A Special Relationship (31 page)

The next morning Robert showered and dressed and headed into the guest room just as Carrie was stirring awake.
 
He leaned against the doorjamb staring at her as she twisted around in bed, her small body silhouetted through the thin sheets, her only covering, her eyes not yet opened to this new day.
 
He must be out of his mind having her here, he thought, but what could he do?
 
Take her back to a lonely hotel room that she’d only run away from anyway?
 
Or leave her back at that sister of hers apartment, where all of those ripe young men were itching to do what Willie Charles tried but, thank God, failed to do?
 
Carrie was so pretty, and so vulnerable, that he knew, whether he liked it or not, she had to be with him.
 
He had to take care of her until she was back on her feet again no matter what.

 
Her big green eyes opened to the sight of Robert standing in the doorway and she smiled.
 
Unlike last night, when he was casually dressed, he was decked down today in one of those expensive suits of his that always looked tailor-made pristine.
 
Carrie appreciated the kindness he showered her last night, from coming to get her to bringing her to this beautiful home.
  
She knew he didn’t have to do all of that for her.
 
But thank God he did.

 
“Good morning,” he said, as he pushed away from the door and began walking further into the bedroom.

 
“Good morning,” she said.
 
She wanted to get out of bed, she felt awkward like this, but she wasn’t wearing anything but one of his big shirts.

 
“Slept well?” he asked her.

 
“To my surprise I did.
 
I slept like a baby.”

 
“Good,” Robert said and sat on the edge of the bed.
 
The smell of his sweet cologne and the nearness of his body caused Carrie’s heartbeat to quicken.
 
“You needed some sleep,” he added.

 
“What about you?
 
Did you sleep well?”

 
Robert shrugged his shoulders.
 
“Not really, no.”

 
“Why not?”
 
Carrie asked, extremely concerned.

 
“I was thinking about you.”

 
“Me?
 
What about me?”

 
“What I’m going to do with you.”

 
That statement hit Carrie hard.
 
She’d been praying that it wouldn’t come to this, that he wouldn’t force her to leave him so soon.
 
“I’ll get out of your way as soon as I can get up and get dressed,” she said.

 
Robert stared at her, at the silhouette of her body and then at her.
 
That stubborn independent streak in her would never die, he thought.
 
And he was pleased that it wouldn’t.
 
“What do you most need, Carrie?”

 
Carrie knew that answer verbatim.
 
“I need a job and a place of my own.
 
Popena’s my sister but I don’t know how long she’s gonna let me stay there with her.”

 
“How are you feeling this morning?
 
That jaw still hurt?”
 
He placed his hand on her chin and turned her jaw toward him.
 

 
“
It’s
fine,” Carrie said, barely able to contain the exhilaration she felt whenever he touched her.
 
“I feel fine.”

 
“You feel better?”

 
“Seems like, yeah.”

 
Robert allowed his hand to rest on her small shoulder.
 
“Feel good enough to start a new job today?”

 
Carrie’s eyes widened.
 
“A new job?”

 
“Yes.
 
With Dyson.”

 
Carrie began shaking her head.
 
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

 
“It’s the only idea, Carrie.
 
You need a job, you said so yourself.
 
I can get you one.
 
I should have never let you talk me out of it before.”
 
He frowned when he said this.
 
“Now get up.”
 
He slapped her against the side of her thigh and stood to his feet.
 
“I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

 
“What about clothes?”

 
“We’ll swing by your place.
 
You need to get all your things anyway because, Carrie, you aren’t going back there.”

 
“Aren’t going back. . . But Robert,” Carrie said as he began walking away.
 
She leaned up on one elbow.
 
“What could I possibly be qualified to do at Dyson?”

 
“Let me worry about that,” he said, without breaking stride, as he left the room.

Marva Cox gave her a look that could have withered a cactus.
 
But Marva didn’t care.
 
She was disappointed in Robert.
 
She’d never known him to fool around with some woman almost young enough to be his daughter, and the idea that he would bring her to his job, to his place of employment, was unconscionable to Marva.

 
Robert had left Carrie with his secretary and had
went
into his office.
 
He wasn’t in there ten minutes, however, before Marva was racing in, with Carrie at her heels.

