2 Alliance Square

Penny turned and looked at Ashley's back. She even took two steps toward Ashley.

Nina held up her hand and silently shook her head at the HR woman. Penny frowned, then nodded her head and left the room.

"Thank you," Ashley said quietly.

"Damn, Ashley! Got eyes in the back of your head?" Nina asked.

Ashley did not tell Nina, but she did have a small mirror attached to the top of her monitor. That mirror had been placed there by the previous agent that had occupied this cubicle.

The mirror was there to remind that agent to smile when she spoke. A smile can often turn away anger, or so the agent had hoped.

In the small mirror, Ashley had watched her former lover, the poised, elegant, beautiful Penny Minzelle as she had spoken with Tiffany. Ashley had watched and had tensed up when Penny had begun to approach her. She had seen Penny's head swivel slightly, then had watched as Penny turned and walked away.

"Oh. And you ever touch me again, I'll file a harassment complaint with HR so fast your head will spin," Ashley said.

"Oh, bull shit. You'd have to go to HR and we both know that ain't going happen," Nina said lightly.

"Bitch," Ashley said lightly.

"Takes one to know one," Nina said and the two women shared a smile.

Nina reached over and squeezed Ashley's forearm again. Nina laughed out loud when Ashley tried to slap her hand.

That evening was better. Ashley ate her dinner, then stepped onto her small back patio. She sat, just listening to the sounds of the world around her. Someone, probably the Bergerons were in their hot tub. There was a third voice, but with the Bergerons, that was not unusual. Samantha Bergeron, a gorgeous strawberry blonde with a slender body had once invited Ashley to join her and Adam in their hot tub.

"Uh, yeah, no," Ashley had said, as Adam had posed and preened standing behind his wife, skimpy Speedos barely containing his semi-erect cock at bay.

Nearby, probably the first house next to the complex of condominiums, someone was grilling. Ashley couldn't smell what they were cooking, but she could smell the charcoal smoke.

A 'whee!' and an excited squeal and splash alerted Ashley that their swimming pool was being used. If she had wanted to, Ashley could swivel her head to the left, peer through the slats in her fence, see the swimming pool. But the voices told her it was Vince Davis, his beautiful wife Monica, and their three year old son Vinnie splashing around in the pool.

The blind man that lived in the condo at the end was playing his guitar again. The man was extremely talented; it was a shame that no one outside of this group of buildings would ever get to hear him as he played. The man was talented, but was a hopeless alcoholic. The only time he ever left his condominium was to stagger down the street to the Pack N Sack liquor store. Then, fifth of gin securely clutched in his left hand, the man would tap his way back home.

He must have had a good buzz already going; he was playing some Chicago style blues. He was being aggressive with the individual strings tonight.

With a jolt, Ashley realized that she'd fallen asleep in the comfortable chair. Darkness was fast approaching as she got to her feet.

The clock on the mantle told Ashley that it was eight forty. The air conditioning was blowing hard and a shiver ran through Ashley's body.

"I'll light a fire this weekend," Ashley promised herself as she looked at her fireplace.

Front door and back door were securely locked. Then, with a sigh, Ashley went up the stairs.

Friday morning, Ashley arrived at the office at seven forty five. For a brief moment, she almost walked up to the fifth floor, almost went to grab one of the doughnuts Brad Prescott always brought in on Fridays. She almost went up to the lunch room for a cup of far too strong coffee, dumped far too much sugar into it, and enjoyed a still warm doughnut with her coworkers.

Instead, Ashley went to her computer and logged in. She actually pulled up 'Solitaire' on her computer and played a quick hand while she waited for the computer's clock to reach seven fifty five, the earliest that she could clock in.

After clocking in, Ashley saw that the log's background was now blue. The blue background signified that they were switching over from Prescott Properties to collecting for outside vendors. The first one on her log was for a past due bill for the Oakleaf Water & Sewage.

"Wonder how much shit Fiona Jefferson's going give me?" Ashley quipped to herself.

Nina came in at eight oh four, glazed sugar still at the corners of her pretty mouth. Ashley wondered how the girl had managed to get her jeans on; they looked painted on. She smirked at the Dallas Cowboys tee shirt Nina wore. Most of the people in the building, hell, in the county were Houston Texans fans.

"And when they win a Super Bowl, I'll wear one of their shirts," Nina would always retort.

At eight twenty, Tiffany Powell entered the room. Tiffany was on the second tier; they worked from eight thirty to five thirty. Ashley had specifically requested first tier; having no desire to fight traffic at eight o'clock in the morning like most on the second tier did, or eight thirty traffic as most in the third tier did.

