Got to Be Love

by Vanessa Miller

  “Who knows, maybe you wanted to see me fall on my face.”

  David looked angry and Gina didn’t understand why. The man had just won a spot to the grand finale on The Grind. The show would be seen by millions and he would be able to showcase his business and his charity. “Am I missing something? If winning puts you in this kind of mood, then I’d hate to know how you’d be acting if your opponent's bread pudding had cooked all the way through.” She was a bit more flippantly than she needed to be, but what did she care. She had her retainer and she wasn’t all that sure that she wanted to continue working with David anyway. So if he fired her, well then, he just fired her. And then she could get back to Detroit and see about her father sooner than she expected.

  “So you did think I was going to lose?” David demanded.

  What was this dude’s problem? “I’m not saying that. I didn’t even see the whole show because Katie and I were busy for a while. I just heard the judges saying that the two of you were neck and neck until she undercooked her bread pudding.” Her hands were now on her hips because she was getting ticked. “Is something else going on that I don’t know about?”

  “You tell me. You’re the one that looked all sour mouthed when you entered the studio. Did you hear something you didn’t like during your meeting with Katie?”

  As he towered over her looking like every bit of the six-foot-five wide receiver he had been, Gina felt like she was the Biblical David and he was Goliath. Just like David in the Bible, she wasn’t afraid of the beast that stood in front of her with nostrils flaring. He would be tamed, or she would knock him upside the head with so many stones he’d think one of them linebackers had hit him. One thing was for sure, she was done letting any man intimidate her. Puffing out her chest and putting both hands on her hips, she was getting ready to let him have it.

  Katie jumped in between them. “What has gotten into the two of you? We are still at this studio... in public.” She motioned her hands, indicating the area they were standing in and the cameramen that were still hanging around. “This is not helpful.”

  Gina and David’s heads swiveled as they took in their surroundings. Since Gina billed herself as a public relations expert, making her client look bad in public was a hard no. It just wasn’t done. Why she kept bantering with this man, she just didn’t know. Gina took her hands off her hips and backed down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was looking at you that way.”

  Whispering his response, David told her, “You were, and it nearly cost me the win. Because I was so focused on the way you were glaring at me that I almost forgot about one of the main ingredients.”

  Gina hadn’t realized that her actions could have such an effect on David. The thought that she could have cost him the win on this show was unacceptable. She put a hand on his arm. “I really am sorry, David. I didn’t realize that I was staring at you in an off-putting manner. I promise it will not happen again.”

  David’s shoulders relaxed as he appeared to calm down. “I appreciate that.”

  Katie clasped her hands together. “Now that that’s settled, let’s get you to the airport.”

  David kept his eyes on Gina. “Is it settled?”

  “I admit that I have questions for you. But I need to get back to Detroit because my father is scheduled to go into surgery tomorrow. So, can we schedule a meeting in a few days?”

  A look of concern crossed David’s face. “Is he okay? Is there anything you need from us?”

  “Thank you for asking. He’s been sick for a while now. It’s just something we are dealing with. I’ll know more once I get back home.”

  “Okay, I’ll have Katie set an appointment for us later next week.”

  With that, Gina headed home, hoping that once she and David had their conversation that she would be able to stomach working for him so she could help her parents keep their home.

  7

  “HOW WAS YOUR TRIP, “Audrey asked as Gina took off her coat and sat down in the living room.

  “I got paid, so that’s a good thing, right?”

  “Are you going to be able to get your car back?”

  “Picking it up tomorrow.”

  Sitting down next to her daughter, Audrey pulled Gina into an embrace. “I wish we could do more to help.”

  “I know that mom. And I appreciate everything you and dad have done for me. That’s why I want to help. And that’s why I wanted to talk to you before I check on Dad because you know how he is. He won’t take money from me if I try to give it to him directly.”

  “But we don’t need your money, hon. This house is paid off, if we can sell it, we will be able to pay the twenty percent that Medicare requires us to pay.”

  “Mom, let’s talk seriously for a moment. I know dad has pulmonary issues, but has it gotten so bad that he really needs surgery?”

  Audrey nodded. “You’ve seen him. He can barely get around without that oxygen tank. He’s gotten weaker. If we let it go on any longer, he may be too weak to get the operation. And the doctors think this lung volume reduction surgery will give him some mobility back and help him breathe on his own.”

  She didn’t like hearing that her father was getting weaker. If she knew anything about these sorts of things, Gina knew that surgery could bring on a heart attack for someone who was too weak to endure it. If her father was going to have this surgery, then it needed to happen fast. “How much does a surgery like this cost?”

  “It’s almost two hundred thousand. But we’ve been able to receive about sixty thousand in aid. So after Medicare pays their portion, we will still owe about twenty-five thousand.”

  “We can do this, Mom. Let me help.” Gina pulled the five thousand dollar check out of her purse. “I just received this retainer from my client. And there’s more to come.” She didn’t bother to tell her mother that the ‘more to come’ was contingent on the conversation she had with David later in the week. That didn’t matter, because she had gotten her client on one of the hottest cooking shows on television. He won and would continue to be on the show. So, Gina was going to leverage that success to get other clients. She would come up with the money her parents needed, period.

