Chapter 3

 

      The following morning the phone rang four times before I answered. I cleared my throat, “Hello.”

      “Good morning Miss Rise and Shine. I called you a couple of times last night. Where were you?” Tony asked.

      “Morning, Baby. I went out.”

      “Out where?” he asked with an investigative tone. Tony was a Criminal Justice major and will question me until he gets a satisfactory answer.

      “I had dinner with a few coworkers.” I made my voice sound as monotone as possible. “It’s our last week working together and we celebrated. Sorry I missed your call.”

      “I don’t remember you telling me you were going out.”

      I faked a yawn long enough to collect my next thought. “I wasn’t planning on going, but they kept insisting. No big deal.”  Not wanting to linger on the subject I asked, “How was your date with Jake and Don?”

      “It wasn’t a date, smart ass. And we had a good time. Stopped by a club, drank some beers, threw darts, watched a wrestling match, and that was it.”

      “Hold on, Baby, someone is calling on the other line. Hello.”

      “Ash!”, Laurie said with urgency. “I saw Tony out with girl last night.”

      My heart dropped.

      “What!” I shouted. "Hold on!” I switched back to the other line.

      “Tony! Were you out with another woman last night?” I asked loudly. The groggy monotone voice was gone.

      “What!” What are you talking about?” His voice escalated over mine.

      “Laurie said she saw you out with another woman last night!” My heart pounded hard.

      “Now, wait a damn minute Ash. She probably saw me talking to Jake’s cousin, Angie. She tagged along with us.”

      “What did she look like?” I paused to rip into him.

      “Hell, I don’t remember. Short, short hair, kind of stocky looking.” Tony realized he was defending himself and stopped. “Why?”

      “Hold on.” I pressed the flash button and returned to Laurie.

      “Laurie, what did she look like?”

      “Girrrl… she was short, about 5’2, a little on the stocky side. Had short hair with a bad ass cut, kinda cute. She had on black pants, a black top that had a sexy see-through crochet design in the back. I didn’t see a bra strap… and she wasn’t sagging either. And…"
      “Laurie! You’re not making me feel better.”

      “Okay…okay. She was wearing black shoes, gold hoop earrings, and…”

      “I’ll call you back.”

      “Okay.”

      I switched back to Tony.

      “Uh…Baby…”

      “What!” he snapped, biting my head off.

      I let a few seconds pass. “I’m …sorry.”

      “Do me a favor Ash. Tell Laurie she needs to mind her damn business!” Click.

      “Damn!”

*******

      The internship ended and I returned to Baltimore to a not-to-happy Tony. After convincing him that I was not the insanely jealous type, we moved forward with our relationship. Toward the end of my senior year, I was engaged; and secured a full-time job as an accountant with Ross & White’s Baltimore, Maryland division.

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