Legend stood up, pushing the chair back into a roll. “You don’t have to wait Every minute I have to sit up here and deal with your bullshit is a minute too long.”
Jake stood up, covering the door before Legend reached it “Wait a minute. This is crazy. Come on.”
“You want to deal with her, you deal with her. I’ve had it. How’s she going to sit here and point the finger directly in my face, like I went out and waved a bull’s-eye?”
Venus stood up too. “You may as well have. I told you that T-shirt idea was wrong. I told you, but you and William are so busy trying to prove me incompetent, you’re smarter, you’re better. Legend and William, the incomparable duo,” she mocked.
William made an adjustment in his chair, facing Venus with incredulousness. “How’re you going to include me? This mess is between you two. Has been from day one. Some kind of unhealthy sexual conflict, I say.”
“Oh, I’d have to be deaf, dumb, and already dead!”
Jake’s voice went up a notch. “Calm down!”
Venus fell back into her seat feeling like a cornered animal, no way to get out. “Fine.” But she wouldn’t be responsible for the consequences. She’d have no choice but to react the same way a trapped animal would, snipping and biting at whoever came too close. Fine, she found herself repeating in her head. Everything would be fine. She sat back in her chair and took hold of the situation. Deadlines were looming.
Venus did the natural thing and began to suggest Plan B and possibly even a Plan C. Jake was quick to dismiss other options.
“Other offers are on the table, doesn’t mean she signed anything. Nothing is done until the deal is signed. We’ll just have to make a personal call. Go see her like we did before.” Jake sat down next to Venus. “Quick hop to New York, remind her how much she liked you.”
Venus held her breath, unable to speak. He knew she was planning to leave in the morning to see Airic. “At this point it’s probably all about the benjamins, Jake.” She let her eyes cut to Legend. “Competitors are making offers, exactly what we didn’t want to happen. They’re probably putting up cash instead of stock. Money, that’s what it’s all about, not personality contests.”
“I wouldn’t mind going.” William’s grin full of mischief. “A personal visit with an offer she can’t refuse.”
Jake kept his focus on Venus, waiting for her to concede. She could feel his eyes unwavering.
“How do you even know there are legitimate offers?” Legend felt calm enough to enter the conversation.
Jake leaned forward, “I know.”
Venus spoke up, unable to hold up to the pressure. “It’s simply time to negotiate.” She faced him head on. “I’m sorry.” She said quietly, implying more than the small two words could carry on their own. “I think the dynamic duo can handle it from here.” She picked up her bag and left the conference room with a stunned Jake and a victorious Legend staring at her.
She hurried down the unstable stairs, feeling free and clear once her heels rested solid on the enameled floor. At least that’s what she thought until the sound of Jake’s voice caught her.
“Venus.” He was standing at the top of the stairs. His soft eyes cool, but still telling her what she didn’t want to hear. Please don’t go.
And her eyes returning the message he didn’t want to hear. I wish I didn’t have to.
She pushed through the large glass doors and didn’t dare look back.
WHEN Venus came through the door of the apartment, Wendy was carrying on like a schoolgirl. She held the phone in the crook of her neck while she peeled potatoes. The stereo was on. She talked loud over the bass and guitars of Carlos Santana.
“No, you will not call me when you get to D.C.” Wendy giggled again, before catching Venus standing across the room chewing on her nails. “I have to go. No. No. Okay. I’ll call you back.” She placed the phone back in its cradle.
“Let me guess who that was.” Venus rolled her eyes.
“He’s sprung, girl. What can I say?”
Venus turned up her nose in disgust.
Wendy turned off the radio. The apartment became quiet. She was preparing for her job as superfriend. “Come on, sit down.” She pushed the red velvet pillows off to the side. Venus did as instructed, sitting down and taking off her shoes.
“Tell me what’s going on.” Wendy’s concern always transferred her back to wife, mother. The responsible one. It didn’t matter that not less than a minute ago she was on the phone talking to Legend, loud and silly.
“It’s not obvious?” Venus sunk deeper into the couch.
