as Celeste comes to the end of her dictation, their food arrives. With the arrival of their food, the talking goes to a minimum as they both begin to hungrily devour their food choices. After finishing their meal, Celeste pays the bill, thanking the waiter for excellent service and tipping him generously.
The walk back to the office, with the gentle afternoon breeze coming in off of the ocean, is soothing and comforting, like a caress from God’s hand. The ladies walk in companionable silence as Celeste continues to mull over ideas for the campaign.
Entering their office, Jayla says, “I’m going to go to the rest room then I’ll pick up the messages. After I transcribe the notes from short to long hand, I’ll bring them in to you.”
“OK.” Settling back into her black leather office chair, with her feet crossed on her desk, Celeste closes her eyes to allow her mind to visualize the commercials more vividly. Thinking out loud, as she usually does when she is deep in thought, Celeste says, “The campaign goes hand in hand with the name of the fragrance, ‘Intuition’. And with what the director of the company has in mind, ‘a woman who is smart, savvy, sexy, and independent, yet soft, and alluring’. In short, an all-around diva.
Instead of a typical Paris, France, setting, although that would add a romantic appeal, I want the footage to be shot on US soil, so that the target audience, women ages 21 to 32 will be able to imagine themselves as the woman in the commercial.
After pitching the idea upstairs and getting their approval, we will need to begin holding auditions so that the series will be under way by the scheduled time. I’ll need to talk to the director and find out how many ads they would like there to be in the series. I personally think it should culminate two weeks before Christmas.”
Looking at her desk calendar she turns to the pages for the month of November “With the ad breaking mid-week the first week of November that leaves approximately six weeks of ads. I think we should run each new ad for two weeks with them overlapping each other by a week. So I figure six ads total. Shot in different parts of town. Different approaches from men. Different classes of men. And as a grand finale, we will launch with the Monday night movie special, a mini series of commercial. All six will play back to back. Now I will need to get on the phone to the local network and find out if they have slot openings available for such a feat.”
A knock on the door brings Celeste back to the present time. “Here are the notes from lunch and the messages,” says Jayla as she places the papers on Celeste’s desk.
“That was fast.”
“It’s been about 45 minutes,” says Jayla as she looks at Celeste with a confused glance.
“Has it really? I’ve been thinking more about the new ad campaign. I’m really excited about it. I must have lost track of time. Thanks, Jayla.”
When Jayla exits Celeste office, Celeste looks briefly at the messages before making notations on how Jayla should return calls and then placing them in her out box on the corner of her desk. Returning her thoughts to the new ad campaign, she begins to incorporate her initial thoughts from lunch with the vivid pictures of her mind.
Outlining the scenario for each individual commercial, Celeste decides to take a walk to the art department to discuss the new ad with Harry, a brilliant artist and ad visionary.
“I’ll be back, Jayla,” Celeste announces as she emerges from her office. “I’m going to see Harry.”
“OK.”
A few short minutes later, Celeste is standing on the thresh hold of Henry’s office door knocking.
“Come in,” Celeste hears Harry say through the door.
“Hey, Harry,” Celeste says with a wide smile upon entering Harry’s office.
“Celeste, my favorite advertiser. How are you? I haven’t seen you around lately.”
“I’m blessed Harry. No complaints from me.”
“That’s great. So what can I do for you?” H
arry asks.
“I’m working on the fragrance ad for Holsen Inc. I wanted to come and discuss with you my ideas for an ad campaign that will run like a mini-series.” Explaining thoroughly the image she has in mind for each commercial, Celeste’s enthusiasm grows with each sentence she speaks.
When she is finished explaining her vision to Harry, he is in awe. “I have never heard of such an idea. But if anyone can pull it off, it’s you. So what do you need me to do?”
“I’m going to research next to get them to look for location suggestions. What I need from you is a graphic designed setting for each commercial so that I can have something to show the board when I approach them with this. You think you can come up with something for me by next week?” Celeste asks.
