Love- a Forgotten Art

by Ivy Symone

  I answer, “Are you ready for that meeting?”

  “Well, hello and how are you, Prime?” Walt greets.

  “I’m fine. Now let’s get to the matter at hand. How do you want to do this?”

  “I’m calling to ask that you give me a little longer.”

  “I can’t do that. The One wants what’s his. You were unable to pay up what you owe therefore, your hotel chain belongs to the Coalition.”

  “Well hold up…I’ve worked hard to get my hotel chain to where it is. You have to allow me more time. I’m working on something that’s generating a lot of money, and I’ll be able to pay in full in a few months.”

  I’m piqued. I ask, “What is this that you’re doing to generate money? Maybe I can present it to The One and they’ll decide if they’ll allow you more time.”

  “I’d rather not say over the phone.”

  “That’s understood.”

  “I uh…I was wondering…Is there any way I can speak to The One in person? Can you arrange that for me?”

  “You know that’s hard to do, Walt,” I tell him.

  “I heard he’s here in Jewel City.”

  “He may be, but you know The One doesn’t do appearances. But I will pass the message on.”

  “Thanks,” he says graciously. He then asks, “How’s your father?”

  “Antino is doing well,” I answer.

  “Send him my love, will you?”

  “I sure will. Are there any other matters that need addressing?”

  “No, not at this time.”

  “Will we be seeing you in Gardenia?”

  “Uhm…no…I won’t be able to make it. I’ll be sending Reese and Ammo to speak on my behalf.”

  “Will they be personally speaking with Gooch?”

  “I’m aware of the issues with Gooch, and I have spoken to him myself; but yes, Reese and Ammo will be there to straighten things out with him.”

  “Good. The Coalition welcome all members, but he seems to be going against the grain. And though he conducts most of his business out of Gardenia, it still bleeds over to business in Jewel City.”

  “Yes, I understand,” Walt says.

  “You brought him in, and the rules are you have to vouch for him. He fucks up, it comes back on you.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “Good. How’s your family?”

  “We’re great as always.”

  “Send the wife my love, okay. Bye-bye now,” I say and end the call.

  Walt isn’t one of my favorite people, and I believe he knows it. Walt is a sneaky mothafucka and he isn’t to be trusted. He’s gotten over on a lot of people and it has unfairly built him a sizeable empire. I won’t knock him for his hustle though. You got to have a certain aggression when it comes to business but keeping some integrity in how you move is noble. Walt has no integrity. And I hate to say, at one time I done plenty of business with him.

  But I love to make him squirm because he knows if I ever find out the shit I already know, I’d kill him. I spare him for the time being because my family plan to take over his entire empire.

  Chapter 11: Dasani

  What am I going to do about Prime’s ass?

  Taking a look around my office, I shake my head and laugh to myself. I’ve had people send me gifts and flowers all the time as a show of appreciation and gratitude pertaining to my generous charitable contributions or being a speaker of an event. Something in connection with the business, but never from a lover. I’m usually the one sending flowers and gifts. This is new for me.

  But I must admit, it feels kind of good.

  “So, are you gonna tell me what’s up or what?” Natalia asks as she enters my office. She starts going around touching and smelling the arrangements.

  I get up from my chair eyeing the bouquet of roses on my desk. Smiling, I say, “It’s just from the Gemsville brunch I spoke at a couple of weeks ago.”

  “Deuce, you lying,” Natalia says. She places her hands on her hips and side-eyes me with a dubious twist of her lips. “So, you tryna say every lady that was there sent you these on the same damn day?”

  I nod sheepishly. I can tell she isn’t buying it.

  She waves a knowing finger at me while continuing to eye me suspiciously. “You know what I think? I think you done got you a new boo and you done rocked that bitch’s world. You got the hoe sending you whole gardens and shit.”

  I laugh. “Whatever.”

  “You know I’m all for it. Anybody else is better than the hoe you got at home. She ain’t never did shit like this.”

  Natalia is right. Cam to think of anyone else besides herself is a rarity.

  “So, are you ready to go?” Natalia asks.