“Jake?”
“No. I don’t think I need to worry about Jake.” She’d poked enough holes to ruin his sail, this time she was sure.
“Then Airic? What’d he do?”
“I point-blank asked him what the hell was going on, and he wouldn’t answer me.”
“Why’d you ask him over the phone? He can’t talk about something like this over the phone, Venus.” Wendy gave her the don’t-you-know look,
“You want to hear another one?”
“You got a million of ’em?”
“Yep.” She went to the kitchen and picked up Wendy’s glass of wine and took a long swallow. “I don’t care anymore. I don’t care. I’m going to D.C. and hand him back his ring, tell him good luck and have a happy life.”
Wendy put the knife down.
“I’m not going to fight it anymore. I’m not meant to be in union. Till death do you part and all that shit. I get it. I give.” Venus threw up her hands. “I’m out.”
“You have to give Airic a chance to explain.”
“Why? This isn’t something I’d put up with. Not the old me. This new me is pathetic. Letting shit slide, ignoring the bigger issue. We’re supposed to be partners, best friends. How could he not come to me?”
“Did you consult with him before you spent the night with Jake?” It was Wendy’s job to ask the tough questions. Venus was shocked into silence.
Wendy tried to soften what she’d said, “People mess up all the time. That’s what a marriage is about Maybe that’s why you can’t get there, Venus. Nobody has any leeway with you.” She went to the kitchen and resumed her vegetable chopping.
Venus stood across from her, separated by the kitchen island. “Well, maybe if you had half as much of the no-bullshit detector as I do, you wouldn’t be in the situation you’re in. You wouldn’t need to be messing around.”
“Situation?”
“You’re married, unhappily married, as far as I can tell,” Venus continued, unable to reel herself back. “I don’t want that I’d rather walk away and be single for the rest of my life than deal with someone who claims he’s working all hours of the day and night, when we really know what that means.” Venus felt her body quaking. Her temper beyond reach to pull back. “I’d rather put it all out on the table, now, and walk away, than live like that.” Venus said it with disgust. She didn’t want to be mad at Wendy, she wanted to be mad at herself, at Airic. At every past mistake she’d ever made that brought her to this point. But she couldn’t help it.
Wendy unwittingly pointed her chopping knife in Venus’s direction. “I have made mistakes. Everybody makes them, Venus. Do you hear yourself? Self-righteous, sanctimonious crap. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d been to church. But it’s worse than that; this is deeper than that This is built in. Your perfection radar zaps everything that crosses your path. If it doesn’t pass inspection, you try to stomp it out.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is.”
“That’s not true. I put up with crap all my life … from men, in relationships. In friendships. I let people hurt me.”
“Yeah, but they only get one chance. That’s it. No middle ground with you.”
Venus’s head was starting to hurt. A montage of events and partings, friends and lovers who’d come and gone. She saw the door close, shutting tight, blocking things out when they didn’t
go her way.
“So now that you found out I’m not perfect, am I banished from your kingdom, too?” Wendy’s eyes watered slowly.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say those things. You’re one of the sweetest, most caring people I know. I’m so sorry. I don’t know how you put up with me.”
“That’s what people do when they love someone; they accept the good with the bad.” She threw a piece of raw potato and hit Venus square in the nose.
“I’m sorry,” she said again, coming around to Wendy’s side and giving her a hug. They walked to the couch. Venus closed her eyes letting her head fall against the backrest. “I thought Airic was everything I would ever need.”
“Then give him a chance.” Wendy pulled her long legs underneath her, getting prepared to help her friend sort it all out … once again.
“It’s too late.”
“It’s never too late.” Wendy breathed out frustrated, tired of giving unused advice. She left, then came back with the box of Kleenex, handing it to Venus with a here-we-go-again attitude.
“How could I fall for someone else, if I was so secure in my relationship with Airic? How could I have gone out with Clint if everything was supposed to be solid?”
“Clint!”
This was another wrench thrown in the dilemma. Wendy jumped up, “What are you talking about? You saw Clint?”
