Who Flipped the Script

By Martha T. Rivers

This book is about a beautiful, ambitious, and adventurous young single lady with a nine-to-five professional job stressing in the dating world of men wanting to have a good time to their advantage, with no commitment, and this handsome, successful, strong, middle-aged lawyer whose ex-wife, Mia, finds herself at his mercy and comes back into his life unexpectedly, bringing loads of drama and excitement as well as laughter with her diva drama.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493177547

Book preview

Chapter 1

Natalie suddenly wakes up, Monday morning, with Chad, her boyfriend, lying there, sleeping beside her. Natalie reaches for the clock and sees that she is late for work. The night before had been like so many nights before, Chad calling saying he was on his way to her place and then showing up many hours later in the wee hours of the night with the same excuse: Baby, I got caught in a game of spades with the fellows and just lost track of the time. You know how that goes. Natalie realized that this was getting old, along with some of Chad’s other bad habits and unthoughtfulness, and deep inside, she could feel her patience with him wearing thin. Natalie puts the clock down quietly and reaches for the phone then quickly jumps out of bed to call her office. While brushing her teeth, she pauses to call her friend Camille, who works on the desk beside her.

Please, Camille, please, answer the phone, she says to herself as the phone rings in their office.

Ring.

Luckily, Camille answers the telephone.

Good morning. May I help you? Camille says.

You sure can. How are you this morning, Camille?

Girl, I am fine. What about you?

I am running late again. Can you cover for me until I get there?

Camille clears her voice. You know Ms. Chancellor has gotten real strict with that tardy policy, and you’ve been cutting it pretty close here lately, girlie, she says, trying to keep her voice low so that Jennifer wouldn’t hear her.

Just cover for me. I’ll be there shortly.

OK, try to get here in the next twenty minutes. Ms. Chancellor is still in her meeting, so you have about twenty minutes to be at your desk.

Thanks, Camille.

Just remember, you owe me one. Now be careful, but hurry.

OK. I will, Natalie replies. Natalie feels happy knowing she has a friend like Camille that has her back. Having a friend like Camille gives her a different attitude as to what her day would be like, considering the way it had started, but she would have done the same for Camille anytime, and Camille is aware of that fact. All that starts bad doesn’t have to end bad, she thinks to herself. Now to get to work.

As Natalie quickly brushes her teeth, she grabs the comb and combs through her hair. She puts on lipstick, knowing she doesn’t have time to do the whole makeup deal, thinking, I am glad I wear makeup because I want to and not because I have to. The world can take me without makeup one day of the week. And she makes her way into her bedroom quietly to not wake Chad, who is sleeping like a baby with a pillow over his head.

Natalie goes over to her closet and pulls out her dress she wears on days like today—a dress that goes anywhere, with anything, and she could always depend on it to fit perfectly, with no ironing and no fuss. Now where are those shoes? she thinks to herself. Yes! There they are.

Natalie steps into her shoes, grabs her bag and keys, and says to herself, I got to get out of here.

As Natalie attempts to walk out the bedroom door, she reaches down to give Chad a quick kiss. Chad rolls over and reaches up and begins to pull her back into bed. Natalie playfully pushes Chad away.

Stop, Chad! You’ve already made me late for work. I’ve got fifteen minutes to get to work.

In spite of what others see and think of Chad, she loves him, and she feels he cares for her in a way that is hard to put into words. But what can you expect when you fall in love with a player? Chad is one of those good-looking guys with a swag all his own, the kind of man that you hate to love but who’s so irresistible that it’s hard not to. He is the kind of man that makes a woman feel good with him, wanting to step to them even if it is for a little while. Natalie is a smart woman, and she knows exactly what and whom she wants. And she wants Chad, so she kind of goes along with him because, of all the women he had appealed to and that he had flirted with, she knows she is the only one he claims as his lady. She feels she is rearing him in slowly, and with a man like Chad, it seems worth it. He is a college graduate, and he likes nice things and doesn’t mind sharing them if he likes you. He is part owner of a fitness center, so you can imagine the body on this man. He is of average height, lacking nothing, if you know what I mean. He is also a full-time broker, and business was booming, so money is no issue. This is a man with so much charisma the average unsuspecting woman wouldn’t even believe he is a player, because he is so smooth. With a man like Chad, you just want whatever transpires between the two of you. You just want to believe that it’s for real.

Chad looks up at Natalie and says, Come here, baby, just for a minute. You know you want to, don’t cha?

Natalie pulls away. Stop, Chad! I do have a job, you know.

Chad smiles and lies back onto the bed. Tell that boss of yours your man, Mr. Swinger, said ‘Don’t work my woman too hard ’cause we still got some unfinished business.’

Natalie walks out the door, whispering under her breath, Man, you are a trip. I’m outta here. Lock up when you leave.

Chad hears the door close behind Natalie and just throws the pillow back over his head. Natalie rushes to her car, and just before she can get to her car, she sees her neighbor Elaine coming toward her, finishing her morning run. Natalie speeds up, trying to get to her car quick to avoid a long conversation. Elaine stops long enough to do what she does best—meddle. Although Natalie doesn’t mind getting the scoop, and she really does like Elaine, she just doesn’t have time this morning.

