She now worked at her store for a minimum of 12 hours a day. He rarely saw her. Sometimes, as he walked her home he would pretend they were together in his mind. He wanted her. He was scared about what her reaction would be once he opened up the subject of her drinking.
Wilson had received his things from the military storage a few weeks earlier, but refused to let him self, dream that McKinsey would let him stay there long after she returned to keeping alcohol as her daily companion. He had given notice to the couple that lived in his home that he would not be renewing their lease.
His guest room was stacked with boxes in every corner. He only used the items that he could find quickly. He wanted to believe that some day it would be okay to open these boxes. As he watched McKinsey transform, he wondered how long it would be before he gave up the fight to stay by her side, cleaning up the mess she had made.
Wilson decided he wanted to find a shirt that Alexander had given him, to wear over to Patricia's house to see the twins. He had fallen for the twins immediately and made his way over there to see them each week. He wanted them to know him.
When he picked up the shirt, he noticed the picture that he had put in his pocket before going on duty overseas. He picked it up and held it to his chest, as McKinsey called his name. He did not reply; she was in her own world and he wanted to be in his, where he loved her again and they were friends. He looked up after hearing the door to his room open.
“I called you. Why didn’t you answer me?” McKinsey wondered.
“Why should I answer?" Wilson snarled. "You just want me to help you stay medicated in your own world. I can no longer help you. I have made my decision to move back into my parent’s home. I will be out by the end of the month.” He held the picture of Alexander, McKinsey and him to his chest as the memories of what he felt for her conflicted with what he saw in her house.
“Yeah, sure!" McKinsey retorted. "What is this, an attempt to get me to stop drinking to make you stay? Forget it; do what you have to do.” She backed away from his door.
****
That day the calendar had came out in the store, but her office manager had told her she had been getting requests for more copies the T-shirt of Wilson. The customers kept asking why he wasn’t in the calendar. They actually said. “I would buy it if you put his picture in it.” They had actually run out of inventory for the demand for that shirt. She needed a break from the demands of her store, she felt she was second choice and Linda was whom he wanted.
McKinsey decided it was time to go visit Patricia to see the twins. After she knocked on the door, she heard the babies in the background, crying. She waited for Patricia to get to the door. After it swung open, McKinsey could see that Patricia had one of the babies in her arms, crying, and the other one in the background doing the same.
“Hello Patricia, I see you have your hands full," McKinsey observed. “Do you want me to help with one of the twins while you help the other one?”
“No," Patricia declined, "but you can come in and give me a hand in the kitchen, while I tackle the diaper changing one at a time.” She headed back to the babies' room to change the one she had in her arms.
“Okay, what is it you want me to do?” McKinsey yelled.
“You can heat the bottles that are sitting inside the refrigerator," she replied. "The water should be boiling in the pot on the stove.”
When Patricia entered the kitchen with a stroller and the two babies, McKinsey laughed. “You do have you hands full don’t you?” she commented.
“The way I understand it, your hands are always filled with something, am I right?" Patricia replied.
“You mean to tell me that Wilson’s told you what’s going on in my house?” McKinsey snarled.
“No, he doesn’t say what's going on in your house. He only said that you are a little busy right now at work and plan to come visit me soon.” Patricia revealed.
“What else does he say?" she demanded.
“What is that supposed to mean? Patricia challenged.
“He’s not making love to me, so he must be making love to Linda!” she accused.
“I don’t know what in the hell you are thinking, but Wilson and I have been friends a long time," Patricia retorted. "I know who he loves and has been in love with since he was a young man.” She had changed their diapers, which had quieted and brought them into the kitchen so she could fix their bottles. She tried not to shout; she did not want the babies to start again.
“He is in love with someone?" McKinsey asked. "Who is she that Linda woman?” She wondered if that was the reason why he was moving out of her house.
Patricia pointed her finger at McKinsey and commanded, “Sit down now, you fool! Do you know of any other man who would put up with your shit if he didn’t love you?”
She watched as McKinsey’s face changed expression, as she began to comprehend her friend's words. “That’s right, he loves you," Patricia assured. "You sat there day after day, treating him as if he were a slave, until he realized that some dreams do not come true. He thought that for a day or so he had a chance, but you slapped his face for thinking that way, didn’t you? I am glad you came over here today, so he would not have to see you before he left your home."
“What do you mean, leave my home?" McKinsey demanded. "He said he would say to the end of the month!”
