The dial tone sounded in her ear like the death knell of her dreams. She hung up, but couldn’t force her feet to move from that spot. He had effectively slammed the door on a relationship with her. She threw up her hands.
What did everybody want from her? She was supposed to be a role model for her baby sister, and Luther expected her to…to…
Oh, the devil with it. I’m not going to cry about it. And if he thinks I’m going to call him back, he’ll learn something. I love him, but I won’t grovel now or ever.
For a few minutes, she let her feelings have sway, and the tears cascaded down her cheeks. Then, disgusted with herself, she went into the bathroom, splashed cold water on her face, uttered a few choice expletives and said aloud, “That wasn’t a pretty sight, but I feel a lot better.”
The next morning, she felt sharp and alert when she called the lawyer, told him her problem and asked if he would handle the transfer of the company to her as sole owner.
“It shouldn’t be difficult,” he assured her, “provided Marva’s doctor will certify the unlikelihood of her returning to work. Then I’ll contact her husband.”
She gave the lawyer the information that he needed and then telephoned Marva’s husband, reasoning that she and Marva were not only business associates, but very close friends. “I wanted to warn you to expect a call from my lawyer,” she told him. “If I continue doing both her work and mine, the business will suffer. Someone needs to work full-time at the job I always did. I was always the technician, so to speak.”
“I appreciate what you’re saying, Ruby. How can we place a value on Marva’s contribution?”
“You can work that out with the lawyer. It’s painful to me to lose Marva. We’ve been together from the start, and we’ve always had the same vision for the company.”
“I know. I also know she won’t get well enough to go back to that office, and I appreciate your trying to do the right thing.”
After hanging up, she blew out a long breath, symbolic of the burden she’d just shed. “She was going to make some changes in the firm, and as always she lifted the receiver to call Luther and ask him what he thought of the idea, then she remembered their estrangement and hung up. “I could always rely on his judgment, but now…Okay. I respect my own good sense, and I’ll use it.”
The picture of Luther cuddling Joachim while the child investigated Luther’s ears and nose flashed through her mind, and she shook her head in wonder. Memories of the softness and sweetness in the man tugged at her heart. He had so many ways that excited her and that she loved and hadn’t noticed until after that night when he’d loved her until she hardly knew herself.
I am not going to let that man ruin my day. I’ve got work to do, and I’m going to do it. Get thee behind me, Luther Biggens.
But her day wouldn’t go smoothly. She punched the intercom. “I’m leaving to keep my appointments, and I should be back after lunch,” she told her secretary. Battling the slow and hazardous traffic made her late for her visit with the proprietors of Morning Glory Florals, and she arrived only to find a sign on the shop that read, Closed Due to Bad Weather. Such lackadaisical management no doubt accounted for the store’s loss of revenues.
Back in her car, she phoned Louvenia’s Books ’N Things. “We have an appointment at eleven,” she said, “and I’m calling to find out if you’re open.”
“Yes, ma’am, Ms. Lockhart. We’re here.”
At the store, she sat in the back room surrounded by everything from books to soaps, to statues, to cheap drawings, to hip-hop CDs.
“You need to focus on one or two products,” she told the woman. “This is a bookstore, but you have fewer books than candles and soaps. You can sell other things, but make the books front and center and put some order in this place. Mrs. Rimes, we’ve been over this a dozen times already, and you haven’t made one of the changes I suggested. I don’t see the point in continuing this. It’s a waste of your money and my time.”
“Maybe if you could send somebody here to get me started, I could keep it up. I don’t have the kind of help that can do that, and I’m too busy doing other things. Please don’t give up on me. This is all I know to do, and I just can’t watch it go down.”
“All right, I’ll see what I can do, but you can begin by putting these books on the shelves.” She pointed to the unopened boxes and the books scattered on the tables and shelves in the back room. “I’ll call you in about ten days.”
As she drove to the restaurant for lunch, she imagined that Louvenia Rimes’s home resembled a pigsty, for she had never seen such disorder in a store.
“How’d it go?” her secretary asked when Ruby returned to her office.
She related her experiences that morning and added, “Both of those stores should be out of business by now. Only the Lord knows what’s keeping them going.”
“LeRoy’s bored. Why don’t you tell him what to do and let her pay him to do it?”
“The idea has merit. I’ll look into it right away. Thanks.” As she considered Julia’s suggestion, which duplicated Louvenia Rimes’s idea, possibilities for the growth of Everyday Opportunities, Inc., formed in her mind. The company had needed an edge, something extra, that one element that could spell success every time. She pushed the intercom. “Julia, would you please ask LeRoy to come to my office.”
“I understand that you’re bored, and that you’d like a more demanding assignment,” she said to LeRoy a few minutes later. Young and enthusiastic LeRoy Murchison had been with the firm about a year.
He sat forward, almost on the edge of the chair and looked her in the eye. “Yes, ma’am. I didn’t get a university degree in order to fish out small business from a telephone book. It’s getting to me.”
“Let that be the last time you suffer in silence. This job will not be boring.” She told him about Louvenia’s shop and her efforts to change it into a more profitable business. She handed him her analysis and list of recommendations. “Do you think you could implement these changes in two weeks?”
