by ROD HARLEY
I flipped through the pages and was absolutely astonished. Everything from the wording right down to the specifics of the financial breakdown was identical to the third proposal we had made to Reasons. The proposal that had mysteriously wound up with the numbers all screwed up. I flipped back to the front of the paperwork and looked over the list of corporate officers of Datachek and my suspicions were quickly confirmed. Listed as the CEO of Datachek was none other than that sawed-off, snake in the grass, Kyle Perkins. I sat staring at his name in disbelief. All I could do was look up at Reasons and stare, mouth wide open and shake my head.
“Unbelievable!” I finally muttered. “So that’s his angle. That conniving little-” I stopped myself short. Reasons smiled.
“Bastard would be a good word to describe him,” he finished. I stood up.
“He’s been sabotaging the deal all along.” He nodded his confirmation. I stood up and walked around my desk. I began to pace the floor in front of Reasons. Suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to ask him.
“Did you accept his offer?” He looked at me as if insulted.
“Hell no! I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of pulling something like this off. If KP wanted to get into the mix with a purchase offer, he should have done it legitimately. Remove himself from the negotiations with you guys, put together the best offer he could, and try to compete. I think the way he went about this whole thing says a lot about his character and who he is as a person.” I started pacing again but my pace was more relaxed. I walked back around the desk, sat down, and faced Reasons.
“So where does this leave us?”
“Well, that offer KP put together was pretty solid,” he said. I cringed. He’s going to try to use it for leverage. “But you know,” he continued. “I got an almost identical offer from another party. I mean there is an uncanny similarity, almost as if they were copied one from the other.” He smiled again.
“For some reason, I think I like their offer a whole lot better.” I smiled too. “Maybe it’s the fact that the President and CEO, Mr. Calango and I, are old friends and go way back. Or it might be that he has a sharp, young, personable businessman working for him.” He paused and began to scratch his chin.
“No, I think I know what it is. I think it’s because the lowlife, back-stabbing, worm of a CEO of whoever or whatever Datachek is, is a scumbucket, and I refused to sell the company that I have worked so hard to build from the ground up to a scheister of those sorts.” I was beaming. Reasons stood up and grabbed his briefcase.
“Now, have Debbie send me over another copy of that offer and we can get this thing finalized.” I stood up and shook his hand, still grinning from ear to ear.
“So we have a deal?” I asked almost in disbelief. Reason’s smiled at me.
“We have a deal,” he finally accepted. I exhaled. Reasons started towards the door. I followed to walk him out before he waved me off. “I can see myself out.” I just stood there smiling; feeling like the Empire State Building had been lifted off of my shoulders. Finally, after all these months the Intellica deal was done. All that remained was the signatures. At the door Reasons turned and faced me. “And don’t you worry about KP; he’ll get what he deserves. I’ll make sure of that.” He gave me a sly wink and headed out the door.
I struggled to contain my excitement as I instructed Debbie to immediately send a copy of the offer over to Reasons and to get Calango on the phone. I couldn’t wait to break the news to him. I was ecstatic. I hoped that the stupendous start was an antecedent to a day of continued successes. Peaches and cream baby…peaches and cream. My meeting with Reasons and his acceptance of our proposal left me pumped and ready to take on the world. But first, before I could conquer the world, I had to deal with Toya.
Sitting at Manndals having lunch with Toya, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I had done with Michelle the previous night. The guilt continued to constrict me causing me to squirm in my chair. Just looking at Toya made me uncomfortable.
She hadn’t brought up our conversation of last night and whether or not I had given it any thought. She did tell me to take a while to think about it, so I figured she was trying to give me a little bit of room to work that all out. Right then, right after that thought, Toya looked up from her chicken sandwich.
“Did you think about what we talked about last night?” I grabbed a handful of french fries off of my plate. I hadn’t even touched my hamburger as yet, I was too nervous to eat. I stuffed a wad of fries into my mouth and answered.
