by Unknown
Collin quickly took the pills and gulped down the water, then ran his fingers through his hair.
“You know she’s absolutely right.” John sat in the chair in front of his desk. “You really fucked it up this time and now you’ve got to buck the fuck up, admit your mistakes and find her before she’s gone completely out of your life. “
Looking over at his friend while he rubbed his forehead to try and get rid of the headache, Collin knew he had to find some way to set things right with Regina.
* * * *
When Regina got home from Linda’s, she decided to take a shower. Afterward she took an aspirin to calm the pain in her head from all the turmoil she went through that day. The phone rang and when she looked at the caller I.D., she saw Collin’s number come up. She let the answering machine pick it up instead. “Hi, you’ve reached Regina’s phone. If you’re getting this message, then you know I’m not here, but leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you.”
“Regina, it’s me Collin. Listen, I know you’re not in the mood to talk and I don’t blame you. I will call back in about a week, even though I honestly don’t think I can wait that long. I want to talk with you right now but we are both too emotional. But I want you to know that I never wanted to hurt you Gina baby, I wanted to love you and let you love me as well. The days we were together, you made me the happiest in my life to have someone like you in it. I don’t want to lose that and I don’t want to lose you either sweetheart. I’ll let you go for now, but in one week, we have to talk. Just let me know when and what time and we can meet.” And then it got quiet for a moment as she heard him trying to say something. Finally, he was able to say it. “I love you Regina, goodbye.”
Her heart and head felt so light when she heard him say he loved her. But she had to get out of town for a while, to clear her head. Getting up, she went to get her purse and got out his mother’s number. She was the closet example to a mother Regina could trust and she needed some motherly advice. Mrs. Ramona was another option, but a trip to the park held too many memories. Grabbing the phone, she went over to the couch again and sat down before she decided to dial. Taking a deep breath, she waited while the phone rang. After the third ring a male voice answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Yes, is Alannah there please?”
“May I ask whose calling?”
“It’s me, Regina.”
“Why hello there Regina, it’s me Mackenzie, let me give her the phone, all right.” There was a pause and then she could hear him saying it was her on the phone and soon Alannah’s voice came on the line. “Why hello my dearie, I didn’t think you was going to be calling on me so soon but I’m glad that you did. How are you doing Gina me darling girl and how’s my darling boy?”
Trying to keep herself composed, Regina took a deep breath but before she could say a word, she let out a harrowing cry and started sobbing heavily.
“Child what’s wrong, has anything happened to Collin?”
“No ma’am, nothing has happened to Collin. Alannah, I don’t know what to do but I’ve got to get out of this town for a while and get away from him. I found out he basically used me for some stupid office bet. I don’t know if he has tried to call you or not but don’t tell him I called you please,” Regina pleaded while she tried to control her crying.
“Now darling, I want you to dry your eyes and listen to me. Once you’ve gotten yourself a good sleep, I want you to come back here and stay with us for a while. I know that you might think you don’t have a place to go, but you do dearie. Even though my son may be an arse right now, you need some family around you to help support you and I won’t take no for an answer, I want you here tomorrow. Do you remember the way to get here, if not I can give you the address?”
She had to laugh a little as she wiped her eyes for this virtual stranger was offering the motherly love that she was missing from her own mother, something that she had really needed now. “As much as I appreciate the offer, I have to decline. I must get away from this place and him and anything associated with him. If I was to come there, being around you all, it would be just like being there with him. I just wanted to let you know of my plans and that I will keep in touch with you,” Regina assured her as she heard the doorbell ring. “I’ve got to go, I have some company coming over, take care Alannah. I promise you I will call once I get to where I’m going.”
“All right dearie, I understand completely, but please call me when you can. Goodbye.”
When Regina opened the door, Maxine was waiting there with submarine sandwiches and a smile.
“You read my mind and I’m starving.” Walking over to the couch, Maxine handed her a sandwich. She started to take the paper off before taking a bite. “So, was everybody talking about what happened today?”
Maxine looked at her and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, word got around pretty quick. Word is Collin stayed in his office for the rest of the day and no one went in there except for his secretary and John. And when he did come out, they said he looked like he had been crying.”
“Do you know Linda told me that she’s known about the party for years and has gone to them anyway? She said she thought I knew about the parties. I was so completely floored with her I didn’t know what to do.”
Maxine shook her head in disgust. “That’s insane, I can’t believe she would participate in something like that and think that you would know about it. She should’ve warned you about the entire thing when Collin started sniffing around you. So what are you going to do now?”
“I’ve got to find some place to go for a while. I called Mrs. Noonan and talked with her just now. She told me that I was coming over there to stay for a while but I told her no I couldn’t do that. I’m not going back to work. I don’t think I can handle being in the same building as he is right now. I just need to regroup and think about what I plan on doing next. You know he called me, told me he wanted to talk with me in about a week. I’m just hoping that by then I’ll figure something out. I’ll keep in touch with you of course, but please don’t tell anybody where I’m at, especially him.”
