Quietly Drew said, “I know. I’m sorry, but—”
“Drew!” she continued holding up her hand. “Please don’t say it. Please don’t use the thinking-with-the-wrong-head defense. If I hear another man say that shit, I’ll throw up.”
Drew sat wistfully and stared at his associate. “Peggy? What’s going on with you and Walt?”
“What do you mean? You fucked up! I’ve worked on this damn thing for what? Six months? And we might just lose it over some nonsense!”
Over the loudspeaker in the phone Grace said, “Drew you have a call on one-oh-three.”
“Take a message,” he said without looking away from Peggy. “Tell me. What’s happening? This isn’t just about me and Zelma, is it?”
As she looked at Drew, he watched her eyes go from clear, to red, to wet. Folding her arms over her waist, she said, “It’s Walt.”
“What about him?”
“Can you believe that fat fuck cheating on me?”
“What? Walt?”
Peggy shook her head as she balled her fists. “I’ve known about it for some time, and I just tried to overlook it. Some ole hooker from his job. For three or four months he was always talking about Gwen. Gwen said this and Gwen said that. Well, Gwen is older than he is, and I thought, naw, he would never do that. He likes younger women and all. Well, about a month ago he asked if I had a problem with her calling him at home. What was I supposed to say, right? Then she would start calling later and later. Whenever I answered she would try to start some silly conversation, but I could see through her fake ass. I would hear him talking in the den to her and I could tell just by the way his fat ass would laugh that this was deeper than just friendship. I would be lying in bed I don’t know how long while they talked about things they did in the fifties! Hell, I don’t even remember the fifties. As soon as he would hang up and come to bed, this man, who would laugh and talk and joke with her for hours if he could, would just get in bed and say, ‘Move over,’ turn his fat ass back to me, and fall asleep.” Peggy stared out the window with an expression on her face that said she had revealed more than she wanted to.
Drew stood up and walked around to her side of the desk. “I’m sorry, Peggy,” he said quietly. “I really am.”
“Don’t be sorry,” she said in a curt manner, “because you had nothing to do with that part.” Reaching for a tissue on his desk, she said, “After that stuff with my ex-husband, I felt safe with Walt. That’s why I only told you about the positive things, because I always suspected my ex-husband of cheating to the point that he said I finally drove him to actually do it. And that’s also why I never said anything to Walt about his weight. The more he gained, the safer I felt. But then a month ago he starts taking step aerobics class and diet supplements. And never even told me about it. I found the canceled checks for his membership dues, and he said he was losing the weight for me. When I asked him directly why he was cheating, know what he said? Ass told. me that she always made him feel handsome. Said she always complimented him. Hell, what he expect from me? I’m his wife. Not some office slut trying to get his wallet. So I was going to use the money from Con-National to put into my savings in the event I had to leave his ass. After losing Murphy, Renfro and Collins, I’m tapped out.” With a look of desperation in her eyes she continued, “Drew, I really needed this case.”
Drew’s worst fear had been realized. He’d known his actions would affect him for more than one night, he just hadn’t known it would be this soon. Standing, he closed the Con-National file, which was spread out on his desk. “Where are the rest of the files?”
“On Con-National? Grace has them. Why?”
“Don’t worry about that. Go wash your face and put on some lipstick; we’re going for a ride. Grace?” he said into the intercom in a controlling tone. “Pull the folders on Con-Nat and reschedule my one forty-five.”
“Drew,” Peggy cut in, “don’t screw this up. Don’t go over there acting like some jilted lover or something. That’s going to only make things worse.”
Reaching for his coat on the hook behind the door and shooting his cuffs before putting it on, Drew said, “Trust me, we will not come back empty-handed. You worked too hard for this one.” As he walked out of his office, Drew mentally put together a strategy for their impromptu meeting. I’ll tell her she’s above pettiness like this. There is no way we’re losing both of these cases.
“Drew,” Grace said with a mouth full of granola. “You’ve also got a message in your box from that Ms. McGrady woman.”
“What!” he said as he dropped his briefcase, laid the file on her desk, and lunged for his message box. “When did she call?” Drew asked as Peggy ran into the reception area.
“Five minutes ago. You were talking to Peggy. What’s going on?”
Drew trotted back to his office as Peggy said, “Nothing, darling. It’s a long story.”
“Peggy? Are you okay?”
Peggy did not respond to Grace as she walked into Drew’s office and closed the door. Drew was already on the phone when she entered.
“Peggy,” he said, and cupped the receiver. “I need you to step out a second.”
“Ahh, I know you’re not serious, are you?” she said, and sat down. “I didn’t start this—”
“Peggy, get out right now! I’ll let you know what happened after I talk to her. Hello, Zelma?” he said, and changed the tone of his voice as Peggy grudgingly closed the door behind her. “How are you?”
Drew could hear Zelma telling someone to have a nice day, and then there was a pause. “How am I? How am I? Drew, don’t go there, okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“I have not heard from you in weeks, Drew.”
“Zelma, if memory serves me correctly, I tried to talk to you in the car on the way to your place and you didn’t say a word. I called you twice the same night and you never returned the call. I was just giving you your space.”
