Love Is Overdue (25 page)

And I shooed him out of the
room, still curled up cozily in my warm bed.

Ω

My brother’s
call came that afternoon. I was still in the waiting room outside
my mother’s room, waiting for her to finish with the physical
therapist that was in with her.

“
So how’s she
doing?”

I sighed. “I don’t really
know, to be honest, Laz...”

“
What do you
mean? You’re there with her. What are the doctors
saying?”

“
None of her
physical injuries are life-threatening but... she can’t walk –
maybe never will again. Her shaking’s gotten worse. And her
speech.” I stared at a crack in the linoleum, tracing it back and
forth with the toe of my sandal.

He was quiet for a moment.
And I just waited, mindlessly wondering what he was thinking. I had
an idea. He was probably watching the clock, wondering how many
more minutes this conversation would have to last, and how quickly
he could just forget it and carry on with his day.

“
And what about
you, Gabby?”

His question surprised
me.

“
Me?”

“
Yeah, how are
you doing? I know you and mom have always been really tight and
–”

“
Tight?” I cut him off. “Yeah, of course we’re
tight
,
Laz...I’m all she has.”

“
Don’t start the
guilt-trip again, Gab. We been over this a thousand times. Things
didn’t have to be this way.”

“
Yeah, and what
was the alternative? A home? You wanted to send her away,
Laz...like six years ago already!”

“
Yeah. Somewhere equipped to take care of her,” he said, his
tone rising. “But you decided to give up your life for her,
Gab...you enjoy playing the martyr – because it’s the perfect
excuse for you to use when shit doesn’t go your way – because poor
Gabriela gave up everything to take care of her mother...
Fuck
.
Grow up, Gabby. Mom was actually happy about the idea of a care
home, she told me herself, but as soon as you heard the idea you
just lost it. We had to all calm
you
down, remember? And Mom
just let it go. You think I ran away, right? That I’m not a
man
,
because I’m not sitting around, waiting on my sick mother hand and
foot...because I actually did something with my life? That’s what
you think – that’s what you’ve always thought of me, Gabby. But
what you don’t know – what no one ever fucking told you – is that
mom pushed me out. Did you ever think she
wanted
better for me? I
love her just as much as you do, Gabriela. I tried okay…you don’t
know what I went through anyway, so stop trying to play the fucking
victim, am getting real tired of it.”

I felt my hand trembling,
the blood surging through my veins. I couldn’t even find my voice,
but Laz’s words and the contempt spilling from his mouth just kept
ringing and ringing in my ears. Drowning out any rational thought
possible.

So I just clicked my phone
off. And immediately the ringing seemed to fade to
nothing.

Chapter
Eleven

The Caribbean Days Festival
in North Vancouver happened every year near the end of July. It was
a two day long outdoor festival in Waterfront Park, full of various
open stages for reggae, soca and calypso acts, Caribbean food
vendors and booths that sold clothing, jewelry, and anything else
“island” under the sun.

The Metro-Vancouver
Caribbean community and appreciators always came out in full force,
and this year was no exception. I had been a few times in previous
years and this year I had Tasha with me. Tasha was always
completely in her zone at any Caribbean events, but Tony always
felt a bit on edge, and as much as I’d tried to convince him to
come along, he bailed at the last minute, leaving me to inevitably
have to mingle with Tasha and all of her loud and crazy
booty-short-wearing girlfriends.

Ben had a food truck at the
festival, and although we planned to meet up during the day, I knew
I wouldn’t be able to spend all my time with him. The crowds were
intense and he and a few of his staff were busy cooking and
serving, feeding all the swarms of hungry
festival-goers.

It was a sweltering hot day
for Vancouver – even in July. The high was expected to reach 30
degrees Celsius, and not a cloud in the sky. Tasha had given me an
impressive nod of approval when she caught sight of me in my daring
ensemble for the day. I was wearing a printed sarong in multiple
shades of purple that hung about knee-length – over my strapless
bra, of course – which I had decided to belt, so my enormous booty
wouldn’t make me look like I was draped in a bed-sheet. My frizzy
mop of curls was unmanageable in this heat so I had tied it into a
messy bun and had on some dangling silver earrings and a few
bangles and a pair of cute rimless sunglasses – my fresh pedicure
finishing my look in my new beige wedged sling-backs.

Of course, to most men,
Tasha’s tight little body simply sporting some white daisy-dukes
and a yellow tube top was far more eye-stopping – but I didn’t
care. I was making my own statement today.

We exited the sea bus
terminal and headed to the gates together in a crowd of other
festival-goers, the music already pulling us in before we even got
to the park.

“
How’s your mom
doing, girl?” Tasha asked as we browsed some of the clothing booths
together.

I had a feeling Tony had
prompted it, but I didn’t care.

“
I just came from
the hospital,” I told her. “She’s the same... Laz called me
yesterday, though. He’s planning to fly out here next week – or so
he says.”

I still didn’t know quite
what to make of my brother’s sudden decision to come visit. Since
his blow-up over the phone in the hospital waiting room with me two
weeks earlier, we hadn’t really spoken. He’d kept himself
up-to-date with how my mom was doing through my aunt and when he
did call me again and said he was flying in, I had been a little
too stunned to ask too many questions.

“
You serious?”
Tasha looked up from the rack of t-shirts she was scouring through.
“Wow – I haven’t seen Laz in like...”

“
Years,” I
finished for her. “Hey, what you think?” I held out a t-shirt with
a print of Bob – a plume of smoke billowing out of his mouth. “I
should buy this for Tony,” I joked.

“
Ha!” Tasha
laughed. She pulled out another t-shirt with the Rasta colours
tie-dyed throughout. “We just need to add a few more colours of the
rainbow to it and he be set.” She glanced out at the crowds. “Let’s
go find Ben.”