  Her mom smiled as she looked at the check, but then she said, “You need that money to pay for your car?”

  Gina wished she hadn’t told her mother about the car being repossessed. But she had needed that ride to get to Toya’s wedding, and she didn’t want to lie to her mother in order to get the car. She was just thankful that she hadn’t informed her mother about the eviction notice that had been taped to her door after the wedding. “I’m behind by three payments, Mom. That’s fifteen hundred dollars. I can pay that and still have money to put down on Dad’s hospital bills. So, please let me help.”

  Audrey shook her head. “What if more money doesn’t come in time and you not only lose your car but your apartment. Your father and I would feel awful if we destroyed your good name.”

  Gina wanted to scream. “Listen to me, Mom. I have already decided to move out of my apartment. I knew you and Daddy wouldn’t let me help if I had other bills that I was responsible for, so I’m going to pay my last rent payment and then turn in my notice.” Gina stood up and waved her hand around the living room. “You’ve always said that as long as you have a home, I do too. Well, you and Daddy need to realize that I grew up in this house and that means something to me. I don’t want you to just sell it off. One day I will have children, don’t you think they’d like them to see the home I grew up in?”

  Tears filled Audrey’s eyes. She hung her head. “We aren’t trying to take away your memories, Gina. I love this house just as much as you did. But we know you don’t want this house, so we just wanted to make sure we weren’t leaving bills on you.”

  Gina sat back down next to her mom. She wiped the tears from her eyes. “Don’t cry, Mama. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  “I’m okay, hon. I just get emotional when thinking about leaving a place I’ve called home for
almost thirty years. We finally paid off the mortgage two years ago. George and I were so happy that he took me out for a steak dinner.”

  “I remember. You called to tell me about it. You were so excited about growing old in this house. I, of course, thought you sounded a bit morbid. Talking about growing old and even being buried in the back yard.”

  Audrey smiled at that. “Your father went on and on about the kind of shovel he wanted us to use when digging up his backyard. I tried to ignore him. We had scrimped and saved for one thing or another for so long that I was just happy to be getting a steak dinner at a five-star restaurant.”

  “See, that’s what I mean. How can the two of you go from wanting to live here forever, to ‘let’s sell the house’?”

  “Life has a way of interrupting plans,” Audrey wisely answered.

  Gina knew that all too well. Life had certainly happened to her ever since she went down that slippery slope of forgetting how she was raised and decided to move in with a man she thought loved her. Now she knew for certain that nothing was worth walking away from the love of God.

  “Mom, let me ask you something. Why do you think God gives people children?”

  Audrey put a hand under Gina’s chin and joyfully squeezed it. “So that they would come to know unconditional love. Having children helps us to understand, in some small way, God’s unconditional love for us.”

  “Yes, I definitely agree with that. But haven’t you noticed the number of parents that end up living with their children when they can no longer take care of themselves?”

  “Noticed? I was one of them. As you well know, I took care of my mother when she became too ill to take care of herself.”

  “Did you ever regret helping your mother in her time of need?”

  “Of course not, I’d give anything to have the opportunity to do it again.”

  “So, why are you denying me the chance to help you in your time of need? I know you don’t want to sell this house with all its memories. Why even the room we are sitting in holds special memories for you. Because as I remember it, we didn’t even have a living room for three years while I was in middle school because Nana’s hospital bed and all the equipment she needed to be able to stay in our home was in this room.”

  Audrey didn’t say anything, she just allowed her eyes to drift around the room as if she was reliving those moments in time when she had been gifted three more years with her mother.

  “I know I’m hitting below the belt here,” Gina prefaced, “But Nana wouldn’t want you to sell a house you love that has so many memories in it either.”

  “Are you trying to make me cry again?”

  “No, please don’t do that. I’m trying to help my parents in their time of need. That’s all I want to do. This isn’t the same way you helped Nana, but it’s the way that I can help out. Let me do this for you.”

  Audrey held up her hands in surrender. “I’ll talk to your father.”

  “Thank you.” Gina hugged her mother. “Tell him that if he won’t accept my money to pay for the hospital bill, then I’ll just buy the house myself, and I’ll never move out. How about that?”

  The surgery took two hours. Her father was in recovering for about an hour and a half before they were allowed to see him. But the doctor came into the waiting room and informed them that the surgery was successful.

  “Thank You, Lord. Oh, what a mighty God we serve,” Audrey said as she and Gina hugged and then headed toward the ICU room.

  George Melson’s eyes fluttered open as Gina and Audrey stood at the side of his bed. “Daddy, you’re woke!”

  Slowly his eyes closed again. “Let’s sit down,” Audrey told her daughter. “It may be a while before the meds wear off.”

  It was a full hour later when George opened his eyes again. His voice was hoarse as he called for his wife, “Audrey, baby, you here?”

  Gina stood and walked back to the bed. “Mom, just went to the bathroom, Daddy. She’ll be right back. How are you feeling?”

