Love Lost (Love's Improbable Possibility) (10 page)

He offered me a drink. I obliged.

A few minutes later, he came into the living room with cheap wine in plastic cups. I took off my shoes to get a little more comfortable. We began to talk. The cheap wine gave me a baby buzz and suddenly I found his jokes amusing. When he saw the alcohol taking effect, he started speaking Latin-lingo. It was not agreeing with me and I wasn’t trying to totally kill my buzz. I wanted sex, so I lunged at him and threw my tongue in his mouth. He had to catch his balance. As he started to caress me with one hand, he put down his cup down with the other. I could tell he was startled by my aggressiveness, which I liked.

We started going at it as he disrobed me. Before I knew it
, he was putting on a condom. He attempted to enter me very dramatically.
This was supposed to be a feeling free sexual experience for me and he wants to act so in love?

For some reason he fumbled down there giving me the impression that either he had no previous experience or was extremely nervous,
so I motioned for us to switch positions. I crawled on top for a ride. This way I was in charge.

He reached up to stroke my breasts. My nipples were so hard that I thought they’d burst.
I positioned myself over him prepared to lower myself. All of a sudden, I heard the door click. A second later, the door opened. My head slung behind me to catch the unexpected guest. I caught my balance and I stopped as I saw the same short, stubby, redhead I’d asked about in the pictures earlier. She saw me topless over the sofa and gasped for air as she held her chest.

Richard looked up and screamed, “Amy?!”

“Richard?” she trilled in return. I thought I was watching a movie. I started scrambling for my clothes as they were doing the twenty questions thing.

“What are you doing here, Richard? Where’s Danny?” she asked as she kicked the door to shut it behind her.

“Ummm. He went out to the store or something…” I guess that was all he could muster as he was fending for his clothes.

“No. He went out with his girlfriend, right?” I asked facetiously. If there was one thing I hated more than a liar was a bad liar.

“What’s going on? I’m his girlfriend! What are you doing here, Richard?” she began to shout.

“Can I explain later?” he pleaded.

“NO!” we both yelled.

“Richard does Maria know you’re doing this? Does she know about Maria?”

By this time I was as dressed as I needed to be to leave. I looked at Richard with murder in my eyes, “I guess not. That’s why we’re here, huhn?”

As I marched towards the door my last words to him were, “And you know to
never
call me again, don’t you?” I slammed the door behind me and all but ran to my car.

On my drive home
, I reminded myself I knew he was hiding something. He would just pop up places, which meant the times we were together were times that were convenient for him. And the fact that he never invited me to his place was a red flag. I wasn’t hurt; I was embarrassed about looking like a whore in apparently someone else’s home. 

Wait until I tell Michelle this one
. I just needed to get to bed; I had a long day ahead of me.

In bed, tossing and turning, I couldn’t rest that night. Slumber wrestled against restiveness. My day had been too active. I graduated, won a dance-off
, and got caught preparing to have sex with a cheating man—
in someone else’s apartment
—all in one day. I twisted and turned all night. When five o’clock came the following morning, I got up and jumped on the treadmill for an hour. Once that was complete, I started my day earlier than usual.

I arrived at work just before
eight a.m. although we didn’t start appointments until nine. The lights were all off, which I expected as I was typically the first to arrive. After checking the messages and making notes of them I then started pacing through the building turning on the lights. I thought to turn on the muzak system first because I had one of the songs that played in rotation in my head, but decided to wait until all of the lights were on first and found myself humming the song instead.

When I found my way to the back area near the storage room where the copy room is
, I opened the door and hit the light switch and heard someone gasp as I was about to turn to leave the room. With my heart racing at being startled, I pivoted in my tracks, jumped and then gasped myself.

It was Michelle’s uncle, Dan Smith, with young Hailey W
itherspoon. Mr. Smith’s belly was competing with his willy! I didn’t expect this from him at all. So many thoughts routed my mind in rapid speed. If Dr. Witherspoon only knew his daughter was giving out professionals of the oral persuasion to the senior partners I’m sure he’d put his bid in for partnership. I was beyond embarrassed, mortified better described my case.

Damn! When will this end? I can’t take another peculiar moment!
  

“Oops! I’m sorry!”
shot from my mouth before turning the lights back off and shutting the door behind me.

Soon after
, I heard Hailey yell, “Shit!”

I tried dreadfully to go about my day as usual. When I saw Hailey again it was around
ten a.m., she didn’t speak and neither did I. I simply carried on like business as usual. Mr. Smith appeared at the front-end desk that I was covering that particular day handing in a file at around lunchtime. After asking me to schedule the client’s next appointment he looked over to me with tentative eyes, “Uh…Rayna…”

“Yes, Mr. Smith
,” I responded and forgot to breathe.

“I’d like to meet with you tomorrow morning concerning your professional endeavors. I just learned of your recent graduation from PT school. Let’s say
eight thirty a.m.?” he proposed and walked away, just like that. He didn’t wait for a response. My stomached dropped to my stilettos and I could feel my racing pulse in my neck. I didn’t know why he posed it as a question as if I could say no.

“Sharon, I’ll be taking my lunch now. Please cover the desk
?” I asked one of the permanent receptionists just before I went to my small office to grab my purse and phone and left.

“Shelly, I’m in trouble!” I yelled into the phone as soon as I got in
to the steamy car.

“What happened?” From Michelle’s tone
, I could tell she was preoccupied, likely in her office crunching numbers. After filling her in on the story, she yelped, “No wonder!”

“No wonder what?!” My tone was far
more demanding than I intended.

“He called me asking me for a staff re-evaluation meeting.” I didn’t understand why he’d call the firm’s accountant regarding staffing concerns other than it being because I was the accountant’s best friend, the best friend who the accountant arranged to come aboard.

