NOTHING STAYS THE SAME

by Suzetta Perkins

  “It’s going to take a miracle and a whole lot of prayer,” Ashley said. “I know what they mean about people getting converted when they go to prison. Of course, I’ll never be a Muslim.” Everybody laughed. “But I do have a connection to a higher being. I ask God every day to forgive me for what I did. If I had never gone back to William, I wouldn’t be in this predicament.”

  “Girl, you should have listened to me,” Mona said. “I tried to tell you over and over that that man didn’t mean you no good. You just had to give him some, and it was all over then.”

  “You’re right, Mona. I should have listened, but I wanted revenge. I wanted to show his mistress that I still had power over my husband whether he was an ex or not.”

  “Well, the unthinkable happened,” Claudette said. “I just wish Ash had let me get a piece of that Mandingo before she put him out of his misery.”

  “Oh Lawd.” Mona laughed. “Yeah, remember the day William had your big booty up in the air and put you off his property because you wouldn’t leave? Lawd, I wish I could have been there to witness that. I can’t believe that was over three years ago.”

  “It wasn’t funny then, but it is kind of funny now,” Claudette put in. “That wouldn’t have happened if Ashley hadna popped his big head and told him to move out of the way because she was going with me to the doctor.”

  “The things we can laugh at now,” Sylvia said. “Ash, what do you need besides your girls checking on you every once in awhile?”

  “Nothing. Just don’t forget me. This is like therapy. Even though all you hussies got married, you should keep up your meetings and maybe rename the group.”

  The ladies chatted for the next hour and a half, telling Ashley all about the children, especially Kenny Jr.’s birthday party. Their lives had gone on, but there was a vacant spot that would never be filled until Ashley could make it back to the other side.

  “Well, sweetheart,” Claudette began, “we’re going to have to head on back. We enjoyed it, and I’ll see you in a couple of weeks...with Reagan.”

  “Yeah, girl, it was so good to see you,” Mona said. “Now, I feel as if my guilt has rolled away.”

  “I love you, Ash,” Sylvia said. “You know that you’ve always been in my heart, and I think about you all the time. I was delinquent in visiting you, but no more. Give me a hug.”

  “Group hug,” Ashley shouted. Mona and Claudette moved in to join Ashley and Sylvia. “Feels like old times.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Cars littered the parking lot as would be the custom on a Monday morning or any other day of the work week. Marvin looked at them and then at the building that housed the enterprise that he had built from the ground up. It had made him a rich man, but he had never believed, even in his wildest dreams, that all of this could come crashing down around him.

  He looked at the cars again—inanimate objects made of steel. They couldn’t feel or defend themselves. They were at the mercy of man’s manipulations. But for the one hundred or so employees that owned those cars, man’s manipulations, were about to wreak havoc on their lives as there was a strong possibility they might have to feel the sting of a pink slip.

  Marvin shook his head to try to rid it of the psychological traffic that had dominated his brain since he’d sold his shares. He wasn’t sure when it had happened. Maybe it was when he’d realized that he was still alive and had to face the next day, but something inside was begging and shouting at him not to give up. He thought about Rachel and how all of this had affected their lives, which had been so wonderful and almost perfect up to now.

  Yvonne was busy preparing budget information for the accounting department when Marvin walked into the office. Startled, she looked at Marvin like she had seen a ghost. The whole world had seen the article in the paper about her boss’ attempted suicide, and for Yvonne to see him standing there in the flesh like nothing had happened caught her off guard. She hadn’t expected to see him, but there he was dressed in a lightweight brown blazer and jeans; another day at the office.

  “Uh, uh, uh, good morning, Mr. Thomas.”

  “Good morning, Yvonne.”

  “Coffee?” she asked, her eyes magnified ten times through the lens of her glasses.

  “Yes, that would be great. And would you please phone Mr. Richmond and ask him to come to my office?”

  “Yes, sir. Right away.”

  “Great.” Marvin half smiled and walked into his office, closing the door behind him.