I laughed. “It’s still
early.” I dismissed it, even thought I was also anxious to see him.
“He’s working.”

So instead we decided to go
check out the band that had taken to the main-stage – a reggae
hip-hop duo was performing. I couldn’t help noticing all the male
eyes that kept falling all over the two of us, and I shuddered at
the thought. We were getting it from all sides – the skinny sister
with the tight, little booty, and the plus-sized white girl wearing
a sexy strapless, not leaving a whole lot to the
imagination.

People-watching in these crowds – as it had been that night at
the Commodore – was always fascinating to me. The Rastamen usually
always had white girls draped on their arms – big or small, it
didn’t matter. And they usually always turned and checked me out as
I passed. But one of them caught
my
eye right away as he was
standing off in a group with a few other brothers
talking.

Tasha caught me looking as
she pulled her eyes off the stage. “Whoa...who is that? Is
that...?”

I gave her a look, raising
my eyebrows. “Yup.” I knew who she meant. “That’s Ivan. Ben’s
brother.”

As it had the first time I
saw him in the mall, it blew me away how much those two looked
alike. This time Ivan’s locks were hanging loose, and I noticed
they were longer than Ben’s – the longest ones nearly hung to his
waist...thick ropes that were so well-maintained. You could tell he
took amazing care of that hair. And that body -just like Ben, so
tall and athletic with those broad shoulders and lean torso. He was
dressed simply in a red sleeveless t-shirt that showed off his
toned arms, a pair of green cargo shorts and a pair of low-top
Nikes - some dark shades masking his eyes.

“
Shit.” Tasha let
her breath out. “Those are some fine genes runnin’ through that
family. Okay, he’s looking over here.”

I stole another glance, and
sure enough, Ivan was looking in our direction, but then again,
with those shades it was hard to tell for sure.

“
Okay, stop
looking,” I ordered Tasha, turning back to the
main-stage.

“
You think he
recognizes you?” Tasha teased me, obviously enjoying the
drama.

“
I have no idea,”
I admitted. “But you better hope he doesn’t mistake you for
Tony.”

Tasha laughed, and I
couldn’t help a little giggle myself, at the thought.

“
Damn. He won’t
stop looking. He’s staring right at you, Gabby.” Tasha could
obviously not stop looking either.

I took another moment and
then couldn’t help but steal another glance. When I did I noticed
Levi, Ben’s delinquent little nephew/dish washer standing next to
Ivan. Ivan was saying something and then I noticed Levi glance over
in my direction.

I quickly turned back to
Tasha. “Yeah, I think you’re right. They’re talking about
us.”

“
Us?” Tasha
laughed. “I wish...they talkin’ about you. Who’s that little
punk-ass kid he’s with?”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s
his son.”

“
What?” Tasha’s
eyes went wide. “He must be old as fuck to have a kid that age –
but that body is banging...real good genes, Gabby. You should have
a baby with that man.”

I knocked her arm but
couldn’t help laughing. “What do you mean, ‘old as fuck’? He’s
like...thirty-four or five or something – max.”

“
Who,
Ben?”

“
No, his brother.
He’s only a couple years older than Ben, from what I could
tell.”

The crowd was cheering for
the hip hop act that had just finished their set. The emcee grabbed
the mic then, introducing the next act and as the music started up
again, I took another glance over to where Ivan and Levi had been
standing. Levi was gone but Ivan was still there with his two
friends and when I looked he caught my eye again.

I quickly turned back to
Tasha. “Let’s take a walk...”

“
Sure, I think I
just saw Lisa and Tonya over by the hill.”

And she started off in that
direction, which also happened to be directly in Ivan’s path. I had
no choice but to follow her. So as we made our way through the
crowds, I tried my best to avert my eyes, but of course, as we
passed Ivan and his two friends and he looked right at me, I had no
choice but to give him a forced smile of recognition.

And that was all he
needed.

“
W’happen
ladies?” He addressed both of us, in that same smooth sexy tone his
brother used so often.

To me, it was the kind of
comment that required only a quick hello as we kept walking but
Tasha thought otherwise. She stopped walking and grinned right at
him. “Whassup, brother...” Oh fuck. She was flirting.

Ivan smiled at that. “It’s
cool.” His eyes darted back and forth between the two of us. “So
how tings? Y’enjoying da show?” He nodded at the stage.

“
It’s all right,
you know.” Tasha didn’t skip a beat. “You taking the stage
next?”

Ivan laughed at that.
“Nah...this is my stage.”

Interesting comment, I
thought. I guess it meant he was used to a lot of
attention.

“
Makes sense.”
Tasha smiled. She must have read my mind.

Ivan’s eyes were on me
again. “I know you from somewhere.”

He just had to say it. I
forced another smile. “I know...it was that unfortunate incident at
the mall.” As if I had to remind him.

He nodded slowly. “Yeah,
yeah...that’s it.” He pretended to remember. “You need to keep dat
boy on a tighter leash.”

I didn’t know how to read
that comment. Was that supposed to be a joke?

“
Ohhhh...is this
the guy that...?” Tasha decided to play along. “At the mall? When
Tony got all up in that couple’s business?” She looked back at
Ivan. “That was you?”

Ivan nodded. “That was
me.”

“
Oh.
Wow. Okay.” Tasha looked to be forming her next words. “Well, just
so you know, that
boy
is my brother, and I don’t appreciate
you talking about him like he’s a fucking
dog
.”

Oh fuck. I wanted to bolt.
But of course, once again, I was frozen solid. The two guys Ivan
was with looked over as well.

Ivan’s eyes went wide. I
could see it even through the shades. He looked like he was about
to say something, but quickly changed his mind – and just sucked
his teeth.