Healing Inc. (5 page)

“Ten years is a long time Nita.  I think I’ve been patient.   Don’t you?”  It was his serenity after all that aided in his success as a commercial loan business owner.

She turned on her back to look up at him.  Drawing his head down toward her, she tenderly touched her lips to his.  Releasing him, she took in his curly light brown hair and matching eyes.  He was more on the rugged side in looks, handsome in the ultimate masculine form of it with a five o clock shadow he wore well.  Their coloring was close with his being a tad darker originating from his black father.  His mother was olive in hue from her Puerto Rican ethnicity. 

“Oklahoma is my home now.”  He began to say something but she stopped him by pressing her index and middle fingers to his lips.  “Please don’t try to blame this on Evy.  Keep in mind that I was the one who dragged her there with me, not the other way around.  If she knew about us she would be overjoyed and would try to convince me to come back here in a heartbeat.  She’s a lot stronger than you think.  I choose to stay because I love what I do there.  I couldn’t return to Chicago as the CEO of a company, or even obtain a job practicing corporate law making as much money as I do there.  Besides, I prefer the pace of life in that city much more than here.”

“That’s why I keep telling you that I can support you, or you could work for me,” he argued.  “My commercial loan business could definitely use you, mi amour.  I need you.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think working together in that type of environment is healthy for a relationship.  What are you going to do when I have to tell one of your clients to kiss my round Latino ass if they don’t like what I’m saying to them?”  The bed shook with his laughter.  “I need you too,” she went on, “but I’m not willing to give up my career and a job that I love to move back to a city that, quite frankly, I don’t care for anymore.”  She caressed the smooth skin above his stubbled jaw, wanting to convey to him that her aversion of Chicago had nothing to do with him.

Tony continued to lay with her, pondering what she had just said.  He knew she was right and understood that their marriage would be doomed if he forced her to reside in a town where she wasn’t happy.  The selfish part of him wanted to keep on her until he wore her down.  They weren’t getting any younger and these monthly encounters were no longer enough for him.  He wanted to start a family with her.  He made up his mind a while ago that he had to have her, one way or another. 

If he possessed the capability to turn back time he would go back and stop her from leaving Chicago after the trial that took place so long ago.  Hell, there wouldn’t have been a trial.  However, the trial and all that lead up to it could not be undone.  Nita, being the spit fire that she was, probably would have found a way to kill Raheem Jones herself if he hadn’t managed to hang himself in prison five years ago.

His thoughts turned back to the night that he first laid eyes on her, wishing it had been under better circumstances.  She and her brothers had come to get Evy, who was still living with David in Chicago at the time.  The plan had been to gather her few belongings and take her back to Oklahoma.  Word on the street was David had threatened Nita’s family in the past when they had tried to intervene in his relationship with Evy.  Nita’s brothers, especially Miguel, were determined to get Evy away from him for good this time.  Tony still wondered how the two women had planned to make it.  At the time, Evy relied completely on David financially and Nita had just started law school.

The group had shown up at
David’s
Juke Joint
only to find that David was dead and Evy was in the hospital barely clinging to life.  Somehow Nita made it past the yellow tape, stepped into the room and went into hysterics after seeing all the blood left behind from the attack.  Tony immediately took over for the police officer that was trying to calm her down.  He escorted her and her brothers outside to inform them of his take on what had transpired.  That’s when he found out that David had started beating Evy and the Vasquez family’s plan to remedy the situation. 

Tony had done business with David for years and had heard rumors about his drug use.  At one point he had confronted him about it, giving him a big brother lecture.  Although he liked David a lot, had he witnessed evidence of the beatings he would have kicked David’s ass himself.  Evy was a good kid with lots of talent.  He would have done what he could to help her get away from David.  A part of him still felt guilty for not seeing what had been going on at the time.  He and Nita had spent the months of Evy’s recovery falling in love. 

Raheem Jones did his best to intimidate Evy, thinking she wouldn’t testify against him.  He kept reminding everybody that he had not acted alone and that the other participants might pick up where he left off if she did.  Evy couldn’t help but be afraid, knowing that the other three men had disappeared before they could be apprehended and
were
probably still out there.  Boy was he surprised when she showed up in court with Tony, his brother Gabriel, Nita and all six of her brothers to support her, each one of them giving him the stare down.  He got life in prison.

The last direct communication Tony had had with Evy was when she signed the papers for
David’s
Juke Joint
over to him as a loan payoff.  Apparently David wasn’t all bad.  He had left her everything to include the club, three rental apartment buildings and a substantial insurance policy.  He had hoped at the time that it would be enough to help her get back on her feet.  All other dealings with her were through Nita, who only would say that Evy now did odd jobs for the same corporation that she worked for.  According to Nita, Evy had left the stage for good.

“Where are you, babe?”  Nita asked, bringing an end to his rumination.