He nodded slowly and continued to read. “Suppose I see something here that should be altered. “
“Then you and I will have a conference. Convince me, and you can alter it. If you do a good job of it, that will be your new assignment. But, Leroy, it will mean learning how different kinds of businesses function. For the first year, you’ll practically be back in school.”
“Do I get a promotion?”
“And a reclassification…as soon as you finish this job. If you have problems, talk to me. I need to understand your experiences as you try to implement the changes I’m proposing.”
“Sure thing. I’m going to enjoy this. Already, I feel like a different man. When do I start?”
“Tomorrow. Just remember to keep a record of your expenses.”
After phoning Louvenia Rimes and getting her enthusiastic agreement, she set about restructuring her company. Who else among her workers was underemployed?
She went to the secretary’s office and sat down, causing Julia to raise her eyebrows. “This afternoon, I want to see every employee in this company for fifteen minutes. I’ve already spoken with LeRoy. I’ll speak with you last.”
By the end of the working day, she knew where her company was going and how it would get there. She reached for the phone to call Luther and rejoice with him, remembered that they were on the outs, and, thinking that he probably wouldn’t enjoy speaking with her, she replaced the receiver in its cradle.
If she needed something to show her how much a part of her life Luther had been and how much she’d relied on his friendship, this was it. She knew she had to find a way to get them back together, but he’d made it seem so…final. Just a polite ‘Good night,’ nothing more.
When she encountered LeRoy in the corridor the next morning, she almost failed to recognize him. After she passed him without speaking, she whirled around. “LeRoy?”
He walked back to her. “Good morning. I’m about to leave. I was on my
way to your office.”
The jeans, T-shirt, sweater and running shoes had been replaced with a smart brown business suit, beige shirt and green and beige striped tie. She looked down at his highly polished brown shoes, and said, “I’ll have some business cards printed for you today.”
His grin told her that he understood all that she didn’t say. “You won’t regret trusting me with this, Ms. Lockhart. I don’t ever let myself down.”
That was as much of a promise as she would need from anybody, and she told him as much. “Remember, I’ll be here to help if you need me.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll call you tomorrow, and let you know how it’s going.”
She got busy, satisfied that giving LeRoy that assignment was the best move she’d made since she and Marva went into business. Everyday Opportunities, Inc., had become a complete service, she thought, with no small amount of pride.
Now, if my personal life were only going as well!
Luther squatted down beside the wall in his Dearborn showroom, and wiped away the paint from the carpet. His customers had reacted favorably to the changes in his Morningside showroom, and he meant to duplicate them in his other two stores. He unhooked his cell phone and held his breath for a moment before answering. It wouldn’t be Ruby, because she could be as stubborn as he. He’d already decided that any future exchanges with Ruby would be at her instigation. However, he knew his weakness for her and that, if she needed him, he’d be there for her.
“Biggens. How may I help you?”
“Do you have a minute, Luther?” At the sound of his father’s voice, he took a seat and relaxed.
“How are you, Dad? And how’s Mom?”
“We’re both fine. I want us to get together with Charles before this foolishness of his goes any further. I don’t want my family’s affairs publicized in court. It’s ridiculous what he’s doing. Can you come over around six tonight?”
“Yes, sir. I have a few things to say to Charles, and this will be as good a time as any.”
“I hope you’ll try to be gentle about it. See you this evening.”
He hung up and called Maggie. “I have to go out to my parents’ home this evening, and you may imagine that my mother won’t let me leave without eating dinner. If you don’t want to brave the cold, read something till I get there, and I’ll drive you home.”
“I do appreciate that, Mr. B. By the time I got here this morning, I felt as if I’d turned to ice. Give my regards to your folks.”
He finished painting and looked around the showroom, hoping for a simple idea that would brighten up the place. It was just the thing that Ruby—No, he was not going to use that as an excuse to call her. Until she showed him that she took pride in their real relationship, showed him that he was more to her than a human heater, he was not going to risk any more of their sizzling scenes.
A grin danced around his mouth. With Ruby, what you saw was definitely not what you got. That sedate lady became a ball of fire whenever he got his hands on her. “Doesn’t matter,” he said aloud. “I need more than a tease or an hour of secret passion once in a while.” A glance at his watch told him that, if he wanted to get to his parents home by six o’clock, he’d better hurry. He left the closing of the business to his assistant and headed for his parents’ home.
“You’re as beautiful as ever, Mom,” he said when she met him at the door and hugged him.
“I don’t know how much truth there is to that,” she said, “but you know I love to hear it.”
He hugged his father and his brother Robert and sat down. “Where’s Charles?” he asked no one in particular.
“There you are,” Charles said, as he entered the room carrying an armful of firewood. “I was hoping you’d chicken out.”
“Let’s make this short,” Jack said. “Charles, your mother, sister, Robert and I will appear as witnesses for Luther in this stupid court case you insist on bringing up. You have no additional rights to those dealerships, because you voted to sell and you accepted your share of the amount to which we agreed.”
