by Teisha Mott
His eyelids began to droop. It was too late for him and Samantha as a couple, but he could still rescue her from Jeremy. As her friend, he would be able to point out all the reasons that Jeremy was totally wrong for her. She was a smart girl. She would take his wise counsel. He brought her face to his memory. Samantha was beautiful and smart and interesting… Micah had won the girlfriend lottery and he had messed it up. Royally! His stupid mistake had not only ruined his life, but Samantha’s too. But he was going to fix this. He was going to make everything right again. It was a pity that because of Jeremy’s spawn, Samantha could not be his girlfriend again. Well, if he could not have her, he sure as hell was not going to sit around and let Jeremy have her either.
***
August 23
“So he really didn’t know?” Bianca asked, shaking her head in disbelief.
“He really didn’t know!” Samantha confirmed, unable to believe it herself. Her expert fingers worked the knitting needles and the lavender yarn. Nursey had tried teaching her to knit when she was eleven and her mother had been pregnant with Christopher. She had attempted to make him a hat, but it turned out looking like nothing at all. She had been so despondent that she had locked herself in her room, and only came out when her father slipped an envelope under her door, with five hundred dollars and a note telling her that he was available to take her to Answers for Children to buy anything she chose for the baby. Notwithstanding, even at eleven, Samantha was determined not to fail at anything, and had stuck to practicing her purls and chains, and was pleased that now, at twenty-two, she could make an entire sweater for Caitlin. So she could knit, and just that afternoon, Theresa had taught her how to make chicken noodle soup. She was totally on her way to being a mother!
“Well, now that he knows, I am sure we’ve seen the last of him!” Andie stated firmly.
“I dunno…” Klao mused, as she fussed with the white yarn. She had to get it untangled by the time Samantha was ready for it. “Maybe he’s one of those rare, highly evolved modern men who aren’t intimidated by a pregnant woman.”
Samantha paused. “So you think I should make up with him?”
“Yuh mad?” Klao exclaimed. “Not on your life!”
Samantha smiled. Poor Micah, she thought. He was being all shades of needy and desperate those past few days – calling her and leaving all sorts of messages on her voicemail. And just that morning he had actually sent her flowers – something he had never done even when they were dating. Jeremy had seen the flowers. He had asked who they were from, even joking that she had a secret admirer. She had told him they were from Bridget – a ‘congratulations for getting knocked up and not bothering to tell me’ token. It was not a complete lie. Those were the exact words Bridget had said when she dropped in last night, fresh from her summer on the subcontinent. She also told Jeremy that to appease Bridget, she had promised her the role of Caitlin’s godmother. As Jeremy had pointed out, exactly how that was going to fly, when Andie, Bianca, Klao and Jasmine all had their hearts set on being godmother, was yet to be seen. Nonetheless, it had gotten him to forget about the stupid flowers that now sat on her dresser.
“He’s not going to stop calling you until you talk to him,” Bianca pointed out. “Maybe you should just call him back and get it over with.”
“Or better yet,” Andie suggested, “tell Jeremy that he has been harassing you and let him give Micah a talk. Talk to him with those muscles and big fists of his!”
Samantha smiled. She consulted her sweater pattern to make sure she was not doing foolishness, before responding to her sister. “You really think my life is ‘Dawson’s Creek’, don’t you?”
“Dude, you can’t find this volume of ‘mix-up’ in ‘Dawson’s Creek’!” Andie returned. “If TATTLER had any idea what was truly going on, he could write a book! Anyway, this is supposed to be my send-off sleepover. We are supposed to be talking about me, not you!”
Samantha put down her knitting. Andie was perfectly right. It was Andie’s last weekend before going off to Columbia. The Clubhouse Cousins, as TATTLER called them, were having a sleepover/goodbye party for her. As a matter of fact, summer was over for all of them. It would be horrible, Samantha thought, when school started in a week and she did not have them around anymore. Klao actually had registration at Norman Manley Law School last Wednesday, and next Wednesday, Andie would be leaving. They should not be ruining their last Saturday night talking about Micah.
“Are you excited to start school, Andie?” Klao asked, glad that Samantha had put down the knitting, so she did not have to unravel any more white yarn.
“I’m not excited to leave Nathan,” Andie confessed. “I mean, suppose he loses his mind like Micah and breaks up with me?”
“Not gonna happen!” Samantha promised. “You have Nathan wrapped around your little finger.”
“You thought you had Micah wrapped around yours,” Klao pointed out.
“And based on the phone calls and his ‘pathetic-ness’, I still do!” Samantha said smugly. She patted an area of her tummy where Caitlin seemed to be stretching. It was amazing, she thought, that when she was up and about, Caitlin was quiet, and the moment she sat down to get some rest was when Caitlin decided it was playtime. “Anyway, Nathan is not Micah, and Andie, you are not me. You have nothing to worry about, except surviving the next two years in Manhattan. Now listen, if you want to go anywhere, ask Aunt Phoebe’s driver to take you.”
“Or I can drive myself. I have a drivers’ license you know!”