“Sure, Drew,” she replied coldly. “But I didn’t call you for that.” As he listened to her speak, Drew took off his coat, allowing it to fall to the floor, and sat down to brace himself. “We had the meeting yesterday regarding the benefits packages. John Dukes phoned from London and told me he wanted to finally lay this issue to rest. That it was my call and I could use any firm I wanted in regards to this. I’ll have you know, Drew, this is never a decision made by an individual. It’s always made by committee, and I know they are going to scrutinize whomever I chose. So I told him I wanted to think about it overnight and get back with him today. Last night I did a lot of soul-searching, and this has absolutely nothing to do with personal stuff, Drew. But if I pick a minority firm . . . a black firm, it is going to send a message. A very clear message. See, I graduated from a black college, so I know what they are expecting from me. So,” she said, and cleared her throat. “This morning I came in and told him it was really a no-brainer and that we could not find a better firm to handle our employee benefits packages than Staley and Associates.”
Drew closed his eyes as he sat breathlessly.
“See, Drew, I know what you expected. Hell, I know what Dukes expected. But neither of you know me as well as you think. Trust me, no matter how fine and cute you were, I would not have given your firm the business if you guys were not the best. This ain’t a black thing. Let me make that clear. It’s a business thing. Now, was I pissed at first? Hell yeah, I was pissed. And for a split second I wanted to get you back where it hurt. Actually the reason I wanted to think about it overnight was because my knee-jerk reaction was to screw you and your firm. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if we had gone further, it would have just caused more problems.”
With her voice lowering, Zelma said, “Although he’s married, I’m really not over him. So everything happens for a reason, and our date happened for a reason. I had a good time,” Zelma said with a smile in her voice. “I had a real good time, and although things did not end as expected, it let me know that what I am
looking for is deeper than just the physical. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to be with you. Hell, I could have used some of you. But if we had gotten together, like I said, it would have just caused more problems.”
Opening his eyes, Drew whispered, “Well, Zee. I had a good time as well. And you’re right, everything does happen for a reason. Like I said, you made a part of me come alive. But I just could not go to the next level until I knew without a shadow of a doubt—”
“Drew! You don’t have to explain. We both had a nice time and that’s the important part. And now we both agree that it was for the best. So tell me, when would you like to start enrollment? And will the future disbursements from the investment portfolio come from—”
Taking a deep breath, Drew said, “Ms. McGrady? You’re truly amazing.”
Chapter 20
Monday afternoon
The smell of the April showers was still fresh in the air and the sun beamed hot as kids played up and down the streets of Royalton Oaks. Trees spread their branches and were decorated with moss, green ivy, and an occasional bird as Betty sat on her veranda reviewing the résumé she and Jacqui had put together earlier that day. She had also gone through the names of the attorneys in her directory and decided upon three that she would like to work with, although Jacqui protested, saying she should start her own firm. But thoughts of starting a firm on the same day she had resigned from the only home she knew were a million miles away. With everything in her world moving so fast, she needed the security that an established firm could offer.
As she stirred a cup of half-eaten yogurt, she heard her neighbors across the street drive up. She noticed the father get out of the station wagon first and skip around to his wife’s door. She watched as the kids spilled out the back doors clutching bottles and toys. And then Betty observed the mother carefully get out of the car and gently hold the newborn close after pulling the pink wrap over its head. As always, when she stood, she looked over at Betty and gave a courteous wave. Their yard, unlike most in the neighborhood, was adorned with hula hoops, a mini trampoline, and jump ropes instead of dogwood trees and azaleas. But the family seemed content with being atypical. They played hide-and-seek and the fox and the hound with their kids on the front lawn, gave an occasional pool party for the other neighborhood children, and each Sunday, like clockwork, they dressed in shades of brown and blue and headed off to mass together. As the last of the children made their way into the blue house, Betty picked up her cordless to call Evander.
The first time they spoke she was entranced by his voice as she talked to him while gazing at the flowers he sent She thought of the lonely nights he would visit and the afternoon he raced to the firm to hold her hand. Now the romance was replaced with complacency after only a couple of months.
“Hey.”
“Hey, what’s wrong? You sound depressed.”
“Nothing. Well . . .” And then Betty decided that she did not wish to revisit the pain and said, “I don’t want to go into it. How was your day?”
“Busy, as always.” As Evander spoke she could tell he was distracted with work. “But at least I get to sleep in tomorrow. Ferguson is working for me since he took a couple of extra vacation days.”
“That’s nice,” Betty said dryly.
“Beep, are you sure you don’t want to talk about whatever it is on your mind?”
“Positive.”
“Well, when you’re ready, you know I’m here. Okay?”
“What’re you doing tonight?”
After a pause Evander said, “I need to make a delivery for Kevin in Jacksonville. Why? You wanna do something?”
“No. I was just curious.”
“Are you sure? I’m just doing him a favor because he wanted to go out tonight.”
With a sudden brainstorm, Betty’s voice gained strength as she said, “No, honey, seriously, that’s fine.”
