by Cee, DW
“I don’t know. I’m only twenty-five, Gram. I don’t want to be married soon.”
“But your heart is already with Bee. Why fight it?”
“Because I don’t want my wife supporting me. I’m still a student. It’s fine for Laney to marry as a med student since she has an all-powerful husband who makes money in his sleep, but that’s not my situation. I don’t even have a home, Gram. I’m still living with my parents, receiving an allowance, and my only worry is studying for my next exam. I don’t want the pressures of making money, at least not yet, and I don’t want the pressures of taking care of children.”
Gram ordered me to walk into Grandfather’s office, and handed me an envelope with my name on it. “This is for you. Roland was going to give this to you tonight after the meeting. I suppose it doesn’t matter who does the giving.” I opened the envelope and it contained a check in the exact amount of the maximum investment for the new building. I looked to my grandmother for an answer. “Your parents and I know money doesn’t drive you. We know of your passion for academia, and we understand that you are more likely to invent a cure for cancer, rather than tending to cancer patients. Since that’s the case, we want to create an environment where you won’t have to worry about money.”
“Gram…”
She patted me on the back and said, “Your two grandfathers and I were remiss in taking care of you when both your siblings were taken care of, handsomely. This will start you off, and if you save up the rent check you’ll be collecting, you can invest in future buildings. That should be enough of a supplemental income for you and your family to live comfortably.”
“I can’t take this, Gram.” I placed the check back in her hand.
“We all insist. If it bothers you that much, you can think of it as a loan and repay us when you’re good and settled.” I was dumbfounded. “Now that you’ll soon have an income, think a little more carefully about your future with that woman who’s lodged in your heart. Learn from Donovan and give in. You’ll be happy you did.” Gram kissed me on the cheek, and walked away.
I shook my head in disbelief, and wanted to laugh all the way to the bank.
March 17, 2014 BEE: Job
“Are you going to invest and become a slumlord times two? Damn! I picked the right woman to date. If we get married, I can stop working and live off your investment properties. If all goes well, you can be part owner of every AAP real estate venture across the US.”
“Luke. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. If I invest, I’ll be a minor, minor owner of the building. It’s only because of Donovan’s generosity that I can even consider investing.”
Luke and I were headed to Laney and Donovan’s for dinner and work. After our margarita conversation, I agreed to call Luciano, Luke, and I agreed to think about taking a few days off and enjoying the sites with him. With this new headache of taking on investors for the building, Donovan needed Luke’s help even more. Since he didn’t want to be away from his wife, he offered us dinner in exchange for Luke’s time.
“So where shall we go when this is all over?” He asked as if it was a done deal.
“First of all, I haven’t agreed. Second, I have a job to do and warehouse to fill as soon as construction is done. Last, if we go somewhere, it has to be nearby and only for a few days. I really can’t spare too many days. I’ve lost a lot of time already because of this windfall of money. Though my clothes are being produced, I’m unable to devote any large amount of time designing the next line. Between you and the new warehouse, I’m finding it difficult to concentrate.”
“I love that you can’t focus because of me. That means I’m a distraction!” This man was truly an anomaly—an excited anomaly.
“Let’s table going away for a while until I can get my head on straight.”
“You work way too much, Bee.” Luke said, while knocking on Donovan’s door. “You need a vacation, and you need one with me.”
“You’re going away, Auntie?” Donovan greeted me with a kiss and a knowing smirk.
“I’m trying to convince your auntie here to take a mini vacation with me and she’s refusing. She says she can only give me seven days.” Luke was grossly stretching the truth.
“I believe I said two, maybe three. I’m thinking now, if you’d like, you can help move all the sewing machines into the warehouse during your vacation. That will give you unfettered access to me.” I spoke seriously.
“Hi Auntie!” Laney, too, kissed me on the cheek, and then went back to the open fridge.
“Dear God! You’re not cooking tonight, are you?”
“Why? What’s wrong with her cooking?” Luke had no idea!
“I take offense to that. Just because you haven’t seen me cook, doesn’t mean I can’t.” Laney was laughing at herself while saying this.
“Um…Wife? I, too, haven’t seen you cook. Why, the beautiful French stove has asked when it might be turned on.”
My niece was not bothered at all by her husband’s snide remark. “Now why would I turn on a stove, when I can turn on something hotter?” She smacked her husband’s ass with a large grin, and Donovan pulled her in for a serious lip-locking session.
“I think it’s time to leave, Luke. Let’s go.” Comically, this man followed my order and started walking.
“Wait! Don’t go,” was what I believed Laney to say as the words were mangled with Donovan’s mouth all over hers.
“Are we eating, tonight?” My question was more like a demand.
“We are.” The two disengaged, and led us to an indoor patio.