  He touched his desk and ran his fingers along the perimeter, stopping to recall the moment he had decided to end it all. Nothing had changed—the chair looked the same, the papers he left in his basket were still there. So this is what it would have looked like if he had transitioned to the other side and his spirit had a chance to take a peek—business as usual.

  Marvin was still in a trance-like state when he heard the knock at the door. He willed his legs to move to the other side of the desk before he asked the visitor to come in.

  “Mr. Thomas,” Yvonne began, pushing the door open, “you have several messages from Miz Peaches.” Marvin shot up in his seat, maybe a little too fast, but he recovered before Yvonne was even aware. “And...Mr. Harold called to say that he might be a few minutes late?”

  “Yes, Yvonne. Mr. Thomas is expected at ten-thirty. Have you spoken with Mr. Richmond yet?”

  “Oh, yes. He’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”

  “Thank you, Yvonne. Please close the door behind you.”

  Fifteen minutes wasn’t enough time to call Peaches. He pulled his coffee cup close to him, picked it up, and took a sip. He sighed, took a last look at the clock, then dialed Peaches’ number almost as if he had committed it to memory. He waited.

  “Hey, handsome,” she said. “Getting in a little late this morning. I like ten o’clock scholars.” No “This is Peaches” or “Hello, Mr. Thomas.” She’d gone over the line. What if he had had Yvonne dial the number?

  “What do you want, Peaches? You need to stop calling my office and stop calling me handsome. I might have had my secretary place the call.”

  “Well, I know better than that. I see you fidgeting in your seat now. Getting all worked up just from the sound of my voice,” Peaches whispered. “Because you’ve got me all worked up. I’m squeezing my knees together, trying to keep from screaming out loud about how hot you’ve made me down there. It would be nice to feel you between my legs, putting me out of my misery.”

  Marvin put his hand over his crotch. “There’s nothing you can do for me except go somewhere and fall off the face of the earth.”

  “Let’s not be bitter. Now if you had a little, Peaches, you wouldn’t need to have gone through all the trouble you did Friday night. I do read the papers. And if I didn’t know better, I’d have thought you were trying to kill yourself so you could get out of paying me my fifty thousand dollars.”

  “Peaches, I don’t have fifty thousand dollars. How can I make you understand that?”

  “You’re right. You can’t make me understand. Lover boy, you’re just going to have to work something out. I don’t have any suggestions, but I’m sure you’ll come up with something if you don’t intend for your wife to find out about you and me.”

  “Bitch,” Marvin growled through his teeth.

  “Now, now, name calling doesn’t become you. Yeah, I’m a bitch. I’m your bitch, and I’m ready to rock your world anytime and any place.”

  “I don’t want you to rock anything. I want you to go away and leave me and my family alone. I already have the woman I need.”

  “Well, okay then. Just know you have twenty-seven days left before I make good on my promise, Mr. Marvin Thomas. See, I’ve already left a message for Mr. Kenny Richmond to give me a call. You wouldn’t—”

  There was a knock at the door. “It’s Kenny,” the voice from behind the door said.

  “I’ve got to go.” Marvin hung up the phone and tried to compose himself. “Come in.”

  K
enny eased through the doorway dressed in a tweed blazer, black slacks, and a black shirt that was open at the collar. He glanced at Marvin, not quite sure what to expect. Marvin watched Kenny examine him like he was a bizarre new project that he’d like to observe, take apart, and dissect, in order to truly understand its inner workings. Kenny was unusually quiet this morning, not the overly exuberant partner that usually came into his office talking loud and shooting the breeze.

  “Marvin,” Kenny said at last. He reached between the two chairs that sat in front of Marvin’s desk, across the desk, and gave Marvin the brother handshake. “You doing alright, man?”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m alright, now. Have a seat.” Marvin lifted one of the chrome steel balls on the Newton’s cradle that sat on his desk. He let the ball go and watched as it hit the next ball, the lot swinging back and forth, clicking and clacking, until it stopped. That exercise offered Marvin a temporary distraction from the obvious concern that was written all over Kenny’s face.

