*Andrea*
“Dave,” I called, surprised. It has been so long since I last saw him.
He was equally surprised to see me. Although we may not have been friends, we had spent a reasonable amount of time together.
“Anna?” Dave called my name. He looked the same, his blonde hair falling on his face.
“What are you doing here?” His eyes seized me, up lingering on my stomach. He raised a brow, and I tried to smile.
“I’m sorry you have to see this, sir. I was just telling her to leave, so we can say she is just about to leave,” the lady said.
She was still hell-bent on sending me away. “But I did well; you didn’t have any issues with me until you noticed I was pregnant,” I said in my defense.
Dave’s eyes moved from me to the lady as we spoke in turns.
“You sent her away?” He asked.
“Yes, sir. She is pregnant, and we can’t hire a pregnant woman for the job. She passed the first interview, but there’s no saying she will even pass the second.” The lady said.
“So you mean she is compatible for the job?” He asked.
“She should be. But she is pregnant.” She just couldn’t stop emphasizing that, which made me wonder if she had never been pregnant at her age.
What does she have so much against pregnant women?
“Well, I don’t think hiring a pregnant woman is against the company’s policy, or is it?” Dave asked.
“No, sir. But it’s just that-”
“That’s it then. We’ll have the interview with her. Being pregnant is no issue as long as she is capable.” Dave said. I let down the breath I didn’t know I had been holding.
“We’ll have a fair interview.” He declared. I knew he was trying to say the interview would not be interfered with by the fact that he knew me.
I was glad he was here. I wanted to stick out my tongue and wiggle it at her, ‘Here I won.’ but I held myself back.
Dave was going to be the judge for today. He sat behind a table with the lady at his side.
I was surprised he wasn’t shocked when I was referred to as Andrea. He just sat there and asked questions, and I answered them, feeling proud of myself.
“You are hired.” Those words have been on my lips since I came here. I was overjoyed. I tried not to shout, leap out of my chair, and dance around the room.
“Thank you so much. Thank you.” I kept saying while standing.
“We could have lost a perfect worker because of you.” he scolded the lady whose name I had come to know was Lucy.
She had a sorry look on her face as she held her head low. I don’t blame her, though. Some people aren’t cut for picking gems.
“I’ve worked with Miss Andrea Wilson before, and I know she is a good worker. The interview was just functionary. I didn’t want to seem partial when I hired her.”
“Pregnant or not, she’ll do a good job, and I am sure you can testify that she deserves the job. Right, Lucy?” Dave asked.
“You are right,” she turned to me and said, “I’m sorry I had judged you because you are pregnant.” She apologized. I smiled at her, accepting her apology.
I was too happy to stay mad at her. They don’t know what this means to me.
I can finally assist Alison in paying the bills. I can finally move to a better place. I had feared that I would not be able to give my child the good life he deserves.
I was shown my desk that day and asked to resume work the next day.
Dave waited for me.
I was surprised when he said he’d like to catch up. “Thank you,” I said. I was now in his car.
Catching up was not really what I wanted to do, but I knew I had to. Since he was the boss, there was a possibility that we’d be seeing each other more often.
“for what?” He asked.
“The job,” I said
“No, don’t thank me. You passed on your credit, it had nothing to do with me, I just hired a capable worker.” He said.
“We spoke about different things, such as the cars on the highway. The cool breeze amidst the hot weather.
We spoke about everything but were careful not to talk about the past.
It was like we both knew that it was not a subject I wanted to talk about. But I knew I would not be able to hide or run from the topic forever.
He took me to a restaurant.
“They make home food here.” He said. It wasn’t like those fancy restaurants. There were a few people there.
Knives and forks clicked on the plates.
“The food tastes amazing,” he said. I nodded. My eyes moved across the restaurant, which was plastered with posters of different dishes.
A loud laugh could be heard from a table at the side with three boys who looked like they had just reunited after a long separation.
The sweet smell of different delicacies hung in the air.
“What do you want?” Dave asked me.
“Whatever you have,” I said, “I don’t know about their food here, so I trusted he would pick the best for both of us.
We spoke about the food, and he asked if I wanted juice, but I said no. “I’ll have just water,” I told him.
“This has to be the best food I have had in decades. How can anyone cook so well?”
“I told you. They are the best here,” he said, and I had to give it to him.
“I didn’t expect to see you there.” He said.
I took a sip from my water and wiped my mouth with the disposable napkin on the table.
I hoped we would skip this topic.
