Something to Talk About

by Melanie Woods Schuster

  Alicia smiled happily and leaned comfortably against her mother. “Very, very mutual. I’m in total bliss. It’s so wonderful, Mami, I can’t wait to see what happens next.”

  Leah surmised that a wedding would be in the works very soon, but she didn’t mention it. “So how did you leave it after the weekend? What are your immediate plans?”

  “Well, Adam took me home and said he needed to talk to his dad, so I guess that’s next.”

  ***

  After taking Alicia back to the condo and seeing her in, Adam had kissed her sweetly and told her he’d call her later. He went to the loft first, to take his belongings in and plan his next move. Despite the unsettling weekend, Adam was a creature of precise habit and he had to take his things in, unpack, dispatch his dirty clothes to the laundry, and put everything away. His orderly mind couldn’t tolerate disorder, and the routine helped him think. He did more talking than thinking on the way home, which was unusual, especially since Alicia was uncharacteristically quiet. The drive home was much longer than the ride up to Idlewild due to the horrendous traffic on 1-75 South. Everyone was headed back downstate after the long weekend and the cars were lined up for miles, barely moving. Adam didn’t mind the traffic, because his mind was so completely on the last couple of days. He had brought with him a big manila envelope of pictures that he promised to have copied and returned.

  “Go ahead, dear,” Reba told him. “I’d scan them for you but my scanner isn’t working. I’m going to have to get a new one this week.”

  It still knocked him out that his great-aunts were savvy in computer matters. When he told her he’d send pictures of the family, she said he could e-mail them if he had them downloaded to his hard drive. At his look of amazement she’d just laughed. “Yes, dear, we have all the modern conveniences up here, although I know your cell phone stopped working before you got here. There’s only one tower up here and it’s owned by our local company.”

  True enough, as soon as they’d reached Chase, Michigan, no cell signal was available or he’d have called home on the spot when Reba found him. As it was, he had to wait until he returned to Detroit and now here he was. He finished the last of his compulsive straightening and consulted his watch. The gala cookout should be over, but there were still two things at the Palmer Park house he needed. One was an amazing array of leftover food, and the other was his father. No, make that three things; Benita was sure to be there and he would definitely need to talk to her and his brother Andrew at length. They were the oldest children and he had always conferred with them about anything of importance. He picked up the keys to the Range Rover and headed out the door.

  He laughed to himself on the way over, thinking about how easily he’d driven Alicia to the loft when they returned to town. She had looked at him with a puzzled expression when he announced that they were home.

  “Um, Adam, this is your home. My home is on Chateau LaFontaine, or did you forget that?”

  The fact was, he really had forgotten. He’d been in love with her for so long and she was such a vital part of his life that the new passion they’d shared over the past few days had just served to imbed her more deeply in his heart. It didn’t seem logical for her to be going somewhere else, sleeping some place other than his arms. He’d rallied at his gaffe, but he knew then and there that they would have to make other living arrangements and soon.

  As expected, everything was put away except for the big white tent in the backyard that would be collected the next day from the rental company. He knocked on the back door and then entered, calling out as he did so, “It’s not a prowler; it’s just me.”

  Sure enough, the house was still full of relatives, as he’d surmised from the number of cars in the big circular driveway. In short order he was attacked by the BLKs, his nephews Malcolm and Martin, holy terrors belonging to his sister Benita. They were adorable sturdy little boys with curly black hair and deeply bronzed skin that bore a deep tan all summer long from their endless roughhousing in the outdoors. Their long eyelashes and deep dimples didn’t fool him for a minute; he knew them to be domestic juggernauts whose exploits were legendary. As he wrestled with them in the kitchen, their older brother, Clayton III, known as Trey, joined them. Trey was the image of their father and showed the same kind of laid-back demeanor that was his father’s hallmark.

  “What’s up, Uncle Adam?” he said with a smile.

  “What’s up with you, man? You’ve grown about a foot, man,” Adam said admiringly.

