Just Perfect! (Persaud Girl)

by Teisha Mott

  “You couldn’t even if you tried,” Samantha interrupted. “Whether or not Jeremy and I are together, he has proven to be a much better person than you could ever dream of being! Besides, I can’t say anything about Ronica, so you don’t get to say anything about Jeremy!”

  Micah winced. So much for pregnant women having Swiss cheese memories. “I told you Ronica’s gone…”

  “And if she hadn’t gone, where would you be right now?”

  Micah looked at his toes. That was a good question. If Ronica hadn’t disappeared into the wind, would he have had the courage to try to make up with Samantha?

  Samantha looked at him. His silence was just the response she expected; what she knew from the day she had seen the two of them in Nathan’s flat. He would always choose Ronica over her. “I thought so!” She started walking up the path to the house.

  “Samantha, wait!” Micah held on to her arm.

  She faced him. “Just tell me why, Micah. Why did you leave me for her? Why did you throw away everything we had for her?”

  “I missed you,” Micah stated. It was lame, but it was the truth.

  “Yeah, but whyher?” Samantha wanted to know why he would have chosen someone likeRonica. Ronica wasn’t pretty, all her cyber stalking proved that Ronica was not from a wealthy family, she was not particularly accomplished… What did she have that Samantha didn’t? But she couldn’t ask outright without sounding like a vain, superficial snob. For all she knew, Ronica had a heart of gold!

  “She wasn’t you…” Micah tried to explain. He couldn’t explain to Samantha why he had chosen Ronica either. To this day, he himself was not sure. “I dunno… She wasn’t… She was just different…”

  “You mean she didn’t have a stick up her ass?” Samantha prompted, recalling what Phillip had said.

  “As a matter of fact, she didn’t,” Micah told her.

  “Go to hell, Micah!”

  Micah took a breath. “Look, Sam, I didn’t come here to fight with you. In fact, it’s just the opposite. I came to extend an olive branch. We used to be friends before, and I really don’t like all this ugliness between us. I just want us to be friends again.”

  “And what gave you the idea that I want to be your friend?”

  He sighed again. He had forgotten how stubborn Samantha could be. But he had driven to Norbrook on a mission, and he was not leaving until he had accomplished it. “Look, Sam, I know you don’t like needy and desperate people, but needy and desperate are all I have right now…”

  “Micah…”

  “I know that a better man, a smarter man, a more manly man would have taken into account the fact that the flowers and phone calls and begging and desperation have gone totally unnoticed by you. If I were a different man, I would have taken the hint, grown a pair and moved on. Well, I am not a better man, Samantha. And it is difficult to admit but maybe Jeremy is a better man than me, because he has you and I don’t.” He stopped to take a breath. “I can live with you not being my girlfriend anymore, but I cannot live with you hating me. I really, really want to know that you have forgiven me, and I would really love for us to be friends again.”

  Samantha stared at him. Poor, suffering Micah. This was the guy she had wanted to spend the rest of her life with. He was certainly pathetic, begging for her friendship. Did she want such a weak, noodle of a man as her friend? She thought of Jeremy. Even at his most vulnerable – when he had the panic attack after watching the labour video; or when he almost cried in the car after lunch with his father, he had still managed to hold on to some iota of machismo. Micah was just – pathetic!

  “You really need to leave!”

  “Sam…”

  “Go away, Micah!”

  “No!” He was indeed being tenaciously persistent. “Not until you tell me we can be friends again.”

  “Micah, look, “I’m having a baby – a little girl,” Samantha told him. “I really don’t have time for you…”

  “Imagine that! You are having a little girl and I haven’t even congratulated you properly,” Micah interrupted. “Let me take you out to dinner…”

  “No!”

  “Come on!” Micah probed. “I know a lot about being pregnant. Remember how I helped Kaliese when she was pregnant?”

