MAHALIA'S DILEMMA. (BWWM)

5

Mahalia waited in the interview room of ‘Blue Water Agency.’ She was dressed in a pale grey skirt and satin black frilly sleeve dress top with a pair of sneakers and she was there for an interview.

She had checked online and it said, ‘Blue Water corporation’ did need an assistant accountant in their Boston division and Mahalia was here on her own two feet, to get the job.

“Miss Osborne, Mr Rogers will see you now” A sectary said and Mahalia gulped gently, smiling nervously at the lady.

It was the first job interview she'd been in, in over two years and she was nervous. Her past job had gone bankrupt and she and the entire accounting department had beared the runt of the whole ordeal.

Her feet felt like lead, and her mouth dry. “You can do this, Mahalia.” She mouthed to herself, getting up on her feet.

“Mahalia, what are you doing here?” A familiar voice asked with a hint of shock in it.

Grant Watterson dressed in a pair of beige cable knit sweater, black taut jeans and a beautiful pair of black loafers, stood by the entrance of the interviewers office, a shocked and angry sorta look in his eyes.

Mahalia groaned in her head, massaging her temples in the process. “For a job interview, Mr Watterson”

He looked at the tablet in his hands and then back at her face, then motioned for her to enter the office, holding the open door for her. Mahalia smiled tight-lipped, picking up her purse and following Grant's orders into the office.

“This is Mahalia Osborne, and she'll be working in the accounting department” Grant said to the balding man with grey beards that had a bored look in his eyes.

Maximus Rogers sat up in his brown leather office chair, rolled his eyes and picked up a file on his desk. “I run things in HR Grant, and your demands are to be met by Olivia. Not me!”

“Now, you may take your leave and I'll get on with my interview” He said in a dismissive tone all the while pointing to the door where Mahalia still stood trying hard not to laugh.

“Hi. My name is Mahalia Osborne and I'm here for the interview” Mahalia said entering the room, the minute Grant left the office.

Maximus Rogers pointed to the interviewee chair, Mahalia taking a seat. “I've reviewed your file,”

Mahalia rubbed her sweaty palm on the sides of her of her skirt, gulping nervously, while Rogers looked at her from under his lashes, studying her expression and countenance.

“Although your credentials are good and everything. You old job was an absolute disaster” Maximus said leaning back in his chair. “The company went bankrupt, miss Osborne”

Sitting up, Mahalia cleared her throat. “My old boss, who happened to be the inheritor of his father's company, thought money grew on trees”

Maximus Rogers let out a short raspy laugh. “She's humourous and I love it.”

Taken aback by his laughter, Mahalia smiled nervously, her palms still sweating like a sinner in a confession booth.

“You're just twenty six right” He asked rhetorically, his eyes skimming her files and face. “You'll be on trial with us for a month, and if that works out you'll be on board fully, but if it doesn't, you'll be out of here. With or without Grant's bidding”

Mahalia smiled fully, her pearly whites glistening as was her eyes. “I'll be on board fully in a month”

Rogers nodded and offered her his hand for a shake. “I like that confidence. It'll do you good around here. Congratulations, you start tomorrow.”

Grant sat in his car, patiently waiting for Mahalia to come out of his building. He didn't see her car on the curb and he was going to offer her a ride home, since he was basically done for the day.

And just on time, Mahalia walked out of the building, a huge smile on her face, highlighting the beautiful chestnut colored eyes, forming a halo around her oval shaped face.

Jude got out of the car and opened the back seat, where Grant sat patiently on his tablet, putting some finishing touches. He raised his head to give her a smile—a deep sarcastic smile—but was cut short by the blunt look on her face.

He didn't understand why she couldn't stand him. Mahalia was nice to everybody but him, and it made him wonder why. And he needed to find out why.

“If that's your poker face, it's terrible and I'm your new boss, so get in” Grant said with a warning in his tone.

He felt like the only way he could through to her, was to be bossy with her and have his voice be heard or she was going to overlook and completely ignore him.

Mahalia looked around and then looked around again, hesitant to get in or follow his orders. “I'll take a taxi home, Mr Watterson”

And with that she hailed a cab and hopped in, leaving Grant staring at the back of the leaving vehicle. “She doesn't like me that much, does she?”

Jude got back into the drivers seat and started the car, smiling softly at his boss. “I say, she likes you. But a relationship with you, would be an absolute disaster for her and you.”

Mahalia and Sally Anne sat around the teakwood patio dining overlooking the lake and the trees that hid the houses, quietly sipping tea and watching the stars.

“You start tomorrow morning?” Sally Anne asked again, blowing her herb tea and watching her late brothers dying garden that Mahalia was trying to start again.

Mahalia sighed,“I'm having second thoughts about this auntie”

Sally Anne's eyes cut to hers, “Why?”

Standing up, she slowly paced the wraparound porch, her hands slowly touching the polished wooden banisters. “Grant, auntie. It's Grant”

“I mean, Mr Watterson.” She sat down on the cushioned swing chair, his first name sending chills down her back. “I thought ten years would quench the thirst I felt for Mr Watterson, but it seems I was right where I left off more thirsty than before.”

Sally Anne sat next to her baby girl, cradling her head and shoulders. “And I guess one of the main reasons you stayed away from so long was him right”

Mahalia broke into a sob. “I think I'm in love with him, but it sounds totally crazy. Doesn't it?”

“Not one bit love.” Sally Anne cooed. “It doesn't sound crazy at all. And I know just how you feel, love”

Cleaning her eyes, Mahalia Osborne straightened, “Really? You're in love with someone you're not supposed to be with? Who?”