“I gave it some thought,” before grabbing another handful of fries. Toya was staring at me but I avoided making eye contact with her.
“What did you decide?” I looked up at her. We made brief eye contact before I looked away.
“I’m not sure.” Toya frowned. “Why are you looking at me like that?” “You told me to take some time to think about it. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours.” I shoved another handful of fries into my mouth and took a sip of my iced tea.
“Because, Kalem. I didn’t think it would take you that long to decide. If you’re that unsure about your feelings for me then maybe we don’t need to be together.”
“Toya, my taking my time with this decision has nothing to do with my feelings for you. You know how I feel about you, but it’s not about that.”
“What is it about then?” She demanded.
“It’s about whether or not I’m ready to be in another relationship right now. Not just with you but with anyone.”
“I’m not just anyone, Kalem. You’re acting as if you don’t know me. We’ve known each other almost our entire lives. I’m closer to you than I am with anyone else, even my sister.”
“I know that. That’s why it’s so important that I think this through. If we do this our relationship will change forever. If it doesn’t work out it could cost me my best friend. That’s a huge risk, one that I’m not sure I’m willing to take.” Toya shook her head.
“Don’t you think I’ve thought about that? You think I don’t know the risk.” She reached out and grabbed my hand. “I’m willing to take that risk. I have to. Yes, I’m afraid of what will happen to our friendship if it doesn’t work out, but you know what? I’m more afraid of never trying, and missing out on the chance of being with the guy I have loved since childhood. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life thinking about what could have been.”
I started feeling guilty again. Toya was saying everything I wished I could say. Everything I wanted to say. But how could I? I couldn’t, not after last night.
The truth be told, I wanted to be with Toya more than anything. I’ve said it a million times. I love her to death. But I was afraid. Afraid that she would hurt me, or even worse, I would hurt her. And with my track record of screwing up when I find a good woman the risk was all too real. I wasn’t ready to risk that with Toya.
“Toya. I don’t want to decide this right now. Just let me think about it for a couple of days, okay?” Toya sat quietly across the table from me. I hoped she would agree. After a few tense moments she folded her napkin and placed it on the table in front of her. She looked over at me. Her determination was evident.
“Kalem, if after all these years you still need a couple of days to think about whether or not you want to be in a relationship with me. Then maybe you’re right, it’s not worth the risk and we don’t need to give it a try. I’m going to make things easy on you. Don’t waste your time thinking about me, I’ll make the decision for you. I’m not going to beg you to be with me.”
I sat in silence staring at my plate. I felt terrible but Toya was actually letting me off the hook. I knew I couldn’t commit to her right after my dalliance with Michelle. She was creating an out for me and I planned to slide on through in silence. Toya continued.
“Just forget it, Kalem. Just forget the whole thing.” She gestured for our waitress. When the waitress arrived Toya requested the check.
The waitress placed the check on the edge of the table. Sh
e set it right in the middle so that it was no closer to Toya than it was to me. The politically correct thing to do I guess. Toya reached out and grabbed the check from the tabletop. I protested.
“I’ll get the check.” I stuck out my hand and motioned for her to hand the bill to me. She ignored me and started digging in her purse. “Toya, lunch is on me,” I reiterated. She snickered.
“Why are you protesting and demanding to pay the check? Just a second ago when I was deciding whether or not we had a future, you sat over there and showed nothing but silent indifference to what I was saying. You weren’t protesting then. All of a sudden you are all passionate about paying for lunch. What, do you feel guilty?” I crumpled my napkin and dropped it on my plate. “Well don’t. Keep your money. I asked you to meet me here and I’ll pay for lunch!” She dropped two twenty-dollar bills on the table and stood up. I looked up at her.
She paused and looked at me for a brief moment as if waiting for me to stop her from leaving. I wanted to. I wanted to tell her that I loved her and wanted to be with her. I wanted to confess the activities of the previous night with Michelle and beg her to forgive me. I wished I could tell her everything I was thinking. All of the confusion inside me.
