Free The Company We Keep by Mary Monroe

in the New Year, make a pot of coffee, and have Teri’s schedule printed and on her desk when she arrived.
    Just as Nicole was about to open the door to Teri’s office, she heard somebody coughing. It was coming from behind the double doors that led to Teri’s office. Nicole sucked in her breath and glanced at the telephone on her desk, wondering if she should call security. Then she sniffed and smelled the aroma of coffeecoming from the break room down the hall. Before she could decide what to do, she heard Teri’s voice. “Nicole, is that you?”
    Nicole eased open the door and entered Teri’s office. “Teri, what are you doing here at this hour?” She was pleased to see how well rested Teri looked. Before they’d left the Stewarts’ house the evening before, she had noticed how tired Teri looked. Now she looked like she’d slept for three days and was ready to take on the world. She wore a navy blue suit with a light blue blouse underneath. This was the ensemble that Nicole jokingly referred to as Teri’s kick ass armor.
    “I’m working,” Teri replied with a laugh. “I just made a fresh pot of coffee.” She was bent over her desk with a thick pile of papers and folders in front of her. There was a pencil perched behind her ear. Her thick hair was piled on top of her head and held in place by one of those light blue squeegee-looking things.
    “Thanks for making the coffee. I sure need a cup, and I am too lazy to go down to Starbucks and stand in that long-ass line for twenty minutes,” Nicole said, rubbing the back of her head. She had on a pair of black slacks and a purple turtleneck sweater to hide the love bite that was still visible enough for people to notice. She wore her hair in one long braid, wrapped around her head like a crown.
    “And I made it nice and strong because we’re going to need it in the meeting,” Teri said, moaning under her breath. “The first staff meeting in the New Year is always the hardest. It sets the tone for what we can expect for the next twelve months. Last year you would have thought that Victor was practicing to be the next Terminator. He fired three people…”
    “Three lazy, incompetent motherfuckers who should have been fired a long time ago. Humph! Getting fired is the least of our worries,” Nicole remarked. “The best-kept secret around here is that you and I are keeping this place from going to the dogs. If Victor fires us, or even one of us, they can rename this business Titanic.”
    “I don’t know if we are that important around here. These folks were doing just fine before we came on board. I do know that it sure would do us a lot of good to take a break for a fewdays. Maybe we should go on that Caribbean cruise we’ve been putting off since last year,” Teri said hopefully.
    “I could be packed in five minutes.” Nicole swooned. “All that black Caribbean gold running up and down those white beaches, dicks big as baseball bats, I hear…”
    “Can you get your mind out of the bedroom for a few minutes?” Teri barked as she plopped down into her chair. She knew that she could not stop Nicole from talking about sex so much. But all that talk about sex didn’t help Teri at all. If anything it only made her more frustrated. “Shit, get serious.”
    “Sorry. Whatever you say.” Nicole bowed her head in submission. She removed the dreamy-eyed look from her face and tried to contain herself. “What were you saying now?”
    Teri reared back into her seat and bit the side of her bottom lip. There was a serious look on her face. Her face was as beautifully made up as usual, but Nicole was surprised to see that Teri was not wearing any jewelry, not even earrings. “Work has become the most dominant thing in my life and…and it’s still not enough. There’s got to be more out there—and I’m not talking about a big dick. So please do me a favor and do not bring up Harrison Starr’s name. Or the fact that he left Rahim’s party with another