Beautiful

by Kiexiza Rodriquez

  ***

  “Ms. Rodriquez, your 10 O’clock is here. Would you like me to send in a 360?” Terri announced quietly. A 360 was Terri’s way of saying fix your face boss, this one is gorgeous!

  “Thank you, a 180 would be better.” That meant give me five minutes.

  “Ms. Rodriquez will be with you in a few minutes, Mr. Townsin,” Terri cooed, slightly blushing. All the other secretaries in the office suddenly needed to use the copy room, which just so happened to be adjacent to Tierra’s office. There was a sudden rush of estrogen in the air as they giggly walked by her waiting area.

  “OK ladies, this isn’t a Chippendale’s show,” Tierra chastised, standing in her office doorway. She turned towards Mr. Townsin to apologize for the commotion and was taken back. We need a new level 360 isn’t high enough for this man She thought to herself.

  “I’m sorry for that,” she began, and she stuck out her hand to greet Mr. Townsin.

  “It’s ok, Mrs. Rodriquez. They must like to see you work,” he replied, acting as if he didn’t know the commotion was in his honor.

  Mr. Townsin followed her into the office and she turned motioning for Terri to gather the refreshments. Just before she closed the door to her office, she smiled devilishly at the ladies in the copy room doorway.

  Mr. Townsin was about 6’3”, maybe a 36”waist, Tierra thought, standing behind him briefly, sizing him up. He had short brown, curly hair, gray eyes and a natural tan complexion. He was a nice looking man she thought, though she couldn’t tell what nationality he was. Italian, Hispanic, African-American, he had that kind of complexion that reminded her of Vin Diesel? He wore a blazing Charcoal gray suit with a black, gray and white striped shirt underneath and a pair of black dress shoes. His cuff links were gold with the initials MT on them. He smelled of Burberry cologne, which was his first strike, as it was one of Tierra’s least favorite scents on a man.

  “So, Mr. Townsin,” she finally began, motioning for him to sit in one of the two black Captain chairs that sat in front of her desk. She walked behind her desk and sat down in her own black Italian leather upholstered chair.

  “What can I do for you, sir?”

  Mr. Townsin unbuttoned his jacket and sat down in the chair. He placed his briefcase on the small round table that was positioned in between the two chairs and pulled out several file folders.

  “Mrs. Rodriquez, we have been clients of Baxwell industries for many years now. It is with great regrets that I have to admit that the economy has hit even our bottom line. In the past year our market earnings reports have shown drastic drops. Unless we figure out a way to pull ourselves out of the red, we won’t have to worry about Mr. Baxwell pulling our account; we will be out of business. Mr. Baxwell, being the businessman that he is, has agreed to try to help us out. That is where you come in, I suppose,” he shrugged his shoulders, rolling his eyes. He stood up and dropped the large pile of files on Tierra’s desk. The pile of about ten to fifteen manila folders blew a breeze back at Tierra, as they landed on her desk and fell all over.

  “This is the paperwork from our last six quarterly reports covering the last two years. I don’t know what your boss can do, but if you just have him get in touch with me if he needs anything else I will be glad to provide whatever he needs,” he reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a business card and reached to give it to Tierra.

  She sat back in her chair behind her desk, staring at the pile of fallen folders, in disbelief. ‘Not again. ’, she thought to herself.

  Soon thereafter, Terri knocked on the door and walked in with some coffee and mini treats. Tierra looked at the pile of folders on her on her desk, then at Mr. Townsin, who had lost the advantage of being handsome, and now was just a red fiery blur in Tierra’s path. He smiled at Terri as she walked over towards him. He reached out and picked up a mini muffin off the tray.

  “I’m sorry Terri, you must have miss understood me. These are for Mr. Baxwell,” Tierra interjected, quickly making her way over to Terri and Mr. Townsin. She removed the muffin from his hand before he could breathe on it and replaced it on the tray. “Terri, please bring Mr. Townsin the other refreshments and take these to Mr. Baxwell.”