  They went into the family room, Trey leading the way with Adam following, burdened with Martin on his back and Malcolm riding one of his long legs. Adam was surprised at the level of intensity he felt in the room. Benita and Clay were there, as well as Andrew and Renee and Donnie, and they all looked serious. Trey sensed the mood immediately and bullied his brothers into going upstairs to watch a movie with him. They obeyed him instantly as they were well acquainted with his older-brother methods of ensuring acquiescence.

  “What’s going on?” Adam asked.

  Benita was the first to respond and she didn’t answer his question, she got up from where she was sitting to give him a big hug. “Adam, sweetie, it’s been too long since I’ve seen you. And you cut your hair! You look so handsome, but I have to say it’s a shock. What made you do it?”

  Clay gave a deep laugh and said, “He probably got tired of looking like a hippie, that’s all.” He rose to give his brother-in-law a brief, manly embrace.

  “Aw, here you go. Don’t even try it; I still remember the mullet you were wearing when you met Benita. You better be glad she gave you the time of day, bro.”

  After exchanging greetings all around, Adam took a seat and repeated his earlier question. “So what’s going on around here? From all the long faces it looks pretty serious. Is someone going to fill me in?”

  Odd glances passed among the siblings and finally Benita spoke. “Daddy gave us some interesting news about his past on Saturday and we’re still trying to decide what to do about it. Apparently there’s a lot about his history we weren’t aware of and it’s all coming home to roost,” she said with a wry twist of her mouth.

  “That’s a coincidence. I found out some very interesting things myself over the weekend and I wasn’t sure how to bring them up. Looks like this could be as good a time as any.”

  “So where were you this weekend anyway? Pop wasn’t too pleased you weren’t here; he wanted to hit all of us with the same bomb at once,” Donnie said.

  Adam smiled; a private smile that was generated by his memories of the erotic, passion-filled parts of the weekend. “I was with Alicia,” he said with an obvious touch of pride.

  Donnie’s eyebrows lifted and he laughed out loud in happiness.

  Benita looked from one brother to the other, wondering what they were talking about. “Okay, so you were with Alicia. As I recall, most of your waking hours are spent with her, so what’s the big deal?”

  Donnie corrected his sister. “He was with Alicia, Benita. The scales have fallen away from his eyes and the shackles from his heart. He and Alicia, if I’m not mistaken, are an official couple now,” he gloated.

  Adam raised an eyebrow but didn’t deny what his youngest brother was saying. “Yes, we are. We’re completely committed to each other, as if it was any of your business, you nosey buzzard,” he said with affection. Turning to Benita he said, “We went up north this weekend. They cleared the ground at the lake and construction in going to start in a week or so. I told you I was building a summer place, Benita, some place where we could vacation together.”

  “Yes, you did tell me that. I’ll bet it’s going to be lovely.”

  “Wait until you see it. You’re all going to love it up there. But wait until I tell you what I found out in Idlewild,” he said.

  A sudden noise made them all turn toward the doorway of the family room. Big Benny stood there stock-still, his face ashen and sweaty. “What did you say? Where did you go, Adam?” The hoarseness of his vo
ice was as alarming as his face.

  Adam replied slowly, “I said I went to Idlewild, Pop, and I think you know what I found out up there.”

  Everyone reacted in horror as Big Benny slumped to the floor. Andrew reached him first, immediately starting CPR. “Donnie, get me some aspirin, Renee, call 911. Clay and Adam, get the cars out of the way so the ambulance can get in, Benita, get me my bag out of the car,” he barked. Thanking God he was a doctor, he leaned over his father and whispered, “Hang in there, Pop, it’s gonna be okay.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Alicia was totally out of sorts when she reached the Cochran Building the next morning. Not only had Adam failed to call her last night, but he didn’t answer his cell phone or his house phone and she was through guessing why. She had tried not to fret all night but it was impossible. Her thoughts raced from him having second thoughts about their relationship to him having a terrible accident on the expressway. She couldn’t seem to stem the tide of bizarre notions that were tumbling around in her head. One thing she wasn’t going to do and that was turn into some drama queen who went careening over to his loft in the middle of the night. She had a key already. They both had keys to each other’s places for emergencies, but this wasn’t an emergency as far as she knew.

