Past Sins Revisited

by Mary Goldberger

  “Excuse me,” Tomas stated watching Sophia settled closer to Edric and how he glanced over at Calida with a smirk. “I have a lunch appointment with Mariah.”

  Edric nodded his head as Calida said politely, “Enjoy your lunch.”

  Tomas gave her a brief glance nodding his head before he smiled at Edric and Sophia, and then turned heading out as Sophia took over the conversation.

  The server returned with their check as refilling their drinks before asking if they would like to order dessert getting a ‘no’ from both Calida and Edric although Sophia ordered a glass of white wine.

  Calida’s cell rung a few minutes later and she answered it with a small frown, “Hi Jake. Is something wrong?”

  Edric watched as her eyes began to brighten as a smile crossed her face and he stilled in his chair at the look wondering what she was being told eliciting such a response.

  “I’m going to check on an old friend of my mother’s, but then I will be home,” Calida told him glancing at the window as a frown crossed her face. “I’ll be careful although I don’t think it is going to hit us until later this evening.”

  She sighed gently but agreed as she said, “I will, Jake, so don’t worry.”

  She laughed before she said ‘goodbye’ closing her phone telling them apologetically, “Sorry for the interruption but Jake just wanted to let me know I received a phone call and that a storm is rolling through tonight.”

  “It’s just some silly storm, why get all worked up over it?” Sophia said as someone called Edric’s name from across the room getting his attention.

  “If you would excuse me,” Edric said suddenly standing up walking over to the man with Sophia following him.

  Calida sighed putting a hand to her head as she looked out the window and she frowned slightly before a cell ringing captured her attention and she glanced over noting that her lunch companion left his phone. She ignored it as it continued ringing before it stopped and she bit her lip glancing over at the phone as a childish thought crossed her mind.

  She shook her head at herself as she reached over and picked up the phone, but instead of scrolling through the contacts for her number she typed it in and her eyebrows lifted slightly at what he had listed for her. The corners of her mouth went down as she promptly deleted her contact information before returning it to its original position on the table.

  When her lunch companions returned a few minutes later, Calida told him, “Your phone rung while you were gone.”

  Edric gave her a narrowed look as he checked his phone noting that he had one missed call and he promptly hit the redial button as he told Sophia, “I have to return this call, Sophia.”

  She nodded her head and he walked away from the table not bothering to say anything to Calida. In response to his ignoring her, Calida concluded that their meal was over and she drained her drink before she stood up preparing to leave.

  “How rude to eat and run,” Sophia said with a sneer settling back down at the table picking up her wine glass.

  Calida only smiled as she said, “I have my moments.”

  With those words she headed out of the restaurant stopping briefly at the hostess desk to ask for the bill concerning her meal. “Um, ma’am, Mr. Walwyn always pays…” the hostess began and Calida only shook her head.

  “I know but as they are still eating and I have something to do, I rather just pay for my own meal if it’s not too much trouble,” Calida told her.

  The hostess nodded her head before she said, “Give me one moment please” as she went looking for their server and within minutes, Calida had paid for her portion of their lunch and left.

  Edric returned to the table a few minutes later and he raised an eyebrow as he asked Sophia, “Where did she go?”

  “I don’t know,” Sophia told him. “She merely finished her drink and left, and I even told her nicely that it was rude to eat and run.”

  Edric scowled although a satisfied look flashed in his eyes as he unlocked his phone about to call her when it rung and he answered forgetting for the moment about Calida.

  Calida pulled up to the house of her mother’s old friend and she was shocked at how unkempt the place looked unlike years before.

  She got out of the car with a frown as she strolled over to the front door and knocked after discovering the doorbell was broken.

  “Yes,” an old and scraggily voice said opening the door and Calida’s hazel eyes widened as she recognized the woman she remembered from childhood as being a smiling and happy individual.

  “Mrs.…um Nelson,” Calida said in an uncertain voice.

  “Yes, who wants to know?” The woman gave her a narrowed look after asking this and Calida bit her lip unsure if the woman would even remember her when suddenly Mrs. Nelson gasped her eyes widening.

  “Are you okay, ma’am?” Calida said worry evident in her voice.

  “You are the spitting image of her,” Marti Nelson mumbled, “even the habit of biting your own lip when uncertain about something.”

  Calida’s eyes began to smile as she asked hesitatingly, “You know who I am?”

  “Calida Reseda,” Marti answered without hesitation as she reached out and drew Calida into a hug. “I would never forget you my dear although I must admit that you have grown into your own just as beautiful as your mother.”

  Calida hugged her back but said, “Mom was beautiful, but I’m merely so-so.”

  Marti shook her head as she asked, “So you finally returned, eh, child?” waving her into the house and Calida entered looking around as a frown started on her face.

  Marti watched her closely as she closed the door behind her and she smiled gently. Just like her mother, she thought to herself as Charmaine Reseda had believed herself to be ‘so-so’ also as her daughter put it.

  “What happened, Mrs. Nelson?” Calida asked turning to look at her with a frown.

  Marti sighed as she told her, “Your brother is what happened,” making her way over to an old beaten up chair and Calida’s eyes hardened briefly.