“Well, I should be back in town no later than eleven. Will you be up?”
“No, I think I’m going to crash tonight. I got a lot to do tomorrow.”
“Oh well. I’ll call you tomorrow morning . . . okay?”
“Sounds good. Good night.” As Betty clicked off the phone with her thumb and hit speed dial with her pinky to call Jacqui, she knew exactly what her next move would be regarding Evander. “So what are you up to tonight? Going out?”
“Hey, girl,” Jacqui said to Betty. “Yeah, Stefan called last night and wanted to know if I would like to go to a movie or something. What’s up with you and Vander?”
“Just spoke to him. He’s making a delivery for a friend in Jax.”
“Umm. The old delivery lie, huh?”
“Here we go again,” Betty sighed.
“Damn straight. Because he’s doing something he ain’t got no business doing, and I know it and you know it and you won’t admit it.”
“Okay, Jac. You’re right, and yes, I know something may be wrong. I know he may be doing something or someone, but I need more proof before I can convict him.”
“You still got that key to his house on your key ring? While he’s out making deliveries, why don’t you just make a visit? I bet you’ll find something to convict him.”
“Jac, not tonight, okay?” Betty said, feeling drained, weary, and lifeless. “Tonight, after the day I had, I need some attention. Tonight I don’t feel like being Sherlock Holmes or Robert Stack. I just want . . . Never mind.”
“Never mind what? And wait a minute. What do you mean by more evidence?”
“It’s not important.”
“Betty? You know I love you. And I know it’s been a long day. But you are not telling me everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“What have you found? Has he mentioned somebody’s name? Have you found a receipt? What the hell is more evidence?”
“Well, I didn’t think too much of it when he first did it, but about one o’clock one night when we were in Orlando, I suddenly woke up. He was sitting on the side of the bed, just sorta mumbling to himself. So I asked him what the problem was and he said nothing and apologized for waking me up. Well, a week or so later when we were at my place, he does the same thing. This time I was really curious and I kept pressing him as to what was wrong. Still, he said nothing, just that he had a lot on his mind, right? So then last week, same thing. So I got out the bed, turned on the light, and told him I needed him to come clean with me. Well, after badgering him for about thirty minutes, he finally told me—”
“He needed money, right?”
Betty sighed and said, “Yeah. Yeah, he needed some money, but first of all, it wasn’t that much, and secondly, no, I did not offer to give it to him. But when he went there I sorta started questioning everything. I started thinking the only reason he wanted me was because of money. That all the flowers and special dinners were because he was setting me up for the kill. But he did not come out and ask me for it, he just said that he needed it and was trying to think of a way to get it so he could invest in the bakery. That has always been his dream. And I will admit, if he had said it a few months ago, I would have offered it.”
“And you would have been a damn fool.”
“Not give, Jacqui, loaned it to him.”
“Let me tell you something girl. Three things you never do. Never ask a single woman if she has batteries, ’cause you know she ain’t giving up the stash. Never ask a single man if he has any petroleum jelly . . . for the exact same reason. And never, and I mean absolutely never, ask anyone if they need to borrow money, because when it’s time to pay you back, they give you the same old line. I didn’t ask you for it . . . and you know the rest. What I’m trying to say is that it’s deeper than just a few dollars. Be careful. I know you have feelings for the brother. But just keep your eyes open.”
“Do you know how tired I am of keeping my eyes open? Of looking both ways? Of waiting,” and then she paused before she whispered, “Until . . .”
“Betty, what you need to do—”
“L
et me finish. I was sitting here on the porch and it occurred to me for the first time why I took that malpractice case so personally. Trust. It all boils down to pure and simple, unmitigated trust. What happened to those ladies was unforgivable. No dollar amount could replace what they’ve already lost. But I’m trusting this man with so much more. Hell, I could replace money. A friend told me that some wounds are never meant to heal and if Evander were to let me down . . . Lets just say I can’t live my life trying not to be like my momma. Trying not to make the same mistakes with men. She made some bad decisions but she also lived life to the fullest And to do that, sometimes you have to follow your heart. Sometimes you have to let go . . . and trust.”
“You done?”
“See I tell you a lot. Maybe too much sometimes. But it’s the small things. Yeah, he hinted that he wanted to borrow some money, but this is the same man who also gave me the keys to his heart.”
After a moment of silence Jacqui repeated, “You done?”
“I still remember when it was raining one night and this man started crying in my arms after we made love. He said he started crying because after this girl named Yolanda, he never knew he could fall . . . well, I remember things like that. I remember him rushing to the office after Murphy died just to be with me. When I was having serious doubts, he held my hands and whispered, ‘Betty, I love you, for you . . . and not for what you do.’ And he repeated it over and over and over again. You’re right. This is not about a few dollars Jacqui. I’ve lived my entire life playing it safe. Not taking chances. Not allowing men to get too close. Why?” Betty relaxed in her plastic chaise longue as she closed her eyes to finish her thought. “It’s an oxymoron, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve been alone, because I was so afraid of being left alone. And it’s absurd and I’m tired of living that way.”
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