Chapter 2

Make Way for the Truth

Olivia was happy to be home, but that is where her happiness ended. In fact she was quite sad. A good cry was what she needed after the disappointment of not getting the promotion. She could make it through dinner and then story time with her son, Gabriel. Then she would have her cry. She slid her key in the lock and turned.

"Surprise!"

She jumped at the voices that rang out as soon as she pushed open the door. The lights flipped on. She saw her small living room packed with people staring at her with gleeful expressions of exitement. Her mom and Gabriel were in the midst of the crowd. He held a balloon that read, "Congratulations!" That's when it registered for Olivia. This was a party to celebrate the supposed promotion.

"I think she's in shock, Maya!" Olivia's uncle Calvin said to her mother.

"Mommy, surprise! You are the boss now!" Gabriel said. He ran up to hug her.

"Momma, you shouldn't have," Olivia said to her mother after scooping up Gabriel in her arms for a hug and kiss. She couldn't rustle up the resolve to correct the obvious mistake. Telling everyone would be embarrassing. Seeing their pity-filled expressions would deepen her sadness. She would tell her mom later. Maybe she could look for a better job and that would be the news she would share, albeit later. Olivia smiled brightly and decided to celebrate-if not the promotion-the hope of something better on the horizon. She threw back her head and bellowed, "Let's get this party started!"

Someone put on music and Olivia stood and received the round of hugs and well-wishes from her friends and family.

Olivia sat on her bed with her laptop, pouring over job postings online. She toggled between several different sites.

"Damn…all the good jobs require at least a two year degree, but I already knew that," she said aloud.

Olivia always planned to go back to school. In the 7 years since high school there was never enough money or time. Her mother worked retail jobs which never brought in a living wage. Once Olivia got a steady job, they were able to move to a better neighborhood. It was a Catch-22 because the price of admission required a full time and part time job. In the last year, Olivia was able to quit her part time job. Olivia's mother, Maya, only had experience working retail which provided her with a flexible enough schedule to ensure she could be there for Gabriel when he got off the school bus. With each year, going to college continued to shift to the bottom of the priority list.

Olivia clicked on the website for the local community college and began browsing the contents of the admissions tab. "I have to try to make it work somehow. Meharry's is just a dead end job that's going nowhere. The bastards...Come in, Momma," Olivia said.

Maya Pope walked into her bedroom still beaming from the party. "Why isn't the new Quality Control Manager getting her rest? You have an early start in the morning. You can't start slacking now," Maya said.

"Mama…a party? You didn't have to do that. I can't believe you were able to keep it a secret. I'm sure you didn't tell Gabriel."

"No, I couldn't tell my baby until he got off the bus today. You know he would have spilled the beans before now. But everyone is so proud of you, honey. Most of all me. I had to take this time to let you know how proud of you I am. I know I was hard on you when you got pregnant at the end of high school…but baby…you have overcome so many obstacles. Being a single parent is hard. I know from experience. Gabriel has lacked for nothing because you never gave up," Maya said.

Olivia covered her mothers and that rested on her shoulder and squeezed. "Momma, I really appreciate you saying that, but I couldn't have done it without you."

They embraced. Olivia squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't find the words to tell her mother the truth. She thought about Gabriel sleeping in the next room and how proud he had looked. She would have to find a way to go back to school and get a real career.

Fitz closed Olivia's personnel file and cursed himself for the mess he'd made of things. He dialed his brother, Ray.

"Hey Fitz, I'm glad you called. When do you think you will have the name of those employees who should be considered for rehire at the other plant. Is your little experiment working any better than the old fashioned way?"

"I don't know Ray. I'm kind of in a situation. I need your help," said Fitz.

Ray chuckled. "Uh oh, your undercover boss experiment has gone bust? Did someone discover that you aren't a regular worker, but a suit from corporate who has come to shut the plant down? I told you we should have told the employees what was happening and let them reapply for jobs at the other location. What is it?" said Ray.

"My only mistake was pretending like a QCM position was up for bid and bidding on it myself. There is a woman there who was really counting on that promotion when it was all a rouse. I could have done the same thing without inventing the promotion," said Fitz, "But I need to move her to a QCM position at the nearest location as soon as possible."

"Why? We can put her at the top of the list for consideration, but that's about it. What's so special about her?" said Ray

"She's a great employee and would do well in the position," said Fitz.

"I could say that about a lot of people, Fitz."

"When I saw how upset she was about not getting the promotion, I sort of lied about who I was on top of the lie I was already perpetrating."

"Brother, I don't understand. You are confusing me."

"I told her I was a reporter investigating the discriminatory practices at Meharry's then I asked her if she'd give me an interview for an expose."

"You what! Why would you do that?" said Ray.

"Hear me out before you judge. Over the last several months of my pretend job there as a regular employee, I began to…um…developed a liking...I became interested in her…romantically. I hadn't quite figured out how I would approach her about it. When I saw how disappointed she was about not getting the job and I overheard some others talking about how once again another black person was overlooked for a position…I just reacted."

"So the first thing you thought to do was to invent another ruse on top of the one you already created? This was a stupid move that could expose the company to all sorts of liability. Whether this was motivated by pity or sexual attraction, it doesn't matter. You need to fake resign and tell Bill to promote her to the position. When the plant is shut down in a couple of months, maybe I can look into getting her a lead position somewhere," said Ray.

"Ray, thanks for trying. I talk to you later."

"Ok, brother. Bye," said Ray.

Fitz hung up the phone and dialed his ex-wife, Mellie. In the four years since their divorce, they'd developed a solid friendship though they'd never discussed his romantic life. Fitz was desperate.