Elaine looks at Natalie and says Somebody’s running late again, I see as she continues to run in place as not to lose her flow.

Natalie looks at Elaine and says, Oh, hey, girl. I know I got to do better than this.

I know that’s right, Elaine says. You’re going to have to start sending that man of yours home at a reasonable hour or, better yet, have him come at a reasonable hour so you can get up and get to work on time. Mondays are the worst.

Natalie feels herself getting flushed and her hurriedness turning into anger. But Natalie is determined not to let this situation get the best of her and take her in another zone that would prolong her tardiness, so she thinks to herself, I’ll just let her have that one and just concentrate on getting to work.

Elaine stops and begins to stretch as Natalie gets into her car.

I guess you are right, Natalie says, deciding to pick her battles this morning, knowing she doesn’t have time to win this one anyhow. Natalie knows that Elaine is in one of her talking moods and not about her own business either. Natalie quickly gets into her car.

Well, I got to get to work, she thinks.

Natalie looks at her watch and says, Oops, just look at the time. Gotta go.

Natalie closes the door to her car and says under her breath That’s one nosy bitch and drives off.

Sometimes Elaine could really get on a person’s nerves, being so nosy and all. Her husband is away in the army, and she has a young baby. Her sister would come to visit from out of town every so often to give Elaine a break. Elaine is home alone with only the baby to talk to, and she is the only one talking. Laila, her little girl, would happily give her an unknown word or two from time to time, but after a whole week of just her and the baby, Elaine is ready for some adult interactions. When she finally does see Natalie, she is ready to talk and get whatever gossip she could, whether it be Natalie’s business or whoever’s. But this morning, Natalie just didn’t have the time or energy to pacify Elaine with a lot of conversation.

Natalie turns up the volume on her radio as she makes her way through the traffic, and of all songs that could have been playing, the song is the song that had been playing the night that she and Chad met. Every time Natalie hears that song, it brings back memories of that night and what Chad had said and how he had done all the right things to sweep her off her feet. By the time she landed, she realized that she had fallen for a player.

Chad had changed a lot over the past year but not enough, and Natalie had made it quite clear countless times how she felt. But Chad just continues to make promises—promises that he barely keeps—and excuse after excuse for his cheating behavior. But Natalie is a patient woman willing to take a chance and give Chad a chance to get past his playfulness, because she knows that getting a man is no problem, but she wants what she wants, and sometimes, that takes a little more effort, especially with a man as fine as Chad. But Natalie and Camille both know that Chad is just skating by on a banana peel, but he doesn’t seem to know or care until he is called out on one of his ordeals. Time is catching up with their relationship. It is only a matter of time. Natalie chooses to believe that time is in her favor, because she loves and wants her and Chad to end up together on one accord.

Driving into the parking lot where she works, with the words to their song in her mind, Natalie looks down at the clock in the car. Goodness, I got three minutes to get to my desk! Luckily, she is now pulling into her parking space and getting out of her car, heading for her office door.

She says to herself, I think I am gonna make it. Whew!

Chapter 2

Natalie walks into her office, where Jennifer is on a call and Camille is sitting at her desk on the computer. Natalie enters the room with a quiet Good morning, ladies as not to bring too much attention to her lateness.

Camille looks up at Natalie and waves her hand and says, You’re free to join us, Ms. Jamason. You still work here, don’t you?

And they all laugh.

Jennifer hangs up the phone, happy to see Natalie, this being her last day of work for Jennifer, eager to begin her pregnancy leave. Good morning, Natalie. I was afraid I wouldn’t get to see you before leaving today.

Well, I am here, just running a little late, you know. I was determined I was gonna be here on your last day. It was me who told you you were pregnant in the first place, says Natalie as she sits down at her desk, trying to position herself to look like she had been there all the while.

And you were so right, Jennifer says, rubbing her stomach with her hand. Jennifer works at the front desk and is leaving on that day for her leave. Her stomach is big and round, and she looks like she is about to pop any minute, but she has that beautiful glow of a healthy woman with child about to deliver. She is definitely ready.

Natalie says to Jennifer, If it had been me, I would have made Friday my last day after the baby shower.

Jennifer replies, I would have, but I had a few things I needed to finish, but am all done now. Don’t ask me to thank you girls for all the nice things you gave me on Friday for the baby. I really got some awesome stuff.

Camille, looking over at Jennifer, says We all came to your shower and brought gifts, but it was our old faithful friend Natalie here that did most of the planning and decorating with a big smile, looking now at Natalie.

Thanks, Camille, but I couldn’t have done it all without the rest of you guys, Natalie says, happy that the ice had been broken and she could get on with her day but thinking to herself, No more mess up for me today. I made it over the hump.