Dinner was fun! Even with a mountain of work waiting for me back at home, I enjoyed hanging out with Donovan and Laney. Luke also added to this joyous time with his ever-humorous comments and his off-the-wall observations.
“Did I hear you talking about a vacation, Bee?” Laney was the last to finish with dinner, and was leisurely sipping her tea. “Where will you go?”
“The beach? The mountains? The city? Whatever you want, Bee. I’ll take you.” Luke was earnest in his desire to satisfy me.
“And what about my design job, the construction job, and the production job? Who will tend to those for me?”
I could see the wheels turning. We all sat silent waiting for Luke to speak.
Finally, he said, “When will construction be done?”
“They say in two to three weeks.”
“Laney? When is your spring break?”
“I believe it’s in like two to three weeks? Why, Luciano?”
“Donovan?” That’s all he had to say. My nephew took over the conversation.
“Wife? What do you say we go on vacay with these two people during your spring break?”
Laney also joined the bandwagon. “Can we go snowboarding in Utah?” Donovan shook his head no. “Surfing in Hawaii?” He was still shaking his head no. “Biking up the coast in the Ducati I’ve ridden on once?” Donovan was like a broken bobble-head that only shook side-to-side. “I give up. I think I’ll stay home, catch up on sleep, and read my textbooks to get ahead in class.”
Donovan chuckled and squeezed his wife’s hand. “Princess, when do you see the doctor again?”
“Next week.”
“If the doctor says it’s OK for you to fly, how about we make one more trip to Europe?”
“Europe?” Laney was shocked.
“Bee. You have any vendors you need to see in Europe?”
By the gotcha look on his face, he knew my answer. “Maybe,” I answered, not wanting to give in too easily.
“Luciano. I have an interesting potential client in Barcelona who keeps inviting me to come see him. I don’t know the law in Spain like you do. How about you and Bee join the little woman and me in your hometown early April? This can be a job-vacation. The firm will take care of our rooms while we are there working.”
“I say you are one brilliant man!” Luke’s face broke into a smile.
I hated being
the bearer of bad news, but I told everyone, “I have no need to be in Barcelona. The client I need to see is in Paris.”
“Then we’ll start in Barcelona, take the train through the south of France, and end up in Paris!” Luke was practically jumping up and down.
“Of course, this is all dependent upon our OB giving the green light on Laney traveling.”
“Of course…!” Luke agreed. “Once the OB gives the go-ahead, fill me in on all the details and I will prepare immediately.”
“I can’t take so much time away from my work.” I tried to complain one last time.
“Oh, but Bee. Not to worry.” Luke admonished. “This won’t be a vacation. We will all do our respective jobs while we are in Europe.” He couldn’t get rid of that silly grin the rest of the night.
March 20, 2014 NICK: Exodus
“NICK!” a voice yelled and a little body slammed into mine. “Pray?” This hilarious girl was following my cue from our last meeting and trying her damnedest to pronounce the l instead of an r.
“Sure, my little she-devil. Who can say no to you?” I picked Ellie up, and tossed her in the air. Donovan was right. I, too, loved listening to this little girl cackle in delight. There was much commotion from JR, who sped over to us on all fours. He didn’t want to miss out on the fun. “You too?” I put Ellie down and showed the same love to my youngest nephew. When he cracked-up in delight, he looked just like his siblings. All three were damn good looking.
“Hi Uncle Nick. What brings you here?”
“Hey, Emily. Hey Laney.” I greeted the two ladies sitting in the kitchen. “I came to borrow one of Jake’s medical books. Hey, Buddy.” I went over to James who was sitting on Laney’s lap, listening to his favorite Dr. Seuss book being read by his favorite person, aside from his parents.
“NICK!” Ellie’s loud voice hurt all our ears. JR, believing that was a game, yelled as loudly as he could. In order to stop the screeching, I picked up both kids and blew raspberries on them till they were hiccupping with laughter.
Emily, always the savior, came and relieved me of a child. “Do you want to stay for dinner? Jake will be home soon and Donovan just pulled up.”
“Is that OK? You have enough food?”
“I have a roast in the oven and Laney brought over a bunch of side dishes.”
“Dear God! You didn’t cook, did you?” I was not staying if Laney had made those sides.
Laney started busting up. “Bee said the exact same thing the other night when she thought I was cooking dinner for her and Luciano. My cooking isn’t that bad. I know I haven’t cooked much, but it’s passable.” She went on and on about her cooking skills when all I wanted to know was how Bee was doing and who this Luciano exactly was. “I picked up sides from our favorite little French bistro. You should stay, Nick. We have tons of food.”
I decided I wanted more information on Bee and I would get it by having dinner with my cousin.
“Nick. Feel free to hang out in Jake’s office or the library while Laney helps me put the kids down. We can eat in peace once they’re asleep.” Emily whispered the last word.
