Where Would I Be Without You - By CJ Hawk Page 0,101
road with a flat, and my car drove itself into a ditch!”
“Oh my! Listen I am in L.A., but I can call the local tow service, Walker Towing. Listen I don’t have my phone list on this adorable new phone I just got. Call information and ask for the home number of Bob Walker, and if he isn’t there, call the Walker Café. Bob and Cindy run the main local eats. Listen I gotta run, my Bob, my fiancé Bob, just walked in. I think I told you that I am engaged to be married. If not, listen, I will call tomorrow to see how you’re settling in. Have any problems, call Cindy at the cafe, and she’ll set you right up. Bye now!”
The click of her call was all I heard. The fast smooth talk, from the prom queen high on love and engagement, and then click, she was gone. Just like my life. Just like the moment I walked in on my lover and boss, Hugh Finley, of Morris, Parks and Finley Law Firm –my employers. Hugh was doing some type of desktop tango with non-other than his snotty, always deviant, secretary, Ms. Nelson. Little petite domestic diva, Ms. Nelson, who always seemed to forget that my personal messages needed to get to the top of the pile to Hugh. Moreover, the second I saw him pounding his secretary, in the sexual tense, over his desk it all came clear. The constant need for him to be working later hours, with new clients I never heard of, in board meetings.
His only explanation, as I laid my notice of leave on his desk, was that his secretary meant nothing to him. He just saw her as the perfect housewife to his attorney lifestyle, and I was the one he truly loved. That they could make this threesome work. Wow, that was the blow that sunk the titanic. I had to wonder what I ever saw in that man.
My tough thick skin attitude that I acquired through my life from being raised by a poor single mom did not allow the emotions to surface. I just laid my resignation on his desk and turned with my already packed suitcase and two letters of recommendation from the other partners, which were good, as long as I did not sue the company. Along with a nice year's salary pay, to hush my lips while I was at it.
I knew the drill and heard of it happening to others, but never did I think it would happen to my street-smart brain. If this is where romance and love led you, in the ditch, on a county road to a Podunk town in the middle of rancher land, then I did not need love or romance anymore. I just needed a short leave of absence to clear my head. The six-month lease I had to sign was not one I intended on staying in the full time but would pay the renter out. I was very happy to find out that my landlord left the house fully stocked with essentials and furniture, letting me leave most of my belongings in storage. That should make my temporary transition of what to do with my life next, that much easier. At this point, I didn't know if I wanted to go back or move forward and start anew somewhere else.
Just as I dialed information, the brightness of headlights illuminated my car, and it looked like a tow truck. ‘Thank you guardian angel!’ I spoke to myself to reassure my nerves. I wiped my eyes of any mascara runs and ran a few fingers through my messy hair.
Things were looking up, and I was bound and determined to get back on my feet.
If I had not known better, I would think that I had found the male version of the chattiest and friendliest man on the face of the earth. With only two hundred or so questions under his belt firing off like a machine gun, I had to smile.
The way he greeted me by name, I could only assume that Julie had reached Mr. Walker, proud owner of Walker Towing and Walker Café with a small cattle ranch at the end of town.
His round face and balding head matched his round body and chubby hands holding on to the steering wheel of his towing truck as we drove slowly into town.
I was not sure how many of his questions I wanted to answer but the man