Some Came Desperate

by Katherine Cachitorie

  “He did touch you!”

  “Shay, we hugged hello. That’s all.”

  “And that’s what I told him.”

  She was lying. Jules knew it. She embellished the meeting because that was what she always did. Embellished. Overstated. Lied.

  “Anyway,” Jules said, deciding the subject was best changed, “what is it you wanted?”

  “And nice to see you too. I want you to talk to Ethan.”

  “Me? About what?”

  “About my testifying. I don’t like it.”

  “What’s there not to like? You go to the deposition, tell what happened, and receive a get-out-of-jail-free card. What’s there not to like?”

  “I’m no snitch.”

  “Girl, please.”

  “I’m not!”

  “Okay, fine. Don’t be a snitch. Go to jail, get you a girlfriend to protect you, do what you gots to do.”

  “It’s not funny, Jules.”

  “You damn right it’s not funny.”

  “Could you just talk to Ethan? See if he can cut another deal?”

  “Nope.”

  “Jules!”

  “No. Besides, I don’t know Ethan like that.”

  “You’re paying his salary.”

  “And that’s all I’m going to do. If you want to change your plea agreement, then you need to talk to him yourself. Or get Simone to talk to him. She’s the one he likes.”

  “Child please. Simone?”

  Jules didn’t understand. “Child please what? She’ll help you out.”

  “I know she’ll help me out. And I won’t hear the last of it for the next sixty years.”

  “I get on your case too. You never have any problem asking me.”

  “Yeah, well. It’s different with you.”

  Jules exhaled. If Shay only knew how hard Simone tried to get custody of her for so many years when she and everybody else had moved on with their lives. And Jules knew it was all her fault, especially when she sent Shay that letter criticizing Simone, making it seem as if it was her, not Simone, who had been working on Shay’s behalf all along.

  Jules looked away from her sister. She regretted that move to this day. But she was listening to Jeremy. Do to her before she does it to you, he said to her. Make Shay hate Simone or she’ll hate you. That was what he told her. And she did it. She put a knife in Simone’s back. Sometimes she wondered why she even went there. Was it her own guilt at not trying harder to gain custody of Shay? Even Jeremy said he would have gotten Shay out of foster care, if she had only asked him. She didn’t know if that was true, but it was a fact: she never asked him. Maybe it would have been different. Maybe Shay would have turned out differently if she would have joined forces with Simone, instead of agreeing with Jeremy, and done something sooner. But it was what it was, she thought, and went back to her contract review.

  “Well?” Shay said. “Are you gonna help me or not?”

  “No. I’m not kidding this time, Shay. No.”

  “Come on, Jules.”

  “No. Either get Simone or go to Ethan yourself.”

  “You are so cold,” Shay said and Jules smiled.

  “Got that right,” she said.

  Shay hesitated. Jules looked at her. “What is it now?”

  “I got a visit from Ham.”

  Jules frowned. “From who?”

  “Ham. Hamilton Lucas. The banker?”

  “Oh, yeah. I thought that was off.”

  “It is. It was. But he had a little attitude because his old silly daughter went out on the town with me.”

  “You was wrong for that, Shay.”

  “I ain’t thinking about that crawfish. Came talking all his big talk. Trying to handle me. I cussed his ass out and sent him right back where he came from.”

  Jules placed her hand to her forehead. “Why you would have gotten hooked up with some joker like that to begin with is beyond me.”

  “He’s not a joker. He’s a banker. I thought he was my ticket up.”

  Jules looked at her. “Your ticket up to what?”

  “Respectability.”

  “Respectability?”

  “I’m not respectable, Jules, it’s just a fact. And that’s what I want. Respectability. Like what you got with Jeremy.”

  Jules shook her head. If Shay only knew what she had with Jeremy she’d wash her mouth out with soap and apologize for even suggesting she wanted that. “So it’s completely over now?”

  “Over?” Shay said as if she was offended. “Are you drunk? Of course it’s not over. It ain’t over ‘till Shay-Shay says it’s over.” Then she leaned back, her bravado gone. “Yeah, it’s over,” she admitted.

