Ms. Lucy turned and walked back to the SUV. “Nothing for you to worry your little head about. Come on. I’ll give you a ride back to the house before you blow yourself up and me along with you.” Once they were inside the SUV, Ms. Lucy pushed another button. The woods lit up again, and then seconds later the lights dimmed. She turned to look at Commando, who was lying on the back seat. Diamond knew not to ignore his actions again.
“It’s good to be in your company when you’re not full of tears. Glad something brought you back to life.”
Diamond dropped her head, then turned back to the view of the water and sighed. “Love hurts. It’s not supposed to be that way.”
“Well now, that depends on the stage of love you are in.”
Diamond turned to Ms. Lucy. “There are no stages of love. You either love someone or you don’t. In my case, I love him, he don’t.”
“How do you know he don’t?” Diamond began to reply, but Ms. Lucy waved her off. “Don’t answer that, just listen. You are young. This is probably the first time you’ve ever been in love. Now, it could be that this Zack person isn’t the one you are supposed to love all your life. He may just be the one to teach you about love. Or he very well could be the one. Only time will tell. Either way, this thing that’s going on with you and him will only make you stronger. If it’s him you supposed to be with, this will help the two of you to appreciate what you have and not take it for granted. If he ain’t the one, then this will teach you what not to do or look for in the one that’s waiting for you.” She pulled up into the six car garage. “Now listen to me. You take whatever time you need to moan through what you think you have lost. Then you get yourself together, get back on the horse and find the man you are supposed to be with. If it’s him, God will make a way for you to be together. You do believe in God don’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Then stop wasting life worried over something you can’t do anything about. Live and let God.” She said as she got out of the vehicle. “You either accept what he told you happened or let him go.”
“He didn’t tell me what happened.”
Ms. Lucy stopped and looked at her before entering the house. “Well why the hell not?”
“I was so hurt; I just left and came here.” Diamond said as she walked right into Ms. Lucy. She stepped back and saw the incredulous look on Ms. Lucy’s face.
“You mean to tell me you haven’t given the boy an opportunity to explain whatever happened?”
Diamond frowned, “No.”
“You been here crying for two days and you don’t even know what you are crying for?” Lucy turned to walk into the house. “Now girl, that’s just dumb. I never took you for a dumb one. Thought you had better stock than that.” She fussed as she pulled the covering off of homemade vegetable soup she had made. “Nope, never took you for a quitter either.” She said as she pulled the bread from the oven. “Sit down and eat.” She demanded as she continued to scold Diamond. “I know your mother did not teach you to run from your troubles. I know the kind of men she raised and I can’t believe her daughters weren’t taught to fight for what they wanted instead of tucking your tail and running away.”
Diamond looked at Commando who lay down in the corner of the kitchen and placed both paws over his ears. She almost burst out laughing as a chuckle escaped. Lucy looked over at Commando, then at Diamond. “He thinks he is a comedian.” She smiled at Diamond as she placed a bowl of soup and hot biscuits in front of her. “Tell me about this Zackary and I’ll tell you if he is worth all these tears you’ve shed for the last two days.”
L
The guilt riding him was more than he could take. Wednesday morning, Zack decided it was time for him to face the music so to speak. Without knowing where Diamond was he couldn’t apologize to her for what she thought happened, but he could certainly alleviate the guilt. Getting out of his truck a strange feeling came over him, the same one he’d had when he got in at the house. It was as if something was missing, or out of place. He just chalked it up to the thought of losing Diamond. It was just strange to have the feeling occur again, he thought as he knocked on the front door of the Lassiter’s home. There was no answer. He looked at his watch. It was a little after nine, so he knocked again.
“Good morning Zackary,” Sally said from the side yard of the house. She stood there with plants in her hand, in a pair of cutoff jeans and a t-shirt. She could have been easily mistaken for one of her daughters. “You must have a death wish.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t knock on that door again if I were you.”
“Good morning Mrs. Lassiter,” Zack stepped down from the front porch and walked around the house to where she stood. “I was looking for your husband.”
Sally laughed, “No you’re not Zackary. Joe is the last person you want to see.” She tilted her head to the side, “But I see the boys have already paid you a visit.”
Zack touched his eye that Samuel had blackened. “Yes ma’am they did.”
“You look about as sad as Diamond.” She turned toward the back yard. “Come on back. I’ll fix you a cup of coffee, while you cry your heart out to me.”
He followed her through the side gate into the back yard. There was a flower garden on the left side of the yard, in the middle was a brick walk way leading to a huge gazebo in the back end of the yard. To the right was a large vegetable garden, with tomatoes ripe on the vine. Near the back of the house was a screened in porch with wicker furniture spread from one end to the next in various positions. He pointed to the gazebo as they entered the screened in porch. “I don’t remember that being there.”
“You haven’t been here since you were in high school. Sammy had that built a few years back.” She sat the plant in her hand on the table, and removed her gardening gloves. “Have a seat; I’ll get us some coffee.”
Zack enjoyed the tranquility of the yard. It was the first time in days he felt as if he could breathe. The last three days he felt lost, trapped, unable to think clearly. Here, he didn’t feel like hitting anything, or lashing out, he felt content.