  With elbows on his desk and his chin resting on the heels of his hands, Marvin looked straight into Kenny’s face. “Kenny, I’ve invited my cousin, Harold, to meet with us. I asked him here because he was with me when I started this company, and I’m going to need his expertise to help guide me, no us, through some things. I will be frank about what’s ahead of us, and after my ordeal this weekend, I’ve made some other decisions that I want to share with you. But before Harold arrives, I want to apologize to you for not believing in myself enough to come to you when I realized that we were in trouble. I value you as a partner, a friend, and I appreciate all that you’ve done to thrust Thomas and Richmond Tecktronics to the status it has enjoyed.”

  “Well, thanks, Marvin. That’s good to hear. Yes, I was disturbed, actually angry, when I heard about you selling your shares in the company. It hurt more because I thought we were partners and trusted each other.”

  “We do, Kenny. It’s on me. In fact, I’m ashamed of how I handled the whole thing. It’s turned my house upside down. I can’t eat or sleep.” Marvin leaned back in his chair. “I’ve got the livelihood of our employees at stake, also.”

  “By the way, how is Rachel? The girls are going to see Ashley today, and Sylvia says she called Rachel to see if she wanted to go, but she was acting real strange, and of course, bugged out. I really didn’t expect to see you here this morning. I know the both of you have been under a strain.”

  “Rachel is taking this a lot harder than all of us. She’s fragile, not always trusting, but I love her. We’ll get over it.” The intercom buzzed. “Excuse me; it’s Yvonne on the intercom.”

  “Yes, Yvonne?”

  “Mr. Harold Thomas is here, sir.”

  Marvin looked at his watch. “Send him in.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Kenny stood as a man who favored Marvin walked through the door in a blue suit with soft green pinstripes running through it, his hand extended. Today, Harold walked proud, Marvin thought, almost as if the rift between them had never been. It had been more than three years since Marvin last saw him—the day Denise had her breast removed, and Harold had brought Danica to see her. Marvin wondered how his and Denise’s lives would have turned out if he had not caught her and Harold in bed together. He dismissed the thought from his mind. Denise was his ex, and Rachel was now his wife.

  “Kenny, Harold Thomas,” Marvin said. Kenny and Harold shook hands like old friends. “Harold, Kenny Richmond.”

  Marvin stood and stretched out his hand to greet his cousin. Several seconds passed when they realized that their hands were still locked together—a moment of solidarity and the past forgiven. Kenny offered Harold the seat he was sitting in, and they both sat down and crossed their legs.

  Marvin sighed. “Gentlemen, Thomas and Richmond Tecktronics is in a financial rat hole. Unfortunately, I’ve gotten us to this point by making some very bad investments that I had not thoroughly investigated.”

  Kenny’s expression changed several times. His eyebrows twitched, as he braced his elbow on the arm of the chair while balancing his chin on his knuckles. Marvin watched him in his peripheral vision, trying to gauge his mood and get a sense of what he was thinking.

  “As you both know, the market is in a vulnerable state, and if the failure of our large banking systems and the impact that it’s having on the New York Stock Exchange continues, we are doomed. There will be no money to borrow.

  “I guess you can say that we’re there, and I’ve used a lot of my own money to oversee some of our operations. It was over-whelming, and I started letting some of my personal business slide to try and save the company. As much as I hate to admit it, I panicked, and made a terrible decision without telling my partner.” Marvin stopped and looked straight at Kenny, then away. “Then like a fool, I tried to end it all as if the problem would go away. If something had happened to me, it would have been a bigger mess for my family, and of course, the company.

  “I’ve called you both together because I’ve made another decision for which I need your blessing. Partner, I know that this is something that we should have discussed, but I want to present it this way. And once you hear what I’ve got to say, you’ll understand why Harold is here.”

  Both Kenny and Harold sat up tall in their chairs, waiting for Marvin to drop the ball. Tension was in the air, and only Marvin could relieve it or make it worse.

  Marvin sat in silence for a few minutes. He wasn’t sure why it was taking so long to say what he had to say. He knew he was taking the right step, but he wanted to be sure Kenny would be right in step with him.

