Mari met with Callini about her start date. She'd transition with the current division finance manager for a few weeks and then it was her ship to sail. The division had arranged for her to look at several flats near the office and several in outlying areas within a half hour of the office -- all in very nice neighborhoods; a choice of automobiles; and other perks that were truly mind boggling. All of those were quite well-deserved and it thrilled me to watch her surprise as she unpacked the entire compensation package. We talked about what it meant as we enjoyed a light lunch.
"Mitchell?"
"Yes baby?"
"I felt so foolish running up to Gerard's office after you left...."
"Okay. So what happened?"
"Something in my brain snapped and the cool finance pro was suddenly a teenage girl again...I felt alone, hurt and angry. I told Gerard how I felt about you and that I didn't want to go to London that he needed to find someone else..."
I watched her face as she chattered away nervously trying to justify herself when I finally asked, "What did he say?"
"He told me to sit down and be quiet for a minute so he could talk..."
I laughed, "You do get hurried and chatty when you're nervous..."
She glared at me, "I was upset..."
"I know. So what did he say to you?"
"He admitted to a conspiracy to put us together and that you were on assignment in London for a month." She took my hand and breathed out, "I was so embarrassed when he told me how Katherine, Janice and he had worked out this collusion to put us together." She tightened her lips, "Mitchell, he said that we're the only two people in the company who didn't know that we're in love with each other..."
"I've known it for a while..."
"Why didn't you say something?"
"I couldn't for a lot of reasons. I've been married and you haven't. I'm older than you. And...I didn't want to create a situation where you felt I was sexually harassing you and...frankly I was worried about how you truly felt about being involved romantically with a white guy," I stroked her beautiful face.
"You've thought long and hard about us..."
I nodded, "So what's your excuse?"
"I don't have a good one, except I've had bad relationship experiences and...well...our racial differences were a huge part of it. You said you've known it for a while do you mind saying how long?"
I listened to her and took a deep breath, "Race is always an issue for people who make it an issue. Frankly I like dark skinned women."
She rolled her eyes, "How well I know..."
"Do you remember that day about eight years ago when you finally came over to the health facility at corporate after a few months of my urging you?"
"I do."
"I watched you walk around with the trainer, taking notes, asking questions while I was circuit training..."
"I was watching you too..."
I blushed, "Well I saw how you made that trainer feel a part of the corporate world by taking a serious interest in what she was saying. She went from a stern, severe expression to laughing and sweetness within a few minutes of your being with her there. I liked your tenderness with us and when I saw how easily others came to you and you treated them so well you had me. My grandfather told my father that you can always tell the character of a man by how he treats those who can nothing for him..."
She gasped in an audible breath, "Mitchell." She whispered out my name and squeezed my hand. "You do that all the time. The girls adore you because you care about them, genuinely care about them..."
We were quiet for a while letting our lunch get cold and finally I smiled, "When did you know?"
"That first moment you walked me through the forecasting model that we were using that was 'fractured', as you called it and you acted like I was the most important person in the building. You spared no detail as though I understood everything you were saying. Plus you do something else. You never ever look past the person you're talking with to see who else is nearby. You've always made me feel special..."
"Because you are special to me..."
"No it's more than that. That night I had a date with Desean, who was the flavor of the month that I'd met at the NABA (National Association of Black Accountants) monthly gathering the previous month. Well, my mind wasn't on our date and he got ugly toward me for talking about this 'math whiz' that we'd hired to update our forecasting systems. I'd let it slip about you being white and that was all he needed to hear. I told him to take me home. He fussed and fumed all the way using language I'd never heard or even thought about. I got out of his car and ran for the door. He called me a 'white man's whore'," she looked down at her hands and then up to me.
Her words burned my brain and fire up my anger, "Son of bitch!"
"It's okay Mitchell...I figured out later that I was really telling him how to treat me that you had treated me the way I always wanted to be treated as a woman -- you respected my intelligence and didn't talk down to me -- you asked me what I thought...what guy does that? No, he was just like all the other assholes I'd dated looking for what wasn't there. I've had more than one guy call me a lesbian because I wouldn't tumble into bed with him. Then there's that stupid, damn statistic out there that says something like 'a woman past 30 who isn't married is more likely to be killed by a terrorist than to get married...' I had that used against me more than once."
"Mari, sweetheart, why don't you go to the hotel and get some rest? I'll be over in a little while to snuggle up to you so we can soothe each others' rough places," I leaned over to kiss her forehead and she put her hand behind my head and pulled me to her lips, kissing me slowly and thoroughly. "Maybe I'll go with you..."
We broke our kiss and returned to the office to collect our things. I went to the office I was using, shut down the PC and packed my brief case. Sitting down at the desk I called Gerard. "Katherine...hi...yes it's Mitchell...she's calmed down. I love you and Janice for what you've done for us. Is he in? Sure I'll hold." Mari came into my office, closing the door. She sat in the chair across from my desk -- she formed her lips into a kiss and kissed the air toward me...whew! I was in over my head here, "Hi Gerard. It's going well. Oh yeah, she's right here holding part of your scalp...just teasing. Thank you. The model is smoking away right now even as we speak. I'll need to cross the Channel on Monday to Bruges. Yeah, same issue. I tried to email the update to them but they're resistant to that they want to talk eyeball-to-eyeball. I will -- day trip. Sure I'll ask her. I can do that but I'll leave that to Mari. She knows what she likes. Thank you Gerard. Do you need to speak with her? Okay. I'll tell her. See you in a few. Bye now."