“Goodnight Munchkins.” I kissed all three several times, as Ellie kept asking for me.
“Nick! Book! Nick! Book!”
“I think she’s asking for her favorite uncle to read to her.” Emily handed her middle child over to me.
“James, you want Uncle Nick to read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish?” Laney joined in the pass-the-buck attempt.
“Yesh.” He answered. “Yesh, Unca.”
Without giving my consent, I found myself sitting on a small sofa with all three kids on my lap. “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish…” I began to read and soon found the room cleared of all adults. Damn! I was stuck here with three kids. I didn’t know how I’d get all three of them off my lap when the book was done. Somehow, I got through it, and after three rounds of the same book, I stopped. There were loud protests from all three kids.
“Emily!” I hollered and the cavalry came, none too soon.
“Thanks, Bro’.” Jake took the boys.
“Thank you, Uncle Nick.” Emily took her daughter.
I said a quick goodnight and ignored all the kiddie-calls for me.
“You escaped.” Donovan patted me on the shoulder as a welcome and handed me a beer.
“Yeah! How does one hang with three little kids all day? Emily has the toughest job out of all of us.”
“She sure does. I don’t know how my wife is going to attend med school and take care of two little ones every day.” I, too, wondered how my crazy cousin would accomplish everything.
“I’ll do it very carefully and very lovingly. Plus, we’ll have tons of help.”
Donovan shook his head and I understood his frustration. Laney was a nut!
My sister and her fiancé joined us right as we sat to dinner. Though I was the odd man out, I liked this feeling of all of us, plus spouses, gathering for a meal. This was what the Reids were all about—family.
“Jake, do you get a spring break?” Donovan asked.
“From school, but not from the hospital. Why do you ask?”
“I have some business to attend to in Barcelona and I was going to take my little woman here along with Luciano, our newest real estate lawyer, and Bee. You and the family want to join?”
Did I just hear that Bee was headed to Europe with this new guy of hers? Were they that close, already, or was she joining because she had business in Barcelona? I desperately wanted to ask. My sister caught on to my frustration.
“What’s the deal with Bee and Luciano? They looked chummy the other night when we had the meeting at your house. They’ve been seeing each other since the Clippers’ game?”
Laney and her husband deferred the answering to one another. Finally, Donovan answered. “Luciano wanted to take Bee away. Bee was hesitant. I created an opportunity for all of us to work in Europe. And here we are, going on a work-vacation. You and Max want to come with us? Your Gimpy gave us the plane.”
Jane looked disgruntled. “How come when I traveled to AAP Miami, I flew in the last row of a very crowded commercial plane, but when you fly, it’s on the private plane? What’s wrong with this picture, here? Did you wheedle all of Gimpy’s shares of the firm behind our backs?” My sister always had a skillful way of mixing humor and truth.
“You, Jane, are a barely-there partner.” Even Donovan chuckled at the statement to come. “I, Donovan, am the face of AAP. I can’t show up with my suit wrinkled and my face looking haggard.” My sister didn’t find any of that statement funny, but the rest of us did. “In actuality, Roland gave us the plane because of my little woman here. He wanted her to have every comfort, and he wanted us to have the option of stopping the flight if something went wrong. Try getting knocked-up if you want to fly on the jet.”
“I wish…” Max grumbled. I did not want to hear of his after-dark woes.
“So that’s why you want me there? To be your wife’s on-call physician?” My brother questioned.
“Nope. Pa and Ma are coming and Pa’s been secretly taking obstetrics ‘lessons’ from an old colleague, so that’s covered. The plane has six passengers out of twenty. I thought I’d invite the family.” Donovan turned my way and carefully approached. “You are welcome to join us…” He left that as open-ended as possible.
There was no damn way I was joining Bee and her new man on their relationship “honeymoon.” I’d be damned if I would stoop to that level of watching the woman who was still on my mind, laughing it up with a man who was now on her mind. I guess it was time to let go of her.
I stayed silent throughout dinner and only spoke when spoken to, by Emily mostly.
“Excuse me,” I announced when I heard my phone buzz. I didn’t care who was calling, I just needed to be out of this place.
“Hey Nick!” The most cheerful voice greeted me.
“Lily. You’re back!”
&
nbsp; “I am. I landed earlier today and have been crazed getting work wrapped up. You want to meet for dinner?”
“I’ve already had dinner, but I can watch you eat.”
“Sounds ideal,” she said sweetly. “See you in half an hour?”
“Sure. Text me where you want to meet.”
I got off the phone and decided Lily was who I would focus on, rather than Bee, who appeared to have moved on. It bothered the hell out of me that I never finished my conversation with Bee the night I gave her the birthday gifts. I wanted to try the honesty route and see if she’d let me in again. After seeing and hearing about what’s been happening in Bee’s life, this was my wake-up call.
