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  “Marvin gave you some news today,” Gloria prompted after the waiter was gone. “What news?”

  Josh took a bite of his salad before answering. “The company has decided on more cuts. This time my department.”

  Gloria didn’t know how to respond to this news. The last time downsizing affected Josh’s department, he was promoted. Obviously that wasn’t the case this time. “What’s going to happen?”

  Josh placed his fork on the table and sat back in his chair. “Everybody has to go but one person.”

  Gloria lifted the glass of Evian to her lips. She didn’t say anything. That one person had to be Josh. He was the best thing to happen to General Electronics in years.

  “That person is Grace.”

  Gloria spilled her drink on the front of her dress. “You can’t be serious.” She placed her glass on the table and picked up a napkin to dab at the water spot expanding on the front of her dress.

  Josh gave a wry grin. “Do I look like I’m joking?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Marvin told me this afternoon. He’ll make a general announcement Monday. We have two weeks to clear out.”

  Gloria stopped dabbing at the water spot and lifted her eyes to Josh. “Two weeks! That’s criminal, Josh. This doesn’t happen to professionals.”

  “That’s what I thought, too, but apparently we’re wrong. There are no rules of etiquette when it comes to salvaging the corporate bottom line.”

  Gloria picked up her glass and took a long swallow, wishing she had ordered something stronger. “Marvin could have told you sooner. Surely, he knew something. You deserved to know when the talk first started.”

  Josh returned to his salad, as if they were discussing inclement weather. “Don’t be angry with Marvin. He’s doing his job. He’s out too. Forced retirement.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Gloria said, picking at her salad with her fork. “Everybody but Grace. What saved her?”

  Josh shrugged. When he finished chewing, he said, “They used some service formula and Grace met the criteria. Marvin and I were pushed out on opposite ends of the spectrum. He had too much service, I had too little.”

  “Is there any chance you can find work someplace else in the company?”

  Josh shook his head. “That’s not an option. They want us off the payroll.”

  Gloria wished they were home now instead of in a public restaurant. She wanted to be comforted. And she wanted to comfort her husband. She knew him well enough to know that even though his demeanor said “calm,” he was shaken up. “I love you, Josh. We’ll make it through this. Together.”

  Josh returned pressure to his wife’s hand. “I love you, too. This thing blind-sided me. I walked into Marvin’s office expecting to talk about my upcoming promotion. This was the farthest thing from my mind.”

  Gloria’s thoughts went to the promotion she and Portia had talked about. She decided now was not the time to mention it to Josh.

  Two

  The moonlight shone through the bedroom window, giving Gloria a clear view of her sleeping husband. His relaxed expression gave a sense of peace. He looked like a carefree little boy. But he wasn’t a little boy. He was a man. Six-feet-three inches of gorgeous, black man. And he wasn’t carefree, at least not this morning. This morning he had more than his share of worries. She wanted to reach out and caress his face to reassure herself that everything was going to work out, but she knew her touch would wake him.

  She was still steamed about his treatment from General Electronics. It wasn’t fair. Josh had done everything right—more than right. This shouldn’t be happening to him, to us.

  She studied his face. From the look he wore, she assumed his dreams were pleasant, peaceful. Maybe pictures of the two of them on some secluded island filled his mind. She lifted her hand to touch him and withdrew it a whisper from his cheek. She wasn’t going to wake him.

  Gloria turned to lie on her back, her eyes focused on the ceiling, her mind on her marriage. She and Josh were a good team. They were best friends as well as husband and wife. They brought out the best in each other. She knew Josh would need her to make it through this job ordeal just as he had needed her tonight. Their lovemaking had taken on an ethereal quality. Josh was doing more than making love to her. He was claiming her, making sure that she was real and that she was there.

  “Two dollars.” The smooth silkiness of Josh’s voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned her head in his direction to see him leaning on his elbows looking at her.

  She turned fully toward him. “My thoughts are worth more than two dollars this morning.”