  “Can you tell me about it?” Calida said sitting down across from her on a weathered and stained couch although Calida didn’t care, and Mrs. Nelson glanced at her briefly before she began to tell this young woman about her brother not wanting to destroy him in her eyes, but unable to lie about what he had done.

  After thirty minutes of her talking, Calida sat forward and asked her, “Would you like to come and live with me, Jake and Wilma?”

  Marti’s eyes widened as she looked around the house and said, “I don’t want to be a bother.”

  Calida smiled and said gently, “You won’t be a bother and I don’t like the fact that you live here alone without anyone taking care of you.”

  “Are you sure?” Marti asked slowly tears coming to her eyes and Calida nodding her head as she slid to her knees taking a wrinkled hand in her own.

  “We are staying in a friend’s house for the moment but if you would like to move in with us then you are more than welcomed,” Calida told her as she glanced around the room. “As for the house, we can help you pack up so you can bring…”

  Marti shook her head as she told Calida, “There are only a few things that I want to take with me so…”

  Calida nodded her head and asked, “I can help you pack up tonight and call Jake to see if he will pick you up. You own this house, right, Mrs. Nelson?”

  “I did,” she said slowly, “but my son mortgaged it to get money for his gambling debts and I was already warned that if I don’t come up with the next mortgage payment the bank would foreclose on it.”

  Calida nodded her head as she thought about that. “Maybe we could do something so you can recoup some of your losses,” Calida told her as she pulled out her cell and called Jake.

  Within half an hour, Jake and Wilma were at the house helping them to clean and pack up anything Mrs. Nelson wanted to take with her.

  “You have lived here for so long,” Wilma said as they began loading the car a
s the sky darkened. “How can you leave without even thinking about it?”

  Marti looked back at the house as Calida closed the door making sure it was locked behind her and said, “Easy because I have never been happy in this house.”

  Wilma nodded her head putting a hand on her arm as Calida said, “So are you set, Mrs. Nelson, anything else we need to do or did we forget anything?”

  “No sweetie,” Marti told her before she chuckled. “Please stop calling me Mrs. Nelson. My name is Marti.”

  Calida glanced at her for a second before she smiled and said, “Okay Aunt Marti.”

  Jake and Wilma laughed as Marti shook her head tapping Calida on the forehead with her index finger. “Overly wise are we now?”

  Calida only laughed as she said glancing up at the clouds as began to drizzle, “Let’s go home so we can get Aunt Marti settled in for the evening.”

  Edric was tired as he walked in his house late that evening and Tomas asked, “So how did your lunch go?”

  “Better than I expected,” he told him with a smug look. “She left early as I hoped after Sophia joined us and I will wait a few days before I call to apologize for my rudeness this afternoon.”

  Tomas shook his head as he followed Edric into the living room as he asked, “So how did lunch with Mariah go?”

  Tomas gave him a roguish grin before he said, “It was a very nice lunch and we even got some work done too.”

  Edric laughed as he walked over to the mini refrigerator he had in the bar and pulled out a bottle beer before walking over to the couch to settle down. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out his wallet putting it on the table as the receipt from the restaurant fell to the floor and Tomas chuckled about to ask about their target when his eyes scanned the receipt as he picked it up.

  “I thought Calida ate lunch with you,” Tomas said a frown on his face as he looked over the receipt.

  “She did,” Edric said closing his eyes and running a hand through his hair.

  “Not according to this receipt,” Tomas told him watching as Edric’s eyes snapped open before he straightened on the couch. “According to the receipt, you only paid for one meal with your own tea and a glass of white wine.”

  Edric reached out and grabbed the receipt from Tomas’s hand before he scowled digging his cell out of his pocket and calling the restaurant asking to speak to their server.

  Tomas watched as his friend’s face hardened while he listened to what he was being told and he hung up with a snarl throwing the phone on the table.

  “Before leaving, she paid for her own meal,” Edric said after a few minutes his voice too controlled and Tomas flinched although he had to admit that was a first time a woman did something like that when Edric took them out to eat.

  “So what is the next step?” Tomas asked as Ric sat there thoughtfully for a second before he stretched forward and grabbed his phone.

  “I guess an earlier call is needed,” he said with a slight curl of his lip as he went through his contact list and Tomas watched as his green eyes narrowed to slits.

  “She deleted her damn contact information,” he snarled a few seconds later after going through his contact list three times. “She didn’t answer my phone when I got a call but she goes through it to delete her information, what kind of woman does that?”

  Edric stared unseeing at the wall in front of him as Tomas wondered the exact the same thing, what kind of woman did something like that and he could only come up with one answer; one who didn’t want to be bothered.

  “Ric, I think it is going to be harder than you originally thought,” he told him slowly, and Edric nodded his head a new light in his eye.

  “I so do love a challenge though,” Edric uttered as slow wicked grin went across his face and Tomas shook his head although in the back of his mind he wondered if maybe, just maybe, Edric was going into something he wasn’t prepared for no matter what he believed.

  Chapter 3

  The following two days, Calida and the others got ready to move into their new home while Calida looked for a job although it was harder than she thought it would be even with her experience.

