by J. D. Mason
Terri needed to rest and to heal. She needed to salve her fragile ego, massage her broken heart. And like so many times before, Roxy would sweep in wearing her superhero’s cape, in time to rescue her friend with a role, one she deserved, and too incredible to resist.
Bout You
“Hey, baby,” Nick said, coming into her place, wrapping his arm around her waist, and planting a thick kiss on her lips.
Nick hadn’t been able to get away for nearly a month to see her. He’d called, but Terri had been too busy to talk for more than ten minutes. She’d signed on to work on theater stuff, and Miss Mavis and Miss Lucy had her swamped.
“I missed the hell outta you, girl,” he laughed, pressing his forehead to hers.
“I’ve missed you too,” she said, stepping back, and taking hold of his hands.
Terri looked soft wearing a loose-fitting dress, the hem falling at the middle of her thighs, showing off those pretty legs of hers. Nick licked his lips.
“Can I get you something to drink?” she asked, heading into the kitchen before he answered.
“Um, whatcha got?”
“Wine, sweet tea, water…”
“Tea is fine.”
Nick sat on the sofa, crossed one leg over the other and kept his eyes fixed on her. Terri’s soft fro was tamed in a thick braid down the back of her head. Absence had made his heart grow all kinds of crazy for this woman. Seeing her now, only drove that point home. He was falling for her in a big way, and Nick decided it was time she knew it.
“So, you’re in the theater business now,” he laughed. “Those old ladies taking advantage of your talents?”
Terri sat his drink down on the table in front of him. Nick pulled her down next to him.
“The Devastation Community Theater Company is more than I bargained for,” she explained. “And those two old ladies have the energy of someone half their age.”
He laughed, “Miss Mavis and Miss Lucy. Legends.”
Terri laughed, “For sure.”
“They’re characters,” he stated with a shrug. “But, progressive visionaries, that’s for sure.”
“And passionate.”
“My pop is writing the music for this year’s production,” he said, remembering Luther mentioning it. “He worked with them last year, too. Did a damn good job from what I heard.”
“I heard that, too,” she smiled.
“You and him ought to be seeing a lot of each other. He takes this thing as seriously as they do.”
“We’ve seen quite a bit of each other.”
Terri working alongside his old man. Something about the idea set well with Nick. He’d never been this serious about a woman before and he and his dad were starting to mend fences, it felt right that Luther and Terri had a chance to get to know each other.
“So, what do you think of Luther?”
She raised a beautiful brow. “How do you mean?”
Nick turned contemplative. “He and I are trying,” he admitted. “We’re getting closer and it’s important to me to know that the woman I’m seeing, and my dad get along.”
“Oh, yeah. I mean, we don’t spend a whole lot of time together, but when we do, it’s fine.”
“Fine?” he shrugged. “Okay. That’s cool? I guess?”
“He’s a nice man, Nick,” Terri elaborated. “And talented. I got a chance to hear the music he’d written for last year’s show and it was brilliant.”
“Yeah. He’s well… You know. You heard him play,” he said with pride. “Luther’s got mad skills.”
“He does.”
“And you two have that whole celebrity thing in common,” he reminded her. “Might even know some of the same people.”
She smiled. “It’s possible, I guess.”
Terri was reserved, a bit more aloof than usual. Maybe he’d been gone too long, but Nick planned to make up for it.
“So, a friend of mine is having a thing at the lake.”
“A thing at the lake?”
“Yeah, it’s cool. It’s his girl’s birthday and he’s grilling, got a DJ, drinks. I told him we’d swing by.”
“Tonight?” she asked, looking concerned.
“Yeah. Unless you don’t want to go.”
“Um.” She scratched the edge of her brow. “I just promised Mavis and Lucy to have some plays I’ve been editing back to them by morning. I’d planned on reading tonight.”
“Baby,” he groaned and took hold of one of her hands. “I haven’t seen you in weeks, Terri. Miss Mavis and Miss Lucy will understand. I’m sure of it.”
She started to protest but Nick wasn’t going to give her a chance.
“Want me to call them? I don’t mind.” Nick pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
“No, you will not call them,” she protested.
“I really want to spend time with you, sweetheart,” he said, lowering his tone a few octaves, leaning in close and grazing his lips against her cheek. Nick leaned back and gazed into her eyes. “We can go to this thing, then come back here and…”
“I’ve got my period,” she unmercifully blurted out.
“I don’t care?” he shrugged. “I’m a doctor.”
“I care, Dr. Nick.” She pulled away from him.
“Nooooo,” he groaned, leaning his head back.
“I’m sorry, but it happens.”
Nick looked at her, then down at the boner in his lap, then back at her. “We can get creative.”
“Nick.”
“Too desperate?” he joked.
Nick expected a snappy comeback, pity, something. Terri smiled. Nick was no mind reader, but something seemed to be going on with her. She felt closed off for some reason.
“What’s going on, baby?” He took hold of her hand.
“Nothing. I’m just working through some things, Nick,” she said, softly.
All kinds of imaginary red flags waved in his mind. “What kinds of things?”