Sally walked back out to the porch with a tray containing a pitcher of coffee and two cups with a variety of Danish tarts. Zack stood and took the tray from her. “Thank you Zack.”
He sat the tray on the table as she took a seat. Sitting back down he said, “I can’t believe how relaxed I feel here.”
She smiled, “Well, enjoy the feeling. As soon as Joe wakes up that contentment will disappear, I promise you.”
“He’s that upset with me?”
“On yeah,” she replied as she poured him a cup of coffee. “It’s difficult not to be upset with the man that caused his daughter to crawl up in his lap the way she hasn’t done in years and cry her heart out.” She passed him a saucer with an apple, cherry and pineapple danish on it. “For that daughter to be Diamond,” she tilted her head, “that just made it harder.”
Zack picked up the coffee and sipped. “It was not intentional, nor was it what Diamond thinks she saw.”
“She didn’t see you at the restaurant with another woman, after you were about to make love to her in Roz’s office?”
“Yes and no.” He replied, he sat the cup down. Shaking his head, “I’ve been wasting time. For months I’ve been running away from Diamond and just when I realize I love her, she’s now running away from me.”
“If you love her, why were you out with another woman?”
“The woman was my ex-fiancé. She was here with her daughter claiming the child might be mine. I know she’s not, but I had a DNA test done to make that a legal confirmation, not an assumption. We stopped at the restaurant to have dinner afterwards, and Diamond was there with another man.” He shook his head, “I was blinded with the thought of her being with someone else. As with any time Diamond and I are in the same room, emotions exploded. One thing led to another and within seconds thoughts of Celeste and Chanté just slipped my mind. Diamond consumed my every thought.”
“That’s wh
en Cynthia interrupted you?”
“Yes. I won’t lie to you Mrs. Lassiter, if Cynthia had not walked into that office I would have made love to your daughter right then and there. It didn’t matter where we were.”
“So,” she sat back in her chair. “How are you going to fix this?”
“First, I’m going to apologize to you and Mr. Lassiter for causing this type of distress on your family. Then I’m going to wait until Diamond comes home. I’m going to explain to her what happened and then I’m going to beg her forgiveness for being so stupid all these months.”
“What if she doesn’t come home?”
“She’ll come home,” he replied as he picked up an apple danish.
“How do you know?”
“Because she loves me, and I believe deep down she knows I love her too.” He looked at Sally, “Why aren’t you mad at me like your husband?”
Sally shrugged her shoulder as she picked up her cup. “Because I know you love her and she loves you. That by itself is enough to get you through this little misunderstanding.”
Joe walked out onto the porch. Zack immediately stood. “Sit down Zack, I’m too tired to kill you today.” He kissed his wife, then pulled out a chair. He was only into two hours of sleep, from working the midnight shift at the post office when his wife woke him up to tell him Zack was downstairs. His legs were so long, they touched Zack’s who was sitting at the far end of the table. “Any man that has sex in public with my daughters’ damn well better be ready to marry them. You ready to marry Diamond?”
Zack wasn’t a man to be easily intimidated. Neither Joe’s size nor his many sons were going to force him to do something he didn’t want to do. “Yes sir, I am.” He pulled out a blue velvet box and placed it on the table. “As soon as you accept my apology and give me your permission to marry her.”
L
The visit with Joe and Sally went better than he expected. Zack was sure Joe was going to injure him for hurting his daughter, but he didn’t. They took a walk and talked about Diamond and their future, but neither of them revealed where she was. “You just have to wait until she is ready to come back to you Zack” Joe said. “Once she comes back, she’ll be back for good.”
There was no choice but to trust that they knew what they were talking about. Pulling into the garage at the building, the eerie feeling consumed him again. Getting out, he looked around the truck, but nothing seemed to be out of place. Locking the truck, he strolled inside to the lobby. There he saw LaFonde manning the receptionist desk. “Everything good here?” he asked her.
“No, things are a little out of order. But it gets that way when two principle parties are missing from the boardroom. Diamond is MIA, nowhere to be found, Xavier is trying to cover things, Julia is out on maternity leave, and you…well I don’t know what’s going on with you. That leaves Charles in charge and you know how anal he can be.”
“Why are you at the receptionist desk?”
“With Diamond gone, Charles doesn’t feel that I have anything to do. So he released the temp we had working the front desk and placed me here.”
“Xavier let him?” he asked, confused with the turn of events.
“Xavier hasn’t been here. He’s been handling Diamond’s appointments at the Tower.”
“Who’s at the model home?”
“I have no idea.”
“Call Terry from the mail room to handle the front desk, then meet me in my office.” He walked towards the elevator.
“Have you talked to her?” LaFonde asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No.” he said as he boarded the elevator.
“Well why the hell not?” he heard her yell.
JoEllen met him as she stepped off the elevator. “It doesn’t look so bad,” she said as she looked at his eye. “I would have done worse.”
“Thanks for the warm welcome JoEllen. What in the hell is going on around here?”
