10
Pick Up
Sundays were for sleeping in and hanging out at Freddie’s Hot Spot and everyone who knew Alex, knew that. Which is why she was surprised when she woke up with Rachel hovering over her, waving the portable phone at her.
“Who is it?” she grumbled, squinting her eyes against the light pouring into the room.
Rachel shrugged, “some guy,” she handed her the phone and left.
“Hello?”
“Why do you sound as though you’re just waking up?”
The caller’s voice was familiar but she couldn’t put a finger on whose it was, not with her sleep clogged brain.
“That’s ‘cause I am,” she replied grumpily, “Who is this?”
“It’s Reuben,” came the cheerful response.
She sat up suddenly, her eyes wide with surprise and she frantically brushed her fingers through her hair as though he was right outside the door.
“Hi,” she said, suddenly timid, “What you... what’s this about?”
Reuben chuckled, “its Sunday isn’t it? And I remember a certain somebody promising a certain thing.”
Alex did remember. She’d gotten so caught up with the fun she was having with his youth group that she made a promise to Reuben again. Today, however she really did not feel up to it. She had plans with Nicka, and even though Nicka had stood her up several times to go out with Robbie, she really didn’t fancy dumping her for church, just to return the favour.
“I can’t believe you called me on that,” she stalled, as she threw off the covers and slipped her feet into Rachel’s fluffy bedroom slippers.
“Believe it,” he said with a chuckle, “So what’s it gonna be sleepy head?”
“I don’t know. How would I get there?”
“No problem, give me your address and I’ll come get you.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she protested.
Even though Reuben was one of the nicest men she’d ever met, she still wasn’t sure if he was trustworthy.
“It’s fine he assured her, throw on something nice, I’m coming to get you.”
“I don’t know...” she hesitated. She was enjoying his attention and persistence.
“Hey there’s no turning back now,” he said, “Just tell me which one is your house.”
“Which is my house? Reuben where are you?” she went over to the window and peered out at the neighbourhood already bustling with Sunday morning activities and smells of Sunday lunch preparations.
“I’m nearby,” he replied, “I think I’m in the right place, if I remember correctly.”
“You‘re kidding”.
“I hardly ever kid on Sundays.”
Alex grinned, finally deciding to give her fears a back seat and go with her gut. She turned and yanked open the closet as she hurriedly directed him to the house.
“You’ll have to give me a minute… several minutes actually,” she said.
“That’s fine,” he replied, “see you in several minutes.”
She was standing in front of the open door of her closet in her towel, still looking for an outfit when she heard two brief honks outside; Reuben had arrived. She dropped her clothes onto the pile on the bed and pulled her first choice on, only partially concerned about Rachel’s reaction when she would walk in on the mess she’d made. She wasn’t sure how suitable her clothes were for a Sunday service, after all she’d only attended church twice in her memory, one was a funeral and the other was a wedding. She smiled as she turned this way and that in the tall mirror. The light blue dress fit her figure better than she thought it would; it was a slim simply cut dress with short sleeves, its hem resting just below her knees, modest, comfortable and completely under the radar, best ‘hand me down’ from Nicole ever.
“Mom am going out!” She yelled as she dashed out the front door.
The red car was parked at the front of the gate; Reuben was sitting in the driver’s seat looking more handsome than ever, in his white long sleeved dress shirt and red stripped tie, emphasizing his smooth olive skin. He climbed out and greeted her with a warm smile and handshake.
“Wow, you look very nice,” he said as his gaze travelled the length of her dress respectfully.
“Thank you,” she replied, ducking into the car to hide the warm colour rising to her cheeks.
Reuben expressed concern about her parents, before he got into the vehicle, he offered to run in and inform them of their plans. Alex dismissed his concerns with a wave of her hand, “Oh it’s okay, I already told them.”
He seemed satisfied with her response because he said nothing about it again when he closed her door and rushed over to his side.
Alex had never been treated like that before; it made her feel important and cared about, something she really had to admit wasn’t a usual aspect of her life.
“So Alex tell me about yourself,” he suggested as they pulled onto the main road.
“There isn’t much to tell,” she replied.
“Really, everyone has a story... how about your family? Where do they hail from? I might know ‘em you know,” he winked at her.
Alex shrugged, “I doubt it. My mom’s from St. Patrick’s side, my father is British, but he used to say he’s more Grenadian than I am. He was a musician, came here as a young man for the adventure and met my mom... they’re no longer together. All I have of my father are his eyes and two books from his collection.”
Two books out of about a dozen, that she seldom read, mostly because she knew them so well. And eyes that she thought confused her identity and passed judgement on her mother every time they showed up somewhere together as mother and daughter.