  Josh gave her a quick kiss on her mouth. “How much more?”

  She returned his kiss, giving him one that was longer and wetter than the one he had given her. “Money’s not everything, Josh.”

  “I love you, Gloria Martin.”

  Gloria saw the sincerity in his eyes. She never doubted his love for her. When he said it like this, though, it brought out something primitive in her. She rolled toward him until her body was flush with his, her lips so close to his that she felt his breath on her face. “I love you, Joshua Martin.”

  Josh wrapped his arms around her and pulled her atop him as he rolled over onto his back. “You’re a beautiful, sexy woman, wife.”

  “I feel like a beautiful, sexy woman in your arms.”

  Josh rubbed his hands up and down her body. “You probably say that to all your husbands.”

  Gloria moved so her body was flush with his. “What did you say?”

  Josh groaned. In retaliation, he pressed more firmly against her. “I can’t remember.”

  Gloria moaned as she met his hardness with her softness. “Fortunately, you remember the important things.”

  Josh met Gloria’s gaze and held it. “You know you’re in trouble, don’t you?”

  Gloria pressed her breasts flat against his chest and kissed him fully on the mouth. “When are you going to stop talking?”

  Josh pushed up off the bed and rolled over until Gloria was under him. He stared into her eyes and saw a reflection of the love and desire he felt. “I’ve stopped.”

  Gloria placed her arms around his broad shoulders and pulled him to her. Josh reveled in the kiss she gave him, a kiss that made him feel she wanted to devour him. God, that was a heady feeling. This was his woman. With all the uncertainty in his life right now, he could be sure of this woman who purred so sweetly beneath him. She was his and she would be his forever.

  She was his. That was the last thought Josh had before his world collided with hers.

  ***

  Later, Josh smiled at his sleeping wife sprawled across the bed. Her normally well-coiffured hair was a mass of disarray around her face. Her lips were curved in a sensuous smile. The small, black mole above the right side of her upper lip was so enticing that he leaned over and kissed it. She stirred, but she didn’t awaken. He pulled away and let his gaze wander down her naked body. He only got as far as her maddeningly sexy, full, round breasts before he was fully aroused. That didn’t surprise him since simply talking with Gloria could awaken his arousal. It had been that way since he had first seen her strolling along McCosh Walk at Princeton.

  ***

  “Who’s that?” Josh had asked his friend Walter.

  Walter had looked in the direction of Josh’s stare. “I can’t believe you’re even interested, Mr. Iceman.”

  Josh continued to stare at the tall, slim beauty with curly black hair that waved around her face. She was talking to Gwen, a fellow student. Even from a distance, he could see her happy smile and feel its warmth. “Are you going to tell me who she is or will I have to have Gwen introduce me?”

  “Someone has finally gotten to the Iceman. I don’t believe it,” Walter said, shaking his head and laughing. “She really has your number, doesn’t she, Josh?”

  Josh began to walk away from Walter and toward Gwen and the beauty. “Her name, Walter. All I want is her n
ame.”

  Walter called after him, “Gloria. Her name is Gloria.”

  “Thanks for nothing buddy,” Josh responded without looking back.

  Gwen greeted him when he reached her and Gloria. “Hi, Josh. Have you met Gloria?”

  Josh directed his smile to Gloria. “Not yet.”

  “Now you have,” Gwen said. “Gloria Adams, Josh Martin.”

  Josh felt fortunate to have that brilliant smile and those bright eyes focused on him.

  “Hi, Josh.”

  He knew he was staring, but he couldn’t help himself. That black mole against her warm, brown skin mesmerized him. “Will you have dinner with me tonight?”

  Gloria’s eyes registered her surprise.

  Gwen laughed, then said, “You don’t waste much time, do you, Josh?”

  Josh’s gaze didn’t leave Gloria’s face and he didn’t answer Gwen. “Tomorrow night?” he offered when Gloria didn’t answer.