By this time, the three girls were busy at work at their desks when all of a sudden, Ms. Chancellor, their boss, walks into the office. Ms. Chancellor is a no-nonsense kind of a woman that knows her job and makes sure everybody else is doing theirs. She had been married at an early age after graduating from college and lost her husband and never remarried or had any children, so the rumor is that this advertising firm is her husband and her babies, so we all know how far to go. We know very little about Ms. Chancellor’s private life because she manages to keep that to herself, but we do know enough to know that the people she socializes with are totally out of our league. She is a good boss, a very compassionate person, but she believes in getting the job well done, and we all like getting paid, so we all try to march to the music, but there are exceptions, like Natalie’s being late time after time. Camille knows that things happen to the best of them, but Natalie is carrying this a bit too far, but still, they all would stick together and look out for one another because Ms. Chancellor is the boss and they are the employees and no one knows when their bottom might be on the line because things happen. They would look out for each other, keep their mouths shut, and things always worked out for everyone, but it does bother Camille that Natalie’s ties with her boyfriend, Chad, are so tight that it has thrown her better judgment off track.

Ms. Chandler walks into the office and stops in the middle so that the whole office would have a full take of her. She is always dressed especially well, just the way you would picture a classy, smart boss to be dressed—big round wide-rim glasses that make her look like one of those women in a commercial that would leave her nine-to-five with her sporty red Mercedes letback top sedan waiting outside for her to get off work so she could jump inside and loosen the bun in the top of her head and shake out her hair, letting it fall, then take off the glasses and color her lips with fire-red lipstick and head for happy hour at some exclusive VIP lounge to meet her friends. Ms. Chancellor is a good-looking, highly paid, Wall Street-looking businesswoman; she is a woman who keeps her business her business, and from where we are sitting, it looks like she had it all together. A woman who keeps the rest of us on our toes, she believes in keeping the office code of dress in perfect tact.

As the ladies look at Ms. Chancellor, she begins to pass out information from the meeting as she speaks to the ladies, Good morning, ladies. This is information I received from the meeting to share with you. Read it. And then she puts her hands on her hips and says, If you have any questions, I’ll be in my office. Ms. Chancellor turns to leave then stops and turns back around and says, And by the way, Jennifer, those reports should have been finished and on my desk on Friday. Is there a problem?

Jennifer answers back, No, Ms. Chancellor. I had them ready on Friday, but your door was locked.

Ms. Chancellor nods her head as if to say she understood, and she says, Just make sure they are on my desk before you leave today. And, ladies, I will be out of the office the rest of the afternoon. Handle all my calls. And, Jennifer, we will be checking on you from time to time.

Thank you, Ms. Chancellor, and thank you for that beautiful stroller you gave me for the baby. That’s a really big gift that Don and I don’t have to buy.

You’re welcome, Jennifer, Ms. Chancellor says. Just take care of yourself.

I will, Ms. Chancellor, Jennifer says.

Ms. Chancellor turns to leave the office, and Jennifer picks up the reports and goes behind Ms. Chancellor.

Camille looks at Natalie and says, Now that’s one woman that loves her job.

They both laugh, and Natalie says, Which one?

They both laugh again. Natalie takes her hand and wipes across her forehead and says, Whew, I barely made it.

Camille gets out of her seat and walks over to Natalie’s desk and pauses in front of Natalie and says, Can’t you see what’s happening? That man of yours is keeping you up all night and tiring you out to the point of you not getting to work on time. You’re late at least three days every week, and, Natalie, that’s not right. If you weren’t my friend, I would keep quiet, but you are, so I won’t. What kind of man plays jeopardy with his woman’s career?

Camille, I know you are right. I am gonna have to tell him that Sunday nights are off-limits because Mondays are hard enough as it is.

Or better yet, all nights, Camille blurts out.

Natalie looks at Camille with a look of frustration and says, Why don’t you just handle your business and let me handle mine?

Camille puts her hand in front of her, looking at them as if counting her fingers, and says, Chad business is bad business. Does this Chad have a job? she asks.

Why, yes, he does, Natalie comes back at Camille. Chad is a full-time broker and a part owner of a fitness center.

OK, now I see how this works. Chad goes to work when Chad wants to but makes you late for yours. You got to let that man know you got a boss. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that there is something wrong with this picture, says Camille as she walks back to her desk.

Once you get to know him, you’ll like him, Camille. Wait and see.

I don’t mean no harm, Natalie, but I am not really interested in getting to know Chad like that. That’s your boyfriend. Doesn’t mean he and I have to be friends too. Enough about Chad. What did you decide about my Valentine’s party, Natalie?

I am waiting to see what Chad has planned.

Chad, Chad, Chad—don’t expect us to like each other, Camille says.

Don’t worry, Camille, I don’t remember hearing Chad say he needed to be liked by you.

Camille goes back to her desk, sits down, takes out her lipstick and mirror from her bag, looks into the mirror, fixes her hair, and slowly puts on lipstick, preparing to go to lunch. Camille looks over at Natalie and says, You, my friend, best get busy. Ms. Chancellor’s got that ‘Whom do I fire today?’ look on her face, and today, you are the least common denominator.

They both laugh and start working.

All jokes aside, Camille, thanks for covering for me. Now we’re even.

Not really, states Camille.

Natalie