Ashley concluded her call and Tiffany reached out a tentative hand. Ashley jerked slightly at the contact.

"Sorry," Tiffany said at Ashley's jerk.

"Yes?" Ashley asked, not turning around.

"I uh, I just uh, just wanted say 'thank you,'" Tiffany stammered.

"Thank... For what?" Ashley asked, now removing her headset and swiveling around.

Tiffany's eye was still a hideous color. Her lip still looked puffy. There was also a slight discoloration on her cheek.

"You uh, kind of made me get off my butt and call the cops," Tiffany admitted.

"Oh. Well, you're welcome," Ashley said and prepared to swivel back to her computer screen.

"Glen tried saying wasn't him, but this?" Tiffany said, pointing to a space on her upper jaw, a space where a tooth should have been. "He had a fight bite that was still bleeding when the cops showed up."

"Oh, I uh, you going get that fixed?" Ashley asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah, going Dr. Ormond's on Tuesday," Tiffany said.

"Oh, well, that's good," Ashley said, faltering to find anything more to say.

"Yeah, I uh, I just wanted say 'thanks,'" Tiffany said.

"I uh, you're welcome," Ashley said. "I uh, so, where you staying now?"

"My mom's," Tiffany said, battered face twisted in a grimace. "Course? Says she's allergic to my cat, but I can't get rid of my Lady, I just can't."

"Oh! I love cats," Ashley heard herself saying.

"I call bull shit you love anything," Elizabeth Herd sneered from her cubicle.

"What?" Ashley demanded, pretty face twisted in anger.

"Heard me, Bit... Dunn. Bull shit you love anything," Elizabeth snapped.

"You don't know a God damned thing about me. You hear? You don't know anything about me," Ashley screamed at the woman.

"Yes ma'am, Ashley uh Dunn and Elizabeth Herd," another coworker stated into her headset.

A moment later, Shirley Dangelo, the director of Human Resources strode into the room, followed by Brad Prescott and Emily Ashford, the manager of the call center.

"Ms. Dunn, Ms. Herd, my office. Now," Brad thundered before Shirley could say anything.

"Ma'am? I am switching you to Tiffany; she's one of my coworkers," Ashley said calmly and evenly into her headset. "Please hold on. Thank you."

She then pressed a series of buttons on her telephone keypad. Tiffany's phone rang a second later.

"Tiffany, please help me with file number six four six nine three seven zero. She's trying to set up a payment plan," Ashley said. "On uh, line four."

Then Ashley rose to her feet and stood, waiting. She regarded Mr. Prescott's ruddy face, almost smiling as his left eye twitched involuntarily.

"Yes ma'am, okay, so that's going to be uh, twenty five dollars a week, every week, until this six hundred and forty three dollars and twenty nine cents is paid back. No ma'am, they don't tell us how your bill got so high," Tiffany said, voice cheerful, pleasant. "But ma'am? Remember, even though you're paying on this one, you still need to keep up with your monthly bills when they come in, okay?"

Elizabeth ended her own phone call and got to wobbly legs. She looked worried as she followed Brad, Emily and Shirley out of the room. Ashley brought up the rear, striding with long, deliberate steps.

"Ms. Dunn, the elevator's right here," Brad Prescott snapped.

"I'll take the stairs," Ashley calmly stated.

"You'll take the God damned..." Brad started to scream when Shirley put a reassuring hand on the man's arm.

Ashley was waiting for the quartet at the door of Brad Prescott's personal assistant's office when they stepped off of the elevator. Again, she followed Brad, Shirley, and Elizabeth through Danielle's office to Brad Prescott's inner sanctum.

"Sit," Brad snarled, pointing to the two low slung chairs in front of his desk.

Ashley let Elizabeth sit first. Shirley sat in a chair to Brad's left and Emily took the couch against the wall facing Brad's desk. For several moments, the five people sat in silence.

"So?" Brad finally spat out.

"So?" Ashley agreed.

"So? What was that all about?" Brad bellowed.

"There was an ah, an incident a few moments ago," Shirley tried to explain in a soothing voice.

"I uh, I made a joke," Elizabeth stammered, face red.

"I'm not laughing," Brad said.

"What was the joke, Ms. Herd?" Shirley inquired.

"I and another coworker were talking about her kitty," Ashley started.

"I don't pay you sit around talking about..." Brad said.

"And I said I just love pussies," Ashley said.

Ashley almost let a smile cross her lips as Brad's face again became ruddy, this time from embarrassment. Shirley's own facial expression tightened as she fought against the smile.

"And Ms. Herd challenged my statement," Ashley concluded her rendition of the event.

