Constant Surprises (Wrong Numbers Series)

by Bergman, Jamallah

  Turning around, she saw Becky, her assistant manager leaning against the doorway. “Yeah, I’ve still got more packing to do, then I have calls to make. You sure you can handle everything while I’m gone?”

  “Now you know I can. I’ve done it for you so many times before. Just go on back home. Enjoy the reunion and your family. Tell your mom I said hello.”

  With a nod, Amie gave Becky a hug and went out the back door to her Chevy Tahoe. She started the car and slowly turned north onto Peachtree Road to take the short ride to her Buckhead home.

  All she wanted to do was finish packing. She was anxious to get back to her childhood home in Herington, Kansas. She missed her parents. They weren’t her biological parents, but they were the ones she thought of as Mom and Dad. Amie Brown was adopted by the Browns when she was three months old. As a preschooler, she started to become aware she was different. She was the only person, much less child, of color in a predominately white town. Her lineage was black and Japanese. While she excelled in school, Amie was always an outsider even though she had grown up with most of her fellow classmates. No one wanted to date her, for if you went out with Amie Brown you would be ridiculed by the rest of the community.

  Her only friend during childhood was Sandy Williamson, now Sandy Fulton by marriage. The spunky red headed spitfire was always by Amie’s side through thick and thin. They had become fast friends when they ended up sharing a science lab table in middle school. They would go camping, spend the night at each other’s homes, go to the movies on Friday, and Saturday nights. They thought of themselves as long-lost sisters regardless of their physical differences.

  The chirping of her cell phone brought her back to reality. She waited until she got to the stop light before she answered it. “Hello?”

  “Mistress, how are you this evening?” said the male voice on the other end. It was Anton.

  “Hello, Anton, what are you doing calling me?”

  “Mistress, I know you asked me not to call until you got back into town, but I had to hear your voice.”

  Amie cussed under her breath while pulling over into a Burger King parking lot. “Anton, you do not want me to get angry do you?” Her voice was stern. “I want you on all fours, Anton, with the door unlocked. I plan on having someone come punish you for what you have done. Do you understand, Anton?”

  At first she didn’t hear a thing except for a soft sigh. Finally he said, “Yes, Mistress.”

  Quickly she hung up. Amie scrolled through her contacts until she found the one person who would put Anton in his place. “Yes, Mistress,” said the deep male voice.

  “Anton needs to be punished. Go to his place he’ll be waiting for you.” With a click, she again started up her car and headed home. Pressing the button on her radio, the soothing sounds of Sade came through her speakers. She was not going to let a phone call bother her, especially from a disobedient.

  * * * *

  The phone rang. Steven answered, “Hello, the Fulton residence, Steven speakin’.”

  “Why hello there, Steven, it’s Amie. Can I speak to your lovely wife?”

  Steven chuckled bringing the phone to his wife. “It’s your sis calling.”

  Sandy was surprised Amie would call her on her in-laws phone. She grabbed the phone. “Hey, sis, how are you doing? Everything okay?”

  “I’m fine. You? I can’t wait to see you and my goddaughters. I just wanted you to know I will be in town tomorrow morning. Dad is going to be picking me up around ten from the airport then I’ll be at home. So come by around one for lunch.”

  “That sounds wonderful; we can’t wait to see you too. It’s been too long since you’ve been here. How’s the restaurant going?” Sandy asked quietly excusing herself walking to another room.

  “Been doing real good, had an article in the local paper. A food critic came. He loved our food so much he came back the following night. He told me who he was, which was hilarious. You see when a critic comes to your restaurant there is supposed to be a bit of anonymity involved.”

  Sandy laughed out loud. Finally she said, “You remember Josh Clay? He works at the local paper here. He did an article about you and your restaurant. Your mom was so proud of you. She had everybody reading it over and over. Your dad had it posted along with all of your other articles on a bulletin board at the feed store.”

  “Yeah, I try to send Dad every article about the restaurant whenever I find one. He sent me a picture of him with the bulletin board. I swear I almost died when I saw it.”