He wasn’t a kid. He’d been on the other side of words like that his share of times to know where this conversation was headed. What he couldn’t understand, was why.
“You are so special,” she said, pressing her hand to his cheek.
Shit! Nick knew where this was going. He could read people. There was a melancholy to her. Sadness in her eyes and a tone of finality in her words.
“What’s up, Terri? What’s going on?”
Chill, bruh, he told himself. All she’d said was that she was working things out. That didn’t mean she was ending this.
“I’m saying that I need space, Nick.”
Or did it?
“Okay,” he said, pensively. “Um… mind telling me what that means for us?”
Terri momentarily pursed her lips. “I’ve been thinking… and I really don’t think I’ve been fair to you.”
“Don’t,” he said, getting swept up by pride. “Don’t patronize me, Terri. I’m a grown man. Say what you’ve got to say.”
“I just did.” She stared back at him. “I need to step back and deal with some issues I’ve been running from for too long,” she sighed. “I’m not in the right head space for a relationship, Nick.”
“This is a recent revelation?” he asked, sarcasm slipping through wounded pride.
“It’s not recent,” she responded defensively. “We were just kicking it in the beginning.”
Nick’s brows shot up. “Kicking it? Is that what we were doing?”
“See, this is what I mean,” she sighed. “Yes. To me, that’s what we were doing. To you… obviously not.”
It wasn’t like he was planning on proposing marriage after the first date, but Nick was well past the age of ‘kicking it’ with a woman. Terri was eight years older than him. She, should’ve been past it, too.
“I’m not looking for a serious relationship, Nick. I thought we could just keep it simple, keep it light, but I sense that you want more, and maybe I’ve let this go on too long, but—”
“No,” he said, frustrated
. “I get it.”
“It’s not out of the blue, Nick. I’ve been halfway straight arming you from the beginning, making it clear that I’ve got issues.”
“Is that what you’ve been doing?”
“I walked away from my home, my career, the only serious relationship I’ve had my whole life, just a few months ago—my career. And then you came into my life and I wasn’t ready. I’m not ready.”
“So, you saying I came on like gangbusters?” He asked, defensively.
“I’m saying that before you fall in love with a woman, you need to know who she is. And how can you know if she can’t even answer that question for herself? I’m still figuring it out, Nick. Before I get involved with anyone, I need to know.”
Nick didn’t go the lake. He didn’t want to go back to New Orleans. Nick ended up in the last place he expected… at Luther’s.
The Wreckage
Nick texted, asking Luther if he could stop by. Luther stared at it, debating on if he should even respond.
“Come on through.” He reluctantly texted back, before taking a couple of shots of gin to settle his nerves.
Luther’s stomach ached at the thought of seeing his kid. The fact that Nick was in town meant that he’d come to see Terri. There was no telling what state of mind Nick would be in when he made it to Luther’s. The best he could do, was brace himself.
Despite his best efforts, he hadn’t been able to get Terri out of his mind. Luther felt like shit about what happened between the two of them the other night. He’d loved every second he’d spent with her, then put her out like she was just another lay, and nothing could’ve been farther from the truth. That was the problem.
Ten minutes passed when he heard a tapping against his door.
“Good to see you, son,” he said, studying Nick’s face for some kind of indication of where his head was.
“Yeah, you too,” he replied with a slight nod.
His son made himself at home on the sofa, but Luther couldn’t read him.
“You want a beer?” He asked on his way to the refrigerator.
“Sure. I’ll take one.”
That knot in his gut was starting to feel lethal. Luther resisted the urge to make small talk. That really wasn’t their way. Luther handed Nick a beer, then sat in the chair across from him.
“When’d you get in town?” he eventually asked.
“About an hour ago.”
Long enough to see her. Luther didn’t believe she’d tell Nick what happened between the two of them, but guilt ate at him, convincing him that maybe, Nick could somehow figure it out just by looking at her… at Luther.
“How long you staying?”
Nick shrugged. “Not long. I’m headed back now. Just thought I’d swing through, first.”
There was something in Nick’s eyes, in his tone that signaled a problem. Luther wouldn’t ask. Not directly.
“You going to see your lady friend?” He asked, reservedly.
Nick averted his gaze, took a sip of beer and shrugged. “She was busy,” he explained with hesitation.
Luther nodded and decided not to push the issue.
“So, I hear you’re working with Miss Mavis and Lucy again on this theater thing?” Nick asked, feigning enthusiasm.
“Yeah.” Luther half smiled. “Those two are full of surprises and I mean that in a good way.”
Nick chuckled. “Can’t wait to hear what you come up with.”
“Terri’s contributing some time too,” he dared to mention.
Had she spoken to Nick? Had Terri done the right thing and ended their relationship? Nick’s vibe sent a message that maybe she had, but Luther needed to know.
“Yeah. I know.” Nick looked down at the beer bottle in his hands and sighed. “Can I ask you a question?”
Luther’s heart drummed. “Of course.”
“Is mom the only woman you ever loved?” He shifted his gaze to Luther.
“Yes.”