She took a deep breath and looked out the window at the passing scenery; she’d never had to explain her history to anyone before. People either knew it, or didn’t matter enough to be told. Talking about it only opened up old wounds and questions.
“I’d rather not talk any more about it.”
Reuben nodded, “fair enough, you’re a wonderful person anyway... I guess you still have to thank your parents for that.”
“Do I? I don’t think so, why thank them for something I did on my own?”she looked at him with a dangerous frown.
Reuben chuckled, “look at me,” he said, “if you were to meet my parents you’d know who doesn’t belong and though they have shaped me into the man I am now. I owe a lot of who I am to the woman who gave birth to me, and the good for nothing man out of the few she couldn’t identify as my father. At least I can thank him for the ‘scrapes’,” he looked over at her and winked.
Alex smiled, he did have nice hair. A thick woolly texture that a girl would consider a curse to have every time she had to wash it.
“It’s the Caribbean condition Alexis, diversity in all its forms, not atrocities. Besides, the first thing I noticed about you, wasn’t the colour of your eyes, it was the sadness in them.”
She sat quietly for a while, what he’d said had her mind reeling, what was he talking about? Was she really that pathetic? And gosh he was so well spoken.
“How old are you Reuben?” she asked suddenly, hoping to change the subject.
“I just turned eighteen,” he replied, his eyes glued to the road in front of him.
She smiled over at him, “You’re very smart, I like the way you speak… I’m sixteen” she said, she was about two months from the truth, but for some subconscious reason she felt like bridging the gap a little.
“That’s cool,” he said absently, as he manoeuvred his jeep into a parking spot.
“Here we are,” he announced as he switched off the ignition, “Shall we?”
“Sure.”
The entire service floated past Alex, all she could think of was the man sitting next to her who was too absorbed in the service to notice. Alex left the church that day with yet another invitation, this time it was from a woman named Carol who had approached Alex when
Reuben left her alone for a while. She had invited her to their youth meeting that Friday. As usual she made no solid commitment, but the look in Reuben’s eyes told her that she might just wind up there anyway.
He was driving her back from church, and seeing that she wasn’t his only passenger took a shorter, bumpier route in order to drop off a young mother and her son. As they were bumping along the dreadfully dusty road, Alex spotted Ryan’s van parked on the other side. He was standing behind it with a rather sharply dressed man, who was counting a wad of money, while two other guys watched on from the hood of another car.
“Wait slow down will ya,” she asked.
Reuben lifted his brows, “can’t go much slower than this. What’s up?” he asked, following the direction of her gaze.
“That’s my mom’s boyfriend,” she said, squinting to get a closer look at the exchange.
Reuben frowned, “I don’t know ‘bout you but that looks a little shady to me. We shouldn’t stare so much,” he said, increasing his speed once they were past.
Alex looked over at him sharply, “I live with that guy and I may not get along well with my mother, but I am very protective of her. If he’s up to no good I need to know before my mom and I get roped into it.”
Reuben pursed his lips thoughtfully, “Alex I’m sure it’s nothing to be bothered about. He’s probably just doing business.”
“Reuben, he runs an electronics store,” she said with a disgusted scowl, “I’m sure they didn’t stop to look at his catalogue, those guys don’t look like the kind.”
She turned to look out the window, her mind reeling with theories, none of them easing her suspicions.
“I really need to get home.”
“I heard Ryan come up. Where is he?” Sherry looked up at Alex whose face was set like stone, her nostrils flared like a fire breathing dragon. A sure sign that an uproar lay ahead and from the question posed, it was aimed at Ryan.
She’d been waiting for Ryan to come home for over three hours now, you’d think by now she would have cooled down, but her impatience had only increased her hunger to face him.
“Not today Alex,” Sherry replied and turned back to her recipe book.
Alex fumed, “I need to speak to Ryan,” she persisted; now shaking with impatience.
“Not with that attitude you won’t, whenever two of you fight, he does be in a bad mood for days,” Sherry reasoned.
“I’ll find him anyway mom.”
Just then Leon passed by on his way in, “he’s in the office in the garage,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“Thank you,” said Alex and she stomped out the side door.
Ryan’s office was a little room behind the garage that Alex never knew existed. Another surprising discovery she made in that short moment was that the garage was empty save for a rusting Volkswagen. It reminded her of the one her primary school principal used to drive before he had that stroke.
She entered his office like a freak wind and stood glaring at him, her hands folded into fists at her sides in preparation for their confrontation.
Ryan looked up at her sharply at first, but slowly relaxed. Leaning back against his chair, he settled curious eyes on her.
“Alex?” he greeted suspiciously.
“What the hell is going on Ryan?”
He frowned, “you tell me.”
