After that mystery was solved, I turned my attention to the disgruntled project manager who was looking to get a discount. However that wasn’t going to happen, seeing as how the job was ninety percent done. Instead, I promised him that everything would be completed and running inside of our agreed time frame. Of course, it took me the rest of that day to prove it to him, even if I wasn’t all that thrilled with the final product.
The next day I got up early and started to fail proof all of Greg’s work, one house at a time. Five whole days later, I stood outside of the farthest house from the centrally based web servers and was about to try and sign onto the web wirelessly when I saw somebody walking inside one of the vacant homes. It was late, which meant the entire site had already been shut down and secured. Nobody should have been inside the subdivision but security and myself. Alerted, I immediately switch into my self-preservation mode and called security to investigate. A moment or two later a Black Barney Fife looking character arrived to investigate. Skinny and popped eyed, the security guard appeared alert and over caffeinated as I explained what I had seen. After accessing the situation, the security guard surprised me by switching to his self-preservation mode by dialing 911 on his cell.
The police eventually arrived and escorted the intruder out of the house and was about to take the scruffy looking man to jail when I noticed it was Greg. Agitated, and uncomfortable, I approached the policemen and explained the situation to them. Initially, the two middle-aged policemen didn’t appear all too pleased; however in the end they released Greg and left.
“Aw’ight, do you wanna tell me what’s going on, or should I just fire your ass.” Greg smelled like he had been drinking, and crying his eyes out for hours as he stood in front of me like some child. Instinctively, I wanted to punch him in his face, but I knew it wouldn’t have done him any good. As whole, Greg may have been a man as far as his age, but in the center, he was still a boy. I wasn’t the least bit surprised when he decided not to answer me because that’s what children do when they’re caught red handed.
“This mysterious silent crap of yours might work with the ladies, but that shit don’t faze me you know what I’m saying.”
Nothing came out of his mouth.
“I see, I guess I’m going to have to let you go.” “I finished the job didn’t I?”
“Almost, but almost is never good enough. You
should’ve called me and told me what was going on so that…” “The shit was personnel aw’ight.”
“I don’t care, your ass should’ve called me so that I
could’ve made some kind of arrangements.”
Greg knew I was right, because he suddenly fell silent. “You still have your plane ticket?”
“I got it, but I won’t be needing it right now.” “Care to explain why you’re not going back home?” “Like I said, its personnel.”
“What about September?”
“I’m not worried about her. Besides, she has a life and I
have mines.”
“Just like that huh?”
“I’m afraid so. Can you mail me my last check to this
address,” Greg griped before he handed me a crumpled up piece a paper with a local addressed scribbled on it. I pocketed his new address, and asked the security guard to escort his sorry ass out of the subdivision. A couple minutes later after finishing up all of the tests, and satisfied with all the work, I called it quits and headed back to my hotel. The following day couldn’t have come fast enough for me, because I had my bags packed and ready to go before my early morning meeting with the owners. An unpleasant meeting that was going to have some static about how the project ended, thanks to Greg and his cheating ways. However my company delivered what it promised before the agreed deadline, all I really wanted to hear was when they was going to pay me.
After having a light breakfast with Sharon, I had a brief conversation with my children as we traveled to the meeting. There was nothing new going on with them, however hearing their youthful voices cheered me up before I arrived at the meeting. Once inside, I requested that Cece be teleconferenced in so that she and Sharon could get a good handle on all of the legal and financial terms that were going to be tossed my way. Ten minutes into the meeting, Sharon and I were pleasantly surprised to discover that the man at the top was extremely please with the final outcome, so much so, he offered three more residential contracts that needed to be done by the end of the year. This would be a tall order not to mention a colossal financial boost even for an average sized IT company. Unfortunately, my petite company was a lean business that was going to need a little more muscle if I had hoped to duplicate this feat again. But I didn’t have to tell them this, so I allowed Sharon and Cece to hammer out all of the financial details before Sharon and I headed for the airport.
I arrived back in the Atlanta area in time to keep a few appointments that Cece had arranged before I left for Texas. Exhausted and feeling out of phase, the last thing I did before I went home and got into bed was to give Carmen a call. This was easier than I thought it was going to be seeing as how I intentionally lost her number a while back. However Michael fixed all that by looking her up in the companies emergency call list. So there I was stuck in traffic while waiting for Carmen to answer her cell phone when I received an unexpected call from Afeni.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing much, and you?”
“Work and more work, you.”
“I just left work, so I’m a little tired.”
“I know that’s right, so how’s Brian?”
“Outside of riding my last nerve, he’s okay. Anyway, I
was thinking about you, and I said to myself, Afeni, you need to call your friend Omari and see what he’s been up to. So, here I am.”
“I appreciate your thoughts Afeni. As always, I’m doing a little of this and little of that.”
“I called you the other day and you weren’t there, so I’m a little disappointed at you.”
“I’m sorry, but I just got back from a business trip, and if everything works out, I should be in the bed sound asleep in about hour.”
“That bad huh?”
“A little bit, so what’s going on?”
“I took your advice, and guess what.”
“I’m here.”