“You tell me,” JoEllen replied as she followed him into his office. “For some reason with you and Xavier gone, Charles believes he is in charge. He’s even threatened to withhold paychecks if people did not comply with his wishes.”
“Get him on the phone.” He said as he sat behind his desk. “Before you go, has Doctor Rhymes called?”
“No,” she replied from the doorway.
“Get him on the phone first, then call Charles.”
“Celeste Blanchard has called several times. Would you like for me to return her call also?”
“Not until after I speak with Rhymes.” He pulled his cell phone out as she walked out of the office. “X-man, where are you?”
The voice on the phone sounded like his brother had returned back to his senses. “At the tower. Diamond had back to back showings scheduled this week.”
“Who’s handling the model?”
“A friend,” Xavier replied smiling.
“Did you give Charles authority to move resources and or personnel?”
“Of course not. Charles can be a bit anal at times.”
“So I’ve been told. Do we need to send LaFonde to the model until Diamond returns?”
“Did you talk to Diamond?,” the anxiousness was clear in his voice.
“No.”
The enthusiasm dropped. “Zack you have to get her back. These people are asking for her. Three of them said they will return to sign contracts as soon as Diamond returns. This is clearly not my area of expertise. I design things, I don’t sell them. We need her back!”
“No more than I do,” Zack replied. “I’m working on it X-man, I’m working on it. What about LaFonde?” he asked as he motioned her into his office.
“Yes, we can reassign her, for now. But we need Diamond.”
“I hear you.” He disconnected the call. “LaFonde, you will be taking over the model until Diamond returns. Then you will resume your normal duties. There will be a bonus in your paycheck for the reassignment.”
“Did you clear that with Charles?”
“I don’t have to clear anything with Charles.”
“I beg to differ, Zackary,” Charles stated as he walked into the office. “With Xavier temporarily out of the office, as Chief Financial Officer, that leaves me to make decisions around here.”
Zack raised an eyebrow when Charles took a seat without being asked. “That will be all LaFonde.” She left without saying another word.
JoEllen stepped in, “Dr. Rhymes is on line one.” She then closed the office door.
He picked up the phone. “Dr. Rhymes are those results in?”
“Yes, you are not the father. Would you like for my office to contact the other party?”
“No. I’ll handle that. Would you send that paper work over by secure carrier?”
“Will do.”
Zack hung up the telephone, then glared at Charles. “The name of this company is Davenport Industries. The last time I checked your last name wasn’t Davenport.”
“Now look here Zack. You’re line of control ends at the site. Here in the office it’s Xavier. I’m next in line.”
“Would you like to be next in the unemployment line?”
“I have a contract Zack. You may have been the man in high school, but here in the business world, my word is gold. That’s why Xavier hired me.”
Zack had to take a minute to compose himself. When did Charles become a cocky son of a bitch? He was sitting in the chair in front of Zack’s desk with his legs crossed like he was really in control. Zack stood, walked around to the front of his desk, crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at Charles. “Did I miss something?”
Charles stood, pretended to knock a piece of lint off his lapel. “You haven’t yet…but you will soon,” he grinned as he walked to the door. “You will soon.”
Puzzled by Charles’ behavior, Zack pulled out his cell to dial Reese. “You have any idea what’s up with Charles?”
“I planned to call you to ask you the same question. He released me from my security duties yesterday. He
said it was financially feasible to have security on site now that most of the homes were sold.”
“What?” Zack put his hand over the phone. “JoEllen, get Julia on the phone now!”
“What’s going on Zack?”
“I have no idea. But I just had the weirdest conversation with Charles.”
“Julia on line two, Zack,” JoEllen stated as she walked into the office.
“Hold on Reese, I’m putting you on speaker. Julia you there?”
“I’m here and it’s already been handled.”
“What’s been handled?”
“A month or two ago I received a call from one of the trustees at the bank. He suspected some transactions had not been approved by Davenport Board of Directors because they came with only one signature.”
“Charles?” Reese inquired.
“Right. I advised him to proceed as if the transactions were processed and to copy me on any additional requests. I called in a friend from Raines Investigations and we’ve tracked every request. Charles believes he has embezzled a few million from the company and we are on the verge of bankruptcy. He released several employees from the company without cause. I’ve contacted all of them and asked them to lay low until they hear back from me. They are all still receiving a paycheck from a reserved fund I had established at the bank.”
“JoEllen get X-man on the phone. Reese get over here!” Zack demanded. “Julia, why are we just hearing about this?”
“We believe Charles has something else planned. We have a man on him. He’s going to show his hand.”
“This hand is costing us a few million. I don’t need to see another hand!”
“Yes Zack, we do. It ensures a conviction when he is caught red-handed. I was hired to protect this company and I’m pretty damn good. Let me do my job.”
“You’re on maternity leave! Hell we need you here.”
“You’re on idiot leave, but that doesn’t diminish your ability to do your job!”
JoEllen laughed out loud and Zack couldn’t help but chuckle. “Okay you got me on that one. Have you told Xavier anything about this?”
Teach Me (The Gems & Gents Series) Page 22
