“Hold on…Did you say you going on a date with James Williams? And you going on a trip with James Williams?” Valarie Smith, Amber’s best friend from childhood said over the phone.
“No I didn’t say I was going anywhere with him, I said he asked me.” Amber responded.
“James Williams?” Valarie continued.
“Yeah James Williams.”
“Hold on, you talking bout ‘Don’t let go my love.’ James Williams?” Valarie sang one of James’ hits.
“You mean ‘Never will I leave.’ James Williams?” Valarie continued.
“Yeah Val, him, James Williams.” Amber said.
“So James Wiliams wants to take you on a trip and you are trying to get out of it?” Valarie said.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why?”
“I mean why, you haven’t been on a date in 3 years and you haven’t been on a vacation in 10.” Valarie said.
“And…” Amber said.
“AND, this man wants to take you, why are you even talking like you ain’t gonna go? You better go.”
“Oh I better go? Listen, I am not going.” Amber said.
“If you don’t go then I am going to hurt you.” Valarie said laughing.
“Why are you trying to force me…If it were you, you know you wouldn’t…”
“I’d go in a heartbeat.” Valarie interrupted.
“You know you wouldn’t let nobody force you to go anywhere.” Amber continued.
“Yeah, Joe King, ain’t gonna force me to do anything. Yeah Larry Weaver, ain’t gonna force me to do anything, But James Williams, I can’t believe you are even questioning this.” Valarie said.
“Joe King…” Amber laughed as Valarie referred to one of their child hood buddies from school.
They both laughed.
“Remember when Joe asked you out after he asked me out?” Valarie said.
“How can I forget, that’s how we met.”
There was a knock at Amber’s door.
“I gotta go…”
“Hold on, you better not turn him down.” Valarie said.
“Val, I got work to do.”
“I will hurt you…you better not turn him down.” Valarie said.
“Bye Val…” Amber said.
“Bye girl, but I ain’t playing…” Valarie said when they hung up.
“Come in.” Amber said and Melissa Lester walked into the room.
“You told me to talk to James and cancel your date tonight.”
“Cancel our MEETING tonight.” Amber interrupted while emphasizing the word meeting.
“Well, I called and called and I can’t get James on the phone.” Melissa said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“What do you mean…You haven’t talked to him yet, our meeting is tonight?” Amber Thompson, the owner of The Thompson Travel Agency yelled.
“I told you to call James Williams and cancel that meet…” Amber continued.
“Date…” Melissa Lester, Amber’s coworker interrupted with a smile.
“Meeting…” Amber looked at Melissa and said. “And stop grinning.” Amber continued.
“I’ve called him a number of times and he ain’t answered. I left message after message. He ain’t answered, and you yelling at me ain't gonna make him answer.” Melissa said to Amber.
“What is he doing?” Amber said.
“Why are you so agitated over this. Go to your date…um…er…meeting and get it all straightened out. I just can’t understand why you are scared.” Melissa said.
“In fact, why can’t you just go to this date tonight and then go on the trip, what are you scared of? You might have fun? In fact you might even fall for him.” Melissa asked.
“I am not going to fall for him…And it is a meeting.”
“How do you know you aren’t gonna fall for him?”
Amber ignored Melissa. “Listen, I am not scared of anything. I just need to…” Amber said.
“It wouldn’t be that bad for you to go on this date. Hell, would it even be bad to go on the trip? Come on you know you want to go.” Melissa interrupted.
Amber had to admit to herself, although she would never admit to Melissa, that she had thought at least a few times about this trip. More than once she allowed herself to search for James on the Internet. She even compared herself to some of the other women that were on James’ arm. The most common woman was Kelly Phillips the beautiful actress.
Amber shook those thoughts from her mind, looked at Melissa and said. “I am not going on this trip with him. He is not going to force me to go on this trip. What do you think I am?”
“OK…OK…girl, so what are you gonna do?” Melissa said.
“I am going to call Mr. James Williams and tell him that I am not going tonight and that I am not going to him to Panama.” Melissa continued.
Amber grabbed the phone from her desk and asked Melissa, “What is the phone number?”
Amber called and the phone message said, “James Robinson is not available, please leave a message at the beep.”
Amber hung up and said, “His phone isn’t even on.”
“So what are you gonna do?” Melissa said.
Amber looked up and thought deeply. She then said. “I’ll go to this meeting tonight…”
Melissa smiled and yelled, “Go on girl…”
“…BUT,” Amber interrupted, “I ain’t going on this trip.”
“Awwww…” Melissa said.
“I will tell him that this ain’t a dating agency and that I will give him 2 tickets like I said, but I ain’t going.” Amber continued.
“OK, OK.” Melissa said.
“Have you completed the work on this project?” Amber asked Melissa.
Melissa said, “Um…er…ask me that in a couple hours.”
“I need that done so that I can tell him about the accommodations during our meeting tonight.” Amber said.
“You mean Date…” Melissa said as she walked out of the room.
Amber laughed and thought well, maybe it is a date.
YOU ARE READING
The Vacation: The Agency Book 1 (An Interracial Romance) *ON HAITUS*
RomanceAttractive blond divorce’ Amber Thompson has turned her father’s failing travel agency into one that caters to the stars. While she plans many travels she has not taken a vacation in 10 years. Not to mention her lack of a social life that is fueled...