  It was probably just cold feet. He probably realized that it was impossible for them to maintain a good working relationship in the face of all that passion and he bailed out, that’s all. She wanted to slap herself for being a nincompoop, but there were other people in the elevator. Why are you doing this to yourself! You're like someone who hits herself in the head with a hammer because it feels so good when it stops. Stop being such an idiot, she thought fiercely.

  The night before, she’d tried not to let her feelings show while Marielle was unpacking her things and putting them away for her. Marielle was the resident neat freak; Alicia had a strictly live-and-let-live policy when it came to clutter. If it didn’t bother her, she wouldn’t bother it. They survived their adolescent years of sharing a bedroom because Marielle would clean the bedroom while Alicia would do things that Marielle despised like laundry, cleaning the kitchen, and maintaining the flower beds. Alicia nibbled her cuticles while watching her sister whip the bedroom into shape. She listened to her comments too; her sister could always make sense out of nonsense. She’d told Marielle about the epoch-making weekend. She saw no reason not to since she’d always confided in her sister. And Marielle didn’t let her down, either.

  “Chica, stop chewing your fingers, that’s disgusting. Adam hasn’t called because his head is too full of information right now. He had to talk to his family, right? Well, who knows how that went? So give him some space to deal with it. He’ll talk to you about it when he’s ready,” she said as she closed the closet door. She leaned against the door and gave her younger sister a dazzling smile.

  “I’m not sure about what makes men tick; I think they really are from Mars somewhere. But I’m sure of one thing and that is Adam’s love for you. He loves you passionately, madly. I’ve never told you this, but sometimes when I see the way he looks at you, I have to take a cold shower. Try not to worry about his family problems; after all, it’s not your cat.” Marielle smiled wisely and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

  The thought of that conversation put a faint smile on her lips as she entered the offices of Cochran & Fuentes. She was glad she had a pleasant look on her face because Rhonda was waiting to pounce on her as soon as she walked in the door.

  “Okay, this is none of my business, Alicia, but I have to know if we’re going to be changing the name of the firm any time soon.”

  At Alicia’s look of surprise she elaborated. “How about to Cochran and Cochran? People couldn’t stop talking about your ‘bid’ the rest of the night. I was totally impressed,” she said, her eyes shining with admiration.

  The stupid auction. So much had happened Alicia had forgotten all about it. She adroitly sidestepped Rhonda’s inquiry with one of her own. “So how was the rest of the evening? I hope Paul got a few bids at least; he was so nervous about it”

  Amazingly, Rhonda’s smooth brown face promptly turned deep red from emotion. She ran her hand over the back of her hair, which was cut close to her scalp in a sleek, sexy cap, and made a sound of annoyance. “Oh, Mr. Paul did just fine. Better than fine, in fact. There was actually a bidding war going on for a minute. He’s now the toast of the town, if you can believe that,” she said acerbically and enlightened Alicia about the events of the night

  Lacking Hannibal’s magnificent voice and Adams’s sheer sexual magnetism, Paul took the stage and started cracking jokes. He openly begged for bids and had the audience laughing so hard that the women were vying for him and he ended up on the arm of a very lovely woman who was openly intrigued by the handsome Aussie. Alicia was deeply amused by the fact that Rhonda seemed to have her nose out of joint about it; Paul had adored her for months and she wouldn’t give him the time of day. Now it looked like things were about to sway in Paul’s favor.

  The ringing phone distracted Rhonda and Alicia escaped to her office. She decided that the best course of action was to act as if she were in total control of the situation, as though there were nothing to be bothered about Marielle was right Adam was probably preoccupied with his family drama and he’d get in touch with her when he could. In the meantime, there was work to do as she meticulously worked on a proposal. It was almost noon when her already ajar office door opened and Adam entered. Against her will, she felt her stomach constrict and her nerve endings start to thrum. He looked way too handsome in a medium blue Polo shirt and tight-fitting jeans. His hair was still damp and he looked freshly shaven. To her utter surprise and joy, he didn’t hesitate; he walked over to her and pulled her up from her seat. He brushed his hand over her cheek before taking her lips in a hot, juicy kiss.

