Chapter 18 Chevy
Chevy
I waited by the phone for the rest of the week and through the weekend.
Crystal called three times to see if I’d heard back from La Fleur Industries. Noah called too, but I wasn’t even trying to speak to him. I knew the only conversation he had for me was about the rent money, and I wasn’t trying to have that talk…again.
I took that phone with me everywhere, even when I went to the bathroom to take a shit!
And finally, on Monday, it rang, and Dante’s voice came through the other end, shouting, “Chevanese, congratulations! You’re hired!”
I did a little jig right there in the middle of the living room and silently promised God that I would not fuck up!
“Thank you so much,” I said to Dante.
“Can you start tomorrow?”
“Of course I can.”
***
I arrived at La Fleur Industries dressed in my sharpest Burberry suit.
My hair was so slick a fly could have ice-skated across it.
Of course I’d called Noah and begged and pleaded for him to wire me some money ASAP.
I had to listen to a lecture, which included him calling me every kind of bitch there was.
I had to swear on my mother’s life that I would start paying him the back rent I owed him as soon as I got my first paycheck, and he even wanted me to promise to name my first child after him.
“Fine,” I said, ’cause I knew I wasn’t making no babies!
***
When I stepped off the elevator, I already had my shoes off and handed them over to the waiting geisha girl.
Jheri, the receptionist, greeted me with a hug and said, “Welcome to the family,” before she pressed the magic button beneath her desk that opened the secret door.
I floated down the hallway toward Dante’s office. He was waiting outside it, the palms of his hands pressed into his cheeks as he beamed like a proud parent. “Welcome to the La Fleur family, sweetie,” he squealed, then wrapped me in a tight embrace.
I wasn’t used to all of this affection, especially not in the workplace, but I guessed that I would become accustomed to it in time. I hugged him back.
“Now your office is right across from me,” he said as he took a few paces across the hall and pushed the door open. It was small but comfortable. The walls were soft yellow with white moldings around the doors and windows. There was a glass desk and a leather swivel chair.
Next to my flat-screen computer monitor was a small bunch of gardenias. I walked over and plucked the card from between the leaves. “Congratulations, Chevy. I’m looking forward to a long, wonderful working relationship. Anja.”
There was a potted palm near the row of floor-to-ceiling windows, a flat-screen television on one wall, and a chaise lounge against another.
The floor was covered in ecru-colored shag, and, somewhere, incense was burning.
“Behind that door is a walk-in closet,” Dante said, pointing. “And in here”—he sashayed across the room toward the other door—“is your bath suite.”
As I pushed the door open, my eyes were treated to the most beautiful bathroom I had ever seen outside of a magazine or MTV Cribs . “Wow,” I said as I walked into the suite.
I knew before I even touched them that the walls and the floor were marble. I took in everything: the toilet, bidet, sauna, and Jacuzzi tub.
“All the fixtures are gold,” Dante said proudly.
“Really?” I said as I ran my fingers down the neck of the sink faucet.
I didn’t understand why it was I needed a full bathroom suite or a walk-in closet. But who was I to complain, right?
“Anja is in Los Angeles right now; she should be back tonight. She’s hosting a party at Siboney at eleven. Do you know the place?”
My eyes popped. Who didn’t? Everybody who was anybody knew Siboney. It was the swankiest private club in New York City and sat right in the belly of Harlem. Rumor had it that former president Bill Clinton was one of the people who had backed it. But that had never been proven.
“Sure, I do,” I said, already feeling the excitement build.
“Well, there are some last-minute things you must tie up before tonight. Anja has emailed you a list. Your sign-on and password are on your desk.”
“Okay.”
“Of course, you’ll be at Siboney tonight as well.”
Yes!
“It’s a white affair. Your outfit is in the closet.”
“?’Scuse me?” I said. This was really too good to be true.
Dante smiled. “We take care of most everything for our employees here at La Fleur.”
I just grinned. This was going to be the best fucking job ever!
“So I’ll leave you to it,” Dante said, and turned to leave. “Oh yeah, lunch is at noon. I’ll pick you up and take you to the cafeteria,” he threw over his shoulder before walking out and pulling the door shut behind him.
God had really come through for me this time. I was the luckiest woman in the world.