TWENTY-NINE
Lesson of the Day:
Don’t assume anything. Find the truth or you’ll be deceived by the lie.
Mikka
I hadn’t slept. After showering away the trauma and sipping my mother’s tea in her living room, I told her I was tired. Yet, I lay there wide awake.
When I’d turned my phone on, it lit up with message after message. I read everything. And then reread all the texts he sent.
Jay:Where are you?
Jay:You packed up everything and left. Where the hell did you go, Little Pebble?
Jay:If this is about the movie and Lela, I promise we can talk.
Jay:We need to talk either way.
Then, there were the voicemails.
The first hour of my flight: “Wrecking ball, why did you smash the relationship we were building together? Are you scared? Mad? We’ll work through it. Call me when you get this. I need to hear your voice.”
The third hour of my flight: “I’ve called you a million times but it goes straight to this voicemail and I’m not sure what else to say. I talked with Dougie and your mom. Whatever you’re doing isn’t right. You know how I know? Because we’re right. We’re the top of the class. The A on your assignment. The best in show. Me and you, little one. Please call me back.”
At the hour I’d faced down Dougie: “I’m going to stop calling for today. I’m going to try to get these scenes over with. And then I’m coming for you. You want me to come for you, right, Meek? Damn, woman. I don’t know anymore.”
The last four words broke the heart that was beating just for him.
I tossed and turned, wanting to keep a level head, wanting to stop myself from rushing back to him. But my body didn’t belong to me anymore. It belonged to a man that was worth belonging to.
I jumped from my mother’s spare bed and grabbed the suitcase I hadn’t even unpacked.
Halfway down the stairs to the front door of the store, I heard soft footsteps behind me. “You’re leaving now?” My mother’s voice sounded an octave higher than usual.
“Jay doesn’t know why I left.”
“Jay is what Yue Lao has in store for you. He will be fine if you rest, heal, and take care of your mother for a few days.”
“Take care of you? You’ve been buzzing around, cleaning up the shop all night. You’re fine.”
“Well, I could have been hurt,” she said like a petulant child. “It’s not my fault that Dougie was bad at everything. Had he knocked me out, I would have had more reason to complain.”
I laughed at her joke, but it made my throat ache where Dougie had crushed my airway. When I turned my head to the side to cough, my mother was there in a flash, lifting my chin to assess the damage. “I should pay Ronnie to take care of Dougie.”
Leaning away, I crossed my arms. “Okay. Are you serious about the mob? Is Ronnie a part of this partnership you formed? That’s not a clean business, Mom.”
I worried she was losing her marbles, that someone was coaxing her into doing business for the mafia.
“Oh, Meek. Don’t worry about it. Ronnie knew your father and he helped start this business.”
“But, Mom—”
“The less you know, the better. Now, are you going to get your husband or what?” She shooed me toward the doors, completely happy with me leaving now.
“He’s not… we… I’m his PA,” I stuttered.
“Oh, don’t waste your energy on lying, Mikka. You’re going to need it to make sure he wants to marry you once the bruises on your neck and face surface. Not to mention that you left him to fend for himself during one of the most important times of his career. You’re his PA. You should be there.”