Maxine nodded. “Oh you know I won’t say a word to anybody about where you are.”
Smiling a bit, she gave her friend a hug. “Thanks Max.”
* * * *
Collin was at home, nursing his third glass of scotch that evening. His mind was buzzing with thoughts of Regina and how sad she looked today and how stupid he was to make her so sad. Hearing the phone, he raced to get it thinking she was calling. “Hello?”
“Hello brother, you really fucked it up this time didn’t you?” said Randall.
“Who told you man?”
“Mom, she called me furious as hell. She got a call from Gina, who was crying her eyes out. She would have called you herself, but she was too upset after hearing Gina crying. Yeah, she’s really pissed off at you man. I haven’t heard her saying half the stuff she said over the phone since that time Kendrick got arrested for spray painting some cars when he was sixteen. How in the hell did Regina find out?”
“Some woman that I had slept with got mad because I didn’t get with her again. So she went and told Regina today at lunch. Man, Randall, I fucked up big time. But I plan on getting her back. I love her too much to let her go,” Collin told his brother as his eyes started to grow heavier. “Did mom tell you if she said anything else to her about anything?”
“No, she tried to invite her over to stay at the house but Regina told her no, said she was going somewhere and that she would call her,” Randall told him. “Listen bro, have you tried to talk with her since you last saw her?”
“I left her a message, told her that I would leave her alone for a week and that I wanted us to talk then. I just hope she will want to talk with me.”
“Maybe if you guys just collect your thoughts while you’re apart, once you get together maybe things will be better.”
“I hope so too, but all I can do is just wait and see,” Collin said while taking a sip of his
scotch.
* * * *
Regina was looking online for someplace to get away to before she went to bed. After a couple of hours of searching, she found a perfect spot; a little bed and breakfast place by Myers Lake called Cella’s B&B. She dialed the number and hoped someone answered. After the fourth ring, a male voice said, “Cella’s, how may I help you this evening?”
“Yes sir, I was wondering if you had a room available, I wanted to reserve one for a week.”
“Yes ma’am, I do have a room free, the nicest room we have. We don’t have very many people out here this month so it’s really quiet right now. When would you like to come down?”
“Tomorrow will be just fine.”
The next morning, Regina was thankful she had gotten directions off the Internet because the directions the owner, Mr. Warren gave her would have sent her in circles. All she wanted was to take a long hot bath and relax in it until the water got too cold for her to bear. Up ahead, she saw a sign that said, ‘Cella’s B&B turn left’ and turn left she did. In the clearing she saw a big white Victorian house with a wraparound porch. There were only three cars parked in front as she pulled up to the house. Turning the engine off and getting out, Regina was greeted by an older lady with grey hair and a smile on her face. She was simply adorable in her floral floppy hat and some dirty overalls. “Why hello there, you must be Ms. Talbot?”
“Yes ma’am, I am,” Regina said with a smile as the lady came up to her while taking off her gloves to shake her hand.
“I’m Bertha Warren, you talked with my husband, Jeff, last night, let me help you with your bags and get you to your room.”
They got her things out of the trunk and walked up the steps onto the porch. Regina followed the lady to a screen door that opened up to another door that had a number four on it. “I hope you like this room, I know you wanted a quiet stay here and this room here is our most private.”
When she opened the door and Regina walked inside, the space reminded her of when she was a little girl visiting her grandmother’s house. The four post cherry wood bed had a beautiful white comforter with blue flowers all over and a handmade quilt was nicely tucked at the foot of the bed. Little pictures and figurines cluttered the mantle over the small fireplace with a rocking chair in front of it. Flowers in vases were in every corner of the room, making the room smell wonderful.
“There is a door that leads out to another smaller porch that is more private, we usually serve breakfast, lunch and dinner in here. There is also a path that goes out to the lake, which is really nice during the day for a swim as well as at night when the moon is out. Would you like me to bring you anything to eat Ms. Talbot?”
“Yes, can you bring me some tea and just something to snack on if you have anything?” Regina asked as she picked up her bag and put it on the bed.
“Will do dear and you can put your clothes in the dresser drawers instead of keeping them in your suitcase while you’re here. Just make yourself at home Ms. Talbot and we will take care of the rest,” Bertha told her with a smile as she walked out of the room.
Going over to the dresser, she opened it up and the distinctive smell of lavender hit her senses. She saw a lace satchel in the corner of the drawer and smiled as she started to put her things in. Once she was done, she went out to the private porch and looked out onto the lake. “How beautiful,” she said to herself, finally feeling a sense of calm as she watched a flock of geese make a smooth landing on the water.
“Ms. Talbot, I didn’t know if you liked lemon poppy seed cake, I made some the other day, luckily the hubby didn’t eat it all up. I brought you two slices along with some of my lavender honey. Just so you know we will be having lunch around noon,” Bertha told her while bringing in a tray with a beautiful tea set and two slices of cake.
