Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 by Claudia Hall Christian

chance,”
Delphie said.
    “ I don’t know
how…”
    “ We have plenty of room,”
Delphie said. “Let him take a room in the basement. Let him prove
himself to you and the children. If he can’t do it, then move on.
But at least give him a chance.”
    Sandy shook her head slightly.
    “ I can’t think about this
now. I have a hearing in…”
    Sandy went to the door of her room.
    “ We have to leave in ten
minutes!” She yelled.
    “ Ok,” Nash
yelled.
    “ I’m ready,” Noelle said
from the living room.
    “ The children love you,”
Delphie said. “You’re their mother, for now and always. It’s a soul
contract. Don’t abandon them.”
    Delphie hugged Sandy.
    “ You’re a good woman.
You’ll make the right choice,” Delphie said.
    “ Speaking of choice,” Sandy
said. “Can I do your hair? Dead people really need better
hair.”
    “ They do? I hadn’t thought
of it.”
    “ Of course, dead people
need near perfect hair,” Sandy said. “You haven’t noticed that
Celia’s hair is better now?”
    “ It is better,” Delphie
said. “You’re right.”
    “ How about tonight?” Sandy
said. “I’m working on Val’s hair. I can do it tonight.”
    “ What about
Aden?”
    “ He’s not disrupting my
plans,” Sandy said. “You want to be his dead guardian, knock
yourself out.”
    “ I like the way you think,”
Delphie said.
    ~~~~~~~~
    Wednesday mid-day — 12
noon
    “ I was just about to order
your lunch, Mr. Marlowe,” Evette, the new secretary
said.
    “ Uh.”
    Jacob looked up from the bid he’d been
reviewing. Wearing a skin tight pink silk dress, his new blonde
secretary swished her way across his office until she stood next to
him. She shifted her hip so it brushed his arm. He rotated his
chair back and away from her.
    “ Thank you, but I’m having
lunch with Blane. He and his wife are bringing Mack
into…”
    “ Hey,” Blane said at the
doorway.
    Evette wrinkled her nose at Jacob then
swished out of the office. Blane stepped aside for her to
leave.
    “ What was that?” Blane
asked.
    “ I asked for someone to
fill in while you’re out,” Jacob said. “The office manager, said
Evette was really eager to help out. She’s a little too eager. You
know?”
    “ Glad Heather didn’t see
that little interaction,” Blane said.
    “ Nothing happened,” Jacob
said.
    “ You’re bright red. Her hip
was pressed right into your face. When I walked in, you move away
from her,” Blane said. “Yeah, it’s not what happened
it’s…”
    “ She’s not even a great
secretary,” Jacob said. “Can’t type, gets my appointments messed
up…”
    “ Get rid of her,” Blane
said.
    “ Who’s the bitch at your
old desk?” Heather asked. She came in the room carrying Mack in his
car seat. “Hey Jake.”
    Jacob shook his head.
    “ What happened?” Blane
asked Heather.
    “ I asked if you were in
Jacob’s office and she gave me this whole line about how ‘Jake was
a busy man’ and ‘Jake shouldn’t be bothered with women like
me.’”
    Jacob and Blane looked at each other then at
Heather.
    “ What did you say?” Blane
asked.
    “ I told her that Jacob was
a married man. And that if she thought she was going to get her
claws into him, she had another thing coming. She wouldn’t like
Jill when Jill’s was angry.”
    Jacob and Blane looked at each other
again.
    “ I’ll talk to Heather,”
Blane said. “You need to get rid of her.”
    “ Talk to me about what?”
Heather asked.
    “ I think Jake needs me
here,” Blane said.
    Heather looked at Blane then looked at
Jacob. She raised her right index finger and pointed to Jacob.
    “ You better watch your p’s
and q’s, Mr. Bachelor of the year. You have no idea the misery you
will feel if you fuck up. Jill talks about what Trevor did to her
and he was brutal. But he was always having some mysterious thing
or another cut off him. He never figured it out, poor
bastard.”
    “ I haven’t done anything,”
Jacob said. “I