“Got together with this really cool cat down at the Shark Bar a couple of weeks ago and…”
“Male or female?”
“Hundred percent male. Anyway, we’ve been kicking it and everything was going great until I told him that I would be leaving town for an extended period of time.”
“You didn’t tell him what you did for a living did you Afeni?”
“I thought about telling him, but I think it sort of got lost after he threw it on me, and on me, and on me.”
“Can’t picture you being dick whipped, Afeni.”
“Nor could I, and I’m not going to front on you either, because that man…Lord that man knows how to work the middle. There, I said it,”
A moment of speechlessness on my part was interrupted when my cell phone informed me that Carmen was ready to talk. Initially, I thought twice about switching over because I never forgave her for playing with my heart as she did. However if she was the one behind this investigation, I had no choice but to get to the bottom of it. I reluctantly asked Afeni if she could hold on while I took the call. Afeni, sounding excited, agreed and I switched over.
“Hello, Carmen.”
“Yes, who’s calling?”
“Do I even hafta go there.”
“Excuse me.”
“Its me Omari.”
“Omari Willingham.”
“The one and only.”
“Oh yeah? Long time no see Omari.”
“Wonder why. Don’t answer that, look we need to have a face to face if that’s okay with you.”
“I don’t think my husband would appreciate…”
“He really won’t appreciate the idea of me sitting on his
front steps after he gets off of work Carmen. My bad, he still works for that big time law firm right?”
“If you’re trying to blackmail me out of money Omari, it isn’t going to work.”
“Please, I could’ve had his money and yours a long time ago and you know it. So let’s do away with the games. You know why I’m calling, are we going to talk or what?”
“When?”
“That’s up to you, but I would appreciate it if we could do this sooner than later.” I said before traffic started to finally loosen up.
“Wednesday afternoon, over at the Carter Center?”
“The Carter Center huh?”
“I remember we use to have the most pleasant afternoon lunches there. What do you say?”
I wanted to say hell no but the idea of standing in front of a federal judge sort of kept me focused on what I had to do.
“Sure, why not? ‘Til Wednesday,” I replied with a hint of spitefulness in my voice before I switched back to Afeni.
“Amazing.”
“What so amazing Omari?”
“Women.”
“Men aren’t any better my friend. So whom are we talking about?”
“Yesterday’s news. So, you found yourself a man who can work the middle huh?”
“Who knew? Tell me something, Omari?”
“Okay.”
“When was the last time you’ve had a massage?”
“It’s been awhile, why?”
“‘Cause you sound wound up tighter than a Major League baseball.”
“Was that a polite way of saying that I need to get laid?”
“Didn’t want go there babe, but now that we’re on the subject…”
“Man I don’t even want to think about pussy right now.”
“Yeah, you need to leave that funky stuff alone Omari…it’s just not good for you.”
“You got jokes, while my love life is sinking like the Titanic. I guess I deserve this, so go ahead and give me your best shot. I mean there might be a little more blood in these veins.”
“Pardon my malevolence; I guess it’s the woman in me that’s finding humor in your time of pity and sorrow. But I’m sure some chick is going to help you get over this, so check this out, I just finished reading this great book on how to give a professional massage. Wanna be my first victim or what?”
The idea of getting a massage sounded good, even if it meant I was going to get a little roughed up in the process. Truth of the matter was, I didn’t really want to go home to an empty house, and nor did I want to be bothered by the usual people that orbited my life. This standoffish behavior on my part was different for me, and I aimlessly wondered who would this effect and how long would I be this way. I was about to figure that out when Afeni, sensing that I become lost in thought brought me back to earth when she asked if we could meet in about an hour. I agreed because I knew I could keep it real with her without dealing with any emotional repercussions.
An hour later, I was standing in front of Afeni’s front door waiting to see her euphuistic face when my MDA came alive. I checked to see who it was and discovered that it was Nique. I hesitated before answering because I knew she was going to want to see me, and a big part of me wanted to see her too, however another part of me wasn’t all that certain about seeing her again. A few knocks on the door later, and Afeni still didn’t answer, so I took the call knowing it was going to be an awkward situation in which I might have to tell a lie to keep from hurting her feelings.
“Hey Nique.”
“Wha up.”
“Nothing much, just got back in town. What’s up with you?”
“Meetings, and more meetings, so, are we going to hook up tonight?”
“I sort of made plans on the run. Can we do that tomorrow?”
“I’m not just looking to just get laid Omari.”
“I didn’t mean for it to sound that way. Look, I can cut this thing short and meet you at the house in about an hour if that’s okay with you.”
There was a small pause that told me that Nique’s feelings were hurt. This bothered me because I wasn’t the type of guy that got off on hurting people, so this in effect caused me some emotional discomfort.
“Fuck it, I’ll just head on home now.”
“Its okay Omari, we can just…”
“Look, I wasn’t doing anything all that important.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but what were you about to get into?”
I swear to God I didn’t want tell her a lie, but I felt like if told her the truth, the situation would go from worse to terrible. And at that moment in time, I didn’t have the patience to deal with terrible, so I took a deep a breath before I decided to be honest.
“Me and friend were going to hang out.”
“Zack or Michael?”