“Well I guess there’s no rush. Of course I can. But it will cost you. Big time.”
“What do you say to dinner at Le Chef’s if the big boys accept my proposal?”
“You’re on. I’ll run rough drafts by you on Wednesday to make sure I’m on your page,” says Harry.
“Awesome, Harry. I knew you could do it.” Exiting Henry’s office, Celeste calls over her shoulder, “See you on Wednesday then.”
After visiting the research office to get them started on location hunting, Celeste heads back to collect her belongings.
Entering the outer office, Celeste notices that Jayla is not at her desk. Celeste finds Jayla in her office placing messages on her desk. “Anyone important call while I was away?” asks, Celeste.
“No, just Jenny and some guy named Stephen. I wrote his number on the message. Who is he? He sounds handsome.”
“He is,” Celeste says. Before catching herself, none too quickly, the comment escapes her lips before she even thinks about what she was saying.
“You sly thing you! You’ve been holding out on me. How dare you not tell me you met someone!?!”
“Well I wouldn’t really call it meeting someone. I barely know him. I just met him at the concert with Jenny last night. And then after letting Jenny talk me in to going to the after party, I ran into him again at the club. I don’t think nothing will come of it though. I don’t trust him.”
“But you said he was handsome,” Jayla continues.
“Yeah, so. That doesn’t mean that I trust him.”
“No, but it means that you’re attracted to him. Or at least you were at some point.”
“So?”
“Do you remember what I was telling you today at lunch? Your instincts are right on Celeste. You have to go with them.”
“Being right one time doesn’t mean that I have good instincts.”
“All right then. Suite yourself. Well it’s quitting time. Are we leaving on time or working late?” asks Jayla, sounding slightly put off by Celeste.
“No need to work late this evening. It is Friday after all. You go on home and have a good weekend. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Alrighty then, Boss. You have a good weekend too.” Exiting the inner office door, Jayla pauses on the threshold and looks over her shoulder at Celeste. “And give Stephen a call,” she says and then immediately closes the door shutting off any comment that Celeste would have made.
As Celeste sits at her desk pondering the last few minutes that she has spent talking to Jayla, she wonders if she should call Stephen. Do I have good instincts? If I do, then are my instincts trying to warn me to stay away from him or is there some other reason that I don’t want to call him?
Before long, Celeste finds her head spinning with never ending questions. I would call Jenny and ask her opinion, thinks Celeste, but I have a feeling I already know what she’s going to say. She’ll tell me to go for it, cast caution to the wind and have a good time. But then again, perhaps Stephen might have said or done something after I left the club to show the true jerk that he is, and that would put all questions out of my mind.
Chapter Eight
“I’ll call Jenny,” says Celeste to no one but herself, “before making up my mind.” Picking up the telephone receiver and punching out the number to Jenny’s salon, Celeste then waits while the phone rings.
“Jen’s beauty salon. This is Jenny speaking. How may I help you?”
“Hey Jenny! How’s your day going?”
“Great. Are you ready for the weekend?” asks Jenny.
“Not as ready as I’m sure you are. What are your plans for this weekend?”
“I’m meeting up with Mario. They’re doing a show in Vegas tomorrow night, and he has invited me to come along. He’s going to put me up in a hotel room so that we can spend the day together on Sunday.”
“A hotel room, but you hardly know him,” exclaims a shocked Celeste, “What are you thinking?”
“Relax, Celeste. It’s not what you’re thinking. I’ll have my own room.”
“But how can you trust someone you barely know?
“Well, who said I barely know him?” whispers Jenny. “After you left last night,” she continues, “I spent quite a bit of time with him. We talked Celeste. I mean, really talked. For the first time in my life I felt like a man could actually understand what I was saying, could understand what makes me tick. It was nice. I can’t wait to see him again,” Jenny finishes on a sigh.
“You sound like you really like him.”
“I do Celeste. I think we could have something special.”
“Well, if you’re happy, then I’m happy for you.”
