BAMBI

XIII

"I'm gonna take off."

"Oh ok." I tried not to let the relief show through my face. "So what are you gonna do today?" I asked, hoping she'd have plans for later this evening that didn't involve coming to my house since I was going to be with Prince.

She shrugged, "I don't know."

It was then that I remembered I'd circled potential jobs for her in the newspaper a few days earlier. So I leaned over to where I kept my mail and lifted out the folded piece of paper then handed it to her. "Here, I found some jobs you might like in the newspaper, I don't know if you maybe want to check them out."

"I don't have any gas, actually, I was gonna ask you about that $50 you said I could borrow."

"Oh yeah, I forgot." I got up and walked to the living room where I kept my purse. That's where I noticed Janet's bags packed and sitting by the door. Usually when she packed her bags, she wasn't going to be back at my house for a few days.

When I turned around to walk back after getting the money, she was standing right behind me, making me jump for the second time that morning. "Oh, you scared me. Here...here's $100, why don't you use the rest for gas and whatever else you need?" I smiled at her.

"Thanks, Viv." She paused, staring at the c-note she had in her tight grasp. "Are you sure everything's alright?"

"Yeah, everything fine. I'm just stressed out. But don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Ok. Well I'm gonna head out. I probably won't be back for a few days."

"Ok, no problem. See you later."

She looked at me, waiting for me to continue, waiting for me to say those three little words I haven't felt for a while. When I didn't say anything, she rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Ok, well bye then."

I watched her walk to her car before closing the door and heading back to the office. Once I got my stride, I sat clicking the keys on the keyboard for hours. That's usually how I worked, hours on end with no food or breaks. I would just work until I was done.

After a long day of faxes, phone calls and report typing, I was finally finished by 7:30. So it was a relief to be able to get up and stretch my body that had been stuck in a chair the whole day.

It was also a relief to know that Janet was out of my hair for at least the next couple of days. As guilty as I felt when she laid her eyes on me that morning, it quickly dissolved when I thought of my evening with Prince and what he had planned for us.

After getting mostly ready, I stood at my closet and stared inside for a long time trying to figure out what to wear. I wasn't too sure what Prince had planned for us so I just put on a flowing knee length summer dress. After I put the finishing touches on my look, I headed downstairs to wait for him to show up.

"You need to lock your doors." He leaned against the island in my kitchen, right next to the stairs that I was walking down.

Although I was surprised to hear his voice, that deep tone made me smile from ear to ear. "Yeah, it's a bad habit I have. You're early." I stepped up to him, not knowing how we should greet each other. So I decided to play it safe and stretched out my arm to give him a side hug. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to contain his laughter. "So you're just gonna give me one of those?"