"Hello, Andrew. How are you?" said Fitz. Mellie's husband, Andrew answered the phone. They weren't quite friends, but in the last year, Andrew seemed less like he was tolerating Fitz.

"Fitz…I'm good. And you? How's business?" said Andrew.

"Good…great actually. We're in the middle of repositioning a recent acquisition. How's the car business?" said Fitz.

"Good, but it could be better. We're trying to get the rest of our inventory out since it's the end of the year to make room for the new year's stock. Well here's Mellie. Good talking to you Fitz," said Andrew.

"Same to you," said Fitz.

That was the extent of their chit chat now-an exchange of niceties and the status of their respective careers-but it was better than the chilly reception Fitz got from him when he and Mellie's relationship progressed and they became engaged. According to Mellie, Andrew didn't understand why she and her ex-husband still kept in touch even though they had no children together. Over the last year, Andrew finally accepted that Fitz was not a threat.

"Hey stranger. I haven't heard from you in more than a month. What's going on?"

"Sorry Mel. Do you remember me telling you about the company we bought and-"

"Yeah…the medical supply one. Oh and did you do what you said you were going do...pretend you were a worker to get the pulse of the people," Mellie said with a chuckle.

"That's why I'm calling, Mellie. I need your opinion about something…"

"O-kay…sounds pretty ominous. What's up?" said Mellie.

Fitz gave her the details and waited.

"What exactly do you need my opinion about, Fitz."

"Well, I'm trying to decide what to do next. I know I need to drop the act and let Bill finish the closing. That way Olivia would be able to move into the QCM position. But that doesn't fix the problem of how to approach her with the truth. I mean there's the first lie and then the second one. Should I just tell her straight or-"

Fitz stopped at the sound of Mellie's laughing.

"Fitz…I'm sorry for laughing. You've never asked me about this type of thing so I'm a little surprised but I really don't know what to say. If it were me I'd want to know the truth. I'd be mad about the lies, but flattered that a man would go to so much trouble because he wanted to date me. And obviously this man is considerably wealthy so I'd get over my reservations quickly and see what happens."

"Yeah…I should tell her the truth, but I wish there was some way for her to get to know me a little first."

"Well didn't you get to know her over the months you were pretending, Fitz?"

"No, not really. I was…close, but I kept my distance for obvious reasons," said Fitz.

"Well, you should have known she would be disappointed not to get the promotion," said Mellie.

"Yes, but I wasn't thinking about that…Mellie, I should go. Thanks for listening."

"Anytime Fitz."

Olivia was bent over her laptop totally focused on completing an online college application for the local community college. Her ringing phone startled her. She grabbed it and frowned at the unfamiliar number. When she saw that it was 9:30, she knew she needed to get to bed since she had work tomorrow.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hi, Olivia. This is Fit…Thomas."

"Thomas…from work, Thomas?"

"Yes, Thomas from work Thomas."

"How did you…how did you get my number?" she said.

"Well you kind of dared me to earlier," he said.

Olivia pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it. Despite their brief exchange in the parking lot, she never expected him to call. She hadn't thought anymore about his request for an interview.

"Look, Thomas, I know I said I would help you with your article, but I've changed my mind," she said.

"Why?" said Fitz.

"I can't afford any trouble right now. Besides, I need to be focusing on something bigger than a dead end job at Meharry's," she said.

"Something better like what?" Fitz asked.

"College…a degree..." she said.

"What degree are you interested in pursuing? Maybe I can help," he said.

Olivia was prepared to answer but stopped herself. "Wait a minute, Thomas. How long are you going to keep up your act as an employee? You've just been promoted. What's your plan?"

"I feel bad about what happened. I'm going to quit tomorrow so you can have the position. It should have been yours from the start," said Fitz. He took a deep breath. This was the perfect opportunity to reveal it all. "You see…I'm actually…in reality, I'm-"

"No, Thomas! You can't quit now. You have to write that article. Bring Meharry's down. I was mad as hell about getting passed over, but you know it was a blessing in disguise to get me on the right track. I made good grades in high school. I want to learn the law so I can help fight companies like Meharry's that are always trying to keep people down. It's all coming together even as I'm talking to you, man! Stay as Meharry's. I'll help you with the article. In the meantime, I am going to start some classes at the community college. Since you're QCM, you can approve me leaving early. Are you in, Thomas?"

Fitz was bundle of nerves and adrenaline as Olivia changed gears midstream. He was ready to come clean, but he hesitated. For the first time since he'd known her he wasn't picking up on any vibes of contempt from her. He vowed to tell her the truth soon, but he wanted to do it in person and preferably after she saw him in a positive light.

"Yes, I'm in, Olivia. Would you be available to have dinner with me tomorrow night?" Fitz said. As soon as he said it, he inwardly cursed himself for being so hasty.

"Thomas, I was being real with you earlier tonight. I don't date white guys. I'm not racist or anything. I'm raising my son alone and I don't have time for dating around. Truthfully, I don't have time for dating at all right now. So if this dinner is a date or something, I'm gonna have to pass," she said.

"Well, I…um wanted to talk to you more about Meharry's and you said something about college. I have some friends over at the community college-"

"I didn't mean to assume…you know what that does. Okay. I can't do dinner because I have to be home with my son. How about we grab something light and quick right after work?" she said.

"Perfect, Olivia. Well, I should go. Thanks for talking to me."

"See you tomorrow, Thomas."

After they hung up, Fitz couldn't help the smile that spread across his lips. He hated his middle name, but it was beginning to grow on him each time she said it. He knew the situation was still very delicate. There were the lies and the truth. The upside was that he had a small window to make everything right and hopefully change her mind about dating him.

/

Something I resurrected from the BP vault, LOL... Kinda light and airy...