  After a long morning unable to find a job, Calida returned back to the house they were renting Wilma meeting her in the living room.

  “No luck today, sweetheart,” Wilma asked as Marti came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a dishtowel.

  “Not today,” Calida said wearily as she plopped down onto the couch.

  “Well, we are moving tomorrow so it will give you a break,” Jake informed her as he came into the living room getting a smile from Calida.

  “Calida,” Wilma began only to be interrupted as the phone rang and she grimaced as she answered it. “Hello.”

  Her eyes narrowed briefly turning to Calida before she said, “One moment, please” before walking over to Calida who glanced up with a slight frown.

  “Edric would like to talk to you,” Wilma told her quietly watching as surprise flashed across her face even though she reached out for the phone.

  “Hello, Mr. Walwyn, what do I owe this unexpected call,” she said bluntly as she put the phone to her ear.

  “You could give me your number again that you erased,” Edric stated just as bluntly leaning back in his chair as he held the phone loosely in his hand.

  “You took me to lunch,” Calida responded back eyes closing as she leaned her back against the couch, “I don’t believe we have anything else to discuss but thank you for a pleasant lunch.”

  “Was it a pleasant lunch?” He asked unaware of the skeptical look that crossed his face.

  Calida sighed before she told him truthfully, “I found it be because honestly, it is the first time that I sat down with a man who wasn’t related to me to eat a meal. During school, I was too busy studying and then afterwards, I was too busy working so dating never was a priority for me. For that, I thank you.”

  “On a true date, the man pays,” Edric told her as Mariah walked into the office and he smiled holding out his hand for the files he asked for a few minutes ago.

  Calida opened her eyes staring at the ceiling as she said thoughtfully, “What do you want with me, Mr. Walwyn because I don’t believe the story you told me about eating lunch with a pretty woman. Your friend Sophia is definitely more beautiful and willing to accompany you anywhere so why do you want to go to dinner with me?”

  Edric’s green eyes narrowed as he said slowly, “Simply because I want to, Miss Reseda. Do I need a reason to ask a woman out on a dinner date?”

  Calida straightened up on the couch unaware of the sharp glances that she was receiving as she said in exasperation, “Dinner this evening which I will allow you to pay for and then we will call it quits. We will meet at the same restaurant as before around eight -thirty.”

  Edric nodded his head mentally applauding how easy that was as he opened the file Mariah gave him only to still at her next words

  “Oh, one thing though,” Calida stated as she pushed herself up from the couch,

  Edric scowled his jaw clenching as she told him, “As a business man, and a damn good one if I’m not mistaken, you probably have hundred and one things going on at once so if you can’t make it tonight, then I suggest we leave it alone. You have more things to do then deal with me.”

  Edric asked in shock, ‘Is that all, Calida?”

  “Yes,” Calida replied. “So I’ll see you at eight-thirty…or not.”

  Edric stared at the phone in astonishment as the dial tone filled his ear and he snapped the phone closed as Tomas walked into the office after talking with Mariah.

  “Ric,” Tomas said walking over to the desk. “Did you call Calida for another attempt?”

  Edric was still staring at his phone as he answered him. “We did, unfortunately this time she added a condition.”

  Tomas scowled as Edric shifted his eyes to him telling in a determined voice, “We have a meeting to attend and a sit down with a client afterwards. Hopefully we won’t ha
ve a problem and I can meet her at eight-thirty.”

  Tomas nodded his head as he sat down on the couch watching the coil tension in Edric’s stride as he walked over to join him with the files in his hands as Mariah entered the room with her notepad settling down on the couch next to Tomas who was conscious of the light scent of perfume she was wearing as Edric stated, “Now let’s get to work before our meeting.”

  Calida hung up the phone as she told her curious companions, “It seems that I have another date tonight with Edric Walwyn.”

  “We heard,” Marti said as Wilma and Jake shared a frown before Wilma asked, “What happened about lunch?”

  Calida winced as she admitted, “I think he got a little upset when he learned that I paid for my own meal.”

  Wilma and Marti shook their heads as Jake groaned, “Calida, honey, a true man wants to pay for the woman that he asked out on a date.”

  “But…” Calida began only to be quieted as Wilma grabbed her by the arm.

  “Let’s go find you something to wear,” she told her marching her to the room as Marti followed. “I just hope that we didn’t pack any of your nice outfits.”

  This last part was muttered and yet Calida caught it as she and Marti shared a smile before they entered Calida’s room.

  After Wilma and Marti helped her to pick out an outfit, they left her to take a shower and get dressed for her date that evening.

  As she stood under the spray, she lifted her head to the water thinking the last stop she made before she came back to the house that day.

  She put both hands on the tile wall as she leaned forward her hair falling around her face thinking about her visit as tears slipped down her cheeks.

  Twenty minutes before going home, Calida pulled up to an overgrown area that had once been a park but hadn’t been properly maintained, and she got out of the car slowly her eyes dim with memories.

  She walked over slowly to a secluded spot and she squatted down placing a hand flat on the wet soil in front of her.

  “It’s almost done,” she said quietly as the wind blew softly. “I hope that after it is done then you and your family finally can be at peace for what my family has done to you.”