  The twinkle in her big, brown eyes told him that she was laughing at him, but he didn’t care. He wanted a date with her. He had to have a date with her. “Okay, you pick the night.” Gloria laughed, a happy, full, feminine laugh that made him want to laugh with her. “I think I like you, Josh Martin. Tomorrow night is fine.”

  Actually, they went out ten nights in a row. On the tenth night, Josh surprised himself. “Will you marry me, Gloria Adams?” From her look and her answer, the question didn’t surprise Gloria. “When?”

  “June, seven years from now.”

  Gloria didn’t hesitate. “Yes, Josh. I’ll marry you.”

  ***

  Josh remembered the day as if it had been yesterday. He and Gloria had been so young, so arrogant and so full of dreams. Walter had laughed when Josh had told him of their engagement.

  “Seven years? You expect that gorgeous woman to wait seven years? You’re crazy. Some other guy will come along and snap her right up.”

  Josh was undaunted. “You’re wrong, Walter. Gloria and I will marry in seven years. She’ll date other men and maybe I’ll date other women, but in seven years you’ll be the best man at our wedding.”

  Walter shook his head. “I believe in planning as much as the next guy, but you take it too far, Josh. You can’t fit everything into your Day Planner for life. Some things won’t fit. I don’t want to see you hurt, man.”

  “You don’t understand. Gloria and I want it this way. She has things she wants to accomplish before we get married, and so do I.”

  “But seven years is such a long time,” Walter countered.

  Josh shook his head. “Not when you think about it. Gloria has two years of school and then five years of work to accomplish her goals before we get married.”

  “What about you? How are you going to handle seven years?”

  “Working. I’m taking that job with General Electronics in San Francisco. I’m up to my eyeballs in debt. Seven years should give me more than enough time to get established financially. By that time, I should have arranged a transfer to Atlanta.”

  “Atlanta? I thought you wanted to live on the West Coast.”

  “Hey, buddy, I’m in love, remember? Gloria wants to move back to Atlanta. You know she went to Spelman.”

  “I don’t know, man. Seven years is still a long time.”

  “It’ll work for us. I’m sure of it.”

  Josh still remembered Walter’s skeptical look. He had reminded Walter of that look many times over the last two years. “Surprised” didn’t adequately describe Walter’s reaction when Josh had asked him to be best man at his and Gloria’s wedding. Of course, Walter had agreed. And on June tenth, seven years after she had accepted his proposal, Gloria Adams became Gloria Martin.

  Everything had gone according to plan for them. They’d had their time apart and they had begun their time together. Their goal for their first year of marriage had been to save for a substantial down payment on a house large enough for the family they wanted to start by their third year of marriage. They had accomplished that first-year goal with the recent purchase of a five-bedroom contemporary in Atlanta’s South DeKalb area. Their second year’s goal was to save enough money for Gloria to leave work to raise their children. The size of their portfolio suggested they were well on the way to accomplishing that goal.

  Thinking about their goals brought Josh’s job situation to the forefront of his mind. For a while last night and this morning Gloria had helped him forget. But Josh knew he couldn’t spend the entire weekend making love to his wife to forget his troubles. No, Josh Martin needed to do what he did best. He needed to make a plan.

  ***

  Gloria reached for Josh, but he wasn’t in bed with her. She opened her eyes and looked around the room. He sat at the desk in the alcove of their bedroom, writing intently. It was a familiar sight.

  “Working, Josh?” she asked.

  Josh looked up then. “No need for that now.”

  Gloria ran her hand through her hair and sat up fully in the bed. Had she really forgotten that Josh had lost his job? “What are you doing?”

  Josh placed the pad on the desk and walked over and sat on the bed. He pulled Gloria into his arms and kissed her forehead. “Planning to find a new job.”

  “Have you come up with anything?”

  “Not much,” he answered. “I’ve been thinking more than anything else.”

  “You were writing up a storm a few minutes ago.”

  “Just getting my thoughts together. Writing helps.”

  “What were you thinking about?” she asked.