Tell her all about my fear of being hurt again, and most of all my fear of hurting her. But instead I just looked away in silent assent. Toya snatched her purse off of the table and walked out of the restaurant. I sat there at the table alone with my thoughts for another thirty minutes before finally walking out to my truck and heading back to the office.
Chapter 11
I’d received an early morning call from Calango to congratulate me on the Intellica deal. We signed the final paperwork late last night at my office. I was anticipating an opportunity to confront Kyle Perkins at the meeting but he was conspicuously absent. I thought about inquiring with Reasons as to Perkins whereabouts but I decided to leave it alone and just enjoy the moment.
It’s Friday afternoon and I just finished hanging up on Toya’s voicemail for the twentieth time this week. I’ve only spoken to her twice since our lunch fiasco, and it’s been almost a month since that went down. Both times our conversation was short and tense. I’ve especially missed her these last couple of days. I wanted to invite her to accompany me down to Columbus, Georgia to Josh’s for the weekend; but since things have been so tense between us I didn’t think it would be a good idea.
With Toya out of the picture for the weekend I decided to ask Michelle if she wanted to tag along. I was happy when she accepted my offer but I couldn’t help feel a little disappointed. I would have really preferred to be hanging out with Toya.
Michelle and I had just pulled into Josh’s driveway and I was busy pulling our bags out of the back of my Jeep. I glanced over at her standing in the driveway in front of my truck. She was showing off her smooth brown legs in those shorts she was sporting. I giggled to myself and continued unloading our bags.
Josh came lumbering out of the house wearing an Adidas jogging suit and black flip-flops. He walked over to Michelle and introduced himself before continuing over to where I was. He still didn’t remember her. I dropped the last bag on the cement and shut the trunk just as he approached. He walked up to me grinning from ear to ear. We shook hands and embraced in greeting.
“What’s up, King?”
“Nothing much man, what’s going on with you?” Before he could respond I heard the front door to his house slam shut. Josh turned towards the door smiling. I looked over and saw Stacey walking towards us. She had on blue jeans and a North Carolina Tar Heels T-shirt. She waved enthusiastically at me as she approached. Michelle walked over to where Josh and I were standing. I forced a smile and waved at her.
“How are you doing, Stacey?”
She walked up to me and gave me a hug and for the first time I felt uncomfortable with her embrace. I was trying not to show any ill feelings towards her but her cheery attitude was already beginning to test my resolve.
“Hi, Kalem, it’s so good to see you,” she answered, before immediately turning to Michelle and looking her up and down. I introduced them.
“Stacey, this is Michelle, Michelle this is Stacey.” Stacey had a blatantly fake smile on her face when she flipped her hand out to shake Michelle’s.
“Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Josh’s wife.” I exhaled and clenched my fist; Josh looked down at the ground. Michelle smiled back at Stacey.
“Nice meeting you also,” Michelle returned. Stacey glanced over at Josh and then back at Michelle.
“Well, now that all the introductions have been made, let me show you the house.” She grabbed Michelle by the arm and led her towards the front door. Josh and I stood there in silence and watched the door close behind them as they entered. Michelle winked at me just as the door shut in front of her. As soon as they were inside Josh turned to me.
“Where’s Toya?” I leaned against the back of my Jeep, folded my arms in front of me, and shook my head. Josh continued. “I know I told you to bring whoever down here but I just assumed it would be Toya?”
“Yeah, I thought so too.”
“So what’s the deal? You and Toya not on good terms?” I snickered.
“That’s putting it mildly, dude. I’m definitely not on her favorite person’s list right now.” Josh ran his hand over the stubbled hair sprouting from his balding head.
“Did she find out about Michelle?” I shook my head no. “Well what happened?” I remained silent. “King, what did you do?”