‘Shit’, I thought to myself as a convenient lie suddenly bubbled up.
“Michael.”
“I see, well tell him I said hi.”
“Why, I’ll be at the house in a few minutes,” I said before Afeni’s door suddenly swung open.
“Is everything okay, Omari?”
“Yeah, it’s cool.” I said before I motioned Afeni to hold on a minute. “So I’ll see you in a few,” I said before I hung up and gave Afeni my full attention.
“Was that your girlfriend?” Afeni asked with a curious grin as Maze’s Happy Feeling’s crawled out from behind her. “You know that situation I told you about.”
“Has that become critical, or is it still a situation Omari?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
“You look confused,” she said as a tune from the Funkadelic’s started to take over. “If you can’t stay, or if this is going to cause you problems, I would advise you…”
“I’m a grown ass man, so I’ll do what I want, understand.”
“Yeah, you’re confused,” Afeni said before she closed the door behind her, letting me know that our planned massage session wasn’t going to happen.
“I swear, I haven’t had a moment to take a breath,” I said as I stared up at the cold cloudy sky. “And you know what’s really messed up Afeni? I don’t have anybody to blame but myself.”
“Gotdamn Baby, what’s going on?” Afeni asked as she grabbed my hands.
Feeling the first opportunity to open up, I went for the gold, “Wouldn’t know where to start.”
“The top seems to work for everybody else.”
“She’s…I mean, damn…look, everything’s cool.”
“Obviously, that isn’t true Omari, so tell me what’s on your mind.”
“Honestly.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“She’s not the one for me, and I know it. God knows I wanted her to be, but she isn’t, and I don’t know how to tell her that without hurting her Afeni.”
“Okay, this is an easy one. Suck up that male dominated pride and guilt for fucking her, and tell her the truth.”
“If only it was that easy.”
“It’s that easy.”
“She’s pregnant Afeni.”
“Yours or somebody else?”
“According to her its mines.”
“You’re right. This isn’t going to be easy Omari.”
“Throwing a party in the hood without a DJ would be easier.” I gave Afeni a goodbye hug before heading home.
I reached my house before Nique did and decided to take a long shower, and have dinner before I sacked out in front of my TV when Boney informed me that Nique was calling.
“Put her through, Boney.”
“You’re home early.”
“Didn’t I tell you I was coming here to meet you?”
“To me, that sounded like you had other plans, so I thought I give you some room.”
“If I wanted room, I would’ve asked for it Afeni…I’m sorry, Nique.”
“Who’s Afeni?”
“Just a friend.”
“Was that who you where with earlier?”
; “First of all, it’s nothing like that. She and I are friends, and that’s all to it.”
“You said you and I were just friends, so are you sleeping with her too?”
“No, I’m not sleeping with her because we’re friends.”
“Your definition of friendship doesn’t quit match my definition Omari. Anyway, I’m going out of town for a few days. That’s why I called you earlier.”
“I see, so where are you going this time?”
“Can’t believe you really care.”
“Why are you tripping on me Nique? Is it because I wasn’t all that enthused about you having a baby? I mean what’s going on with you?”
“I’m pregnant with a child that you don’t want. Surely you can’t expect me to be all Doris Day and shit.”
“I was just being honest Nique, and what did I get for that?”
“Whatever, look I’ll call you when I get back in town,” She snapped before hanging up.
Agitated and irked, I headed for my liquor cabinet and drank myself into the next day.
Because lovers love to make up to…
All the while I was in Texas, and even during the days after I returned, I kept worrying about Zackary and Sarah and what they decided to do. So much so, I wondered if I had been a complete asshole when last we met. What bothered me even more was that I hadn’t heard a word from Zackary, and my schedule as always was packed from top to bottom. Still I found time to try and call him, but I kept coming up empty. Disappointed, I called Michael and asked him if he had seen or heard from Zackary. To my surprise he hadn’t seen or heard from him either. I called his parents and discovered that they were vacationing at their winter home in Florida. Maybe Zackary went with them to clear his head; I had the number to that house but forgot what subfolder it was under on my MDA. Frustrated over his sudden disappearance, I gave up and went back to my busy schedule until Wednesday afternoon finally showed up with a big fat grin.
Seeing Carmen again wasn’t something that I looked forward to, but it had to be done if I was to clear my name. After compressing a full workday into a single morning, I took an early lunch with Michael and got caught up with everything that was going on in his life before heading to the Jimmy Carter Center to meet Carmen. On my way there, I called Cece and asked her for September’s phone number. Of course she assumed the worse seeing how September told her that she wanted nothing more to do with Greg. After all, he did violate her trust when he decided to cheat on her. But the truth of the matter was, she and I both still needed Greg, I was just smart enough to see it first. That’s why I figured the best way to keep tabs on him would be through September because lovers love to make up to break up. Besides, there’s no such thing as a clean break when two people confessed their love for each other over a period of time. Which meant somebody in that relationship was going to secretly keep tabs on the other while they endured this temporary separation. I fingered September as the undercover private eye, seeing how Greg’s dumb ass was the one who caused all the drama, which meant he was probably too busy dealing with the guilt.
The Other Side of My Kitchen Page 20