  “Yeah, let me get my things. Oh, can you have Jerrica come and move some of these flowers around other areas of the building?”

  “Sure. You can go ahead to the car. I’ll be out there,” she tells me before heading out my office.

  I grab my purse and keys. I grab my personal cell phone off my desk as it begins ringing.

  After noticing who it is, I answer dryly, “Yeah.”

  “Will you be late again tonight?” Cam asks. Her voice is indifferent and lifeless.

  There has been a lot of tension between us lately. Purposely, I’ve avoided being in the condo too long with her. If I am present, I spend more time with Savon and Ari.

  “I’m not sure. Right now me and Natalia are on our way to the hospital. Our cousin Ryan had her baby.”

  “Oh,” is all she utters.

  “Do you wanna come with us?” I ask to be polite.

  “No,” she mumbles. “Actually, I’m not feeling too well. I’m just letting you know I’ll be going over to Mama’s for a couple of days.”

  “What’s wrong?” I truly concerned.

  “It’s nothing; just a little virus I guess. I probably got it from Ari.”

  “Bae, you don’t have to go to your mama’s; I can take a couple of days off and take care of you.”

  “No, you have a company to run. Me and the kids will be fine at Mama’s,” she insists.

  “Cam, it’s my job to look after you.”

  “Honestly Deuce, you’ve been in your own world lately. I’m just tryna stay out the way.”

  I’m taken aback. “My own world?”

  She sucks her teeth in aggravation. “C’mon Deuce. We ain’t even the same anymore. It’s like you be somewhere else like it’s somebody else on your mind.”

  “That’s not it.” It’s not a whole lie; just a partial truth. “Cam, I ain’t gon’ lie; I do have a lot of shit on my mind. I’m dealing with a lot and trying to maintain my sanity.”

  “Well bae, come to me and tell me about it. I’m supposed to be there for you,” she says desperately.

  “No, this isn’t something I want you to even be aware of. The less you know, the better.”

  “What you mean? The only time you ever talked like that was when you were working for your stepdaddy and stepbrother. Is that what you’ve been up to lately?”

  Wait…Why does it sound like she’s getting excited all of a sudden?

  “Like I said Cam, I don’t want you knowing about any of that.”

  She releases a heavy sigh. “Okay Deuce. Anyway, I’m still heading over to Mama’s. Handle your business and be careful. I love you.”

  “I love you too, bae.”

  I should have been heading out to meet Natalia at my car, but I stood there amongst the many floral arrangements.

  Prime.

  A smile spreads across my face as an idea comes to mind. With Cam being at Milani’s for a few days, that gives me room to play without the pressure of making up lies and feeling guilty.

  I head out of my office and hurry out to the parking lot. As soon as I hop in my car I start looking up flights to Orchid Island.