She stepped forward and planted her hands on the top of the desk, “I’m not stupid Ryan. I’ve been trying to piece together your game since I laid eyes on you. I know you’re hiding something.”
Ryan continued to frown at her, “What are you talking about?”
“On my way here, I kept wondering why a man as resourceful and supposedly wealthy as you, would need to do shady looking business deals, with slimy looking men, in side roads on a Sunday afternoon.”
She waited for it to sink in, then continued again, “but then I delved into my vast experience with my mother’s other boyfriends and I realized that you were simply doing what comes very naturally to your kind,” she paused for dramatic effect, looking him right in the eyes and feeding off of his panic.
“You’re a liar Ryan Hubbard, you lied to me and my mother, you led us to believe we would be safe with you. What were you doing with those guys?”
Ryan leaned forward and sighed, lifting his clasped hands under his chin as he frowned in thought, “look Alex...” he started, then he shook his head, “you know what, you’re not wrong to assume that I lied to you but only about certain things and I did it for a reason...”
“Let me guess you wanted to protect us,” she interrupted with a sneer.
“Yes... but I it was mostly just to buy me some time...”
Alex turned around and swore; Ryan winced but said nothing about her language, “that makes no sense to me, Ryan.”
He got up and extended his hand toward her pleadingly, “just hear me out Alex, you have to understand that when I asked you all to move in with me my financial status was different...”
“So you admit it. You’re broke aren’t you, and those guys weren’t work associates were they?” she interrupted, her eyes glimmering with mischief.
Ryan nodded, “I wasn’t always, but right after you arrived I lost a lot of it. Blew it on a bad investment, but I’ve got debts to pay, bills, mouths to feed. I just needed something to keep me afloat while I got my finances back under control.”
Alex regarded him quietly for a moment, feeling like she could believe him, that maybe he was telling the truth right now, even if he wasn’t honest with them before. But there was a part of her that didn’t want to believe anything he said; the part that was still mad at him for rooting up her life and replanting it in soil that was too soft and poor to lodge her roots in. She sighed and folded her arms across her chest.
“Okay, let’s say I believe you, but that still doesn’t explain this afternoon.”
Ryan shook his head while rubbing the back of his neck, “I...I know that. You’re too smart for your own good,” he said with a nervous chuckle, “I placed a bet in an underhand event... numerous actually, now am knee deep in the red, and people are starting to collect. I couldn’t risk...certain people knowing,” he looked up at her as though to say please don’t pursue it, but Alex was on a roll.
“Who are you talking about?”
He sighed and sat back down, “It’s best if you didn’t...”
“Come on Ryan! who?” she snapped.
He shook his head, “you’re a lot like your mother when you’re angry. Okay, I’ll tell you but you have to promise that this stays between the two of us okay?”
“I can’t promise that. Mom has a right to know that she’s sailing in a sinking ship.”
“This ship is not sinking, but your mother is pregnant and diabetic, if you care just a little about her you would keep this between us.”
Alex hesitated then nodded, “whatever.”
“Okay, the truth is that a lot of what I have is not my own, it’s from my late wife’s mother, the children’s grandmother, this house is hers, the land everything on her name. But she’s promised to turn it all over to me in due time, of course there are conditions. I have to work with her brother at the family business, send Leon to university and have Rachel visit every two weeks. It all simply means that I manage my finances, stay out of trouble and keep everything from Rachel – she’s not very discreet. If my children’s grandmother finds out about my situation she may take all this from me, my children included, you have to understand that she hates me.”
Alex nodded, “hmmm, with good reason am sure…” she muttered.
Ryan nodded, “I wasn’t always… this put together alright.”
“And why can’t you just tell that to Sherry, she knows a lot about over bearing parents. But if you can assure me that you’ve got things under control and that I can trust you, I see no reason why I should rat you out. Just don’t take to
o long to pay off those guys I saw you with, they look dangerous.”
Ryan smiled, “who would’ve thought you would be the one to understand.”
“Don’t push your luck,” she said baring her teeth at him, and she turned to leave.
“Hold on a sec,” he called, and pulled open his desk drawer.
Alex waited while he shuffled through it, then he took out a box and handed it to her. She looked down at it, completely taken back with what he placed in her hands.
“A cell phone? For what?”
He grinned, “it’s yours, merry Christmas. A fifth form student should have one, don’t you think?”
She arched a brow at him, “are you trying to bribe me?”
He chuckled, “of course not, I was going to give this to you a while back, a kind of peace offering. We did get off on the wrong foot.”
“Huh. Okay, thanks, I guess... but I still don’t trust you.”
“I know, I still can’t stand your attitude.”
She smiled and extended a hand, “then it’s a truce.”
He took it, and shook it firmly, “about time, you were starting to drive me crazy.”
Twist of Faith Page 11