“Thank you Bertha, I’ll probably take myself a bath, you have a really lovely place here. I wish I had known of this place years ago,” Regina said with a smile.
“Well now that you know, you are more than welcome to come back anytime.”
After pouring herself some tea, she used the wand from the cute little honey jar to drizzle some of it into her cup and stirred slowly. She walked to the bathroom, blowing at the steam before sipping and had to admit the honey made the tea taste really good. She couldn’t believe that the bathroom had one of those old fashioned claw-footed bathtubs as she put the little stopper in while she turned on the hot and cold. Going back to the dresser, she grabbed her cosmetic bag to get her bath gel, bath salts and loofa sponge. Locking the door, she went and got a chair and brought it into the bathroom. Pouring some of the bathing salts into the tub, the aroma of vanilla hit her nose while she went back in her room and grabbed the tray.
Regina rested in the hot water while sipping her tea. The cake was moist and delicious as she closed her eyes, relishing the moment and putting the cup back onto the tray and slowly submerged herself into the water and coming back up for air. Wiping her eyes, she thought about Collin and when he was trying to explain about the party. She just couldn’t understand why this was all happening and why he lied to her like he did for some stupid ass bet. She thought about yesterday and how angry she had been at him as well as that stupid bitch Carol. Grabbing her loofa and the gel, she poured some on and started to scrub herself as thoughts of how wonderful her life had been with Collin up until that day flooded her mind. She tried not to cry as she scrubbed but eventually the emotions came through as she stopped scrubbing and continued crying in the tub.
* * * *
Collin was coming off of an all-night drinking binge when he made it over to Randall’s apartment that morning. Immediately, Randall dragged him into the kitchen and poured strong black coffee down him. Randall made it clear he was taking him back home for some much needed rest and a good talking to by their parents.
“Come in boy,” Randy told Collin as he made his way inside.
When Collin walked into his parent’s home, both Bobby and Mackenzie stood up. He wasn’t about to complain because he knew he was totally in the wrong. He deserved their glares of disappointment. Bobby was shaking his head when his mother came in. Collin saw her and the disappointment written all over her lovely face.
“Why did you do it son? That girl loved you and you made her look like a fool.”
He didn’t say a word at first, just rubbed his blood shot eyes before laying his head against the couch and sighing deeply.
“I’ll talk to you later, love you Momma,” Randall said as he left the house.
He felt his mother sit down next to him. Looking over at her, he saw the hurt in her eyes. At the moment, he couldn’t hold it in any longer. He started crying. Collin didn’t care what his family thought as he continued to sob and his mother quickly took him in her arms. “I’m so sorry momma, I’m so sorry for making you angry with me.” He never wanted to upset his mom and the look in her eyes told him that he did by his actions.
“There now me Collin, I don’t know what got into you for doing such a stupid thing but I hope that you’ve learned your lesson. I want you to go and take yourself a shower and we will talk. Now go on and put your things in the guest room,” Alannah told him as she pushed him up. He grabbed his bag and Bobby put his arm around his waist, helping him down the hallway.
After taking a very long shower, Collin’s senses were finally coming back to him as he got dressed and went back into the living room. He found his brothers and father were gone but his mother had made him more coffee.
“Come son, I told everybody to leave out because we are going to talk outside in the garden.” They walked outside where Collin noticed his mother had made a lot of improvements on her private haven.
Her garden was something she had always wanted and her boys made sure that what their mother wanted she got. She would come out with her morning or afternoon tea and either do some reading or crochet. Sometimes she would do some weeding and trimming of her flowers to make sure that things were kept tidy and neat. They wen
t over to a small table and sat down. She sipped her tea before setting it aside to stare at him. “Now I want you to tell me what happened that day and I want to know everything.”
“You sure you want to know everything?” Collin asked her.
“Not the gritty stuff son, just the basic things, like how she found out and what was said and things like that.”
Collin took a deep breath and another sip of coffee before he put it down and started to talk. “I had just come from a meeting, when Gina, this woman named Carol—who I had a one night stand with—and their friends barged into my office. Gina asked me point blank why I invited her to lunch that first day. Honestly, I couldn’t lie to her because if I did, from the look on Carol’s face, she would’ve said I was a liar, and really I already was one. So I told Gina, it was because of a bet. I went on to tell her everything about the party but I also told her once I got to know her, that my feelings for her were different. But that didn’t matter to her—even after everything we shared—because I still went through with the party for a stupid fucking bet.”
Collin looked over at his mother and noticed how red her face was getting as she stared at him with eyes so cold and disheartened he wished he never bothered telling her the truth. But he had never lied to his mother before because she was one of the most important woman in his life and he wasn’t about to start now. It seemed the more Collin talked the more red she got and her lips had thinned out to a line. Before he realized what was happening, Collin saw her hand go up and swing toward the back of his head, making contact with a loud smack.