“I was pressured to do it.”
Jack leaned forward. “In other words, you’ve spent the money foolishly, and you no longer have an income from the dealerships, so you’re making this underhanded attempt to squeeze more money out of Luther. Nobody in this family pressured you.”
Luther knew that his father’s words were not affecting Charles, for his brother appeared not to listen. “I think I should warn you,” Luther told Charles, “that the minute that judge bangs the gavel for the start of the trial, your college tuition dries up, and you’ll have to leave school and go to work.”
Charles nearly jumped out of his chair. “What do you mean? What’s he talking about, Dad?”
Luther nearly laughed at the expression of satisfaction on his father’s face. “He means that he will not continue to send you to the university if a legal indictment is the thanks he gets.”
“But he doesn’t—”
“He has paid every cent of your tuition as well as your room and board. You’re so used to accepting largesse that you don’t bother to ask where it comes from. Your brother deserves better from you, and you will not sue any member of this family in a court of law.”
Charles looked from one to the other. “Don’t look at me,” his brother Robert said. “Dad is the reason why I haven’t already knocked you down a few times myself.”
Charles walked over to the fireplace, stared down at the flames and then stood with his back to them. “Everybody’s on my case. Even Ruby called and blasted me. All right. I’ll drop it.”
Amidst the sighs of relief, Irma Biggens stood. “I guess I can put supper on the table now.”
“I’m going out and bringing in some more wood,” Charles said. “Mom likes to have a fire in the fireplace.”
“Yeah,” Robert said. “Mom is a dyed-in-the-wool romantic. She’s the only woman I know who can’t do without candles and flowers.”
“Soft women are a joy to be around,” Jack said. “That kind of woman can tame a man without trying.”
“She’s also the kind you fall in love with,” Luther said.
“Yeah,” Robert said with a half laugh. “There ought to be some kind of shield or something to prevent that, or at least to keep you from falling hard.”
“Wishful thinking,” Jack said, seemingly amused. “There is no cure for love. When it hits you, make up your mind to live with it.”
“Tell me about it,” Luther murmured to himself, but his father and his brother stared at him.
“Who is she?” they asked in unison.
“Dinner must be ready by now,” Luther said, knowing they wouldn’t question him further. He pretended not to notice how they cast furtive glances at him as they ate, and he hoped his mother didn’t notice it, because she would demand to know why they did it.
He rejoiced in not having to oppose his brother in court, but he was glad to get away from his family’s watchful and knowing eyes.
At home, he parked in front of the house, cut the motor and went inside. “Ready to go?” he asked Maggie when she came into the hallway.
“I know you ate at your mama’s table, but I made some apple strudels, and I’m going to warm a couple and make a pot of fresh coffee, so you can have yours right now,” she said. “It must be awfully cold out there.”
It was, but he’d been in his warm car and hadn’t felt it. He realized that she needed to look after him and didn’t want anyone else to do it, including his mother. He laughed at the thought. If a man still needed a mother at the age of thirty-five, he could probably use a psychiatrist, too.
“You have to stop spoiling me, Maggie. I’m getting used to it.”
“Oh, shucks,” she said. “Everybody needs a little spoiling. And since I don’t see any nice girls spoiling you…” She let it hang, as if he’d get her meaning without further elaboration.
She made places for them at the kitchen table, and they sat down to eat. She said grac
e at the same time as he put a forkful of strudel in his mouth, and she patted his hand. “All food should be blessed.”
He didn’t say, “Yes, mother,” because he swallowed the words just before they slipped off his tongue.
“When are you going to tell me to fix one of my first-class gourmet dinners for you and a nice lady?” she asked.
There was no point in discouraging her meddling because she considered it her right. “I had hoped to bring her to meet you by now, but things aren’t going too well with us.”
She stopped chewing and placed her fork on her plate. “What’s the matter? If she didn’t lie, didn’t do something disgraceful and didn’t cheat on you, make up with her.”
He leaned back in his chair and gave her his full attention. “Let me get this straight. Are you saying those are the only reasons for breaking up a relationship?”
“Don’t put words in my mouth, Mr. B. I’m suggesting that anything else may be a misunderstanding. What do you think the problem is?”
“I need for her to accept me as I am, plastic prosthesis and all.”
“Hmm. Does she love you?”
“I believe she does.”
“Hmm. And she responds to you all right?”
“Oh, yes. That, she does. Absolutely!”
She drained her coffee cup, cleared the table and sat back down. “The problem is in your head.”
“No it isn’t. She doesn’t want members of her family to know we have a relationship.”
“Then you’re not telling me everything. Have you known her long?”
“Since she was three and I was nine, and I’ve been in love with her ever since I was nineteen years old, but I knew I had to wait for her to grow up. Our relationship changed from friends to lovers about a month ago.”
Maggie rubbed her chin as if deep in thought. After a while she said, “She probably always thought of you as her big brother, and now she’s sensitive about the way she realizes she feels about you. If I were you, I’d expose her every chance I got. If you’re sure you want her, you don’t have a thing to lose by letting people know you’re more to each other than buddies.”
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