Venus nodded her head up and down. Wendy snatched the box of tissue back as if she didn’t deserve it. “You saw him when?”
“He’s here in L.A., working at the hospital where my mother had her surgery. We went out.”
Wendy’s mouth fell open. “And?”
“And nothing, he wanted to know how I felt about him, about us. It’s safe to say, I’m completely over him. I was home free, doing so well.” Venus dabbed her eyes. “Now I’m just lost. My heart is scrambled, like bad data.” Venus got up and studied the purple wall. It looked lifeless and dark. The sound of rumbling thunder outside filled the room. She walked to the curtains and pulled them closed.
Wendy came and stood next to her. “Would you have had doubts about Airic if you’d never met Jake?”
Venus made a questioning face, like isn’t it obvious. Then she decidedly backed down. “I don’t know. Airic not telling me about the investigation into his company, that’s huge. Even if everybody deserves one mistake. It’s huge.”
“Oh sweetie.” Wendy put a long slender arm around Venus’s slight shoulders.
Venus could barely breathe pressed against Wendy’s shoulder; she managed to pull away long enough to speak. “I’m just tired, that’s all. I’m tired of trying to get it right.”
“Anything good takes time.”
Venus pulled back again. “Have you been hanging around my mother? Sounds like something she would say.”
Wendy let out a howl. “Speaking of which, I was hoping to see her. Do you think she’d be up for a visit?”
“She had chemo a couple of days ago. She’s still sleeping it off.”
“That’s cool.” Wendy blinked her light brown eyes. “Maybe next time. So what are you going to do?”
After all their mishmashing and teeth pulling, Venus never made it clear. Loose ends refused to be tied. “I don’t know. I wish I did.”
“I know one thing … don’t you dare tell Airic about Mr. Good Lovin’. You do that, and you guys are through. Do you hear me?” She took Venus by both shoulders. “Don’t you dare!”
Venus bit the inside of her cheek, “I wasn’t going to. I would never be that selfish. I think confessions just clear your own conscience. It doesn’t make the other person feel any better. If I told him, it would crush him.”
CORNERS AND CROSSROADS
THE plane took off on time, a rare and momentous occasion. Wendy sat next to her, reading a magazine. Venus closed her eyes, tired from the late-night sharing session into the wee hours of the morning. “Maybe it’s not that you don’t forgive, maybe you’re just always waiting for the out.” Where would she be without Wendy with her big eyes on the outside looking in where things always appeared clear, basic, and simple? “Maybe you’re afraid, deep down, afraid to be with anyone, so you push them away first. First chance you get.” Who needed a therapist when you had friends?
“Maybe you’re right,” Venus whispered to herself before opening her eyes to see the airplane’s steward giving emergency directions and pointing to the exit signs. She’d contemplated not getting on this flight at all, because she knew Wendy was right. Any excuse would do. It would have been safer to stay in Los Angeles and let it all flow under the bridge. But it was a must. She and Airic had to talk. They had to clean out the bad to make room for the good. She wanted to make it work.
Sitting on the phone last night with Jake, she’d already made her decision. “I know what I feel for you is real, I know it with all my heart. But I’d be no good to you, believing as I do, that I can’t finish anything—that everything I start ends in failure. I’d come to you the exact same way, with a word on the outside of my package written in big black letters, IRREGULAR, like the sheets, or the socks in the clearance bin.”
“You know the funny thing about that … even if they’re irregular they still work,” he’d said, trying desperately to end her excuses.
“I think that people are put into our lives for a purpose; they come and they go, but something is always left behind. Something we can use to make us better. You have made me a better person. I believe in love, Jake. I believe in all its possibilities.” The rain still had not stopped falling. She pictured him sitting in the middle of his living room in front of the windows facing out to the shore, bare-chested, candles burning. “Thank you for taking the time to care for me. I don’t think I would have gotten through any of this. Finding out my mother was sick, nothing near that bad or frightening has ever happened to me in my life. It brought me to my knees, I have to tell you. I’d never felt so vulnerable, so completely helpless.”