“Like Aunt Phoebe is going to allow you to drive in the city!” Samantha scoffed. “Anyway, take a taxi only if absolutely necessary, and never late at night by yourself. Make sure that you know beforehand exactly what cross streets are near where you are going, and tell the driver…”
Andie rolled her eyes. “For heaven’s sake, I’ve been to New York before.”
“Well, you’ve never been there by yourself!” Samantha reminded her. “And it’s totally different visiting there than living there. “Always have money on you and never,ever go into the subway. I am sure an underworld exists under there!”
Bianca shook her head. She was sure her cousin’s maternal instincts were kicking into overdrive. “Andie will be fine, Sam. She isn’t a baby. She’s going to graduate school.”
Samantha’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at her little sister. Bianca did not know what she was talking about. Andiewas a baby. She couldn’t manage in New York all alone! New York was a big city, and Andie was a little person. Maybe she shouldn’t go. Maybe she should defer a year, and then they would go back together next year. That was an idea. Then she would be there to take care of her…
“What’s that face?” Andie asked, wrinkling her brows. She did not like how Samantha was looking at her. That was the look her mother gave her every time they spoke of her pending departure.
“I’m so worried that something bad is going to happen to you!” Samantha told her. “You are too young to go off on your own.”
“Well, if you hadn’t gone and gotten yourself knocked up, you could be going with her to protect her from all the monsters in the city,” Klao pointed out.
“Whatever, Klao!” Samantha gave her a dirty look. “For that comment you have been struck from the list of potential godmothers! Anyway all three of you should use me as your example and stay away from nightclubs and alcohol. You don’t want to end up like me!”
“End up how?” Klao scoffed. “With a hot man madly in love with you, another one stalking you, and what will probably be the world’s cutest baby on the way? Gee, that’s the kind of crap I’d like slung at me any day, Sam!”
“Don’t think that because Jeremy turned out to be a good guy means that this situation is ideal. This right here is the best case scenario, and it still isn’t even that good. Everybody is supporting and smiling, but I know on some level they are disappointed. And Phillip and Darrin are only talking to me because Grandpa threatened them...”
; “Oh please!” Klao threw a handful of popcorn at her cousin. “Phillip couldn’t remain cross at you for anything. Everyone knows you are his favourite cousin. And you are the last thing Darrin’s mind! Since Dylan left for Mozambique, he has been wandering around like he lost his shadow.”
“Well, whatever!” Samantha plucked a few stray kernels that had landed in her new, very full cleavage, and ate them. “Just you three bear in mind that I am very lucky– as usual, the exception and not the rule. It could have been much worse, and Caitlin notwithstanding, if I had it to do again, honestly I would have been more careful.”
“You sound like one of those ‘Just Say No’ pamphlets,” Andie chuckled. “Is that the speech you are going to tell Caitlin when you give her ‘the talk’ and explain to her that she was an accident?”
“I’m never telling Caitlin she’s an accident,” Samantha said, picking up her knitting once more, much to Klao’s dismay. “And as far as I am concerned, she will not be allowed to date until she is thirty.”
“Right Samantha!” Bianca rolled her eyes. She reached over and emptied her Fendi satchel on to Andie’s carpet. “I did not come up here to listen to you pretend you are starring in a cheesy infomercial. I came to watch a movie, eat junk food and numb my brain before I have to go to UWI hospital Monday morning. Now, what are we starting with? ‘Bruce Almighty’or ‘Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood’?”
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood’won, and before long, all four Persaud girls were cuddled in Andie’s queen-sized bed, passing around a bowl of popcorn, forgetting all drama, except the one on screen between ‘Vivi’ and ‘Sidda’, and the other women of the sisterhood.
263
Just Perfect
chapter thirteen
August 26
“The last time you looked so sad was when you were seven, and Andie tricked you into drinking fat!” Samantha said, noticing Christopher, as he sat by himself on the pool deck. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m depressed,” Christopher sighed.
“Okay…” Samantha sat next to him. “Why are you depressed? Do you miss Andie?”
“No… Well, yes I do, but that’s not it. It’s education. I don’t really care for it!”
“I see!” Samantha nodded wisely. Of course Christopher was depressed. This was his last week of summer holiday. He had to go back to school next week. “Well, you’re only 11. You have lots more learning to get through so you might as well accept it.”
“It’s not that I don’t like learning,” Christopher explained. “You know I’m really smart. It’s just stinkin’ GSAT that I don’t have the patience for. I mean, what’s the purpose of exams anyway?”
“Exams prove that you have learned something,” Samantha told him. “And they also separate the wheat from the chaff. You don’t want to sit in a class with children not as bright as you all the way to university, do you?”
Christopher gave her a dirty look. “The question was rhetorical, Samantha!” He retorted. “A lot of good all your exam passing did you if you can’t identify rhetoric!”
“Well, genius, if you are so good at identifying rhetoric, you should have no problems acing GSAT!”
“Being pregnant has definitely affected your acuity!” Christopher noted. He stood. “You have so missed the point. I’m going inside to bury my troubles under one of Theresa’s cookies!”
Before Samantha could comment, he began dragging himself up the path to the house. He slopped his way by Jeremy, who was on his way out.