  “Oh yeah, Roy is back home.”

  “When did he get in?”

  “This afternoon. I must say he is looking real good too.” Sandy smirked.

  “I bet he does still look good.” Amie sighed. “Remember that time when we all went to the river for a swim when we were in ninth grade?”

  “Yeah, I remember that day. It was the day when you cut your foot on that rock.”

  “Remember when he came to my rescue? He took off his shirt and used it to put pressure on my foot and stop the bleeding. We got in the back of Steven’s truck while he kept helping me with my foot. I didn’t tell you this, Sandy, but I got the chance to kiss him on the cheek that day. I thanked him for being so nice to me.”

  “Oh my God, woman, why in the hell, no wait a minute, how the hell could you have kept such a juicy secret like that from me! We are supposed to be sisters! Do you remember what he did when you kissed him?”

  “He didn’t do anything at all. Except I swear he turned a bit red then said no problem at all. I felt like such an idiot for doing it, but I had built up all of this courage to get him alone. All I wanted to do was just talk with him and tell him how much I cared for him. But I choked and ended up giving him a peck on the cheek.” Amie fell quiet for a long moment.

  “Amie, are you okay?” asked Sandy.

  “Yeah, I was just thinking is all. I probably just need some sleep. Listen, I’ll see you and the girls at one. Give everybody my love.”

  “Will do, sis, praying you’ll have a safe trip home,” said Sandy and the women hung up.

  * * * *

  Amie kicked off her shoes and sat down on the couch. She took out the headband she normally wore to keep her thick hair off her face. She ran her fingers through her hair. Her heart bounced in her chest thinking about Roy. Even after all these years, just hearing his name did something to her.

  The Fulton boys were always the talk of the town with most of the girls. Both were tall, blond, blue-eyed handsome men. Any woman would have been happy to have one of them on her arm. Amie was no different. The girls spent hours throughout high school chatting about Amie’s crush. The fact Amie was of mixed raced led her to believe she never stood a chance with Roy.

  The memories were cemented deep into a part of her mind she tried not to visit too often. Roy Fulton had been her school crush since the day they were playing on the playground in the swings.

  “I betcha can’t go higher than me!” shouted an eight-year-old Amie running over to the swing set.

  Roy was right behind her, wearing a pair of Wrangler jeans, a blue shirt, and sneakers, even back when he was a kid he was adorable. “Nuh uh, I’m gonna go higher than you, Amie!” Soon they were both grabbing a swing next to each other. “Ready!”

  “Set!” Amie said.

  “Go!” Roy said.

  They started swinging back and forth, something they did every day during recess. It was the only thing she could do to get close to him without having the teachers bugging her to stay away. Even as a little girl, adults would make assumptions about her and tried to keep her away from the other kids. But after her parents complained about the blatant racism to the principal, her teachers weren’t as open about it.

  Pumping her little legs, she looked over watching Roy staring back at her. They kept their eyes on one another getting higher and higher. But something happened. Her seat started to buckle underneath her sending her sailing into the wind and landing hard in the sand. When she
tried to stand up, the swing came back hitting her shoulder blade with a sickening smack, making her fall back down again with a scream.

  “Amie!” he shouted. He jumped off the swing running over to where she lay on the ground. He helped her up. She was crying and spitting out mouthfuls of sand.

  “My shoulder, ow…my shoulder hurts so bad, I want my mommy!” Amie cried.

  “Ms. Mackenzie!”

  Thankfully Amie had only suffered a big bruise on her upper back. Although it was bad enough for her to stay home from school for a couple of days. On the second day, she was at home in bed eating soup, a sandwich, and drinking some of her favorite apple juice.

  “Amie, you got a visitor, sweetheart,” her father Richard said with a smile peering in from the hallway.

  Soon she saw a big bouquet of flowers walking towards her with Roy holding them tightly together in his little hands. He took off his cowboy hat when he stood next to her bed looking every bit of nervousness. But when she smiled at him, the look of worry slowly melted away replaced with that sweet smile of his. “Are those for me?” she asked with a sparkle in her eyes.