“It’s not what I did, it’s what I didn’t, couldn’t do.” Josh shook his head and pushed his hands down into his pockets. He looked down the street away from me. When he turned back to me I could read the disappointment on his face. But I got the feeling he understood where I was coming from.
“Well,” he said reaching down and scooping two of the bags off the ground. “Let’s take it on inside, you can tell me about it later.” I grabbed the remaining two bags and followed Josh towards the front door.
We had just finished eating dinner. Michelle, Stacey, and I were sitting in the den watching The Five Heartbeats, while Josh was in the kitchen washing the dishes. I got up and walked into the kitchen to join Josh. Stacey and Michelle were all into the movie critiquing the dance moves of the different groups. They both agreed that Flash and the Ebony Sparks had the best moves. I myself thought the Heartbeats had the best routines, but to each his own. I walked over to Josh in the midst of drying off the last dish. He placed the dish in the dishwasher and turned to face me.
“Big man,” I greeted and slapped Josh playfully on the shoulder. He gave me a half-hearted smile while continuing to dry his hands on the dishtowel. I looked him over. “What’s up man, you look like you have something on your mind.”
“C’mon, let’s talk in my office,” Josh said and started walking towards the stairs. I followed him upstairs to the office. Inside his office, I plopped down on the leather recliner. Josh sat on the leather loveseat next to me. He leaned in towards me as he spoke.
“King, what’s going on with you and Toya? Something happened between the two of you?” I exhaled.
“She asked me for a commitment, dog, gave me an ultimatum.” Josh smirked.
“And you told her no?” The disappointment was evident in his tone.
“I had to, Josh. Man I just broke up with Shannon. I don’t know if I’m over that yet, I don’t even know what happened between us. Not to mention I hooked up with Michelle the night before I had the talk with Toya.” I shook my head. “I couldn’t do it right then, dude; I can’t play Toya out like that.” Josh ran his hands over his baldhead.
“Kalem, I know how Toya feels about you. That girl loves you man. She’s been there for you through thick and thin. And I know you love her just the same.” He looked me in the eyes. “Don’t lose that girl over some bullshit. Don’t let Shannon, one night boning Michelle, or Raoul’s crazy ass come between you and your happiness. I don’t have to tell you how hard it is to find that kind
of connection in a relationship. I was lucky I found it with Stacey early in the game.” He paused, and then exhaled. I could see his pain as he talked about his wife. He steadied himself and continued. “You have that with Toya.” I leaned back and folded my hands behind my head.
“You’re right. I need to come clean with Toya and tell her what I want. Tell her that I want to be with her. Let her know that I’m ready to commit.” Josh leaned back in his chair.
“You also need to tell her about Michelle.” The mere thought of having that conversation was disconcerting.
“Yeah, I know.” I looked over at Josh; he seemed to be deep in thought.
“Josh.”
“What’s up?”
“I know I’ve been giving you a hard time about the situation between you and Stacey. I want to apologize for the way I’ve been stressing you. I’ve been insensitive and I’m sorry. I don’t agree with your decision to keep quiet, and I don’t agree with your decision to stay in the marriage either. But it’s your decision and whatever you decide to do, I’ll try to support you.” Josh smiled broadly at me. I reached out and gave him pound. He settled back in the loveseat and stared up at the ceiling deep in thought. “By the way, what’s the game plan for this weekend?” Josh shook his head and smirked.
“It’s about to be on, King. We bout to get our party on.”
“Well let’s get this thing started then.” We both jumped up and headed downstairs.
Michelle and Stacey decided to stay at Josh’s and watch the five videos they rented from the Redbox down the street from Josh’s house. Josh was disappointed that they wouldn’t be hanging out with us. I think he was hoping that if I spent some time with Stacey I would find it in my heart to forgive her. I couldn’t see that happening. I would try to be civil to her out of respect for my boy but I am not forgiving her for the disrespect she showed to Josh and their marriage.