“Well,” I paused and continued, “I didn’t think I’d see you here either,” I said.
“Yeah, this is actually where I live.” He went ahead to say, “I went to Florida for some business.” He said.
“Oh. I never thought about that.” I said.
“How about you? What are you doing here?” He asked, “It seems you came to stay.” He noted that already. Well, it was already obvious since I had picked a job from his company.
“Yes,” I said.
“You no longer work for Alejandro?” It was more like a statement than a question.
“I think we both know the answer to that,” I said at that moment. One of the waiters bought a plate of Apples slicked nicely, and we stopped talking.
“On the house.” I thanked her as he walked away.
“Why? What happened?” he asked, and I remembered when he had stuffed his card into my hand and asked me to call him whenever I changed my mind and decided to work for him.
“Well, it’s just that…” I paused, hesitating.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want, Andrea.” He said, taking one of the apples and crunching them.
It took me a while for the fact that he just called my name to register. It had rolled off his tongue perfectly without hesitation.
“You know my name?” I asked.
“Well…” he looked at me, then slowly kept the fork he held.
“I know that.” Honestly, I was shocked. It came as a big surprise. How had he known when Alejandro had not?
“I knew your name wasn’t Anna.” He said.
“What else did you know?” My interest was suddenly piqued.
“That you had a relationship with him, after dating his son.” I would have left my mouth hanging if I wasn’t crunching apples to make this look less awkward for me.
“How’d you know?” I asked.
“Well, that’s my little secret.” He said, sending me a smile.
He must have done his part. He must have done his research on me.
“Did you break up with Alejandro?” He asked.
I wanted to be honest, “yes.” Did it matter who had ended things? What mattered was that things had ended between us.
“And you are…” he paused, his eyes moving to my stomach. He did have to say the word.
I emptied my glass of water, suddenly wishing it was replaced with alcohol. I’d love to drink my sorrows away.
“Yes. It is what you think.” I said.
“Does he know?” He asked.
“No. I didn’t tell him.” I said.
“Why? Don’t you think he’ll want to know? He has the right to.”
“He doesn’t care. It’s best that he doesn’t know.” I said, I figured we’d be seeing more of each other, “I hope you wouldn’t tell him.” I said
“You sound like I’m his friend,” he said, taking a sip of his wine.
“I came to start a new life with my child. I’m grateful that you gave me the job.”
“You merited that. I mean the job.”
“We’ll be seeing each other quite a lot, so I hope we get along,” I said.
“When have we never?” He asked.
“I am totally on your side. It’s no business of mine why you are here pregnant, and it certainly has nothing to do with me that he doesn’t know. All that matters is that you are fine, and it is what you want,” he said.
Why was he so understanding?
I thanked him.
He offered to drive me back home, and I didn’t refuse.
We spoke about different things. He gave me enough tips on what I needed to know about the company.
I was amazed at how gentle he was. He was rich, filthy rich, and was so down to earth at the same time.
“Thank you for today,” I said when he pulled up in front of my house.
“Do you want to come in, for maybe a cup of tea?” I asked.
“No, I think I’ve been away from the office for enough time.” He said. I agreed with him and waved him off.
I inhaled a scent of breath as I watched him leave.
“Who was that man? Don’t tell me you banged someone with that bump,” Alison asked, ready for some spicy gist, but I had none to share.
“He is a friend,” I said as I flung my bag to the side.
“Come on, girl. You are always lip-tight. You have no friends here, remember? Well, except me, and I’m right here in front of you,” Alison whined, not ready to take no for an answer.
“Who was he?” She proved further.
“Now, you don’t even want to know if I got the job?” I asked.
I dropped on the sofa.
“I got the job,” I said, though that wasn’t what she asked. But she was equally happy for me.
“I told you we’ll have something to celebrate.” She said.
She hugged me tightly, “Life would never stay hard forever. This is just the beginning of change.” She said.
“I know,” I said, hugging her back. She was my biggest source of motivation.
“I am to resume tomorrow,” I said.
She released me from the hug.
“Nice.” She brought out her phone and started typing on it. “We’re having a feast today.” She said she was ordering food.
“We can’t afford that yet.” I reminded her. “Let’s celebrate after I get my first paycheck,” I suggested, but Alison wasn’t having that.
“You can pay me back after your first paycheck,” she said, her hand typing fast on her phone.
I was glad she wasn’t probing about Dave anymore.
She ordered so much food accompanied by soda.
When the night started nighting, I began missing someone I shouldn’t.