"And next thing I know, she's this screaming lunatic," Elizabeth agreed.

Again, the quintet lapsed into silence. Ashley calmly waited; she had no fear of Brad Prescott, or of being terminated.

"Dunn. Double bonus, five X," Shirley wrote onto a pad and slid it over to Brad.

"Five?" Brad asked out loud, surprised.

"Mm hmm," Shirley murmured.

"Regular bonus?" Brad scribbled and slid the pad back.

"Twenty three," Shirley scribbled.

"And Herd?" Brad scribbled after verifying on his computer that Shirley was correct.

"Three, regular bonus," Shirley scribbled.

Ashley sat and waited, eyes firmly on Brad Prescott. Even though she was bored, sitting, waiting, she kept her focus on Brad Prescott.

Elizabeth, however, let her boredom show. She huffed, she slumped, she looked around the office.

"I uh, well, I'm just not sure, I, Ms. Dangelo?" Brad finally stammered.

"There will be no disciplinary action taken this time," Shirley said, voice firm. "But if the two of you cannot control your tempers?"

"Yes ma'am, thank you, Ms. Dangelo," Ashley said. "Mr. Prescott."

"Yes, thank you," Elizabeth said.

"That's it," Brad dismissed them.

He watched Elizabeth's blue jean clad ass and Ashley's skirt covered ass as the two adversaries left his office. He did wonder what Ashley's ass would look like in a nice, tight pair of jeans, or even better yet, what her ass would look like in a pair of boy shorts.

After a long moment, Emily got to her feet and followed her two subordinates. Brad did not look at the fifty four year old woman's khaki covered rear end.

"Now, what was that at the elevator?" Brad asked Shirley.

"Ms. Dunn suffers from claustrophobia," Shirley explained, getting to her feet. "As slow as that elevator is? As many times as it jerks and groans? There's no way she would survive getting on that thing."

"Anyone else ever hit double bonus five times?" Brad asked.

"Nope. Nina Crowder's come close, though. She's hit it twice," Shirley said.

"How's hitting it twice coming close to five?" Brad wondered.

"No one else has even hit double bonus once," Shirley said from the door of the office.

As Brad Prescott was mulling it over, Ashley and Elizabeth were stoically ignoring each other in the work room. Nina looked over and Ashley met Nina's gaze.

"You okay?" Nina asked quietly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Ashley asked.

"Good," was Nina's response.

At the end of the day, Ashley sent in her log, clocked out, then shut down her computer. Gathering her things, she turned and put a gentle hand on Tiffany's shoulder.

"Have a good weekend," Ashley said quietly to the girl.

"Aw, you snot," Nina said as they walked out of the room. "You never say 'have a good weekend' to me."

"Hmm, might want to take a look at that," Ashley said and turned toward the stairs.

"Man!" Nina laughed, and Ashley shot her a grin.

"Hey Nina?" Ashley said, opening the door of the stairwell. "Have a good weekend."

"You too," Nina said and edged closer to the door of the elevator.

There was a marathon scheduled for the morning, a twenty six mile run in Lowridge, Texas. Ashley was grateful for this. Her Friday night was spent in preparation of the race. Saturday morning, she had no time to dawdle as she drove to Lowridge. Then, after coming in first in the women's' division, third overall, she returned home and soaked in her hot tub until she could hardly slither out of the steaming cauldron.

Ashley's Saturday night and her entire Sunday was spent nursing her sore, aching muscles into health.

Monday morning, Ashley turned her cell phone on again and saw several text messages, congratulating her on winning the marathon, winning in the women's' division. There were three phone calls from the local television station, wanting to interview her, one from a local radio station wanting an interview, and one from a Linda Clark. The woman said she represented 'Rub' magazine, and they'd love to do a pictorial of Ashley Dunn.

"Hmm," Ashley mused, looking at the magazine on-line. "No, no, sure as I'm sitting here, three years from now? That'll jump up to bite me on the ass."

"Of course, could always send one to dear old Daddy," Ashley giggled as she left her condo, ready for another day of work.

Nina was two minutes early, so Ashley and Nina did quietly compare notes on their weekend before clocking in and starting their workday. At eight twenty, Tiffany arrived and Ashley greeted the young woman.

"My momma says she's going call the shelter come get Lady," Tiffany said, eyes filling with tears.

"Oh no ma'am," Ashley sapped.

Ashley stood, face twisted in anger. Tiffany shrank back from the beauty.

"You call your mother and you tell her we're coming get Lady at lunch time, hear?" Ashley demanded.

"And what?" Tiffany asked.

"Y'all are moving in with me," Ashley said forcefully.