  Samantha remembered. He had been very supportive of his sister. He was very much like Jeremy in that regard – reading up all sorts of baby books and articles on the internet. She also recalled how judgmental she had been on Kaliese. How stupid was she to have gotten pregnant without being married? She had asked Micah. And worse for a man who wasn’t even committed to her, but to another woman? Kaliese was living proof that having sex before one got married was a stupid idea. She frowned to herself. Who would have thought that one year later she would have found herself in the same position?

  “I really don’t think dinner is a good idea, Micah.”

  “I’m only going to continue stalking you until you say yes,” Micah warned.

  Despite herself, Samantha smiled. “I thought you weren’t stalking me – just being tenaciously persistent!”

  “Semantics!”

  Her smile became a chuckle. “Okay, fine,” she finally conceded. “I’ll have dinner with you. One dinner, and just as friends.”

  “That’s all I ask,” Micah told her. “And we better make a plan as soon as possible before you change your mind. How about Saturday night?”

  “Whatever, Micah. And I am not going to change my mind. Breaking promises is your thing, not mine.”

  Micah decided not to engage her. He was just pleased she had agreed to go out with him. “What time should I pick you up?”

  “Don’t,” Samantha told him. No one in the house, and especially not Jeremy, could know about this dinner. She wondered what kind of excuse she could come up with to get away on Saturday night. Bridget had not gone back to New York yet. She wondered whether her friend would cover for her. “Just call and tell me where and what time and I’ll meet you.”

  “Fine,” Micah agreed, grinning like he had won the lottery. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Will you answer this time?”

  Samantha nodded, and Micah’s grin got wider. “Looking forward to it.” He turned to leave.

  Samantha thought of something. “Micah!”

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t make me regret this!”

  ***

  Samantha glanced at her wristwatch and sighed impatiently. She glared at Jeremy, who sat at the kitchen table stuffing his face with the callaloo and sausages and green bananas and plantain that Theresa had prepared for breakfast that morning. It was going to be a very busy day. First they had Dr Creary at 11, then lunch at La Fa, and the prenatal class in the evening. Some time in between they were going to go try to find a car seat and a crib. Jeremy was ridiculously paranoid about finding a safe car seat and crib, after reading about all the fatal accidents caused by faulty car seats, and incidences of SIDS that were blamed on cribs. Plus, she was waiting for Micah to call and tell her where they would be meeting for dinner Saturday night. She had asked Bridget to cover for her, but Bridget would not play. There was no love lost between Bridget and Micah, and having met Jeremy, she thought Samantha had indeed traded up. She was not going to be party to any scheme that involved lying to that ‘tall, cool drink of water’. Samantha thought maybe she should just tell him the truth. He did not have reason to be upset. She was so over Micah…

  The single chime of the grandfather clock told her it was 10:30. Only half hour left to get to Dr Creary. Samantha looked at Jeremy, eating as though he was the bloody queen of England. It was bad enough that he insisted on eating before they left, but there he was, chewing each bite 32 times, not realising they were going to be late.

  “Can you hurry up?” She asked him.

  “If I eat any faster, I will choke!” Jeremy told her, sipping his orange juice. Theresa had told him that he must have orange juice with callaloo. It helped to absorb the iron better.

  “No such
luck!” Samantha grumbled. “Why didn’t you eat before you came?”

  “Nathan doesn’t have any proper food in the apartment,” he explained. “Big man can’t live on grilled cheese and cornflakes!”

  “Whatever! Just hurry the hell up, man.” Samantha struppsed her teeth. “Damn, now I have to pee. I am going to use the bathroom, and when I get back down you better be ready, or I am leaving you!”

  Jeremy made a face behind her back as she ran up the stairs. He knew she wouldn’t leave him, but still he tried to hurry. He did not want them to be late for Dr Creary. He drained the last of his juice, and rinsed the plate and glass and put them in the dishwasher. He gathered Samantha’s stuff that were lying on the counter and moved towards the car. Suddenly, he felt a strange vibrating in his palm. It was Samantha’s phone. He looked at the display. ‘ME’. It read. He wrinkled his brow. ‘Me’? Samantha was calling herself? He slid the phone open. “Hello? Sam’s phone.”