  I can’t wait to see the look on Prime’s face when he sees me. Better yet, I can’t wait to feel him when he holds me and makes love to me.

 
~~~~~~~~~~~

  Mother Pearl is a real person and she’s my grandmother. She’s Walt’s weak wife’s mother. Of all Mother Pearl’s daughters, Karin is her least favorite. She warned Karin about “mixing with the likes of someone like that Wicked Walt” but Karin did it anyway. I was about five when he came into our lives. About a year later he was moving me and my mama in his mansion with his other kids. Hate to admit it, but my life changed for the better in many ways. And in others, it was hell.

  As I gaze down at Baby Ryan lying in her glass hospital bassinet, I remember the admiration and adoration I felt the day I held my little girl. We weren’t even in a real hospital. As soon as my water broke in the middle of the night, Walt had rushed me to his “personal doctor” and I delivered in his home. Walt gave me a few minutes alone with Laila before snatching her from me.

  “Isn’t she precious?”

  I feel a gentle hand rest on my shoulder. I know it’s Mother Pearl who has joined my side.

  I try to keep my giggles down. “Mama, don’t come over here with that.”

  She whispers innocently, “What I say?”

  I whisper back, “I know what ‘precious’ mean when you say it.”

  Mother Pearl chuckles. “I ain’t said no such thing.”

  Baby Ryan is a brand-new baby, just hours old. Mother Pearl ought to be ashamed of herself for making fun of her great grandbaby so soon.

  “She’s gonna be cute,” I say.

  Mother Pearl give me a dubious side-eye that causes me to snicker. She whispers, “I onknow ‘bout this one. Her daddy ‘nem got some strong genes, baby. And they ain’t cute.”

  My aunt, Iris, steps up to the other side of me. “What’chall over here whispering about?”

  Mother Pearl responds, “We over here minding our damn business and looking at this here baby.”

  “Mama, ain’t she pretty?” Iris beams. She looks down at her grandbaby with a gleam in her eyes.

  “She sho is,” Mother Pearl smiles. “She’s as precious as she wanna be.”

  “She gon’ take after us,” Iris remarks.

  “No she ain’t either,” Mother Pearl quips under her breath.

  “What’chu say, Mama?” Iris asks.

  I cover my mouth to stifle my laughter.

  “Nothing,” Mother Pearl murmurs through a chuckle.

  Iris looks at me and asks, “You think you ready for yours now?”

  I shake my head emphatically. “Oh no. I ain’t having kids.”

  “You and that girl ain’t tryna have one of your own, together?”

  I shake my head again. “Cam can’t have any more babies.”

  Iris suggests, “Well, you carry one then. Get artificially inseminated. Y’all can afford it.”

  “Get what?” Mother Pearl asks with a wrinkle of her brow.

  Natalia laughs from the edge of Ryan’s hospital bed. “You know, Mama…where they take a turkey baster and put it up the va-jay-jay.”

  “Now who gon’ do some shit like that?” Mother Pearl asks with her nose turned up in disgust.

  I dismiss, “Ain’t nobody doing that.”

  Ryan asks excitedly, “Deuce, you’re thinking about having a baby?”

  As she asked, her baby’s daddy, Will came through the door carrying Taco Bell in hand. He asks, “Deuce finna have a baby too?”

  “Naw nigga,” I say.

  He made his way over to the rocking chair next to Ryan’s bed. “Aw, I was ‘bout to say.”

  “’Bout to say what?” Mother Pearl questions. “Y’all act like Dasani ain’t a damn woman and ain’t capable. I think she need to have her one.”

  I stare at Mother Pearl with my mouth hung open.

  “What?” she asks innocently. She then grins at me showing off her perfectly aligned dentures sporting an open-faced gold on her left upper incisor.

  My grandmother is around seventy-five and don’t look a day older than fifty. She gets around like she’s thirty-five and don’t plan to slow down any time soon. She has a lot of fire in her, and she’s responsible for passing down her beautiful genes to all of us. Her skin is still smooth and more chocolate than mine. Just about all of us inherited the thick manes of hair from her as well, but let her tell it, it’s because she figured out the formula, which I now manufacture, to obtaining a perfect head of healthy hair.

  I turn around to address Will. “Did you put in to take off like I told you to?”

  “Yeah, I told ol’ girl back there in the office down from you,” he says. “Thanks, Deuce, for letting me take off like this too.”

  “It ain’t nothing,” I say. “This y’all first so I want you to enjoy it as much as you can.”

  “That nigga need to have his ass at work,” Mother Pearl jokes. “Too much time at home and Lil Ryan’ll be pregnant at her six-week checkup.”

  As the room share a laugh and join in the banter, my phone lets off an alert. I glance at it and it’s a message from Walt.

  Thanks baby! Come by later…I have your gift. Love you