“If it had been another time …”
“Hey!” Wendy’s voice snatched Venus away from the memory of Jake’s last words. “Did you see this? Did you know he was married?” She opened the entertainment magazine to the center pictures of the actor who’d been making women swoon for the last couple of years. “Look at her. She’s not even cute.”
“Wendy, please.” Venus pushed the magazine away.
“Still thinking hard, huh?”
“I’m through thinking.” Venus adjusted herself in the uncomfortable airplane seat. They weren’t made for short people, regardless of what tall people thought.
Wendy closed her magazine. “I’m impressed with your decision-making skills. Do you know how many women would have just kept both of them on the line? One on the West Coast, the other on the East.”
“That’s way too much work.” Venus put her head back, feeling the altitude pressure surge in her ears. “I barely have enough energy for one.”
The plane landed five hours later. Venus woke up, pulling and swirling pieces of her hair, trying to put the shape back into it. She had reached a crossroads where a decision was necessary, to either cut it all off again or put it into twists.
“I’m surprised you haven’t given up on this natural thing. It looks like way more trouble than it’s worth.” Wendy simply ran her fingers through the ends of her shiny straightened hair and instantly looked fresh and new. She pulled her jacket on and zipped the leather clear to her neck. “Get ready. You’re going to feel what real cold is.”
“It’s okay.” Venus was preoccupied with thought as the passengers started moving off the plane. Her nerves were on edge. Time was closing in on her. She wasn’t worried about her hair, the weather, or anything else. Only what she was going to say when she finally saw Airic.
THE house was empty. Sandy, her little cocker spaniel, had been staying over at Wendy’s house, being taken care of by Tia and Jamal, mostly Jamal. Tia didn’t like the way Sandy bit into her doll’s leg, pulling until the tug-of-war ended wit
h a limb missing.
Venus flipped up the Honeywell cover and pushed the thermostat up. She walked around the house. It was built only six years ago, but the old-fashioned Tudor style stayed true to its heritage with hardwood floors and narrow square-paned windows; several in a row lined the front of the house. The wooden blinds were raised, as if no one had touched them in days. Venus dropped the blinds one at a time and felt instantly warmer.
She wanted it to be nice and cozy when Airic arrived, the best possible circumstances for him to lay his burden down. He needed to know that she was through playing perfectionist That’s what she understood now. Airic was simply afraid of her. Afraid of what she’d do if she found out about the company’s woes. She’d proven herself to be consistent. Foul me and you’re out No three strikes, only one.
She filled the steel kettle on the stove with water. The gas flames were a welcome sight compared with the electric stove in Los Angeles; electric heat and appliances, all so cosmopolitan and fake. Temporary. This was a real home. She opened the cabinet and pulled out the tea container. She inhaled the scent of peppermint before dropping the linen bag into a cup.
She sat at her round kitchen table. There was an empty bowl, edged with dried milk and cereal. Airic only ate Corn Puffs in the morning, the strangest thing she’d ever seen in a grown man. Cold cereal of any kind completely grossed her out. She shoved the bowl farther away. The chair beside her was pushed against the table, stacked with newspapers. Wendy had mentioned that’s how her cousin knew out about the fraud investigation. The dates went only as far back as this past Sunday. She pulled out the financial sections of each paper, folding them neatly in chronological sequence.
Companies were being hit hard by the Internet crunch. The craze that had swept the country was now responsible for hundreds of thousands of people being out of work. She skimmed over articles, one after the other, of dot-com demise. Did anyone really think a site selling dog food was going to make millions? She set it aside and went to the next one, reading, slowly looking for any information on Airic’s company. She turned to the stock page, looking for the symbol VPNS, Virtual Privacy Network Solutions. Airic believed the name of a company was everything. Second only to location, location, location. The price on this date was $46 a share, less than half of what it had been a month ago. The news of the investigation must’ve hit hard. She put her arms down and let the paper crumple in her lap. Airic. She shook her head. She hurt, but not out of anger. Hurt for him. This was a nightmare.
Would I Lie to You? Page 27