  “Like a truck ran over me, then backed up and ran me down again.”

  “Well, you did just endure a two-hour surgery. But if you think you need some pain meds, I’ll put a call in to the nurse.”

  He nodded, accepting the help as his head fell back against the pillow.

  Gina pushed the button for the nurse. “Can I help you?” The woman asked through the intercom.

  “Yes, my father is in pain.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Gina placed a hand on her father’s arm. “The nurse will be in to take care of the pain.”

  “He’s in pain?” Audrey pushed past Gina until she was in front of her husband. She reached into the bed and grabbed hold of his hand. “How are you feeling, baby? What can I do?”

  “Calm down, my love.” His voice was still hoarse and low.

  Gina watched her parents gaze into each other's eyes. They were silent, but their love spoke volumes. This was the kind of love she wanted. Not some love that ran hot in the beginning and then fizzled out. She wanted a love that could weather the storms of life, survive forty years of disagreements and misunderstandings, survive scrimping and saving, putting a kid through college, and sickness and health and still come through it, gazing lovingly into each other's eyes.

  The nurse entered the room. “Well, I guess our patient is awake,” she said.

  Audrey turned toward the nurse. “He’s woke, but he’s in pain. Can you help him?”

  The nurse pointed to a button that was connected to a bag full of liquid. Her dad’s IV was connected to the bag. “This is your pain medicine, sir. Just push this button whenever you feel pain, and it should ease it for you. Give it a try.” She put the button in George’s hand.

  George squeezed the button; within moments, the pain that had been etched on his face subsided and he got this silly grin on his face.

  “Your husband is on drugs, Mom,” Gina joked.

  “He better not get hooked on that stuff. Ain’t nothing worse than an old junkie,” Audrey said, then shook her head.

  The nurse assured them, “He’ll be okay. Trust me, we won’t let him receive his pain medicine in this manner for too long.”

  As the nurse walked out of the room, Gina had a thought. Looking down at her father, she said, “Hey Dad, I’m going to take care of your hospital bill, so you don’t have to sell the house. Okay?”

  “Yes, sure. Thank you, baby girl.” George’s head bobbed from side to side, then he fell back to sleep.

  8

  TWO DAYS AFTER HER father’s successful surgery, Gina drove back to Ann Arbor to meet with David. She was no longer driving her mother's Camry because she was able to pay the late payments and get her BMW back. She was happy that she was able to pay the fees on her red beamer, but life had interrupted her need for a luxury car. So, when she picked her car up, she also went to the hardware store and purchased a For Sale sign.

  If she was going to stop her parents from selling their home, show them that she was serious about getting that hospital bill paid. Having a five hundred dollars a month car payment would be a hindrance to her goals, so the car had to go. Gina never thought in a million years that giving up her BMW would have been such an easy decision. But once it had been taken, she realized the money spent on her fabulous car could be put to better use.

  When she arrived at the restaurant, Gina was surprised to see David standing outside as if he was waiting on her. He opened her door and held out a hand to help her up. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. How is your father?”

  Wow, he got two points for that. She was here for a business meeting, but the first thing David wanted to know was how her father was doing. “Much better. The surgery was successful. If all goes well, they will be taking him off oxygen soon. Once they do that, then we’ll know for sure if his quality of life will be any better.”

  “Let me know if I can do anything.”

  “Thanks for that, David, but we’re just
in wait and see mode right now.”

  As they headed into the restaurant, he pointed at the sign in her back window. “You’re selling your whip?”

  Gina nodded, then quickly changed the subject. “Where do you want to have our conversation. Are we going to be sitting at a booth or do you have an office in the back so we can speak privately?”

  “I’ve already taken the liberty to set some things up for us in my office. Follow me, Ms. Gina.”

  As she stepped into David’s office, Gina was surprised to see a small round table with seating for two in the middle of the room and a six-foot table against the wall with more food than she and David could eat in the space of three meetings. “You don’t mess around.”

  “I know that you liked our BLT, so we have that here.” He pointed to the delicious sandwich. “But I wanted you to try a few other items that we have on the menu, so I’ve given us sample portions of some of the menu items.”

  “If you’re trying to butter me up,” Gina picked up a plate and started placing items on it, “It’s working.” She spotted a dip with chips but couldn’t make out what kind of dip it was. Pointing towards it, she asked, “What’s that?”

  “That’s my Wild Bill Buffalo dip.”

  “I saw a picture on the wall of someone named Bill Hoffman, is he the one you named this dip after?” Gina knew that there was a story behind each one of David’s creations. She couldn’t wait to hear this one.

  “Yep, you guessed it. Bill was a three-hundred-pound linebacker who played for the Buffalo Bills. That guy tried to knock my head off every time we played against them. It became my goal in life to run as fast as I could so Wild Bill couldn’t tackle me.”

  “You must’ve hated him,” Gina said as she added some salad to her plate.

  “Believe it or not, he’s now one of my best friends.”

  Laughing, Gina told him. “That’s crazy. If he had sat his big self on me, I probably wouldn’t speak to him for the rest of my life.”