  I refuse to let his message sour me. I immediately delete it. I’m so disappointed with myself because I gave in. I got three new hires on my payroll shipping product to various beauty supply stores owned by one of those bitches that was with Dro. I’m taking a huge risk and if shit hit the fan, I have no one to blame but myself. And Walt being the villainous piece of shit that he is wouldn’t be there to bail my ass out.

  I see that Cam has text me as well letting me know that she had made it to Milani’s. It reminds me that I need to get home and pack to make my early-evening flight.

  “Hey Nat, you ready to head on up outta here?” I ask.

  “Yeah, we been up here long enough,” she says as she stands to stretch. She hurries over to the baby’s bassinet. “Lemme look at this baby a lil bit more. I think I’m getting the fever.”

  “Don’t you need a man first?” Mother Pearl jabs.

  “And I oop!” Ryan razzes humorously followed by our laughter.

  Natalia rolls her eyes at all of us, dismissing our sense of humor.

  Mother Pearl taps me on the shoulder and gestures toward the door. “Lemme holla at you before you leave.”

  Before walking out I quickly sound off my goodbyes to everyone in the room. I even give the baby one last look.

  Mother Pearl pulls me a few feet down from Ryan’s door.

  “How are you doing, baby?” she asks softly. She looks at me lovingly and I feel like a little kid again.

  “I’m good, Mama,” I assure her.

  “No, you’re not,” she says. “You look a lil anxious. Who’s fucking with my baby? You tell Mother Pearl and I’ll fuck ‘em up for you.”

  Needless to say, this is where Natalia gets her spunkiness from.

  I chuckle. “Mama, I’m good.”

  “You sure? Me and your Ti-ti Nancy will round up our lil posse and fuck a nigga up!”

  “I’m good.” I don’t want to tell her about the situation with Walt because Mother Pearl will have a fit. And right now, I’m not in the mood for a lecture nor do I want to run my seventy-five-year-old grandmother’s blood pressure up.

  Mother Pearl softens up a little. “How was seeing the baby…you know, for you?”

  I avert my eyes and offer a small smile. “It was okay.”

  “Do it make you think of when you had yours?”

  I shake my head, but my response is a lie.

  “It’s okay to think about her, baby. You carried that lil girl for nine months. You passed a piece of yourself on to her. I know you have to think of her from time to time…like all the what ifs…Shoot, I wonder about that lil chocolate baby myself.”

  I swallow a lump of uneasiness forming in my throat. All these years I’ve managed to bury my emotions and thoughts. I remained focused and busy in the streets. I created a persona that made me forget that I had a baby by my stepfather. It made me forget that I am beautiful and worthy of love.

  And now I’ve met Prime. He makes me think of
the life I used to fantasize about as a little girl. The house, husband, daughter and son, cat and dog, white picket fence, and carpooling a bunch of elementary school kids around to soccer practice.

  The lines have blurred and I’m not sure which person is the lie anymore. Was I meant to always be Dasani but created Deuce to escape her reality, or am I meant to be Deuce going through a phase living vicariously through Dasani’s needs?

  “How are you and that girl been doing?” Mother Pearl asks.

  I shrug. “A’ight I guess.”

  “Are you happy? You don’t seem too happy, baby.”

  “Things haven’t been all that great,” I admit. “We’re kinda growing apart.”

  “She still don’t like you like this, huh?” She doesn’t wait for me to response before she blurts, “Well, fuck her!”

  I snicker as a woman passing by looks at Mother Pearl in shock. “Mama, you crazy.”

  “Yeah, when it come to my baby.”

  I hesitate, but I confess, “I…uhm…I have been seeing someone else.”

  Mother Pearl’s eyes widened with surprise.

  I blush.

  She nods knowingly and narrows her eyes at me. “I knew it was something about you. Are you gonna break up with the other one?”

  “Well, I’m not sure where things are going with the new one. But me and Cam just ain’t seeing eye to eye anymore. I mean, I love her…and I love Lil Ari…but…”

  “It’s okay to move on and be happy, Dasani. You can love her and that baby, but from a distance. You’ve worked so hard building your company, so you deserve to be happy.”

  “I know,” I mumble.

  “That girl will be alright. She was just fine before you, and she’ll be fine after you.”

  “I know…but…”

  “Ain’t no buts…Now tell me about this new one. Is she pretty like the one you got now?”

  I look at my grandmother nervously. She waits for me to answer. My eyes tell her it’s more to the story. Mother Pearl may not be hip to a lot of things, but she’s always been good at reading people.

  She backs up and places her hands on her hips. Her mouth drops open as if she’s about to say something but thinks against it.