Just Another Damn Love Story Read Free

me a man.  I’m every women…”
    Laquisha held up her hand silencing him.  “We are not going to have this conversation today!  I called y’all asses in here to talk about some numbers.  Numbers that are way down.  When the numbers are down, revenue is down, and that means, my income that’s based on a percentage of what this magazine pulls in, is down.  Y’all playing with my money, and we all know, that Laquisha don’t play with her money!”
    “I just pulled in the Sean Jean account!”  Pamela protested.
    “That was last month,” Laquisha told her.
    “But they took out a year’s worth of adds!”  Pamela shot back.  “That was a three hundred thousand dollar score!”
    “So what!”  Laquisha told her.  “Do you think that you’re supposed to just sit on your ass for the rest of the year?”
    “I pulled in the MAC account before that,” Pamela told her.  “And I scored Revlon before that!”
    “What have you done for me lately?”  Laquisha asked.  “See, you made me get all Janet on you!  You know I hate to bring out my Janet.”
    “I scored the Tommy Hilfiger account just last week,” Jerome told her.
    “Yeah, and we had to discount five thousand dollars a month to get it!”  Laquisha shouted.  “Don’t you even mention that bootleg deal you made with RJ Reynolds!  Some of our other advertisers were pissed about that cigarette ad.  Not to mention corporate, and some of our readers.”
    “I got Revlon,” Jerome added. 
    “Two months ago!”  Laquisha told him.  “Don’t make me go Janet on you!”
    Kimberly raised her hand.
    “What?”  Laquisha shouted.
    “I got a lead from Mercedes, and from Allstate,”Kimberly told her.
    “What happened to the Black Expressions deal?”  Laquisha asked, tilting her head to the side and pursing her lips.
    “The meeting went well,” Kimberly said nervously.  “I’m still waiting to hear back from them.”
    “What else you got coming up?”  Laquisha asked.
    “I have meetings with Lays, with the Air Force, with Pepsi, and with Soft Sheen Carson,” Kimberly told her.
    “And you?”  Laquisha asked, turning toward Jerome.
    “I’m meeting with the Army today,”  Jerome told her.  “If they don’t ask, I won’t tell.”
    Pamela and Kimberly burst into laughter.
    “Don’t encourage him!”  Laquisha shouted.  “What else you got?  People, you are my advertising executives.  You are the life blood of the magazine.  If you don’t produce, we don’t survive!”
    “I’m meeting with American Airlines tomorrow, Lustrasilk on Tuesday, McDonald’s on Tuesday afternoon, Pantene on Wednesday, and Victoria Secret on Thursday.”
    Laquisha nodded, and turned toward Pamela.
    Pamela exhaled.  “I got Walmart on Tuesday, Jeep on Wednesday, S C Johnson & Sons on Thursday, GMAC on Friday morning, Pfizer on Friday afternoon, and Clinique this afternoon.”
    Laquisha clapped her hands together.  “Let’s get out there and get that money.”
    Pamela, Kimberly, and Jerome turned and headed for the door. 
    Jerome shoved Kimberly and Pamela.  “You heard her.  You bitches better get out there and get pimp Quisha’s money!”
    The three of them broke into laughter as they exited the office and headed down the hall.
     
     
    *****
     
     
    Sterling packed away more of his belongings into the cardboard box on his desk, so that he could clear out his office for Wilson.  He had decided to move Wilson into his office, and finally clean out the large corner office that the company had been using for storage.  He would take that office, and move the boxes that now occupied it, into a proper storage closet elsewhere in the building.
    Wilson strolled into the office carrying a white handbag and matching white leather trench.  Both had large gold letters printed all over them.
    “What is SPQR?”  Sterling asked.
    “It’s the coat of arms of the Roman Empire,”  Wilson explained.
    “White with gold letters, I love