  “How naive I’ve been. Given the churn at General over the last few years, I should’ve had a contingency plan.”

  Gloria responded immediately to the self-directed guilt she heard in his voice. “There was no way for you to know, or even suspect, you’d be terminated.”

  Josh winced. “Ouch. I guess I’d better get used to that terminate word.”

  Gloria was instantly contrite. “I’m sorry, Josh.”

  He squeezed her to him. “It’s not your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for.” Josh was silent for a while. Finally, he spoke. “I started a list of contacts to explore. It doesn’t look too promising, though. Most of the companies I listed are downsizing, too.”

  “You know as well as I do, Josh, that companies hire with one hand while they’re laying off with the other. We’ll have to use our inside contacts to find out what’s really going on.”

  Josh gave a hollow laugh. “I sure hope that our contacts, as you call them, know more about what’s happening in their companies than I knew about what was happening at General.”

  “Stop talking like that,” Gloria said, pinching him on the arm. “There was no way for you to anticipate this. God, Marvin had been talking to you about a promotion.”

  A promotion, Josh thought. It was almost laughable now. Almost. “I’ll start making calls Monday. All I want this weekend is to be with you. Is that all right?”

  “Let me see,” Gloria teased, glad that Josh was coming out of the doldrums. “Do I want my husband’s full attention this weekend? Surely, I can find something better to do with my time.”

  Josh patted her bottom. “You can, can you?”

  She felt him relax. “Easily. But since you need me, I’ll put those plans on hold. What do you want to do today?”

  “We could spend the day in bed.” He reached out and feathered his fingers across her breasts.

  Gloria pushed away from him, although she was tempted to go along with his suggestion. Very tempted. “We could, but we’re not. Let’s do something wild. How about Six Flags? I love amusement parks. We haven’t been in ages.”

  Gloria got up from the bed and paraded to the bathroom. Josh called after her, “There’s probably a good reason for that. I hate amusement parks. Let’s take the boat out instead.”

  Gloria stepped out of the bathroom, her toothbrush in her mouth. She didn’t want to spend the day on the b
oat that General Electronics made available to its executives. “That’s not true, Josh. You hate the idea of going to the Park, but once you get there you enjoy it as much as I do.”

  “But I want to be alone with you and Six Flags will be so crowded.”

  Gloria pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth, relieved Josh hadn’t mentioned the boat again. “Sure, there are lots of people there, Josh. It’s a park, for God’s sake. Now get up and get dressed. We can spend the whole day there.”

  Josh got up from the bed and went to his closet. “I don’t believe we’re doing this. Where has the romance gone in this marriage when the wife prefers Six Flags to a quiet, private day on the lake with her husband?”

  Gloria put her hands on her hips, knowing that since Josh was in his closet, the trip to Six Flags was a done deal. “We’re going to Six Flags, Joshua Martin, and you’re going to love it.”

  ***

  The relaxed feeling Josh had experienced over the weekend wore off as soon as he walked into the office Monday morning. He dreaded the morning meeting with Marvin to discuss the specifics of the “termination,” but more than that he dreaded the afternoon meeting when he had to tell his staff they’d be out of work in two weeks. Everybody but Grace.

  “What’s wrong, Josh?” Grace asked after he was seated at his desk.

  “What makes you think something is wrong?”

  “Well, for the first time in the three years I’ve worked for you, I beat you into the office. Second, there was no new work on my desk this morning.”

  Josh smiled. He usually worked on weekends, leaving work on Grace’s desk for Monday mornings. Things were changing already. “Close the door, Grace, and have a seat.”

  Josh gave Grace the news.

  “I don’t believe it, Josh. I’m the only one staying on. How can that be?”

  “They’re doing this strictly by service times. You’re the only one who meets the criteria. Everybody else will be terminated or forced to retire.”

  “Not you too, Josh?”

  “Yes, me too.” The stricken look on Grace’s face only made him feel worse. If Grace took it this way and she was keeping her job, he didn’t want to think about how the others would take it.