  “I thought I would bring them to you because it was my fault you got hurt.” He handed her the beautiful bouquet of assorted flowers. She held them close to her, taking in the sweet smell.

  “It wasn’t your fault, Roy, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have tried to get up so high on that swing.”

  He sat down on the side of the bed next to her. “No, it was my fault cause if I hadn’t kept telling you I would get higher than you on the swings, we wouldn’t have went and did it. I got so scared for you, Amie. Then you started crying, I got even more scared for you. When are you going to be back in school?”

  “Probably at the end of the week,” said her father who was still standing at the doorway watching the two of them talking. “It was sweet of you to bring her flowers.”

  He then asked, “Say, Roy, would you like something to eat?”

  “No, sir, I’ve got to head on home my mom is out in the car. If it’s all right with you, Mr. Brown, can I come by on Saturday and sit with Amie?”

  “Sure you can, son. I’ll come pick you up at noon,” Richard said.

  Abby came into the room carrying a bottle of children’s liquid aspirin to help ease Amie’s aches. A smile came across her face when she saw the flowers. “Wow, you got flowers, wasn’t that sweet of Roy to bring you those today. Let me give you your medicine then I’ll go put these in a vase.” She poured a spoonful of the red liquid onto the teaspoon. Amie opened her mouth only to make a face while she swallowed. Taking a sip of juice, hoping the taste would go away didn’t help her much. She got up under her blanket to get comfortable.

  Her mom asked, “Where do you want me to put them, sweetheart?”

  “Over here on my nightstand so I can see them,” Amie said. She had never been happier in her life as she was at that moment. Soon the medicine was doing its job, and she fell asleep.

  Her last thought before sleep overtook her was—she was in love with Roy Fulton.

  Chapter Two

  Roy was sitting on the porch after dinner with his father Bob Fulton. Both men sat in their rockers surveying the land in front of them. One of the men Roy admired most was his father―hardworking and tough to most people, especially those he worked with.

  “Glad to have you home, son, I’m sure you want to get started on your farm. We’ll go over to the feed store and get what you need after we check on the house. Your mother and Sandy tried to make it a bit like home.” He chuckled taking a sip of coffee.

  “I just hope that they didn’t make it too girlie.” They laughed, then got up and went back inside.

  “Who was that on the phone?” Agnes asked Sandy.

  “It was Amie, she’s coming home. The girls and I are going to have lunch with her tomorrow,” Sandy said.

  “Amie, Amie Brown?” asked Roy.

  “Yeah, Amie, you remember her?”

  “Yeah, it’s just I haven’t heard that name in forever. What has she been up to lately?” Roy hadn’t forgotten about Amie Brown; she was the last woman on Earth he would ever forget.

  The group looked at him as if he was crazy. His mother went to the bookcase to pull out an album. She sat down, opening it up flipping through the pages. She pulled out a piece of paper. “Abby gave me this article. I could have sworn we told you about her having her own restaurant in Atlanta. Didn’t we tell you about that, Roy? She’s been doing really well. Take a look.”

  Roy took the article from his mother’s hand. “The last I had heard about Amie was that she was in Atlanta, but nothing about her opening up her own restaurant, this Cobalt Blue Café?”

  “That’s the name of the restaurant. I’ve heard they have really good food. Hold on, she even has a website online. Go check it out on the computer,” Agnes said.

  “Come on, Roy, I’ll show ya,” Sandy said. They walked down the hall to Bob’s office. She sat down. Roy bent over her as she started typing. When Sandy clicked the video link, the image of Amie wearing a bright blue T-shirt with the words Cobalt Blue Café across the front filled the screen instantly. She hit play, and Amie’s voice struck his heart. “Welcome to our restaurant, we hope you enjoy looking over our menu. We also have meeting and party rooms at the Cobalt Blue Café, where every blue plate is special.” It ended with the staff shouting and throwing confetti as blue and gold balloons fell from the ceiling.