  “You taste so good, Allie. I need more, but I’ve got to get back to the hospital,” he said by way of explanation. “Pop had a heart attack last night. It wasn’t severe, but at his age any cardiac disturbance is pretty bad. I should have called you last night, but things happened so fast and it got so late I didn’t want to upset you. I just went home an hour ago to shower and change and I’m on my way back.” He stopped speaking to look her all over before continuing.

  There was something so comforting about seeing her face. Her hair was different today; it was smoothed behind her ears and the top was a tumble of shiny tousled curls instead of the sleek style Gigi had given her. She was wearing a nice peach-colored linen blouse with the sleeves rolled back and a matching slim-fitting skirt with open-toed tan sandals. A gold necklace he’d given her some years before was around her heck, and she was also wearing a pair of gold hoop earrings with a tiny topaz dangling from them. He recognized these as another gift and the memory made him smile.

  “You look wonderful, as always,” he said, tightening his hands around her waist “I missed you last night.”

  “I missed you, too. And I’m going to the hospital with you. What do you think this is? Do you think I’m just going to sit around here and twiddle my thumbs while you’re having a crisis?” She frowned at him as she took herself out of his embrace and looked around for her purse.

  “Allie, you don’t need to come,” he protested. “I’m just going to be sitting around with the rest of the family while we wait to hear what the doctors have to say. I appreciate the offer, but—”

  “Well then, let’s go,” she said firmly. “We’ll talk about your failure to call me later,” she threw over her shoulder as she approached the door.

  Adam bowed to her insistence, secretly glad that she was coming. He wasn’t looking forward to whatever was awaiting them at the hospital.

  ***

  Benita’s weariness showed all over her face, to her husband’s displeasure. Anything that affected her, affected him and he wasn’t one to tolerate any discomfort in her life. She was holding her father’s hand, coaxing him to take a sip of water before contin
uing to attempt to speak. He lifted his head tiredly and took a few sips from the straw in the glass she held out to him and smiled weakly.

  “Find him for me, Benita. Bring John to me,” he whispered hoarsely. His eyelids fluttered closed and Benita set the glass on the bedside table with shaking hands. Clay’s arms went around her at once, giving her the support she needed.

  “He looks so weak,” she murmured. Clay led her out of the small room in cardiac intensive care and had her sit down in a chair in the family lounge.

  “He’ll be fine, Peaches. Your dad is the toughest man I know, he’ll get through this just fine.”

  Adam and Alicia, along with Martha, who had met them in the lobby as she was returning to her husband’s side, arrived just in time to hear Clayton’s assurance to his wife. Both of them kissed Benita on the cheek as they greeted her. She in turn was amazed at Alicia’s transformation. “Honey, I might not have known you if I passed you on the street! You were always lovely, but just look at you now; you’re just beautiful,” she said warmly.

  Alicia thanked her with a blush and a smile, and Adam wanted to know at once what was going on. “Did we hear anything from the doctor yet?”

  Andrew entered the area just then, wearing his scrubs and white coat, looking every bit the outstanding physician that he was. “Yes, we have all the lab tests back and it’s not nearly as bad as we thought. Come on, let’s go to a conference room so we can talk,” he said, indicating they should follow him. When they were all seated around the big conference room table, Andrew glanced at the chart in his hand and shook his head.

  “Pop didn’t have a heart attack. He was in some distress from angina, but basically he had gas. The darned fool ate too much yesterday.”

  Benita protested, “I saw the plate Martha fixed for him; he had grilled chicken and vegetables, green salad with oil and vinegar dressing, and fresh fruit salad for dessert. He was following his usual diet. Andrew, are you sure it was gas that made him so sick?”