  “Who is this?” Came a strange male voice.

  Jeremy bristled. “This is Jeremy Malcolm. Who is this?”

  “Where is Samantha?”

  Jeremy recognised the voice, and the initials. ME. Micah Elliot! Why was Micah Elliot calling Samantha?

  “What you want, Elliot?”

  “I want to talk to Samantha.”

  “About what?”

  “Just put her on the phone!”

  “She isn’t available now.”

  “Where is she?”

  “None of your business!” Jeremy snarled. “Hang up and call back later.”

  “What time later?”

  “Anytime between 4:30 and kiss my ass!”

  Jeremy slid the phone shut, cutting off Micah’s call. Less than a minute later, the vibration started again. The sensible part of him knew he should let it go to voicemail, but the other part really wanted to know why Micah was calling Samantha.

  “What?”

  “Put Samantha on the phone right now.”

  “You don’t have a damn thing to say to Samantha!” Jeremy told him. “Stop calling her phone.”

  “You know something, Malcolm,” Micah said, annoyance evident in his voice. “I am not on summer holiday playing dolly house. I don’t have any time to keep up any foolishness with you. You don’t want to give Samantha the phone, then fine. Just make sure you tell her that we’re on for dinner Saturday night, and l’ll pick her up at 8.”

  He hung up before Jeremy could get another word in.

  Jeremy stared at the phone. Samantha had a date with Micah? How? He did not even know that she and Micah were on speaking terms. The last time he had heard Samantha mention him was in Infierno, when she had told him that Micah had dumped her for a ‘fugly girl’! Now they were going on a date?

  “Ready, ready…” Samantha came bounding down the stairs.

  “Here’s your bag,” Jeremy said, handing over her favourite Marc Jacobs satchel.

  She took it and followed him out to the car. “Is your belly full enough to last till lunch time, or should I pack you a lunch pan?” She chuckled.

  Jeremy did not respond. He got into the driver’s seat of the Rav4 and fastened his seatbelt. Samantha got in next to him.

  “Are you excited for your last doctor's appointment and prenatal class?” She asked, using her Christian Dior sunglasses to push her hair back. Her fringe had grown out a bit, and was annoying her these days. “Remember that as soon as you go back you have to sign up for daddy classes, okay?”

  Still no response. Samantha noticed that he was fruffing up. He was wearing some semblance of his macho scowl.

  “What’s the matter?” She asked him.

  “Nothing. Put on your seatbelt.”

  Samantha did as she was told, not at all convinced that ‘nothing’ was the matter. Jeremy watched as she buckled her seatbelt. A lock of hair fell from behind the sunglasses and over her eyes. He wondered what kind of game she was playing with him and Micah. Was she stringing them both along? Jeremy hated games, especially ones he was not sure he could win. He did not want to be in competition with Micah. A part of him knew that even with Caitlin in the picture, he could never compete with Micah for Samantha’s affections. After all, Micah was ‘the love of her life’. His grandmother always used to say ‘old fire stick catch quick’. She caught him looking at her and smiled.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” he said.

  “I know when you’re thinking something, Jay. What is it?”

  Jeremy wondered whether he should tell her that Micah had called. He wondered whether he should ask her about their ‘date’. He decided not to. Micah could call her back and tell her himself. He was not Micah Elliott’s goddamned secretary.

  “It’s nothing,” he repeated, as he started the engine. He glanced at her again. She was looking at him, a bit confused. He noticed he still had her phone. “Here’s your cell phone.”

  Samantha took her phone, and placed it in her satchel. Something was wrong with Jeremy, but she had no idea what. She wondered if his father had called and irritated him. No, because the Judge and Mrs Malcolm would not be back from Barbados until September 1. She recalled, because she had spoken to Jasmine, who was over the moon because she got to spend two whole weeks in Negril with her Aunt Maureen and cousin Sasha.

  “Jeremy, can you just…” She began, but Jeremy responded by turning on the car radio. Some crap talk show was on, and he increased the volume, indicating that he was listening to the plight of the impoverished Jamaican masses, and not interested in hearing a word that she had to say.