Ashley whirled and sat back down. Angrily, she pulled her headset on.

"Yes, Emily, I, lunch time, might be a little late. Tiffany too. Tiffany Powell," Ashley barked into her headset.

Nina waited until Ashley clicked on her computer screen and pulled up the next file. She looked over her shoulder at Tiffany, then at Ashley again.

"What are you doing?" Nina asked.

"Well, hell if I know," Ashley admitted. "But Jesus, really? A momma will get rid of her little girl's cat? Oh no ma'am, that ain't happening, you hear?"

"Hi, Mr. Knowles? Buster Knowles? Oh, well, you have any idea when he'll be home? This is Ashley with Prescott; I'm trying help him not lose his home," Ashley said.

Ashley listened to the person on the other end. Her smirk told Nina that Ashley strongly suspected she had indeed reached Buster Knowles.

"Well, since you're not Michael Knowles, also known as Buster, I'm not at liberty to say," Ashley stated firmly. But Do have Mr. Michael Knowles give me a call at extension one seven one four at his earliest convenience."

At twelve o'clock, Ashley clocked out, then quietly waited for Tiffany to clock out. Then, the two marched out of the call center, Tiffany pumping her legs to keep up with Ashley.

Tiffany veered toward the elevators, then followed Ashley down the stairs.

"Oh wow, I'd still be waiting on the stupid elevator," Tiffany laughed as they barreled out of the stairwell.

"Okay, Momma's address," Ashley said as she shoved the door of 2 Alliance Square open.

Tiffany gave an address that was only two miles from the building. She again had to hustle to keep up with Ashley.

"Call your mom, tell her we're coming get Lady and your other stuff," Ashley stated as she opened the door of her BMW.

"This is your car? Nice," Tiffany said as she hit the number '3' on her cell phone.

"Hmm? No; just thought we'd borrow it," Ashley said. "I mean, we're only going be a few minutes, right?"

"Ha-ha," Tiffany said, then informed her mother that she was coming to get her cat.

At the trailer, Mrs. Powell was agitated when Ashley strode in. Mrs. Powell confessed that she would not have called the Animal Shelter; she just wanted Tiffany to think seriously of getting rid of the animal.

"No mother should ever make their little girl live in fear like that," Ashley snarled, face a mask of rage. "What kind of mother does that? Huh? What kind of mother threatens take their baby's little cat away?"

"Okay, got everything," Tiffany said.

"Oh! But you're a pretty girl, aren't you? Yes you are, yes you are," Ashley cooed to the grey tabby in Tiffany's arms.

Lady let out a soft meow and Ashley gave the cat a soft head scratch. With one last murderous glare at the older woman, Ashley stalked out of the trailer.

"How'd you do that?" Tiffany asked as they backed out of the trailer park. "I ain't never seen my momma scared like that."

"I just cannot believe any mother could do that, threaten her little girl like that," Ashley muttered angrily.

Tiffany looked around as Ashley backed up to the condominium. She looked around as she carried Lady to the front door. She looked around in awe at the gorgeous furniture, the tasteful artwork, the large fireplace.

"Okay, litter box needs go in here," Ashley stated firmly, opening the door of the half-bath. "We'll stop on the way home, get a second one for upstairs. Has she eaten? Let's get her some food, something to drink. Lady? Do you like half and half? Hmm? Does the pretty girl like half and half? Oh I bet she does, I bet she'll drink it right up."

Lady sniffed the saucer, gave it a soft lick, then fell face first into the liquid. Tiffany and Ashley laughed as the cat lapped almost frantically.

"I uh, who are you?" Tiffany asked as they left the condo.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ashley asked as they got into the car.

"I mean, who are you? I've never seen this side of you before," Tiffany said. "And I been there coming up on two years."

Ashley did not answer. She pulled up to a Taco Bell, yelled her order, repeated her order, and asked Tiffany what she wanted. Then she paid for the meal and drove back to the garage behind 1 Alliance Square.

"Oh! I don't get off until five thirty!" Tiffany remembered.

"And you've got your own car, right?" Ashley verified, wolfing down her burrito.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it's that Nissan over there," Tiffany said, even pointing at a white Nissan on the row behind them.

"Then, when you get off of work, go home, get your stuff, and I'll see you at the condo," Ashley said, finishing her meal.

Ashley asked Tiffany for her cell number. She called it, making sure that Tiffany had her cell number. Then she got out of the car.

At the end of the work day, Ashley gently touched Tiffany's shoulder as she left the call center. Tiffany was on the phone with a client, but nodded to acknowledge Ashley's touch.

"Careful," Nina joked as they left the large room. "People are going start saying nice things about you."