  Terri walked confusingly out of the office. She felt the breeze of the door as it slammed behind her quickly and knew at once, Mr. Townsin must have played the, I thought you were the secretary or assistant to the MAN in charge , game. They hadn’t had to deal with that since Tierra became head of the M.M. & E. Department. But Terri also knew she better retrieve Mr. Baxwell, immediately, to save poor misguided Mr. Townsin from Tierra’s wrath.

  With Terri gone Tierra motioned for Mr. Townsin to sit back down. She followed him over to her desk and leaned against the front of it, so that she was standing in front of Mr. Townsin. She lifted her left black pump and shoved it in the chair where Mr. Townsin was sitting, without warning and with so much force she nearly crushed his chance at fatherhood. She leaned over, peering at him through an icy gaze and folded her hands on her knee.

  “Mr. Townsin, I’m not sure who you thought you were coming in here to meet and talk with today,” she said, leaning back and lifting the pile of folders off her desk. “But I know for a fact that you called my secretary to make an appointment with me. Ms. Rodriquez,” she dropped the folders onto his lap, smiling as they fell off his lap onto the floor. “Maybe, what you should do is, go back to whoever sent you here, and ask again who you were supposed to be meeting with. And don’t return until you are certain!” she stood erect, and motioned for Mr. Townsin to leave her office. He slid out of the chair, kneeled on the floor and began to pick up the folders that were scattered around his feet.

  “I’ll have those messengered to you. Now, you have yourself a great day.”

  Confused and dazed by Tierra’s words, Mr. Townsin gathered himself and walked out of the office. As he walked out, Mr. Baxwell was coming down the hall with Terri.

  “Hello, Mr. Townsin, I hope our Ms. Rodriquez here was able to give you some helpful guidelines. She’s the best we have,” he said, smiling and wrapping his arm around her tightly.

  “I… um… It seems I didn’t have all the information I needed. I’ll have to set up another appointment, once I have all the correct information. Who, where can I do that?” he asked, stuttering, avoiding eye contact with Mr. Baxwell.

  “Well sure Mr. Townsin. Right this way sweet heart, I can help you out with that,” Terri squealed, from behind the trio. She made her way over to her desk and flipped through the 8x11 sized appointment calendar. Once they agreed on a date, she handed him a business card with the date on it. “Now, if anything comes up you remember to give me a call 24hours ahead of time to cancel ok?”

  Mr. Townsin barely nodded, taking the card from Terri’s hand. As he walked off, his head still low. Mr. Baxwell, Terri, and Tierra, laughed softly.

  “I don’t believe him,” Tierra finally blurted out.

  “I’ll call Thomas tomorrow and tell him about it.”

  “Don’t worry; let the poor man keep his job. You know me sir, I can handle his type.” In her three years at Baxwell Enterprisez Tierra had encountered all types of sexist and biased men who didn’t like having to answer to a woman. She had a way to deal with them, a way that left them with their some of their pride, but also showed them her strength.

  “By the way Tierra, you’ve been back a couple of weeks and I haven’t heard anything from you about the contents of the envelope. Did you not like it?”

  “Oh no sir, it’s not that. Actually, with all that went on when I was on vacation, I came back to work and just jumped right in. The envelope is in my drawer, I haven’t even opened it. Is it time sensitive, sir?” she asked, becoming curious as to what she may have missed out on.

  “Hmm, well yes, and no. Don’t worry about it tonight. But by the end of the next week, I need to talk to you about it. You should take a quiet moment, and look at it… closely.”

  Tierra tilted her head, her curiosity was
now peeked. What was Mr. Baxwell up to this time?

  “Yes sir, will do.”

  Mr. Baxwell headed off to his office while Tierra walked to enter hers.

  “Terri, you can go early if you like. I have that meeting with Mr. Turner tonight at JC’s, so I’m leaving early to get ready. Have you called to verify the car for tonight and the reservations?”

  “Yes, everything is all set. Good night, Ms. Rodriquez. Have a nice evening night,” Terri said.

  ‘A nice evening? It’s business, not a date. It’s never a date, not for me.’

  If You’d Just Give Me a Moment