 
Robert was on the phone so they both stood in front of his desk and waited. Like a study in contrast, Robert thought. Marva wore her button-down business suit while Carrie wore a nice-fitting knee-length dress and heels Robert had driven to her sister’s apartment for her to pick up.
 
Mona was at home at the time and was fussing about the state in which Carrie had left her apartment and about how wrong she was to “lie” on Willie Charles.
 
But both Carrie and Robert ignored her.
 
Now Robert was ignoring Carrie and Marva Cox and
Marva
 
didn’t
like it.

 
“I don’t mean to be rude, Mr. Kincaid,” she said to Robert as soon as he hung up the phone, “but just what kind of job are you expecting me to find for her?”

 
Robert looked up from his papers.
 
“Whatever needs to be done,
Marv.
 
She can be your assistant.”

 
“But is she qualified to be my assistant?
 
What is she qualified to do?”

 
Robert exhaled.
 
He had too much on his plate as it
was
.
 
He looked at Carrie.
 
His heart surged when he looked at her.
  
“What can you do, honey?” he asked her.

 
“What do you mean?”

 
“Can you type?” Marva asked her.

 
“I can peck,” Carrie said.

 
Marva shook her head.
 
“Can you file?”

 
“I’ve never filed before, but I’m sure if you tell me how to do it I can do it.”

 
Marva blew out a sigh of anguish.
 
She was displeased and she didn’t care that Robert saw her displeasure.
 
“May I speak with you alone, Mr. Kincaid?”

 
“Not right now, you can’t.
 
Just find something for her to do, all right?”

 
“But has she even filled out an application?”

 
“No.
 
Get somebody to take her down to Human Resources.
 
Tell Walt that I’m hiring her to work on your staff.”

 
Marva shook her head.
 
What
was Robert
thinking, she wondered.
 
“Yes, sir,” she said.
 
“Come with me, young lady,” she said to Carrie but Carrie was still staring at Robert.
 
This was turning out exactly the way she didn’t want it to.
 
Robert, seeing her anxiety, looked at Marva.

 
“Give us a moment,” he said and Marva, not forgetting that he didn’t have a moment to give to her when she asked for it, nonetheless nodded and left the office.
   
        

 
Robert walked around his desk and looked at Carrie.
 
“What is it, Carrie?” he asked her.

 
“She doesn’t want me here.”

 
“And what if she doesn’t?
 
She’ll do what she’s told.”

 
“But, Robert, she thinks. . .”

 
Robert frowned.
 
“She thinks what?”

 
Carrie swallowed hard.
 
“She thinks I’m your girlfriend or something, which is ridiculous, but that’s what she thinks.”

 
Robert stared at Carrie.
 
“Why would it be ridiculous for you to be my girlfriend?” he asked her.
 
“Is it because of my age?”

 
“Your age?”

 
“Yes, Carrie, my age.”

 
“Of course not.
 
I don’t even know your age.”

 
“Then why is it so ridiculous?”

 
“Because
you’re.
. . and I’m . . . Because.”

 
Robert smiled.
 
“Let me handle Marva Cox, all right?
 
You just do whatever she tells you to do.”

 
“I will,” she replied and Robert began walking back behind his desk.
 
“And Robert?”

 
He turned and looked at her.
 
“Yes?”

 
“How old are you?”

 
Robert glared at her.
 
“What do you think?”

 
Carrie thought about it.
 
“Thirty, thirty-one?”

 
Robert smiled.
 
“Does it matter?”

 
Carrie shook her head, although her face told a different story.
 
“Not really,” she said slowly.

 
Robert let out a booming laugh.
 
“Just get to work,” he finally said.
 

 
“Yes, sir,” Carrie said and smiled too, as she left.

TWENTY-ONE

She opened her suitcase and began putting her clothes away.
 
She was home.
 
It was temporary, she knew that it was, but it felt like she was finally home.
 
Robert had taken her to Popena’s apartment that morning before they went to work and told her to get everything she owned.
 
Everything, he emphasized, and she did.
 
Popena started complaining, of course, and accusing her of lying on Willie Charles, but Carrie wasn’t thinking about her sister.
 
In fact, her sister’s accusations only made her more determined to make certain she got everything, just as Robert had insisted.