  “Well, fine!” Samantha murmured to herself. She was not going to try to wrap her mind around what Jeremy’s problem was. She did not do anything to cause him to give her the silent treatment. And if he was immature enough to be cross because she had rushed him to finish his breakfast, well he could go right on fruffing. She only hoped, as she pulled her well-worn ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting' from her satchel, that in time, he would get over it or tell her about it. They only had a few days left together, and she did not want to spend even one moment fighting with him.

  ***

  It had been the longest day. Samantha sighed as Jeremy pulled the Rav4 into the backyard. She could not imagine that Jeremy could have fruffed the entire day. He fruffed at Dr Creary’s, he fruffed over lunch, he fruffed during prenatal classes, even getting annoyed at her when she could not rotate her hips as the Instructor had told her. He had pretty much taken off the head of the poor sales girl in Answers for Children, because she had deigned to present him with what he thought was a substandard car seat. And worst of all, he would not talk to her. She did everything, short of a chicken dance, trying to get him to smile, and nothing worked. He was M-A-D. Right now, she didn’t care what was wrong with him. All she wanted to do was get away from him before he exploded.

  “What time is Nathan coming for you?” She asked, as they got into the deserted kitchen. He was carrying her bags of shopping. They had not gotten the car seat or the crib, but she had picked up a few blankets and diaper shirts. Her mother had told her it was a waste of time to buy so many new-born things, because Caitlin would not spend much time in them, and morbid Rosilda had stated more than once that it was pointless to buy baby clothes ‘before the baby born and look promising, becauseanything could happen’. Nonetheless, everything looked too cute to be passed up, especially on a day when Jeremy’s angst was depressing her.

  She looked at him. In typical ‘spoilt Jeremy’ fashion, he did not respond to her question. Samantha sighed and reached into the fridge and pulled out a box of soy milk.

  “You know, if you plan to be angry at me all evening, you need to either tell me what I did or go home,” she told him as she poured herself a glass. “Because your fruffing is very tiresome.”

  “I’m not angry at you,” Jeremy responded.

  “Then who are you angry with?”

  He did not answer the question. All day long he had been burdened by Micah’s call. He
needed to know what was going on, but he couldn’t ask her outright whether she was getting back together with Micah. He was really scared to hear what her response would be. Instead, he asked a different question. “‘Movements’ starts their concert season Saturday night. You want to go?”

  “Of course,” Samantha agreed. “Which night?”

  “Saturday. Opening night. I’m sure I can get tickets.”

  Samantha paused. Goodness! Now she was going to have to tell him about Micah. But with the mood he had been in all day, that wasn’t such a good idea. Perhaps she should put off her dinner with Micah until after he left…

  “Um… Bridget and I were going to hang out…” She willed herself not to blush.

  “I see!” The fact that she did not tell him the truth gave him his answer. Even if she had not decided to go back to Micah, she was at least thinking about it. “But wouldn’t Bridget be willing to reschedule, given that we only have a few days left together?”

  “I will ask her,” Samantha continued to lie. She would indeed call Micah and ask him to take her to dinner after Jeremy had left. She would even pay. Anything to avoid a fight with Jeremy. His glare was fixed on her. He was getting angrier and angrier and for the first time his Will Smith macho scowl did not give her butterflies. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “You are so full of shit!”

  Her glass almost fell from her grip. “Excuse me?”

  “Are you hanging out with Bridget before or after your date with Micah?”

  Samantha blushed bright red. Crap! He knew. How did he find out? Bridget was the only one who knew and she would not have sold her out!

  It was as though he read her mind. “Micah called you this morning. I answered your phone. He wanted you to know you were on for dinner Saturday night. He’s picking you up at 8.”

  “Wait? You answered my phone? Who told you that you could answer my phone?” Samantha began to get angry.

  “Really, Sam? Is that really where you think this particular argument is going? You need to tell me what’s going on, and you better not come with any foolishness!”