  Roy smiled when he saw how beautiful she still looked. “Wow, she sure hasn’t changed since the last time I saw her. I’m happy she’s been doing so well. I can’t wait to see her. Remember when the Browns had that going away party for her before she went off to cooking school? I still feel bad about what went down.”

  * * * *

  Ten years earlier…

  “I never thought that our daughter would be going away on a scholarship to cooking school in France at the famous Le Cordon Bleu. We will miss her a lot but I know that once she is done, she will be an amazing success in everything she does.” Richard stopped for a moment and wiped his eyes. “I haven’t been more proud of her than I am now. We love you very much, Amie, and we hope great success for you. Here’s to our Amie!” Richard said holding his daughter with one hand and a glass of champagne in another.

  “To Amie!” shouted the group of people as they cheered and clapped. Richard hugged Amie tightly as she quietly wept happy tears in his arms. She was incredibly lucky to be accepted into the Le Cordon Bleu. It was a dream come true. Not only did she want to start her cooking career at the best possible school, she wanted to find a path out of this town.

  “I am so happy for you, girl,” Sandy said, giving her a hug.

  The two teens mingle in the crowd. People were congratulating and hugging Amie.

  “By the way, I have a surprise for you,” Sandy said with a smile Amie knew all too well when Sandy was up to no good.

  “Oh Lord, what is it, Sandy?”

  They walked out to the parked cars where some of the kids from school were hanging out. They went over to Steven and Roy who were sitting on the back of Steven’s truck. “Congrats, Amie. Way to go, girl!” said Steven giving her a congratulatory hug.

  “Thank you, Steven, I’m so excited about going to France. Of all places in the world…France.” She saw Roy nursing a beer looking solemn.

  “So, what is this surprise you have for me, Sandy?”

  Sandy walked over to Steven who was smiling real big. “I’m getting married!” She showed off her engagement ring.

  Steven and Sandy had been dating ever since she was a freshman and he a junior. Amie was a tiny bit envious of their love. It was something she had always wanted, especially with Roy.

  “You sneaky girl, oh my God, this is great news.” She gave them both a hug and started to cry. Sandy quickly joined in the tear fest. “So when are you guys getting hitched?”

  “Well, we talked with our parents about it. Dad doesn’t want me to get married unti
l after I’ve completed college, which means another four years. So we decided to just make it a very long engagement. I want you to be my maid of honor, Amie, please say you will be my maid of honor.”

  “Now that’s probably the silliest question you could ask me, of course I’ll be your maid of honor.”

  A Corvette pulled up, the radio was playing some too loud honky tonk music. Susan Harris slide out from the driver’s side wearing a multicolored peasant top and a pair of shorts too short for even her. All Amie knew was if Susan bent down, all of what she possessed would be shown to the world. Her long, dark brown hair draped her bare shoulders nicely. Even though Susan was a pretty girl, her attitude towards Amie made her ugly. She walked over to Roy grabbing his beer taking a swig of it.

  “What are you doing here, Susan?” asked Steven

  “Just came to see about my boyfriend, hey baby.” She smiled giving him a kiss on the cheek. The entire time glaring at Amie, openly enjoying how she hated the fact they were together.

  Amie wouldn’t give Susan the satisfaction of knowing it was eating her up inside. “Why don’t we all go back to the party?”

  As the evening progressed, people were dancing, talking, and eating some of the food Amie had been preparing for her party. Sandy had helped with preparing all of the appetizers and food. It took them what seemed like forever because Amie had to have everything perfect. She wanted to showcase her culinary skills for everybody to see.

  Mrs. Banks, their science teacher, had loved something Amie had made so much she wanted the recipe. Amie gladly said she would give it to her.

  Amie went inside to go to the bathroom, and then get the recipe when she heard some noises coming from her bedroom. At first she played it off as it was just the pesky wooden floor creaking, but then decided to check it out. The sight she saw when she opened the door would be cemented in her thoughts forever.

  Susan was on top of someone, riding him like he was a bucking bronco; her moans were loud. Amie stood frozen. She saw a head come up and start sucking Susan’s breasts and nipples. Susan squealed with delight.