  The intercom buzzed at the conference table phone. Jules pressed it. “Yes?” she said.

  “Miss Simone Rivers is here.”

  ““Send her in,” Jules replied and then looked at her baby sister. “Come to my birthday party Friday night,” she said. “That’ll cheer you up.”

  Shay smiled. “Bet that,” she said as Simone walked in.

  “Hey lady,” Simone said as she headed for the conference table. “And Shay.”

  “Ha ha ha,” Shay replied. “What you doing over here?”

  “I can’t come see my sister?”

  “You can come,” she said as Simone sat down opposite her at the table, with Jules at its head. “But that ain’t why you came.”

  “I didn’t come because I could?”

  ‘Right.”

  “Actually wrong. That’s exactly why I came.” Then she hesitated. “Needed some advice.”

  “Everybody runs to Jules for advice. She can’t be the world’s policeman.”

  “The what?” both Jules and Simone said in unison.

  “I heard it on this show about politics the other night. They kept saying that the United States can’t continue to be the world’s policeman. I thought it was kind of cute.”

  Simone shook her head. “Help her, Lord.”

  “What advice?” Jules asked, looking at Simone. When Simone hesitated, she knew what it was about. And her heart dropped. “Don’t even think it, Simmie,” she said.

  “Think what?” Shay asked.

  “Tell me you are not even thinking about that.”

  Simone hesitated.

  “Simone?”

  “He called, that’s all,” she finally said.

  “Simone!”

  “It was just a phone call, Jules, okay? It’s nothing serious.”

  “Y’all better tell me what’s going on. Who are y’all talking about? Who called?”

  “Nobody, Shay.”

  “Oh, so y’all ain’t gonna tell me?”

  “Nick Perry,” Jules said, and Simone looked at her as if she’d just betrayed her. But somebody’s got to knock some sense into her head before she made the biggest mistake of her life.

  “Nick Perry?” Shay said, astounded. “Nick Perry called you? Are you crazy? You’re seeing Nick Perry again?”

  “She went to his house for dinner with Ethan,” Jules said. “He’s trying to recruit Ethan for his law firm.”

  “Dang, everybody wants Ethan. But Simone. Him? After what he put you through?”

  “It’s nothing like that,” Simone said. “The man is married, okay?”

  “Married? To who?”

  “Some woman named Delia. She used to be a model.”

  “Oh,” Shay said. “So he married her.”

  Simone looked at Shay. “What you know about it?”

  “No, no. I’m just, I figured some other woman had to be on the horizon when he dumped you so easily.”

  “He didn’t dump me.”

  “Yes, he did, Simmie,” Jules said. “And he left you so distraught that you—”

  Simone was grateful that she didn’t have the nerve to continue. Shay, however, did. “That you tried to kill yourself,” Shay finished on Jules behalf. Simone exhaled.

  “That won’t happen again if that’s what you’re worried about.”
/>   “How do you know?” Jules asked.

  “Because I’m nothing like that emotional girl I was then. I’m nothing like that now.”

  “Yeah, right,” Shay said. “The right man comes along and forget about it. You’re worse than before.”

  “Speak for yourself.”

  “I am,” Shay said.

  “So what did he want when he phoned you?” Jules asked.

  Simone sighed. “To talk.”

  “To talk about what, Simone? The two of you getting back together?”

  “Of course not! He’s a married man, remember?”

  “Oh yeah, I remember. But do you?”

  “How did the dinner date go?” Shay asked, still certain that there was more to that night than Simone was letting on.

  “It went fine,” Simone said.

  “No fireworks, no nothing?”

  “That’s right.”

  “You had supper and you and Ethan left without a hitch, right?”

  “Well, yes. Except Ethan got an emergency call and had to leave and Nick took me home.”

  “Uh-oh,” Shay said.

  “He just took me home, okay? Why y’all looking so stricken all of a sudden?”