“Just remembering how lucky I am to have you.”  He looked down at her longingly.   “So, does this mean I have to wait till next month to see you again?”

“You’ll- see – me!  We see each other over the computer every night.”  She cast him a devious smile.

“It’s not the same as this,” he said, groping one large breast and wiggling it while attacking it with his mouth.  The act made her squeal out in amused astonishment.  This roused them again, leading into another session of love making.

The Wednesday after Labor Day brought rain.  To say Nita was pissed was a gross understatement.  Her plane had barely landed when she received a call from the consignment shop.  It was late afternoon and Shelly was at her wits end over what she deemed to be a catastrophe currently in progress.  Once Nita arrived, she took in the scene and had to agree with Shelly.  Her anger surged to levels that were not safe for the average human being.

“I’m sorry, Anita.  I tried to call Evy but she didn’t answer her home phone,” Shelly offered apologetically.  The older woman hugged herself, trying to keep the potential panic that she felt from surfacing.  “You’re the only one with her cell phone number.”

“It’s okay,” Nita stated pulling out her phone to call Evy.  She was in the process of losing her mind as she tried to control her current state of being, not wanting to take it out on the already fragile Shelly.  She pushed the preset number for Evy, managing to maintain control for the few moments that the call took to go through.

“Hello.”  Evy’s voice came from the other end, chipper as ever.

“Where – the- hell - are you?”  Nita bit out through clenched teeth, no longer able to control herself.  Her Puerto Rican accent was undeniable.

“I’m just pulling out of the school parking lot.  Why?”  She immediately went on guard because her dear friend only became like this when something extreme was on the horizon.

“You need to get over to the shop. Now!”

 “On my way.” 

Hanging up and pulling onto the road, Evy raced to the shop as quickly as traffic would allow her.  Pulling into the parking lot, she stopped short and leapt from her car.  She had to exit the vehicle quickly to take a closer look because she could not believe what she was seeing.  There were flowers of every kind everywhere.  They were lined up outside the door in rows, taking over a good portion of the small lot.  To make matters worse, a delivery truck sat idling in front of the building undoubtedly dropping off more.  She ran into the shop to find Nita going off on the poor kid.

“Who the fuck keeps sending all these goddamn flowers?” Nita demanded.

 “Ma, ma, ma’am, the name is on the ca, ca, cards.  I’m sorry but me and the other drivers are just doing our job.  I swear!”  The poor kid threw his hands up in surrender.  The unfortunate delivery man was still young enough to be battling acne.  He was probably just trying to work his way through college and here Nita was scaring the crap out of him.

“Read the cards!” Nita shouted.  “How many fucking cards can a person write, adios mio?  You take those freaking flowers back with you!  We aren’t accepting anymore!”

“Ma’am I….”

“You call me ma’am one more time chico, and those flowers are going to find a new dark spot to rest in!”  Nita stepped toward the young man with balled fists.  He instinctively backed away from her, fearing that she might attack at any moment.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Anita, please calm down!”  Evy said, putting her surrender hands up and coming to stand between Nita and the young man.  “Just try to stay calm and let me figure out what’s going on, okay.”

Nita’s hostility subsided.  She unclenched her fists and backed up against the counter with her arms crossed over her chest.  She leaned there, still eyeing the delivery boy. 

Turning to face the delivery boy, Evy took the batch of flowers from him.  “Thank you,” she told him, dismissing him from the hostile environment.  He was out the door as fast as his skinny long legs could carry him.

“They’ve been coming every hour on the hour since the shop opened this morning,” Shelly informed her.  As Evy removed the card from the small envelope Shelly continued.  “We haven’t been able to wait on customers because we have to keep stopping to sign for these and then find a place to put them.”

“What does it say, mama?” Nita asked curiously, her anger subsiding.

Evy began to read out loud:

Dear Ms. Evy,

I can only hope that you forgot about our date for last night and didn’t intentionally stand me up.  Therefore, I am forced to send you a bouquet of flowers every hour possible until you remember to call and reschedule our date, (
it went on to list his contact information
).  Being blind as to which flowers are your favorites I have asked that a variety of them be brought to you in hopes that your favorites will be included.  The deliveries won’t stop until I hear from you.

Yours truly,

Tyler Moriatti

Evy looked up to find two pairs of wide, shocked eyes staring back at her.  She could only mirror their gaze.  Slowly, her features started to relax and a sinister smile spread across her face.   

***

The Following Friday…

Tyler rolled over to turn off the blaring alarm of his clock.  It was a little after eight am.  On occasion, he allotted himself the luxury of sleeping in on Fridays.  One was entitled to such things when you were the boss.  Thoughts of Evy played yet again in his head, granting his penis the power to act of its own accord.  After he had spent time with her, the idea of her being a lesbian had vanished completely.  He had felt her checking him out a time or two when she thought he was distracted.