“You have been drinking too much; today is the end of the month, you drunken fool," she sneered. "You chased away the only man alive who loved you because you are holding onto something that is gone and will never return.”
“What you mean?” she asked.
“He has taken a job in another town, just so he wouldn’t bump into you,” she replied.
McKinsey pulled out her cell phone to call Wilson. The phone at home just rang. “Where is he moving to?” she asked.
“I am his friend; I can keep a secret," Patricia snapped. "You are on your own when it comes to Wilson. I saw what you put him through these last few months.” Patricia returned to the stove to check the baby bottles. She could hear her babies preparing for a crying session, if they did not get what they wanted now.
McKinsey ran out of Patricia’s home. When she got home, Wilson's car was gone. After opening the door, she ran straight to the room where he stayed. It was now empty. “What have I done?” she thought.
****
That night, she continued to call his number. As she paced the house, looking at the pictures he had hung and the things he had done, even though she had treated him badly, she hated herself. From sheer exhaustion, she stopped pacing the floor and sat down by the phone, hoping he would call her.
She went to sit down in her favorite rocking chair and put both hands on her lap. She looked down at the ring she still wore on her left hand. Why would he think she was ready, when the ring showed how she felt about her loss? She got up out of the chair, walked into her bedroom and removed the ring from her hand, placing it inside her jewelry box. She stood there for a few minutes, looking at the light color of her skin that had been covered by the ring.
****
Wilson looked at his phone and saw that McKinsey had called him repeatedly. He had decided to renew the lease of the people in his parent’s home and move to the next town over. He tried hard to tell himself that he was doing the right thing. However, the further he drove, the more his heartstrings hurt. Even if she didn’t love him and was just using him, it still hurt to leave her. He felt she almost certainly would have been drinking again that night.
He turned his car around in the hopes that she might hear what he had to say to her. As he drove the closer he got to her home the more he hoped she would listen to him. He waited until she left her home and followed her to the store.
He walked into the store and the women that worked their recognized him and came immediately over to him. “Wilson can you please take another picture, our clients loved the one you took.” Cathey said as the other women gathered around.
“Just one.” W
ilson said. But when they got him over to the place to take his picture the got carried away and it was hard for him to refuse because of all of the attention.” He looked up and saw McKinsey standing by the door and he smiled in her direction. He could see she was no longer angry with him as she raised her hand to show him she had removed the ring from her finger.
****
McKinsey heart was beating fast, as she sat peering out of the side window of the limousine. Watching the road marked with double yellow lines as it slowly advanced toward dead man drop on Route 77. There was a deadly fifty-foot drop on one side and a twenty-foot steep mountain wall on the other.
Drivers called this curve dead man drop. The television news frequently warned the public to slow down. Teenagers often used this curve, daring their friends to drive faster. Over the years, the police had to scrape broken bodies off that road; they dubbed it the deadliest curve in the city.
The engine hummed underneath her, as the car reached the curve. Feelings rushed through her, ranging from scared to happy, all within seconds. She braced her back against the back of the seat, right hand grasping the door handle, just in case things did not go as planned.
The conversation from the night before, between her and her fiancé, Wilson, came to mind. They wanted to slap the devil of misfortune right across the face by getting married in the same church where she and her previous fiancé had planned to get married, a little under two years ago. They could only get the church for one in the afternoon on a Saturday.
Her eyes locked on the vehicle in front of her, Wilson’s limo. They wanted to follow tradition not to see each other on that day, until they walked down the aisle to get married, so she rode in the limousine behind his.
Looking straight ahead, she cringed as Wilson’s limousine maneuvered the same curve that had killed her fiancé and brother. She had avoided traveling this road for almost two years, and her heart sang as she thought of her future.
The thought passed quickly; Wilson was the one she was marrying today. She was frightened even more, as the cars approached the spot where her brother and fiancé had died. All she could do now was pray that God would not steal her thunder a second time, as she held her breath for those few seconds as his vehicle approached, entered, and exited that curve. He heart was beating fast; sweat was now on her brow. Her makeup came to mind and she thought, "Who cares? My man and I will be getting married today.
Tears of joys slid down her face, as Wilson’s limousine pulled up to the front of church. They had tempted fate and won. She cheered as she watched Wilson enter the building before she stepped out of her limousine.
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McKinsey's Choice Page 5