  “What happened?” Jules asked, staring at her. If the Rivers sisters knew anything, she thought, it was how to pick the absolute wrong man.

  “Nothing much happened at all.”

  “Uh-oh,” Shay said again. “She said nothing much. Which means something happened.”

  “What happened, Simone?” Jules asked. “You already told me that he tried to kiss you,” she reminded her.

  Simone didn’t respond. Shay smiled. “Ain’t no tried in it,” she said. “Your boy kissed her, I can see it all over her glowing face! She might even have passion marks.”

  “Girl, please,” Simone said, but she didn’t dispute Shay’s main point. Jules leaned her head back.

  “We are the sorriest females on the face of God’s green earth,” she said. “I got one sister who wants to marry a man who can’t stand the sight of her. I’ve got another sister who wants a man who’s already married and nearly caused her her very soul the last time she was fooling with him. And—”

  “And what?” Shay asked.

  “And me,” Jules said with a frown. “The sorriest of all.”

  “Ah, don’t even try that. What’s your problem? You so quick to name ours. What’s up with you?”

  As if on cue the intercom system buzzed on and the secretary announced: “Excuse me, Miss Rivers, but Dr. Druce is here to see you.”

  “The problem is here,” Shay said.

  “Tell him I’ll be with him in just a moment,” Jules pressed the phone’s intercom button and said. Then she began to rise. “Listen, I’m going to have to talk to y’all later.”

  “Jules,” Simone said, “he can wait.”

  “He’s a very busy man, Simmie, and you know it. No, he can’t wait.”

  Simone and Shay looked at each other and shook their heads. But they stood up.

  “What about what we were talking about, J?” Shay asked her.

  “I’ll talk to him but that’s all I’m going to do.”

  Shay smiled. “For real?”

  “Yes.”

  Shay hugged her neck. Then Jules looked at Simone. “Call me, Simmie, before you do anything else.”

  “And back at ‘cha,” Simone said with all seriousness. She and Jules shared a knowing look, as if both understood that life was easy, love was hard.

  Jules walked them to the door. As soon as she opened it, Jeremy came walking toward it. When he saw Shay and Simone, he stopped. “Hello, ladies,” he said with a smile.

  “Hey, Jeremy,” Shay replied, but Simone only grunted in his direction. He laughed and walked into Jules’ office. When the door closed, he frowned.

  “You had me waiting because of them?” he said.

  “Jeremy, not today, okay?” Jules said and began walking back toward her conference table. She fully expected him to sling her back around and get hot all over again, but he didn’t. He just stood there. When she looked back at him, he began walking toward her. “Listen, Jules, about last night—”

  “Jeremy I,” she said and then just held up her hand. “What do you want? Your medical practice and the Drake Society isn’t enough to occupy your time?”

  “I’m not going to accept their award,” Jeremy said and this did exactly what he expected it to. It stopped Jules cold.

  She looked at him. “Are you serious?”

  “As a stroke. And I’m a surgeon, I know how serious that is.”

  “But why did you turn it down? According to you they’re nothing but a right wing think tank.”

  “I didn’t like how painful it was to you,” he said. “And after last night, after what I did to you, I couldn’t bear. . .”

  Jules closed her eyes. Another one of his apologies on the way, she thought.

  “Jules, I’m sorry,” he said as if on cue. “That won’t ever happen again.” Then he pulled her to him, wrapping her in his arms, her hands jammed against his chest. “I promise you it’ll never happen again.”

  Tears began to stain Jules’ eyes. She and Jeremy couldn’t continue like this, she knew it, but she felt so powerless to do anything about it. He took her chin and raised it up to his face.

  “I love you,” he said.

  “You was so rough with me, Jeremy. How can you say you love me and treat me so—”

  “I know. And I’m sorry.” He wiped her tears away. “Does it still hurt?” he asked her. “Are you still sore?”

  She was, but he’d never know it. “I’m okay,” she said and pulled away from him.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked her.

  “Nothing, I just need to get some work done.”

  “I said I was sorry, Jules.”