“Whaddup, yout’!” Jeremy greeted him.
“Whatever!” He murmured, not even acknowledging Jeremy’s attempt at a high five.
Jeremy looked at him, confused, then continued to where Samantha was sitting. “Can you believe he left me hanging? What’s his issue?”
“Education,” Samantha told him, accepting the kiss he placed on her cheek. “He doesn’t care for it.”
“Ah! Back to school blues. Well, truth be told, I didn’t care much for education at his age either.”
Samantha raised her brows. “Really?”
“Yeah. I only buckled down when I got to high school. My father said if I didn’t do well he would kill me. I had no reason to believe that he wouldn’t!”
“Fear! The great motivator!” Samantha nodded. I got chucked off the deep end of the swimming pool when I was in grade five. Swum like a champion to the shallow end. Since then, everybody had me down as this great swimmer. To this day the only person at school who knew I can’t even tread water is Andie!”
“You can’t swim?” That was news to Jeremy. He always thought that her refusal to get into the pool was because she thought she looked quite a spectacle in her swimsuit.
“I literally couldn’t save my own life!” Samantha told him.
“Well, we will fix that when I come home for Christmas,” Jeremy promised. “After the baby, I will teach you. Swimming tones every muscle in your body. It will help you to get your shape back faster.”
“I have to tell you I’m hopeless,” Samantha warned.
“Let your fear of drowning motivate you!” Jeremy advised. “Anyway, I just came down here to tell you that I have to leave you for a few minutes and go sign some papers down the office. Soon come back.”
“Ok…” Samantha hoped he wouldn’t be long. They only had six more days together before he had to go back to New York, and that was assuming he got the go ahead to do his orientation training in Kingston with the local associates, so he could have an extra week with her. And even then, all next week, he would be gone to work, and she would only see him in the evenings. She really wished he didn’t have to go back. Why couldn’t he simply be a Kingston associate? What was the big deal working in New York? At least in Kingston, he would not have to worry about being bullied by Phillip! She had no idea how she was going to manage without him until Christmas.
It was as though Jeremy read her thoughts. “Don’t make that face!” He told her, giving her a hug. “It’s only a couple of years. And in any event, next year you’ll be back in New York, and we’ll be together then.”
“So many things can happen in a year, Jay…” she tried to explain. “Look at me and Micah…”
“Well, I told you already that I’m not Micah!”
“And what about when New York gets cold and lonely and you have needs?”
“When New York gets cold and lonely, I’ll have warm thoughts of you and Caitlin. And when I have needs, I can always call on Jen!”
Samantha gave him a dirty look. “That’s not funny.”
“It is, actually,” Jeremy chuckled. “You spent almost all summer telling me to go away and now that I’m going you want me to stay!”
“I was a punk, wasn’t I?”
“The cutest punk in Kingston, but I won’t hold it against you!” Jeremy kissed her cheek once more. “I better bounce or I’ll be late. See you at dinner?”
“Okie!” Samantha waved as he jogged off, and her heart did a little flip. That was what ‘in love’ felt like. She tried to remember if she had ever felt that way about Micah. At that moment, she could not recall having any feelings for Micah whatsoever. Really, many things could happen in a year – or rather, even months. She recalled praying after taking the Plan B that everything would work out for the best. Was this the best? Maybe all this was meant to be. She recalled what Nathan had told her about good things coming out of mistakes. She made a mistake that lead her to Jeremy. Right now it did not feel like a mistake at all…
She had not even realised she had fallen asleep until she felt her eyes fluttering open. There was someone standing over her. She blinked, trying to focus.
“Jay…”
“Guess again!”
She bolted up. “Micah! What the dickens… Did you break in?”
“No, I drove up to the gate and buzzed!”
“No, seriously. Rosie needs to do better than this!”
“Not Rosie,” Micah corrected. “Dennis!”
“Dennis is a moron!” Samantha wondered why her father hadn’t fired him after he had crashed his Mercedes. “Why are you here?”
“Well, since you won’t answer or return my calls, I thought the only way to get you to talk to me is to turn up here instead.”
Samantha did not know if she should be annoyed or flattered. “So you are stalking me now.”
Micah smiled, and she cursed herself for actually missing that overbite. “The word ‘stalker’ carries all sorts of negative connotations. I prefer to think of myself as ‘tenaciously persistent’.”
“Semantics, Micah.” She stood, shakily. She noticed Micah looking at her baby bump, and looked away, surprisingly embarrassed. “You better go home before Jeremy comes and sees you here.”
Micah rolled his eyes. “Are you and Jeremy really... y’know... together?”
“What’s it to you?”
“I know you said that,” he motioned to her bump, “is his doing, but I can’t believe you are really together. I mean, Sam, Jeremy Malcolm? You can do better…”
“I could do worse!” Samantha spat. She gave him a dark look. “As a matter of fact, I have done much, much worse! Get lost, Micah!”
Micah sighed. This was not the way this conversation was supposed to be going.
“Look, I’m sorry, Sam. I know all this is my fault, and I didn’t come here to badmouth Jeremy…”