Let Me Just Say This (14 page)

“Hey girl.” She said.

“Hey hussy, I got your note. Everything ok?” Dee answered.

“I guess.”

“Why don't we hook up tomorrow for breakfast and some serious shopping?”

Cheryl felt the water running into the tub, “You don't have to work?”

“Duh, how many times I gotta tell you. Every other Friday is my day off. Remember?”

“Oh I forgot. Ok, sounds like a plan. I'll come over around ten.”

“Ok, love you hussy.” She said.

“Love you too.” she sank into the hot water, and began to feel aroused. Dee's words came to mind.

Pleasure yourself. It beats being frustrated.

She moved her hand between her legs; feeling instantly embarrassed. She couldn't do it and instead lay back and
let the warm water caress her into a nap. She was awakened by the iciness of the water and got out and sat on the edge of the tub. She slipped her feet into her purple slippers and slid the robe over her nakedness. The flashing number two was very insistent so she pushed the button to start the automated voice. She came to a message left by that familiar voice.

“Mrs. Goldman, please give me a call if you need to talk or just want to get out of the house. My number is 8042376245.”

She listened to the message again and wrote down the number. She climbed back on the bed and laid across it. She closed her eyes and let the sounds of the wind lure her back into the land of sleep.

By the time she was fully awake and not part of her dream, the phone had stopped ringing. She was in no mood to talk to anyone right now so she turned back over and let the sleep fairies take her away.

She woke up about an hour later feeling adventurous. She decided to call him and let him know that she had gotten his message.

She was relieved when his machine picked up. She decided that it was a bad idea but she had to leave a message because she didn't want him calling her back.

“Uh, hi, this is Cheryl Goldman, I just wanted to call and apologize for my behavior earlier. Bye.” She rolled out of the bed, and had to steady herself first.

“Wow, I'm still drunk?” she said as she had to sit back down for a couple of minutes while the room stopped spinning. She went downstairs and decided to call Kevin.

“Room 420 please.” She waited for a while and was then transferred back to the front desk.

“There is no answer would you like to leave a message?” the man asked when he came on the line.

“Yes, hmm, just leave a message that Cheryl called?”

She hung up and decided she had tried to talk to her
husband but that wore her out and now she was ready for more sleep.

Kevin made it back to his room and noticed the red light was on.

“This is room 420, I have a message?”

The clerk told him of the three messages he had and wondered why she left her first name, instead of saying his wife. She must have been flirting with the front desk guy. He pushed the thought from his head. He didn't have time to think about her right now, he had way more important things to get ready for. With just under an hour before the meeting, he needed to make sure everything was in order.

“May I speak with Cheryl?” the voice on the other end asked.

“Speaking.”

“How are you?”

“Fine.” Who in the hell is this? She wondered. “Look, if you're trying to sell me something, I am not interested.” A hearty laugh came from the other end of the phone.

“Cheryl, I am not selling you anything. This is Matthew. I just listened to your message, and there is no need to apologize. I realize you were upset, no harm done. The reason I am calling you back is…” There was a pause before he continued “Well, you affected me so much in the past 24 hours. I have seen women go through some things, but you seem like a woman on the verge of falling off a cliff. There is a lot of pain and suffering all over your face. Please, don't shut yourself off from someone or anyone for that matter, who can help you.”

“And you think you are this person.” She was becoming irritated with him.

“Yes.”

“Look, I am a big girl. I put myself in this situation, so I have to deal with it. It was a mistake letting you give me a ride home. It was a mistake accepting those beautiful roses and it was definitely a mistake inviting you into my home. You don't need to be concerned with my problems. Find someone else to help, because I don't need it.”

“Cheryl, listen, it's not wrong to want help.”

She jumped right back at him, “Look, the kind of help I need, no one can give me. No one knows the hell I go through every day. No one cares that I am not happy. Then you come along, like some black knight to save the day and you want me to believe that you, a total stranger, want to help me out for G.P. Give me a flipping break!” Her voice was breaking and before long the tears flowed down her face.

“So, you are blocking out help from everyone.” He said.

“What the hell do you know?” she shouted.

“See, that's what I mean, as soon as you feel like someone is coming down on you, you put that fence back up again. Just now, you were opening up to me.”

“I shouldn't have.” She brushed the tears away hard.

“Yes, you should have.” Matthew sighed.

“You really do need to stop. I guess you are used to getting women with those lines. It sure as hell won't work with me!”

“Why are you yelling? I am talking calmly to you. What lines are you talking about? I can see that you feel unwanted and unappreciated.”

“Oh, so you are a psychologist now? You think you know everything, don't you? Well you don't.”

Matthew interrupted her, “Then tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“Tell me everything.” He said,

She ignored the constant beep alerting her to another call coming in and for the next hour she told a total stranger all about herself,

Kevin called Rebecca's room,

“Are you ready?”

“Almost. If a certain gentleman hadn't messed up my hair, I would have been ready twenty minutes ago.”

“Mmm and how did he mess up your hair?”

“Well, he made love to me so good, that even my hair was too tired to hold a curl.”

“He was that good?”

“Nope.” Rebecca said coyly.

“No?” Kevin inquired.

“He was excellent.”

Kevin whispered, “Well just wait until later, because it is on.”

Cheryl finally took a breath and wondered if Matthew was still on the phone,

“Hello?”

“I'm still here.” He answered.

“I am sorry for subjecting you to my insane life.”

“No apology necessary.” Matthew said.

She glanced at the clock and at her phone when she heard that beep again.

“Oh my goodness, I must let you go. It's getting late and I have to call him back.” She said standing in her room looking around.

