CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
After eating a homemade soup with William that tasted wonderful to Joy, she put the dress she planned to wear tomorrow over her arm, grabbed her heels, and then grabbed her backpack that contained her undergarments, toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash and purse.
Then William showed her to the guest room upstairs.
When she saw how big and magnificent it was, and how it had a wood-burning fireplace in it too, she could hardly believe she was going to sleep in a room that grand. She smiled and was about to turn and tell him so, but his phone began ringing.
He looked at the Caller ID. “It’s my CEO,” he said. “Which usually means trouble when he’s phoning this time of night. Which also means I’ll need to take this call. Make yourself at home. I’ll be back in a few,” he said as he left the guest room.
“Is it resolved?” Joy heard him saying as he closed the door behind him. He walked further down the hall, out of earshot, but still on the third-floor landing.
Joy at first sat on the bed and waited for him to return so that he could give her instructions.
She didn’t want to ruffle anymore of his feathers that night.
Not after the way he dressed her down for trying to give a job to somebody else when she wasn’t in the door herself yet.
But when ten minutes turned into twenty, she wondered if he had forgotten about her the way he forgot about Felicity.
So she forgot him and headed to the ensuite bathroom. She loved the look of that deep tub he had. It was like a spa tub. And she couldn’t resist it.
She closed and locked the door, and took her another hot bath, this one even more relaxing than the one at her apartment.
But when she got out of the tub and dried off, she realized she failed to bring one important item: something to sleep in!
But she knew she could sleep in her undergarments if it came to that. Especially since she brought extras of that. No gown to sleep in, but plenty of panties. She smiled and shook her head.
Then she cleaned the tub, put back on her jeans and t-shirt, and made her way back into the bedroom to wait for William to show up.
But when she opened her bedroom door just slightly and could hear that he was still on the telephone in what sounded like a very tense, animated conversation, she closed the door once again and sat back on the bed.
She wasn’t very tired – she was used to long days.
But she was very emotional. Because she was praying she hadn’t blown the opportunity of a lifetime with all of this side stuff.
He had to be regretting his involvement with her.
First the fact that a man of his stature had to go to a jail to get her didn’t help.
Then he took her all the way to Bridell and brought her right back.
Then her presence caused him to have to get rid of his girlfriend or lady friend or whatever she was to him – which she knew really didn’t help.
And the way she had the nerve to ask about him hiring Contessa too when she wasn’t even in the door yet just like he said, was a mark against her judgment too.
And then when she claimed that she could just leave when they both knew she had nowhere to go in that town, didn’t win her any brownie points with him either. He had to be tired of her.
She pulled out her phone and saw that Contessa had texted her twice while she was taking a bath. She phoned her. She picked up seemingly on the first ring.
“Joy, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
“Where are you? I went by your apartment when I got off.”
“I’m back in Chicago.”
“What? Why? How?”
“I got the job.”
“What job?”
“The job I went to Chicago to get five weeks ago. With that card William gave me.”
“But wasn’t he the one that had you arrested?”
“No! He didn’t even know I was arrested until tonight. That’s why I’m back.”
“But you said you couldn’t wait to leave that town. You said as soon as you got out of that jail, you were hog-tailing it back to Indiana.”
“And I did come back. But then I came back to Chicago.”
It sounded crazy to Joy too. But how could she explain it?
“Where are you now?”
“I’m at William’s house.”
“The man that’s supposed to give you a job? The man that left you in jail for five long months?”
“He was out of the country. I told you he didn’t even know I’d been arrested.”
“So he says.”
Joy rolled her eyes. “Whatever Tess.”
“But you’re at his house now?”
“Yes, Tess, that’s what I said.”
“I thought it was an office job. Now it’s a job at his house?”
“It’s not. . . That’s not what it is. I mean, it is an office job. And I got the job.”
“You got the job?”
“Yes!”
“Then why are you at his house?”
“It’s a long story, but I’m good.”
“I know you are. But is he good?”
Joy smiled and shook her head. “Yes, Mother Contessa, he’s a very good man.”
“How would you know that? You just met him a month ago. Ah man! Wait a minute.”
“What?”
“Is he trafficking you, Joynetta?”
Joy was in disbelief. “What?”
“Is he a human trafficker, you heard me?”
“No! It’s nothing like that.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s a job. I have to be at HR by eight tomorrow morning so I’m staying over in William’s guest room. That’s all it is. I’ll sign the paperwork for the job in the morning, I’ll get a start date, and then I’m coming back home to get my affairs in order for the big move.”
“What big move?”
“The move to Chicago where the job is located, Tess, are you listening to me?”
“Are you listening to yourself?”
They both exhaled. Their whole conversation was emotionally draining.
But you’re okay for real?” Tess finally asked her. “Because if you’re not I can get there.”
Joy knew she couldn’t get anywhere in that broke-down van, but she appreciated her anyway. “I’m good,” she said. “No need to worry.”
Contessa let out an audible exhale. “Okay good. So you’re coming back tomorrow then?”
“Yes. I’ll get William to lend me bus fare and I’ll be back.”
“You don’t even have bus fare girl?”
“I had it when I went in to jail, but it was gone when I left.”
“They figure they can do anything to criminals. That’s why I don’t never wanna get locked up.”
“Amen to that.”
Then they small-talked about what was going on at Maylene’s a little longer, and they talked about Gramps and his growing forgetfulness, and then they ended the call.
And Joy, getting tired for real now, laid back on the bed with her feet still on the floor.
Waiting for William who told her he would be right back. Over an hour ago.