“Oh my god, Michelle, he’s going to fire me! And he thinks it’s the most opportune time because I just graduated. He feels he’s fulfilled his obligation of your request to have me come here to gain PT experience. You asked him to help me out until I get on my feet professionally and the time has come. He’s held up his end of the bargain and I’ve put myself in a precarious situation with him and he wants me out.” I was forced to take a breath.

I
began feeling light-headed. But I had to continue. “Michelle, how can I get around the question of why am I not employed with Smith, Katz & Adams Sports Medicine Center after being employed by them while studying? Answer me, Shelly! What?” I screamed into the phone, talking a mile a minute.

“Calm down
, Rayna.” She turned on the ever-so calming voice. She takes this tone when I’m out of sorts. “He asked for a meeting with me this evening over dinner along with Jim Katz. I’ll gauge where he is from there and get back to you. You just need to calm yourself down. It’ll work out. You’ll see.” She didn’t sound too assured herself.

“…you sure?” I quizzed. I didn’t believe she was
confident about her words of comfort, but what else could she say to console me?

“Yes, Rayna. Go get a bite to eat and pick up a green tea smoothie from Kelly’s to relax yourself. If you don’t it’ll affect your work and make this situation far worse than what it is. Always show professionalism, even if your employer doesn’t. All you have is your dignity.” She attempted assurance again.

“Okay. Call me!”

“I will, hon…”

When we ended the call, I felt like I had to think this thing through. I eventually resolved to the fact that I had something working in my favor. Michelle was the practice’s financial advisor.
Talk about being well connected
. She took over after her predecessor retired. Her uncle, Dan Smith, was big on keeping business in the family and since he didn’t have any children, Michelle was the next best thing. He initially wanted her to ultimately take over the practice when he was ready to retire but Michelle didn’t exactly want to go into physical therapy. She wanted to be in business. She was open to any avenue the business profession had to offer so they came to a middle ground and she studied both. Michelle majored in Business Management with a concentration in Finance and minored in Sports Medicine. She immediately got an MBA after undergrad. He had her on the payroll shadowing her soon-to-be predecessor right after graduating with a Bachelor’s and after she was done with her MBA his former consultant retired. This only happened to privileged people. I have to admit my friendship with Michelle provided a sweet deal for me, too.

I did as Michelle advised to the best of my ability. I even approached Hailey with work-related instructions for the next day in lieu of my absence due to the meeting.

That evening Michelle called around nine p.m. as promised.

“Hello?”

“It’s me Na-Na,” Michelle’s voice was alarmingly low. My stomach churned.

“Well…is it bad?” I murmured filled with fear.

“Uh, no. If it were bad I’d meet you face-to-face.” I allowed myself to let go of the air that I’d been holding on to. “Well, I met with
the two partners
, as we refer to them in hairy situations such as this one…” We only referenced two partners because George Adams never had a hand in messy situations like this. He maintained a pristine reputation, much dissimilar to his colleagues. Michelle continued, “…and after going back and forth about your professional tenure at Smith, Katz & Adams Sports Medicine Center we came to an agreement.”

“Wait a minute! Mr. Katz was there, too? Does he know what happened?” I had to know how far spread this was.

“Yes, Rayna! I told you earlier he’d be there. He knows about the incident. Oh, they were very candid during this meeting. Jim Katz even called him an impulsive prick!” Michelle cackled at that one. And when I thought about it, I agreed it was well deserved. “He said that he had more to do with his time than correct the hideous actions of a middle-aged business partner!” She took a moment to belt out another round of laughter.

“The funny thing was when Uncle Dan reminded Jim of his indiscretions and all Jim could do was pivot in his seat to redirect his attention to another area in the restaurant.” Another pause for amusement. I, on the other hand, was on the edge of my seat in suspense. “
Woo!
Anyway, Uncle Dan wanted to explore the idea of letting you go. He didn’t force me to remind him that you were my best friend. I was happy to know he’d kept that in mind. Although, Jim did ask what were our other alternatives. That’s when the creative juices started to flow. Do you remember when I told you about the prospect of a new location…and the young tycoon who we were considering approaching for the space?”

“Yes…” I answered curious as to where this was going.

“Well, he has a recreation center in Long Beach City, but embedded in a very ominous community. Well, apparently he wittingly chose that location to drive revenue into the community. The thing that interests the practice is that he has a few A-list athletes that are on the gym’s membership roster. From what our scout people are telling us this recreation center has state-of-the-art construction and equipment, which attracts the athletes. There are full-size basketball courts, tennis court, Olympic-size pools, weight rooms, dance rooms, several aerobic rooms, two large cardio rooms, hockey rink, outdoor football field, and saunas. Not to mention smoothie booths, a Starbucks, and a full-service cafeteria among other amenities. He demolished approximately two blocks of vacant and abandoned homes and built this massive building.” I tried to recall if I’d ever seen that in the LBC.

“
He’s recently announced vacant spaces available to lease to businesses and every type of enterprise you can think of from retail stores to restaurants are trying to get in. Apparently he’s selective as to who he’ll let in saying that he’s protective of the residents who the community actually belongs to and will avoid a tide of gentrification as in other revitalized neighborhoods.”

She continued
, “In thinking of Smith, Katz and Adams, we would rely on those athletes to utilize our services. We need those professional athletes on our roster. Of course my uncle and his partner, being the airheaded pigs they can be from time to time, are challenging you to acquire the largest vacant space on the property to expand the practice. They’re leaving you to fend for yourself. This means your own negotiation tactics and timing. However, John Ephart and I can attend as the legal and financial consultant of the practice.”