“Look, before you hang up, you have my number and I don't want you to be afraid to use it. One more thing, I must tell you this, in case you haven't heard it lately; you are a very pretty woman.”

“You sure could make a black woman blush. I am sure your wife is very lucky.”

Matthew laughed at her, “very clever. However, I am not married. I've been divorced for two years.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to pry. Why did she leave you?”

“You're funny.” He said while laughing hard. “However, she didn't leave me, I left her. She couldn't handle it when I started my own company. There were times when she was the only one with money to cover bills. She couldn't accept that a new business doesn't start out making money. I
struggled for about three years but then my break finally happened and when my business finally did recover, she wanted to be back in my life, which told me one thing. She was all about the money, so I asked for a divorce.”

“Any kids.” Now was her time to put him on the receiving end of the questions.

“Yes, one. A daughter. I hated leaving her, but a girl needs her mother, but I am a very involved father.”

“Good for you. At least there are some men willing to be a father, unlike… Well, what business do you have?' “Well, the limo you came home in.”

“Yes,”

“That's my business.”

“Oh, you must be doing very well, because that limo was very nice.”

“I am doing ok. Right now we have ten stretch limousines, two Navigator limos, one Escalade limo and soon to arrive three Hummer limos.”

“Wow, I am impressed. Congrats on the new vehicles.”

“I would love to take you out in the Hummer limo when they come in.”

“Thanks, but I don't think so. My husband wouldn't approve.”

“Well, your husband doesn't have to approve. Its ok for you to have a friend isn't it?”

“Female yes, males no.”

“We shall see.” Matthew replied.

“I must be going. Thanks for listening to me.”

“Hey, I am going to grab some dinner, would you like to come along.”

“No thank you. I really can't.”

“Why, got other plans with your husband?”

“No, no plans. He isn't home anyway.”

“Great.” Matthew said a little too quickly. “Since I already know where you live, the limo will be there in an hour. Dress casual. See you in an hour.”

“But-.”

Her objection wasn't heard because the phone was
already dead. She dialed Dee's number.

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself.”

“Guess what.”

“Now you know I hate guessing game.” Dee said.

“Ok, what would you say if I say I met a guy?”

“That you were lying.”

“Well, I'm not lying. He is so nice. He listened to me for over an hour, ranting and raving about Kevin.”

“Whoa. Get up” she said to whomever she was with. “You told this dude about your husband.”

“Well, kind of. He already knows him.”

“Ok.”

“Not like that. Something happened last night and this guy came to my rescue.”

“Rescue?”

“Never mind all of that. Anyway, he let me use his limo to get home and then he sent me roses and then came by the house.”

“Beep. Beep. Beep. Back up the turnip truck. You let this guy come to your house. Girl, do you know what will happen if Kevin finds out?”

“What Kevin don't know, won't hurt him.”

“No, but it will hurt you. You better be careful girl.”

“I will. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.”

“Tell me what tomorrow?”

“About dinner.”

“Dinner? What in the hell?” Dee shouted.

“Look, enjoy the rest of your evening. I'll tell you all about it.”

She hung up the phone and ran to the closet like a woman going on her first date. She threw on some jeans and a tight sweater. After rethinking the sweater, she pulled on a blouse and blazer. She pulled her shoes from the closet and walked by the window when she saw the limo arrive, exactly an hour later. She went downstairs, pulled the front door open, doubled back to set the alarm and
walked out of the house with the neighbors all preening their necks to see what was going on. She smiled and waved as she continued to the car, pulling her glasses onto her eyes as she did. The driver got out and held the door for her as she climbed in. Matthew was sitting there; looking very different from when she had seen him before. His bald head was so smooth it looked like a bowling ball.

“Hello again.” He said in a seductive voice, while giving her a hug.

“Hello.” She said as she climbed in and noticed the bouquet of yellow roses on the opposite seat.

“Those are for you.”

“Thank you, but this was not necessary.” She said as she picked them up and put them to her nose.

“I know…I wanted to.”

“Well, thank you.” As they drove along, he poured her some wine.

She held her hand up, “No, thank you. I had enough earlier.”

“Would you like a soda or something?”

“Thanks a soda would be nice.”

He opened the small compartment on the side and fished out a small can of soda. He opened it and handed her a napkin along with the can.

“You look really nice…damn.” He whispered.

“Excuse me?” she said looking up from her drink.

“Oh, nothing.”

Kevin tried calling the house one more time. Shit. Where was she? He even tried her cell but her voice mail came on immediately. She sure knows how to piss me the fuck off. This is why he had decided that he needed to be free of her dead weight. He was tired of going home to her. If he could divorce her this instance, he would; that way he could be the woman he really wanted. He went to Rebecca's room and they rode down to the meeting together.

They walked into the downstairs restaurant and saw the four men sitting together deep into conversation.

Kevin spoke first and introduced Corey and Rebecca. They sat down and immediately got involved in the conversation of letting them become affiliates of their public relations firm.

“So what do you think the name of this establishment should be?” Corey asked as the men continued to talk about the location.

William spoke up, “We were thinking to use our last initials, H, E and W….and say an affiliate of K & B.

“Of course that would need to be on all of the signage that you had made.” Kevin said.

“Naturally.” Edward said.

“As long as you know that you aren't entitled to anything but the affiliation tag,” Howard said.

“I don't expect anything except for your check to clear and our monthly meetings like we discussed.”

“That sounds like we have a deal.” Corey said

“Not so fast. We need to look over the paperwork and then let you know.”

After another round of drinks for everyone, Howard, Edward and Williams excused themselves and told Kevin that he would have an answer for them by eight o'clock the next morning.