Sally Anne smiled softly, wiping the tears off Mahalia's face. “Yes, and that's a story for another day”

“All you need to do sweet pie is, follow your heart, ” Sally Anne said softly. “Let the world flow, don't force things and let it take you where you need to be”

“I need you to follow his every move. Everything he does, I want pictures, videos and everything in between” Elvira Watterson said to the private investigator sitting calmly in her private abode—her room.

Henry Cooke nodded. His cognac eyes glistening with the pay checks and bank he was about to make from the woman who was pacing the expansive purple colored room.

“And I also need you to keep a close watch on, Mahalia Osborne” Elvira added, her eyes darkening at the mention of Mahalia's name. “Something is going on between those two and I need you to keep an extra eye on her”

Henry Cooke wrote down on his pad, wondering why a woman of Elvira's capacity would go through this sinister and slightly unorthodox route to try and catch her husband cheating.

To Henry Cooke the direct approach was the only approach. “I'll get on this and have my office call you on any improvements”

Elvira sat on a purple velvet armless chair, crossing one elegant creamy leg over the other. “I don't need a call from one of your employees” She took a sip of bloody red wine, the same shade of her lips and hair. “I need everything to be reported to me by you. Personally”

Henry nodded and was cut short by a knock on the quarters door.

“Come in,” Elvira yelled, rolling her eyes about being cut off.

Sally Anne poked her head into the room, her eyes darting between the two who were sitting adjacent to each other. With Henry Cooke dressed in a finely tailored suit and Elvira in a threadbare sexy robe over her also threadbare nightgown.

“What is it Sally Anne?” Elvira asked in a flippant voice. “I'm in the middle of something, here”

Sally Anne shook her head and smiled gently, “Mr Watterson is in the dining room”

Elvira's eyes lighted and her she looked elated but it was quickly quenched when her eyes landed on Henry Cooke. She looked to Sally Anne who had a smug look on her lips.

“I'm going back to the kitchen, he wants to talk to you.” And with that Sally Anne closed the door behind her, leaving Elvira to deal with Henry Cooke.

“You're a contractor for my family and you're here about the new store opening in Hollow Heights and your name is Hank Alberta”

Henry Cooke shrugged and followed Elvira out, his eyes on her sexy ass jiggling as she climbed down the stairs.

Grant's eyes narrowed as Elvira rounded the stairs and came up to the dining room. “Good morning, Elvira.”

“Morning love,” She rounded up on him and gave him a big kiss on the cheeks, smearing her lipstick on it.

“I see that you're now bringing your conquests to my home,” Grant said, calmly taking a sip of the fresh coffee, Sally Anne had poured him.

Elvira rolled her eyes and sat across from Grant, pointing to the doorway where Henry Cooke, still stood. “That's Hank Alberta and he's here about the new store we're building in Hollow Heights”

Grant merely shrugged. He'd stop caring about Elvira and her doings for a long time now. She could cheat all she wanted or have as many affairs as she please, but not in his ancestral home.

“Mrs Watterson, I'll have my office call you with details and it was nice meeting you, Mr Watterson” Henry Cooke said with a masked laugh in his throat.

Elvira nodded as he walked away, then her eyes cut to Grant's who's edges were brewing in anger.

“You don't have to be rude or caveman like” Elvira chided pouring herself a cup coffee. “I am nothing but loyal to you, but you always choose to be rude and disrespectful”

Scoffing, Grant let out a dry laugh. “Loyal, Elvira? You, loyal?”

Elvira's green eyes darkened, “Yes, Grant. I am loyal to you and there's not much I could say about you”

A much drier and humorless laugh escaped Grant's lips. “I'm here because it's Thanksgiving day on Thursday and we need to tell the kids about the separation and impending divorce”

Elvira's climbed across the huge mahogany dining table, pushing the food set and everything off the table, she crouched in front of a very bored looking Grant and held his face in her fingers.

“We're going to get back together, Grant” She licked his lips with her tongue, watching the amusement in his mesmerizing blue eyes. “You're mine and mine alone”

“Mom, dad. What the hell is going on?” Scarlett asked from the doorway of the dining room, her eyes darting between the two.

Elvira straightened and knelt down on the middle of the dining table, watching her youngest daughter. “Welcome home pumpkin. You're early”

Her blue eyes—similar to that of the man was giving her a hug—darted around the mess on the floor that contained broken dishware and food.

“Your father and I were having a conversation about Thursday” Elvira explained, crawling to the edge of the table that wasn't covered in broken glass and getting down, hugging her daughter who was standoffishly looking at her.

Scarlett nodded but Grant knew she didn't buy the explanation Elvira, had given her. “I'm so happy that you're home, Carle.”

“Want to go out for lunch before your big brother and sister gets home?” Grant offered, but Scarlett was already shaking her, copper colored hair.

Scarlett picked up her duffel bag by her feet. “I have to rest, I'm a bit jet lag. But I'll see you tonight at dinner, right?”

Elvira smiled smugly behind her daughter, and bent her head to the side questioningly at Grant. “We'll see you tonight for dinner, right?”

Grant smiled at his daughter, kissing her temple. “I'll take you out for dinner tonight, just the two of us”

Scarlett nodded and kissed her father's cheek, before running up the stairs. “We're telling her together. As a matter of fact, we're telling all off them together”

Grant nodded, picking up his tablet that was out of Elvira's maniac attack on the table. “I'll be in the office and please try to keep your conquests away from my home and the public eye”

Elvira stewed as Grant walked out the room, a maid running in from the broom closet with a dust pan and broom to the rescue the broken dishware, but Elvira paid her no mind.

“It's not over yet Grant” Elvira muttered quietly. “This is the beginning of us getting back together and I'm going to love every second of it”

*****

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