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Friday November 3rd, 2000
Tiffany pushed Stanley Morgan's shoulders forward to free herself from his embrace when she heard her ex-boss Clark's voice through the rain beside the long limo.
"That's Clark," she said in a hushed voice ducking her head down as her face rubbed against the leather on the seat.
"He can't see you through the tinted glass." Stanley said watching Clark as he hailed a cab at the curb beside his home and business on MacDougal Alley near Washington Square Park.
"Is he gone yet?" she whispered over her pounding heart.
"Yeah. He's gone," he said as Clark slid into the back of a taxi beside the parked limo.
Tiffany gently lifted her head up when she heard the water from the passing cab splash the door of the limo.
"Let's go to my house on the East Side," Stanley said wanting to continue his first taste of success with her.
"No. No. I have to go home…. Oh God, Clarks' gone and I didn't get my vacation check!" she said suddenly realizing she was approaching her first weekend unemployed, penniless and alone without Amir as her lover.
"I said I'll help you out," Stanley said glancing down at his watch.
"I better go," she said yanking her skirt down and starting to button her heavy coat.
"It's raining cats and dogs. We'll have dinner somewhere."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"I need to look for a job…an apartment," she said suddenly overwhelmed again.
"I said I'd talk to Clark and get you the job back, if you want it. Right? So that's settled."
"I guess."
"It is. And I'll look around for an apartment for you."
"I have to look. I have to have my own place," she reiterated.
"I said we'd do that too, didn't I?"
"Yeah",
"Then relax," he said reaching for the arm of her coat.
"I really have to go Stanley," she said pulling back slightly on the seat. She suddenly realized she was now guilty of everything that Clark had accused her of when he fired her. She could have been caught in the limo only a few minutes ago if her ex-boss had stopped and tapped on the window. Then she wondered why he wouldn't have tapped on the window. He had to know that it was Stanley's limo that was still parked outside his townhouse. After all Stanley had just left his office. He was expecting her any minute to pick up her final check. Did he know that she was in the back of Stanley's limo? She could feel her face starting to burn with shame and the effects of two full glasses of Brandy. She had cheapened herself and become guilty of the crimes she had rebuked when Clark fired her only a few days ago.
"Don't you like me Tiffany?"
"Yes, it's not that."
"Then what is it? You don't work for Clark right now and he's gone."
"I don't know. Maybe it's because you're Jan's Father."
"I told you she'll jump when I cut off her money," he said smiling.
"What if she found out that you and I were here in the car and that you said these things to me?" she asked at the same time amusing herself at the image of Jan jumping for her Father's money.
"She doesn't know though, does she?" he asked enjoying the game.
"No. You're right she doesn't know," Tiffany said smiling for the first time in days. If her intuition was right, Jan was secretly seeing her estranged husband Skeeter. If a rich woman like Jan wanted a man like Skeeter then it had to be revenge. Jan hadn't succeeded in breaking up Amir and her. No, Jan didn't do that, the press did. Now she was the 'other woman'. The newspaper said Amir rushed home to his 'sick wife'. She felt sick all over again at her station in life as her self-image stole the smile from her face. "You're a lucky woman Tiffany. I like you", Stanley said as his fingers fumbled to unbutton her coat.
CONTINUED MONDAY. MORE PHOTOS BELOW.
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