“Speaking of something special. Have you talked to Stephen yet?
“Well, not exactly,” Celeste says quietly.
“What do you mean not exactly?” presses Jenny.
“Well he’s only been able to leave me messages, and I haven’t had the opportunity to call him back yet. I’ve got this brilliant new idea for an ad campaign,” and Celeste proceeds to briefly fill Jenny in on her idea.
“Wow, that sounds great, Celeste. But you know what they say. ‘All work and no play makes Celeste a exceedingly dull girl’. You should call him. He’s really interested in you.”
Celeste responds sarcastically, “Yeah, I bet he is.”
“There you go again, always thinking the worst of men. And you’re pushing twenty-nine none the less! Hello! It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.”
“Jenny, I don’t always think the worst of men. I just haven’t met any worth thinking good of.”
“Celeste, I’m your girl right?”
“Yeah,” Celeste responds cautiously, knowing that she might not like what she is about to hear.
“So listen to me for a second. I’ve stood by and never once passed or pronounced judgment on the decisions you make about your personal life. But this time I feel pressed to tell you...” Jenny says before pausing, not sure if she should continue.
“Tell me what?”
Having gone too far to turn back now, and not seriously wanting to, Jenny continues, “You need to get over your father and what he did to your mother. Not every man cheats on his wife.
My father was faithful to my mother for the entire length of their marriage, right up ‘til he died when I was thirteen. Although some might consider that a young age to understand the value of marriage, I don’t. I know my father loved and adored my mother. He thought she made the sun rise and set.
It is because of him that I believe in true, unselfish love. And one day I’m going to find my Mr. Right and settle down with a few youngins. If I haven’t found him already,” Jenny adds to lighten the tone.
Continuing, Jenny adds, “I suggest that before you give Stephen the brush off, you sit down and take inventory of yourself and make sure that you’re making the right decision. Now, that’s all I have to say about that. You’re not mad are you?”
“Mad? Of course not. How could I be mad at you over something like this? It takes a true friend to sit you down and tell you when you might be making a terribly big mistake. And I promise that I will think about everything you said.”
“Man, if I would have known that you would take it s
o well, I would have had this talk with you years ago. Not the whole conversation as it refers to Stephen, but definitely the part about getting over your father.”
Both ladies laugh.
“So, when are you leaving for Vegas?” asks Celeste, trying to change the subject.
“I’m leaving tomorrow on the 11 am flight from LAX. Why do you want to come with me?”
“Sure. Not!”
“I didn’t think you would, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”
Celeste asks, “How can you get away tomorrow? I thought Friday and Saturday’s are your busiest days of the week.”
“Well, they are. But I figure I have enough ladies working here that I can take time off now and again. Between my regular three ladies and the new girl I hired a few weeks ago, I think they can handle it.”
“Do you need a ride to the airport?”
“No, Mario is taking care of everything. Thanks for asking though.”
“Well, have a fun. Call me when you get back and let me know if you had a good time.”
“Will do.”
As Celeste hangs up the receiver, she begins to replay in her head what Jenny said to her over the phone. Speaking out loud to herself, Celeste says, “For someone who thought she had it all together, I guess I really don’t.” Now what?
Rising from her chair with frustration, Celeste growls, “I hate feeling this way.” Celeste much prefers to have everything neat and tidy in a little box.
Knowing firsthand that life is rarely so predictable and neat, Celeste decides to do something that she has never once done in all her twentyeight years of existence. She’s going to take a chance. Besides, what can a telephone call hurt? Situating herself back comfortably in her chair, she says, “I can always hang up.”
Picking up the piece of paper which Jayla wrote Stephen’s phone message on, Celeste picks up the receiver with a trembling hand and quickly punches in the number before she loses her nerve and doesn’t call. Celeste comes within a hairs breath away from removing the phone from her ear to hang it up just as the number she has dialed begins to ring. She stops short as she hears a masculine voice say, “Stephen.”
A Wife for Stephen Page 7