  “I know that. I’m not. . . I just need to get this done.” She began picking up contracts again, although she couldn’t concentrate on a word. After a few seconds of this, she looked at Jeremy, whom, she could tell, was staring at her. “What?”

  “Did you do it?”

  She had no clue what he was talking about. “Did I do what?”

  “Did you tell lover boy to hit the road, come on, you know what I’m talking about.”

  Jules rolled her eyes. “That man is not interested in hearing from me, Jeremy, okay? I told you it was hello and goodbye. Les Carter barely remembered me.”

  “Why wouldn’t he remember you? He’s supposed to be this big fine stud. This Mandingo-looking Negro.” Then he smiled. “Oh, I get it now. I got it now. He dumped you, didn’t he?”

  Jules looked at him as if he had just grown an additional head. “What? I was not dating him to be dumped.”

  “Yeah, he dumped you, all right. I know what I’m talking about. You tried to go behind my back and hook up with some character like that. Yeah, see what you get? I told you nobody wants you, girl. Didn’t I tell you that?”

  She couldn’t count how many times he had told her that. “Jeremy, I’ve got work to do,” she said.

  He looked at her. And then started laughing. “He dumped you! You ain’t all that. I told you you ain’t all that.”

  Jules slammed the contracts on the table and looked at Jeremy.

  “Okay, I’m leaving,” he said, holding his hands up. Then he reached over to kiss her on the lips, but she turned her cheek. He laughed. “You just make sure that Negro don’t change his mind. Understand? Because you’re still off limits.”

  Jules said nothing. Jeremy started laughing as he headed for the exit. “And Jules,” he said. Jules looked his way. “Those sisters of yours better stay out of our business. I had better never hear about either one of them knowing anything about what’s going on with us. Got me?” Nothing from Jules. “Jules?”

  “I hear you, Jeremy,” she finally said. “Hear you loud and clear.”

  Jeremy smiled. “That’s my baby,” he said in a way that made Jules’ skin crawl.
“And oh, by the way,” he added as he began leaving and then turned back around. “I won’t be able to make it Friday night. Sorry. Work and more work.”

  Normally Jules would have been astounded. How could he not make it to her birthday party, a party he knew she had planned for so long? But now she almost felt relieved. “Okay,” she said, and she said it so calmly, so cavalierly when Jeremy obviously was expecting much resistance, that it didn’t sit well with him. Which, Jules had to admit, pleased her mightily.

  TWENTY-SIX

  Simone could not believe that she was doing this. But she was. She was actually walking into the Colgate building for the first time in seven years, taking the B elevator up to the fourteenth floor, and telling the secretary that she was there to see Nick Perry.

  He had phoned last night and asked to see her today. He had wanted to come over to her hotel room, after work, but she had said no. She could not bear a repeat of the previous time they had been together. No more of that emotional wreckage they had wrought. But then he asked if she could come to him, at the Colgate building, at his law firm. She wanted to nix that idea too, to tell him thanks, but no thanks, but she couldn’t find the courage. She, instead, told him she’d see if she could come by.

  And now she was there. Remembering the place. Remembering seeing Delia there for the first time, coming out of Nick’s office, although she didn’t know that it was Delia at the time. But now she knew it. And Delia wasn’t just the girlfriend anymore, but the wife. Nick’s wife. And that more than anything was why she felt it necessary to come see Nick and make it clear to him that she wasn’t about to have any kind of relationship with a married man.

  When the door to Nick’s office opened, Simone jumped, causing the secretary, a new woman Simone did not recognize, to glance at her.

  “Hello, Miss Rivers,” Nick said, and he said it so professionally, as if it was all business for him, that it did aid in calming her back down. “Come in, please.”

  Simone stood and walked slowly into Nick’s office. He smiled at her but no more, she suspected, than he would have smiled at any other client. Only she wasn’t a client, which made this entire scene all the more unseemly to her.

  “Have a seat, Simone,” he offered as he closed the door and walked in further. Instead of sitting behind his desk, however, he took the seat next to Simone’s, and crossed his long legs.