Balancing Acts

Chapter 6: His One and Only

            I stepped off the elevator and walked around the corner and quickly became annoyed when I saw Brandon's assistant Josh sitting at his little desk outside of Brandon's office. Brandon was going to be pulling another all-nighter at work so I was bringing him dinner since I was going to be meeting up with Andre and Myron in the downtown area anyway. I was just going to walk by him and enter Brandon's office, but of course he just had to stop me.

            "Brandon is with a client," he informed me with that smart aleck tone of his. "If that's his dinner then you can leave it with me. I'll make sure he gets it."

            "I'm not leaving this with you," I snapped back. "I haven't seen my husband since last night and he won't be coming home tonight, so I'm not leaving until I see him."

            "I was just trying to save you the time. It's going to be a while."

            "Then I'll wait."

            "Fine, suit yourself." He put his attention back on his computer screen, and I sat down in one of the lounge chairs against the wall.

            A few minutes went by before Brandon's door opened and he stepped out with his client. He noticed me sitting and asked, "Baby, what are you doing sitting out here? You know you could've came into the office."

            I gave Josh the dirtiest look as I stood up. I rolled my eyes at him and replied to Brandon, "I didn't want to interrupt your meeting."

            "You wouldn't have been interrupting." He looked at his client and said, "Harvey, this is my husband, Julani. Julani, this is Harvey Garrison. He runs the investment division of the local Chase bank over on 14th Street."

            "Hi," I said while shaking the man's hand. "Nice to meet you."

            "Nice to meet you, too. Your husband is a very good attorney."

            "So I've been told." We shared a laugh. I then got serious and told the man, "I have a friend who is an investment banker for Wells Fargo."

            "Hmm, really?"

            "Yes. He's always giving Brandon and I the best tips on investing our money. He truly is proficient at what he does."

            The man pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to me before saying, "Make sure you give him that card. I have an opening coming up soon and I haven't interviewed my desired candidate yet."

            "Thank you, Mr. Garrison."

            He turned to Brandon and said, "Don't forget the golf game on Sunday at the Calhoun Country Club."

            "I'll be there," Brandon told him with a smile. After the man was gone, he wrapped his arm around me and kissed me before telling me, "Thank you for bringing me dinner, baby. I've been starving and craving something you cooked." He took the tote from me and looked inside to see what I'd cooked. "Mmm, is that lasagna?"

            "Yep, three layered just how you like it. The smaller container is a Caesar salad with a little Italian dressing, and the garlic bread is in the foil. The triangle shaped container is some of that left-over coconut cake that I baked on Sunday."

            "Why are you so perfect?" He kissed me again. "Who did you get to watch the boys? Your mama again?"

            "No, I got Zola. She wasn't busy and..."

            "Brandon," Josh called out, interrupting me, "I need you to sign off on these memos before I take them up to Mr. Thompson's assistant."