Nick turned contemplative for a few moments, before continuing. “Y’all were young when you got married.”
“We were. I was almost nineteen. She was fresh out of high school, seventeen.”
His son sighed, “How did you know, that young, that you loved her?”
All this talk of love—was Nick actually in love with Terri?
Luther gave his answer some thought. “The truth? Sometimes I wonder if we really knew or if we just thought we loved each other. We were kids, Nick. How do you know something like that, for real, at that age?”
“But you said she was the only woman you’ve ever loved.”
“And she was. But I’m not a hundred percent convinced if what we felt was real love that young, or if we were two kids who thought we were.” Luther paused. “I do know that whatever it was we felt, grew until it became exactly what we believed it always was. If that makes sense.”
Again, silence drifted between them for several minutes.
“Why’d you stay gone?” Nick finally asked, looking at his father. “Especially when she kept getting sick. Why didn’t you just come home?”
Nick had spent a lot of years living in angry speculation of his idea of who and what Luther was, but he’d never asked, until now.
“I came home, Nick,” he confessed. “The first time she got sick, I came home and stayed.”
“I don’t remember.”
He shook his head. “No, you were young. Two, three years old,” he explained. “I worked at Roscoe’s fixing cars.”
Nick laughed, “You fixed cars?”
“I tried fixing cars,” Luther corrected himself.
“Mom was sick when I was that young?”
Luther turned introspective. “Off and on,” he explained. “It wasn’t so bad in the beginning. Ava was young and strong and she would beat it, but, we were fuckin’ broke. Broker than broke to the point that they were threatening to take the house and she wasn’t having that.”
“So, you went back to playing?”
Luther shrugged. “Had to. It was good, quick money, and we managed to stave off bill collectors long enough for me to catch up on some things. But it meant, hitting the road again.”
For years, things were fine for them. Better than fine. The money rolled in while Luther rolled on, in and out of cities, states and countries, sending back almost everything he made to Ava.
“Were you faithful?” Nick asked.
Luther looked at him and swallowed. He knew. He knew about Terri.
“Did you cheat on Mom?” he asked again.
Luther shook his head. “Never. I thought about it,” he admitted. “Came close, but—I couldn’t.”
He expected Nick to say her name and to ask what went down between Luther and Terri.
“I’m thirty-five and I’ve never, truly loved a woman,” he said. “But I think I could love her.”
Luther’s heart sank to his stomach. What had he done to his boy?
“So, what are you telling me, son?”
Nick took a long drink from his beer. “Nothing. I was just wondering if falling in love feels like getting hit in the chest with lightening or something else definitive.” He laughed.
“Not necessarily. But I guess it’s different for different people.”
“She’s not feeling me like that, though,” Nick eventually admitted, his disappointment coming through loud and clear.
“You sure about that?” A hint of relief seeped in. Maybe she had done the right thing and ended things with Nick.
“Yeah.” Nick’s gaze fell to the beer in his hands.
“You good?”
Nick shrugged. “I mean I have to be. Terri’s dealing with some things that ain’t got nothing to do with me, so…”
“The right one is out there, Nick,” Luther offered, feeling a hint of relief that she’d kept her word. “You ain’t chopped liver, man.”
Nick bobbed his head and looked at Luther. “You’re right. I ain’t.”
Half an hour after Nick left,
Luther stood at the window staring out at the tree lined street below, relieved, that maybe, just maybe, all of them could walk away from this thing unscathed. He and Terri had momentarily gotten caught up in—whatever it was. Luther certainly couldn’t name it. Pretty woman, but the world was full of those. Luther reasoned that his attraction to her was rooted in a moment of weakness, maybe even chemistry. Another time, another place, nothing about what he and Terri had done would’ve been wrong. But timing had never been kind to Luther.
His phone rang. “Mavis, what can I do for you?”
“Can you swing by tomorrow at around two?” she asked.
“For you, of course I can,” he smiled.
“Oh, thank you, Luther. We’re having an emergency meeting with the planning committee and we need your input.”
“Will everyone be there?” he asked, not mentioning Terri’s name.
“Yes, thank goodness. Oh, all but Ms. Dawson. She’s swinging by earlier to drop off a few scripts. She mentioned not feeling well and won’t be able to make it.”
Disappointment. Relief. Luther was filled with both.
“I’ll be there,” he assured her before hanging up.
It was over before it began and that was a good thing. Terri was a fantasy; the object of a wish Luther had denied himself too long. It wasn’t about her, but rather, what she represented. He was tired of being alone. Luther and Nick were on the same quest and for a moment, with the same woman. Which was fuckin’ crazy. Spending time with Terri had been a mistake, but in retrospect, it had only been a mistake because Nick was involved. There was nothing Luther wouldn’t do for that boy. But what he’d done to him, was another unforgiveable mistake.
Besides
“Hear me out before you hang up,” Roxy demanded.
“What is it with you calling me at dawn’s ass crack,” Terri grumbled, putting Roxy on speaker and squinting to try and see the time on the phone. “It’s six in the morning, Roxy,” she protested. “My time.”