  “Gentlemen, I’ve changed my mind about selling my shares. I plan to fight for the company, and I hope you’re in there with me, Kenny. I will need Harold to help reorganize.”

  The tension melted off Kenny like ice cream that had been sitting outside the freezer too long. He jumped up from his seat and clasped the sides of his head with his hands, then threw them up in the air. “That’s what I’m talking about. Let’s save the company.”

  Kenny began walking in circles. “I’m all the way in there with you, Marvin. You had me scared for a moment, but I’m ready to rumble. Thank you, Lord.”

  Marvin smiled as did Harold. “We’re in for the fight of our lives—an all-out war,” Marvin said. “I made a verbal acknowledgment that I was selling my shares, but I haven’t signed anything, nor were you privy to what I did beforehand. Since these guys didn’t have any shares of our stock prior to their request to acquire mine, we may have a good chance to recover. But I’m sure it will become a hostile takeover bid. I’m not sure who they’ve retained to represent them, but I have one of the best corporate attorneys on retainer. He’s a friend of mine by the name of Cecil.”

  “Cecil Coleman of Lancaster, Bosche, and Coleman?” Kenny asked.

  “Yes, you know him?” Marvin asked.

  “Damn, this is a small world,” Kenny said. “Cecil married a second cousin of mine. We weren’t close—didn’t run in the same circles. This is kind of funny. I never thought I would ever need him for anything. You know...Cecil thought he was better than us poor relatives.”

  Harold spoke up for the first time. “Richmond this is your time to show him what you’re made of, and I’ll be behind both of you.”

  “Good,” Marvin said. “I’ve got to call Cecil to let him know about my change in plans. I want you both to be a witness to the phone call. Hold on a moment, Yvonne is buzzing me.” Marvin picked up the phone. “What is it, Yvonne? Can’t it wait?”

  “Well, it’s that woman, Peaches, again. She insists on speaking to you, now.”

  “Pass the call.” There was a short pause. “Excuse me, guys, I’ve got to take this call.”

  “Hey, lover boy, your wife has a lovely voice. Don’t worry; I didn’t say anything...this time.”

  “Alright. Thank you very much. I’ll talk with you later.” Marvin slammed the phone down.

  “Are you alright, Marvin?” Harold asked, knowing his cousin bett
er than anyone.

  Marvin sat back in his chair and contemplated the question and how he was going to respond. He locked his fingers and joined his thumbs together and held them up to his face. He dropped his hands, then looked from Kenny to Harold.

  “No, I’m not alright. I have one other thing that I need to share with you, and it’s not to go beyond this room.”

  “What is it?” Kenny asked with a puzzled look on his face.

  “You may not want to know, but I’ve got to tell someone. I’m being blackmailed.”

  “Blackmailed? By whom?” Harold asked, now standing. “Does it have to do with the takeover?”

  “Indirectly,” Marvin said matter-of-factly. “Where do I begin? It was the night I called Cecil and told him to sell my shares. I couldn’t believe that I had done it. Rachel and I had had an awful fight that day. Anyway, after I left the office, I went to a bar downtown to get drunk.”

  “But I thought you stopped drinking,” Kenny said.

  “I did, but I needed something or someone to talk to...to understand what I’d been up against. The stress was killing me. While I was at the bar, this woman comes up to me, and I bought her a drink. She was nice looking, friendly. But you won’t believe what happened.

  “I must have passed out because I don’t have any recollection of anything that happened. Gentlemen, I woke up in this room...a room that was not familiar to me. And...and I was naked.”

  “Oh, hell,” Kenny shouted. “Oh, Marv, please don’t tell me...”

  “Don’t tell you that I slept with her?”

  Harold’s eyes were wide with shock. “Marvin, you didn’t?”

  “I don’t know what I did because as I said I have no recollection. But she has pictures, and she is blackmailing me to the tune of fifty thousand dollars, which she’s given me twenty-seven days to pay. If not, she will tell Rachel and the whole world. She’s already left a message for Kenny to call her.”

  “I did have a phone message that was vague,” Kenny said.